30 August, 2012

Review: The Caves of Steel

The Caves of Steel The Caves of Steel by Isaac Asimov
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Book two of the Robot series, and already things start to get interesting. Unfortunately, I can make no comments whatsoever without giving away plotlines, except to say that this is the kind of mystery novel where there is no deus ex machina (...or is there?) and the reader will be able to play along as detective to try and find the the perpetrator along with the main character.

However, there is much to say -- so if you have not yet read the Caves of Steel, please stop reading this review here.

Daneel Olivaw makes his debut appearance in this novel, and it sets the course for all his future adventures. You can already start to see the path that Deneel will be taking during the course of his life by seeing his childhood years, even though the author, Asimov, has technically yet to decide what lies in his future timeline. I'm not sure if the hints in this novel which telegraph the future are accidental in nature or added after the fact by Asimov when he did the reprinting of this novel, but either way, this book feels as though it really is the first step in the entirety of the Robot/Empire/Foundation series.

Asimov may not be the best writer, but he has some extremely interesting ideas, and this book is where they really start to come together for him.

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