[1] The plot is set in Britain at the end of the 21st Century and revolves around an experimental type of robot that can think for itself, EGR3 (called Eager).

His children Gavin and Fleur learn of an underground group that opposes Life Corp, and there is a danger of a robot rebellion brewing.

The ultra-high-tech, eerily human BDC4 robots are behaving suspiciously and the Bell children and Eager are drawn into a great adventure.

Questions of where technology may be heading, what constitutes life and death, and the morality of creating self-aware machines to serve, or sometimes replace, humans, are raised.

but also "While Eager’s adventure isn’t thrilling, his discoveries about life, formed through amusing conversations with virtual reality Socrates, are thought-provoking.