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| ISBN-10 | 0586062009 |
| ISBN-13 | 9780586062005 |
| Authors | Isaac Asimov |
| Publisher | Collins |
| Publication Date | 1994-01-10 |
| Pages | 512 |
| Dewey Decimal | 813 |
| Rating | 4.50 |
| Categories | |
Long after his humiliating defeat at the hands of Earthman Elijah Baley, Keldon Amadiro embarked on a plan to destroy planet Earth. But even after his death, Baley's vision continued to guide his robot partner, R. Daneel Olivaw, who had the wisdom of a great man behind him and an indestructable will to win....
Mixed Feelings...
I'm giving it four stars because, overall, it's a great novel and a worthly climax to the Baley series. The next installments in the inter-related chronology skip ahead centuries, so this book easily qualifies as a series end. (One thing I really like is Asimov never gives away a clue as to how much time passes, all we know is that the series is set centuries in our future.)I call the review Mixed Feelings because I thoroughly enjoy most of the book, but the ending is very disappointing in an obscure way. All through the novel, ethics and morals form a strong thematic backbone. The three laws of robotics are robotic ethics and the human heroes are shown to have strong ethical leanings, while the villains are sharply contrasted as pinnacles of "the end justifies the means"- surely the ultimate in ethical violations, and almost every villain's main flaw.
Gladia makes an amazing speech to the baleyworlders about 3/4's through the book. This is the moral climax- everything else is anticlimatic to me. That speech is the ultimate moral compass for humanity in outline. It's such a perfect, self-evident, guideline for the ethics of humanity. I will not quote it, but if you read it, you will understand. My problem with the novel is that after spending such effort to detail an ethical theme, Asimov loses sight of it at the very end...
But perhaps, I'm too much of an environmentalist and an Earth-friendly guy. However, I am disgusted by the presumption that Man is the highest creature the earth could've evolved, and that now that Man no longer "needs" the Earth, it's perfectly okay to kill it off- forever! I wished Asimov could've written a better, more eco-friendly solution to the Earth-mysticism he promulgated.
Early Review (before completing the book)
Yup, you read the subject right. I still have the last 80 pages of the book remaining as i write this review.This is the concluding book in the "Robot series" (which consists of "Caves of Steel", "The Naked Sun" & "Robots of Dawn" in the same order). Even though you needn't have read the previous books to understand (and enjoy this); i seriously urge you to read the other books before this (you seriously are missing something!)
Solaria has been abandoned and the place is filled with robots. When Settlers try to salvage the robots, they kill humans, in defiance of the 3 laws of robotics! Enter Daneel and Giskard, the robots made famous by detective Elijah. Even though Elijah had died over 200 years earlier, these detectives are guided by his thought process and they discover a sinister plot to destroy earth.
How they stop it make up the rest of the story and a new Zeroth law is also introduced. Even though, i've not finished this book yet, i'm confident it will be a masterful touch by the master himself.
Two thumbs up!
This book sucks.
This is the worst Asimov book I've read. The idea that robots, which are supposed to operate on logic and reason, can reach such rediculous conclusions is disgusting. And to make matters worse, they turn out to be ABSOLUTELY CORRECT! I was rolling my eyes for half of this book.If you are already a fan of Asimov's books, then by all means buy this book. But make sure you've already read the entire robot series, or nothing in this book will make any sense. Although the plot ties the robot series with the empire and foundation books, I don't think it is a necessary read. The plot IMHO doesn't add much toward understanding the evolution of the empire.
Another wonderful Asimov Story
Robot and Empire is another entertaining story from the prolific writer Isaac Asimov. Set many decades after Robots of Dawn, when the Earth detective Elijah Bailey has long ago passed, Robots and Empire tells the story of Dr. Kelden Amadiro's nefarious attempt at destroying Earth and the Settlers. The Auroran Gladia, along with the robots Daneel and Giskard, must go to great lengths to protect Earth and countless lives.What I really enjoyed about this book was the interaction between the robots Daneel and Giskard. As both characters work at deducing and anticipating Amadiro's motives and actions, it's really interesting to watch the relationship between these two as they provide much needed counsel and assistance to one another. It's very entertaining to follow along as the fly all over the galaxy in an attempt thwart Amadiro's plans. It's even more interesting to see them attempt to circumnavigate the famous 3 Laws of Robotics which they often find hinder, rather than help, their attempts at protecting Earth. I don't think I'm revealing too much to say that Daneel even goes so far as to introduce the Zeroth Law of robotics which is basically the need to protect all of humanity. This plays an integral part in the unfolding of the book.
I was pleased that the whole book moves at a speedy pace(I took less than two days to read this), with nothing seeming trivial or overly drawn out.This book is very entertaining and as it's only the fourth work I've read by Asimov, I'm moved to read more of his books. Perhaps the only real complaint about this book is that the ending is slightly anticlimatic, but rather touching and fitting. If you like Asimov's work, particularly his robot books concerning Elijah Bailey, I think you'll really enjoy this book.