Based on Isaac Asimov's I, Robot, this story tells about the early days of robotics. Dr. Susan Calvin is the main character. She is a resident in Psychiatry at Manhattan Hasbro Hospital. Here first assignment is with inpatient children. One of the first people she meets is Dr. Remington Hawthorn who is a resident in neurosurgery. Their first encounter isn't a foretelling of their future though. Remy is arrogant and Susan cuts him down to size. Susan also encounters protesters when she is entering the hospital. It seems that any medical advance has its detractors who are eager to protest and who might be eager to kill to reach their goals.

Most curious of all, Susan meets Nate, also known as N8-C, a robot so human looking and acting that he could pass for a human. Susan finds him intriguing for many reasons. One of the reasons is that he was produced by the company her father John works for - in a job he doesn't talk about and calls boring. She learns about the three laws of robotics which are designed to keep society safe from robots running amok.

We learn a lot about Susan's work as she treats her first four patients. We also quickly learn that Susan is a genius as she finds fixes for three of her first patients. Two of the fixes were primarily medical but with psychiatric implications. It is the fourth case that is the most difficult. Sharicka Anson is four years old and has juvenile conduct disorder. She has killed her family pet and attempted to kill her sister and other children. She is also cute, charming, witty, extremely intelligent and a champion manipulator of those around her.

Susan, partially because of her father and partially because of her early successes, is invited to take part in a study which will insert nanobots into the brains of people with severe psychiatric issues in the hopes of finding areas for treatment. The project is very secret because of the protesters who are certain that doctors are creating cyborgs that will take over the world or something at least as damaging as that.

When one of the subjects hijacks a bus (which Susan and Remy are on) and detonates a bomb which kills him and damages nearby property, Susan begins to wonder if the experiment has something to do with it. It seems that the subjects are using the three laws of robotics to minimize the damage. The scientists don't want to let the police know because the fear it will set robotics back a hundred years which leaves Susan and Remy trying to find the rest of the subjects. Unfortunately, Sharicka had been chosen as one of the subjects which leaves a sociopath with a bomb on the loose.

This was an intriguing science fiction story the builds on events in the News and suggests a possible future. It is the first of a trilogy and does leave a number of unanswered questions for the next books to answer. I found it compellingly readable and fascinating. ( )

This is a good story, but not what I expected. The protagonist is a first year resident psychiatrist at a New York Hospital in the near future. She has some interesting patients and, as she is an exceptional doctor, makes some remarkable breakthroughs in their treatment. She discovers the hospital also has a resident robot, which is indistinguishable from a normal, biological man. This, one might think, would be the focal point of the story. It is not. The bulk of the book focuses on her patients’ treatment. There is almost a subplot about nanorobots and an anti-science terrorist organization. The most interesting character, Nate, the robot, plays only a minor role. ( )

This is the first novel in a spin off trilogy about the young life of Susan Calvin, the pioneer of robotics in Isaac Asimov's fictional universe. It's a really good read and for the most part has the simple, clear and compelling storytelling style of the great man himself. For most of its duration, it's not actually a novel about robots, but a medical thriller about patients with extreme psychiatric conditions - the medical terminology does sometimes come across a bit thick and heavy, though it is all relevant to the plot. Some interesting characters in here as well. The ending was very dramatic and I will read the rest of the trilogy for sure. ( )

I, Robot: to preserve is a great addition to the I, Robot books! I have read all of Isaac Asimov's Robot books and this one is a great add on. It gave you the same love of the robots, distrust of the government and inability to determine who is the bad guy up until the end. Good plot, well developed characters, lots of twists and surprises, and stays with the I, Robot theme. Loved it. Reviewed this book for NetGalley. ( )

Very good read. Had a hard time putting it down. But the ending left a bit to be desired, as some of the decisions seemed strange or hard to justify. Still enjoyable overall. ( )