OC.TREI@CU20B.ARPA (09/25/85)
From: Peter G. Trei <OC.TREI@CU20B.ARPA>
ROBOTS AND EMPIRE by Issac Asimov
Doubleday, $16.95, ISBN 0-385-19092-1
As has been apparent since FOUNDATIONS EDGE, Issac has been
trying to forge a link between the worlds of his robot stories
and his classic FOUNDATION trilogy. In RaE, he continues the
process started in THE ROBOTS OF DAWN, setting up a situation in
which the Spacer Worlds of the Elijah Baley/robot stories (50
planets, lightly populated by extremely long-lived aesthetes
served by robot retinues, with Earth in the background) can
evolve into the Galactic Empire (entire galaxy colonized by
humans of ordinary lifespan, no robots whatsoever, and Earth
lost). He manages this rather clumsily, needing to resort to deus
ex machina devices.
Gladia, who we met in tRoD and THE NAKED SUN, has lived 160
quiet years on Aurora since her last involvement with Elijah
Baley, the Earth police detective who cleared her of sabotage and
murder during her youth, incidently clearing the way for the
short-lived people of Earth to set up their own interstellar
colonies. They have done so with vigor, and the new Settler
worlds now exist in an uneasy balance with the older,
non-expanding Spacer worlds.
Fastolfe, Gladia's mentor, chairman of Aurora, and architect
of the plan under which Earth has been allowed to send out new
settlements has died. The new regime is under the control of his
arch-rival Amadiro, who is extremely hostile to Earth and its new
colonies.
Gladia is asked by the new government to go with a Settler
to her former home planet of Solaria, which has recently dropped
completely out of the Spacer communication network and appears to
be depopulated.
I will not divulge further plot elements, save to say that
it involves Aurora, Solaria, a Settler planet called Baleyworld,
and the Earth. Giskard and Daneel, the robots from the TRoD, play
central roles.
The plot moves, but I wonder if I would have bothered if
this novel were not part of Issac's magnum opus; it frequently
slams to a halt while the two robots discuss in redundant detail
the 3 Laws of Robotics and how their actions are restricted by
them. These discussions, and the way the robots perception of
their own roles change as a result, are as much the raison d'etre
of this book as is spanning the gap between the two series.
I rather wonder why Asimov is trying to do this: link the
very different worlds of the robots and the Foundation into one.
What does he have to gain by it? Is it an intellectual challenge,
or is he just out of ideas? The last really original book I
remember from him was THE GODS THEMSELVES, which was at least 10
years ago.
There is a massive hook left for a sequel, but at least it
is not a cliffhanger. I can certainly stand to wait a year or two
till it comes out. As for the present volume, it is probably about
a +1 on the -4..+4 scale.
Peter Trei
oc.trei@cu20b.arpa
-------ran@ho95e.UUCP (RANeinast) (10/29/85)
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