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From: ran@ho95e.UUCP (RANeinast)
Newsgroups: net.sf-lovers
Subject: Robots and Empire (SPOILER at end)
Message-ID: <233@ho95e.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 29-Oct-85 09:07:40 EST
Article-I.D.: ho95e.233
Posted: Tue Oct 29 09:07:40 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 30-Oct-85 06:41:26 EST
Distribution: net
Organization: AT&T Bell Labs, Holmdel NJ
Lines: 56



Well, my copy arrived yesterday from the Science Fiction Book Club.
I think "Robots and Empire" matches "Foundation".  It had me turning
those pages, wanting to find out what was going to happen next.
Furthermore, it had in it (at least 4 times) those occurrences
where you sit back and think, "I never thought of that before".
Then you think of some of the implications.

Much of the novel deals with the Zeroth Law of Robotics
(the book is worth its price on this alone, and how robots
react to it).  What, you never heard of the Zeroth Law?  Every
science with three laws has a zeroth law, which always is discovered
later, but which everyone agrees is of prime importance and certainly
cannot be relegated to number four.

This is not full of the constant bickering that occurred in
"Foundation's Edge", and has a much stronger sense of purpose than
"The Robots of Dawn".  I also think it is doing a great job
of starting to tie together the Robots and the Foundation series.
It hangs together nicely, and is well motivated.
This is definitely one of the best Asimov has written in a long time.

For all you Davis Tuckers out there, some writers write like
a beautiful, finely-inlaid, cobblestone road:  You admire the
road, and how well it was put together, and how cleverly gems
have been inserted to achieve just the right effect.  Other writers
are just gravel roads, but they lead you through spectacular forests,
and breathtaking mountains, and sheer canyons.  Asimov is of the latter.




*******SPOILER*********




One question in the book is, "Where did the Solarians go?"
It sure looks to me like Asimov has set this up so that the
Solarians become Gaea in "Foundation's Edge".

I am also wondering how long R. Daneel Olivaw will stick around.
He will certainly help with the abandonment of Earth
(and his newly acquired telepathy will be important there),
but I would not be surprised to find him still there
in the sequel to "Foundation's Edge", when they all finally
find Earth.  After all, he'll only be about 20,000 years old,
and I don't see how Earth would be totally abandoned.  The
radioactivity, while hazardous, cannot be fatal.  I would
expect greatly increased mutation rates, though.
-- 

". . . and shun the frumious Bandersnatch."
Robert Neinast (ihnp4!ho95b!ran)
AT&T-Bell Labs