Wednesday 3 July 2013

Robots and Empire by Isaac Asimov

Finally the Asimov Robot series is at an end.


I stand by my original thoughts on Asimov after reading I, Robot - he was a very clever chap. His books are full of complex scenarios relating to the 3 Laws and at times it is difficult to follow the thread of how and when 1st and 2nd law applies. He obviously knew his subject inside out. There is humour here too, but (and its quite a big but) there is little else other than long scenes of almost entirely dialogue in which the plot plays out.

There is very little descriptive or scene setting paragraphs, so much so that in my head I have almost no idea of what Solaria, or Aurora actually looks like - despite both featuring in 4 books. I read some comments that were made by Asimov about his style in which he wanted to keep his works easy to follow and clear and simple and I agree that he does keep it simple and clear, at least in Caves of Steel and Naked Sun it was simple and clear and short. Robots of Dawn and Empire are long, and become tediously long given the style of writing.

Looking back to I, Robot and all in between the ideas carry the stories along and the short stories are best of all. There was a definite sense of relief after finishing - having set a target of reading all Robots - and I shall look back on Asimov again but for now I'll be reading a variety of authors work, going back to my personal favourite Philip K Dick.

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