Hamlet, Prince of Robots

In this slim volume, Wehm (The Martian Job) niftily reimagines Hamlet in the digital world. Murder, betrayal, and revenge rock cybernetics corporation Elsinore Robotics, whose breakthrough humanoid android Old King Hamlet is irreparably sabotaged by malware. When the deactivated robot’s code implausibly reappears on the company’s server, the new model, Hamlet 2.0, is determined to catch the killer and avenge his forefather’s death—if he’s not derailed by crippling anxiety. Wehm makes the delightful choice to have Hamlet 2.0 date Horatio, rather than Ophelia, but otherwise hews exactingly to Shakespeare’s plot, retaining all the drama and existential dread—and even some familiar lines. Occasionally, this faithfulness causes the tone to slip into almost farcical melodrama as the heightened language and emotion feel out of place in the modern day. The meditation on what it means to be human, however, takes on an exciting new dimension when it’s robots doing the musing. Science fiction–loving Shakespeare fans will appreciate Wehm’s dedication to the thought experiment. (Self-published)