Rating: 
Summary: Classic
Review: This is a real breakthru work. Written in the mid-fifties, it still stands up well. Very interesting main characters - Elijah and Daneel... it is a quick and fun read... of the hundreds of SciFi books I've read, I'd have to say that this is my favorite. The followup book The Naked Sun, is also top-notch work.
Rating: 
Summary: the ideas are grand, the story is not
Review: Set on Earth in the distant future, "The Caves of Steel" is a science fiction detective novel. It is very possible that this is the first novel of its kind, and since Asimov can easily be considered the father of modern science fiction, I tend to believe that it is. The Earth is a very different place than it is today. Overpopulation has led to colonization of other planets and now the population of the Earth, where cities are covered in domes and the idea of being out in "fresh" air is frightening, is divided into two groups: the Earthbound city dwelling citizens, and the Spacers who live in their own separate dome and are from the colonized worlds. Distrust, misunderstanding, and fear between the two groups are very common though there is very little direct communication or interaction. When a Spacer is murdered in Spacetown and the only suspects are the city dwellers, New York Detective Elijah (Lije) Bailey is asked by his supervisor to investigate. But, there is a condition given by the Spacer government: the detective will be given a partner: R. Daneel Olivaw. The R in this instance stands for Robot. Bailey, like many earthlings, has an innate prejudice against Robots but is willing to work with R Daneel because that is his job and he follows orders.
With his job on the line and not truly knowing where or how to begin, Lije Bailey begins his investigation into the murder. He has to deal with his own prejudice as well as that of nearly every other human in the City, all the while figuring out how to solve the case himself but still work with his robot partner. While the detective story here is the main story, what is most interesting is the vision of the future imagined by Isaac Asimov, how robots could be created so lifelike and what sort of prejudice and fear that could cause. The story itself is kind of weak and not all that compelling. What makes "The Caves of Steel" so interesting is the ideas. The ideas about robots, the future, colonization, prejudice, and humanity are what allows this book to be better than just the story itself. I wanted to know more about everything else but the story, but the everything else kept me reading. Writing in the 1950's, Isaac Asimov seems to be a little off on some of his visions of the future, but as a whole this is an interesting novel. I still prefer "I, Robot" as it examines individual aspects of the evolution of robotics, but both are good novels to read. It may just seem a bit simple to today's reader, though.
-Joe Sherry
Rating: 
Summary: scifi mystery, a major building block in his future history
Review: This is one of the seminal novels in Asimov's massive, disorganized (in my view), and self-contadictory history of the future. It all started with the Foundation Trilogy, which is one of the greatest works of the golden age of scifi, but it continued far too long, perhaps in part to the brute necessity of making a living as a writer. Asimov had a massive ego and wrote too much too fast, but when he is good, he is very good.
This book pales in comparison to the FTrilogy, but it is OK. Good story, seminal characters that re-appear later and then much later. If you are an Asimov devotee, this is a must read, second only to FTrilogy. But if you are a hard scifi fan, seeking great scifi, this is mediocre at best.
Tepidly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Start of a long friendship.
Review: The late Isaac Asimov is one of my all-time sci-fi writers. He is of the old "hard sci-fi" school that populated the `50s.
I've read this novel when I was a teenager in the mythical Argentinean sci-fi magazine "Más Allá". It was published serialized in #12, 13 & 14, I waited eagerly the first week of every month to buy it. I've treasured my collection for more than 40 years. Time and again I reread the most outstanding novels and short stories kept there as in a time shell.
This story is the first step of a long friendship between the earthling New York detective Elijah Baley and the robot detective R. Daneel Olivaw.
Situated in a far future Earth, Humankind has divided in Spacers who dwell scattered in fifty worlds and Earthlings that remain in the Mother World, inhabiting overcrowded underground cities. Both groups distrust and despise the other.
An important Spacer is murdered and the interworld situation is critical. Elijah is put in charge of the investigation, but the Spacers force him to take R. Daneel as his partner.
Earthlings had deep rooted prejudices against robots and Baley is not an exception. On this background Asimov construct a many layered novel. At one level is a detective's story at another one a study on alien cultures interacting. In another level is a classical two police partners trying to solve a crime and getting around their differences (as in "48 hours" or "Mortal Weapon").
In a classical Asimovan way, each chapter introduces new elements and characters to the action until at last everything squares to a satisfactory ending.
Both partners will continue their adventures and mystery solving in "The Naked Sun" and "Robots of Dawn". R. Daneel will resurface at the closing volumes of the "Foundation" saga.
Enjoy one of Asimov's earlier major works!
Reviewed by Max Yofre.
Rating:
Summary: Classic
Review: This is a real breakthru work. Written in the mid-fifties, it still stands up well. Very interesting main characters - Elijah and Daneel... it is a quick and fun read... of the hundreds of SciFi books I've read, I'd have to say that this is my favorite. The followup book The Naked Sun, is also top-notch work.
Rating:
Summary: NOT HIS BEST WORK
Review: This is my second Asimov novel. I hope this is not his best work because it was somewhat lame as sci-fi and as a mystery. As a mystery, a third grader should be able to figure out "who done it" by the end of the first chapter. I was drawn to the book as sci-fi having no idea what to expect. I was attracted by a futuristic police detective being paired with a robot that looked like the man who was murdered.You don't have to know much about police work to determine that Asimov knew nothing about police work. Apparently, he was under the impression that a police officer points a gun at someone and barks orders to get what he wants. There is no clear purpose or method to what Lije Baley is investigating. The science of today was clearly beyond Asimov's imagination of the 1950's. He's apocalyptic description of an overpopulated earth of 8 billion people was way off and his predictions of space exploration, colonization, and the state of robotics was way off. But still, this was a compelling book and a good read. Though some of the logic was fuzzy and I would expect more from a robot, this book was entertaining and I will read the other robot novels.
Rating:
Summary: Robots Rule
Review: This was a delightful book and it, along with The Naked Sun, are good reads today, and splendid examples of the beginning of modern science fiction. Asimov is good--the story will ring as true today as it did decades ago when it was written. I bought them not long ago, having read that they were his first Robot novels, and I loved them.
Rating:
Summary: Thrilling Detective Story
Review: In the future of Asimov's Caves of Steel, human society has been spit in two. On the Outer Worlds, 50 planets that had been colonized by humans, populations are low and humans work hand-in-hand with robots. On Earth, the population has exploded out of control, and the humans live in giant city-hives (the Caves of Steel mentioned in the title), and they never venture into the open air. They live in a tightly controlled socialist system and most humans detest robots as job-stealers. Elijah Baley, a police detective, gets a call from the New York City police commissioner. A Spacer, as the inhabitants of the Outer Worlds are known, has been murdered by an Earthman. If the crime isn't solved, then there will be terrible diplomatic problems for Earth which may even lead to the invasion of Earth by the Spacers. To help him out, he is given a Spacer partner who also happens to be an advanced robot. Can he get along with his partner? Can he avert the destruction of human society on Earth? This is a very easy read. It's easy to see why Asimov is considered to be one of the best science fiction writers of all times. He keeps the plot twisting and surprises you in the end. Recently, we've been bombarded with the image of robots as out-of-control menaces. It's refreshing to see a robot as a true helper and friend fo mankind. I would like to see more emphasis on this type of robot in the future of science fiction. It give us more to think about when the danger in a story comes from human attitudes rather than from blood-thirsty robots. You really have to think about how you would react if you were placed in a similar situation. I'm really looking forward to reading the next book in this series.
Rating:
Summary: Great Introduction to Asimov's vision
Review: The only reason I've rated this book only four stars is because some of Asimov's later books in the same series, written later in his career (Naked Sun, Robots of Dawn) get even better. However, this is where you need to begin--don't jump ahead. This is a thought-provoking and entertaining read in its own right. Asimov combines the mystery genre and many of his futurist ideas together in this series. You'll enter a world where people live underground because there isn't enough living space, and where many people have grown resentful of robots that are taking over jobs that humans once held. Not only do you get to experience a great mystery-adventure, but you're also exploring the social consequences of near-human robots and the continued urbanization of the Earth. Daneel Olivaw, the robot partner to detective Elijah Baley, is one of the most memorable characters in the field of speculative fiction. This is the best place to start reading Asimov. If you enjoy this, you will absolutely love the sequels. After reading the Robots books, try the Foundation series, which starts slower but gets very good--and ultimately rewards readers of the Robot books by tieing it all together.
Rating:
Summary: science fiction detective mystery [no spoilers]
Review: "The Caves of Steel" is a wonderful beginning to an awesome science fiction series involving Elijah Baley and R. Daneel Olivaw. This is the story of an agoraphobic (afraid of open places) plainclothes cop Elijah Baley, accustomed to living inside the large cities of future Earth, teaming up with technological masterpiece R. Daneel Olivaw to solve a murder in the nearby Spacer community. Daneel, a relatively new creation, learns about human behavior from his robot prejudice partner and restricted in his behavior by what is known as the Laws of Robotics. People of earth, also agoraphobic, will challenge the solution for the case from many angles because of their social limitations. The murder case is exciting to follow especially given the interaction between Elijah and Daneel. Thank you.
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