Finally finished this gem of a novel. Started it over a year ago, and then I lost my book for a while. Recently decided to just download the audiobook and start over. Oh man I am glad I did. This may be my favorite Asimov book that I have read. I've gone through his Robot series and started Foundation over the years, but I've never finished Foundation. I always seem to go back to reread the Robot series as a memory refresher and never get to Foundation.

As a one off book, TEOE is spectacular. It has the self reflection of humanity that is present in all of Asimov's works, but the story is very tight and exceptionally constructed. There are a few moments where he leaves scientific questions unanswered, which is common in all scifi stories (some things just are unanswerable by us), but his scientific breakdowns are explained very well and he, as usual, puts forth very logical structures of how it all came to be and works.

The book does seem like it loosely ties in to his Robot and Foundation series (this isn't a spoiler; merely an overall observation), and that gives it an added element for any Asimov fans.

I highly, highly recommend this one. I will revisiting it again at some point in the near future.

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Posted by thatguy45

Your alter's mom's basement

Member since Sep 2017

18890 posts

Posted on 8/9/21 at 8:35 am to Midget Death Squad

I've been debating reading this for awhile. Will probably pick it up at some point.

I've heard it kinda ties most of Asimov's stuff together

quote:
I've gone through his Robot series and started Foundation over the years, but I've never finished Foundation. I always seem to go back to reread the Robot series as a memory refresher and never get to Foundation.

I preferred the robot books too. First foundation book is ok. Foundation and Empire is better, but I really preferred the novels he did to end the series (Foundations Edge/Foundation and Earth). Since you've read the robot books you'll appreciate the last one more

Still, Caves of Steel remains my favorite Asimov book

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Posted by Midget Death Squad

Meme Magic

Member since Oct 2008

24540 posts

Posted on 8/9/21 at 3:26 pm to thatguy45

quote:
I've heard it kinda ties most of Asimov's stuff together

It does in a subtle way. This is not an outright tie in to his main series, but he does enough to leave be one. I think he wanted it to be a stand alone book in its own right, so he refrained from making any immediate connections.

quote:
Will probably pick it up at some point.

Do it. I agree that Caves of Steel was my favorite of his books until I read this one. Maybe I'm suffering from recency bias, but this one really stuck out to me.

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Posted by mdomingue

Lafayette, LA

Member since Nov 2010

30196 posts

Posted on 8/12/21 at 2:39 pm to Midget Death Squad

Two books I loved by Asimov.

First is part of the Galactic Empire series

ANd the second is a book on its own

Read those back in High School in the 70s (yes I'm old)

Haven't really found an Asimov novel I didn't like.

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Posted by 0jersey

Paradise

Member since Sep 2006

1838 posts

Posted on 8/17/21 at 3:51 pm to Midget Death Squad

I read this earlier this year and really enjoyed it. I like that it wasn’t too dense (had previously read Dune-which was awesome) and had a cool plot.

I want to check out more of his stuff. Maybe I’ll try Caves of Steel.

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Posted by Sneaky__Sally