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Title: Robots and Empire by Isaac Asimov ISBN: 0-586-06200-9 Publisher: HarperCollins Pub. Date: 1986 Format: Mass Market Paperback List Price(USD): $19.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.33 (30 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: The beginning of the Empire....
Comment: Ah yes, this might not be the very best Asimov, but it is good reading and prepares the reader first for the three Empire novels and then the Foundation series.
This takes up 200 years after ROBOTS OF DAWN and Elijah Bailey is long dead. However, R. Daneel Olivaw and Giscard continue and are actually the primary movers in this novel, although Gladia, a villainous descendent of hers, a descendent of Elijah's and a continuing villain from the earlier book are all important characters.
There's a lot of rather philosophical dialog between the two robots which slows down the story quite a bit, as they ponder over the ramifications of the three robotic laws and come up the the zeroth law which will in time enable R. Daneel Olivaw to return in later books.
It helps explain how Earth's descendents gain the edge over the spacers in their expansion in the galaxy. It also explains Earth's radioactivity which is referred to in later volumes.
This is straight science fiction without any of the mystery subplotting of the previous novels. There are hints of the types of power struggle which permeate the following books. Also, one must realize that this book and the preceding robot novel were written after the three Empire novels and the Foundation Trilogy.
All in all, a satisfying enough read best enjoyed when read in chronological sequence.
Rating: 4
Summary: The missing link
Comment: Asimov, like Heinlein, came, towards the end of his career, to integrate the characters and universes from all of his major works into one huge, interconnected fictional world. This was not his original intention, but it's the way that it worked out. Chronologically, the Robot series is first - which started out in the form of short stories, and then a series of novels, of which this is the fourth - followed by the Empire and then the Foundation series. The third Robot book, The Robots of Dawn, was a sequel for which readers had to wait 25 years for. The next book, this one, came a mere two years after it. Robots and Empire, however, represents a major break from the tradition of the previous Robot books. The three subsequent books were all murder mysteries staring the Earthman Detective Elijah Baley. This book, however, is not a murder mystery, but more of a straightforward story - and Baley has been dead for over 200 years. It picks up where The Robots of Dawn left off, in a slightly different context. This is a fast-moving and quite entertaining book in its own right, and you will certainly want to read it if you enjoyed the previous three novels. It is sometimes painfully obvious, however, that this book was intended solely to provide a smooth transition from the Robot series to the Empire series. Consequently, the book does this job very well, tying up the loose ends from the previous Robot book, and clarifying what would have been several contradictions between the Robot and Empire serieses - the reason for the radioactivity on Earth, the motive behind the immigration of the Earth people, and the fact that there are no robots in the Empire novels, etc. However, this comes with a price: the book is not all that great in and of itself. There is not really that much in the way of plot - certainly not like the great mystery plots in the three previous novels; indeed, even the original robot short stories were more or less mysteries themselves. That said, despite this weakness, the book is still very fast-paced and quite fun and entertaining to read - and, of course, provides the necessary transition between the two serieses. Whatever the book's individual merit, you will want to read it if you plan on going through the series. This vast integration of all these epic stories, this book included, show the visionary and plotting skills of Asimov, and you can not help but marvel at his unquestioned virtuostic abilities. The vast scale of this fictional universe - including also three books by other authors - can be very daunting to the neophyte. I suggest you make use of the several very helpful "Listmania Lists" at Amazon, so that you will know what order in which to read the books, and so that you can start on and enjoy the unparalleled fictional world of Isaac Asimov.
Rating: 5
Summary: science fiction detective mystery concludes [no spoilers]
Comment: "Robots and Empire" is the conclusion in the awesome science fiction series concerning R. Daneel Olivaw and new partner R. Giskard. Two hundred years have passed and although Elijah Baley has passed away, his influence remains with the technological masterpiece R. Daneel Olivaw and the extraordinarily gifted R. Giskard. Restricted by the Laws of Robotics, Daneel and Giskard must find a way to thwart any plan a certain enemy executes while unable to employ what they consider Elijah's aggressive techniques. Reading about Daneel trying to think like the great detective Elijah is a fun read. The fond memories the robots and long-lived Spacers elicit make this a touching story. This brilliant detective story is a work of art.
Thank you.
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Title: The Robots of Dawn by Isaac Asimov ISBN: 0553299492 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 01 March, 1994 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: The Naked Sun by Isaac Asimov ISBN: 0553293397 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 01 November, 1991 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: Caves of Steel by Isaac Asimov ISBN: 0553293400 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 01 November, 1991 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: Foundation and Earth by Isaac Asimov ISBN: 0586071105 Publisher: Harper Collins - UK Pub. Date: 1987 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: THE CURRENTS OF SPACE by Isaac Asimov ISBN: 0345311957 Publisher: Del Rey Pub. Date: 12 October, 1983 List Price(USD): $2.95 |
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