Nemesis

Rating:
Summary: Based on one of the worst concepts in his "Robots" series...
Review: ...Nietzsche's "ubermenschen" (master race) complex. The inhabitants of space habitat Rotor, like the Spacers from Asimov's "Robots" series, are more highly-evolved than the lowlifes here on Earth. Which is why they don't live in this lousy sinkhole anymore. It seems that Earthlings 700 years from now personify that old song by War; "The World Is a Ghetto". The problem is that some 21st Century readers come from my trailer trash demographic and don't respond well to elitism. Now the Rotorians have spotted a dwarf star that's on its way to a collision with Earth, and you can tell by the way the act that they consider their discovery as involving a dilemma. Is this old ball of mud--known during the primieval 20th Century as the Big Blue Marble--worth saving? So they spend most of the book in windy philosophizing over it. Among the worst is the teenage Marlene, daughter of the astronomer who made the discovery, whose great obsession is that she thinks her talents as an instinctive behavioralist is an ability to read people's minds. Were it not for the fact that she's so arrogant about it, she might grow up to be a pretty decent shrink. She reminds me of the supporting character Mary Anne, daughter of Conroy's "The Great Santini", whose mother warns her that her intellect, too frequently expressed, makes her come across a know-it-all. If only Marlene's mom would tell her that! Don't get me wrong--a bit of philosophy is great in a sci-fi book or it's nothing but pulp space opera. The book then becomes more about people than rocket ships and rises above junior high level to reach us grownups. Asimov proves that in his other works. But when you let that aspect take over, as Asimov does here, and combine it with smug elitism, you end up with a yarn that's not only tedious--it's annoying.

Rating:
Summary: Good, standard, Asimov fare
Review: Asimov begins Nemesis with a note to the effect that this isn't part of the Foundation, Empire, or Robots series, but he might at some point write a novel to try and join them. But as readers of those series will tell you, he's going to have a tough job marrying a story about how a group of arrogant but highly intelligent Earth-hating humans leave the Solar System in the early part of the third millennium to colonize new worlds with, say, the Robots series, which concerns a bunch of colonized worlds inhabited by Earth-hating highly intelligent humans at the end of the third millennium.

Ok, I'm being a smartarse, but then, when discussing Asimov, that almost seems appropriate. Asimov was asked by his editor to write something that wasn't "A Foundation novel, or a Robot novel, or an Empire novel", and he, technically, did as she wished, but I doubt many Robots/Empire/Foundation fans will care much, and will, as I did, wallow in another masterful fantasy, which stands on its own in its own right, but will immediately be recognizable to fans of the great Robots/Foundation universe nonetheless.

Asimov describes a world 200-300 years from now, where the first steps towards extra-terrestrial habitation are being made. One colony decides to make a jump to a nearby hither-to undiscovered star, only to discover that the star is likely to put Earth in peril. All of which would lead to a simple resolution if only the colonists didn't hate Earthmen, and the people of Earth didn't hate the colonists.

Enter Marlene, a highly intelligent 15 year old colonist who is, by far, probably the best character I've seen Asimov paint. Can she save Earth? Does she want to?

To go into more detail would probably spoil the plot, but Asimov builds a convincing second solar system with an unfamiliar and original arrangement of planets and worlds, and as usual Asimov doesn't ever feel tempted to spoil the science for the plot, instead working it in and making the beauty of worlds light-years away real and solid. Indeed, in this respect it does differ from the other R/E/F novels: There's a "real" solar system here, not some copy of our own, but one where Asimov has clearly done the calculations and could probably have told you the position of each asteroid in the system if only you'd asked him.

As always, human failings come to the surface, and Asimov shows passionate concern about human prejudice, pride, and hatred.

The novel has faults: it does not exactly grab the reader by the throat, feels too long, and too much of it has been done before. Indeed, towards the end Nemesis begins to feel like a low-budget Star Trek episode. If Asimov had shown his usual tendencies towards cardboard characterization, this might have been not much better.

Fortunately, Nemesis is better: It is easily read, the characters are often wonderful, the science is at once both believable and interesting, and even Asimov's trademark conversations have a different degree of humour to them. It's certainly worth putting up with the lacking-something ending for what is otherwise a great read.

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful. A great read for multiple reasons.
Review: Having just finished Nemesis, I was really surprised by the disparity of reader reviews and it's for that reason that I felt compelled to add my own -- Just in case I might have a chance at swaying the balance. Admittedly I have not read all of the other Asimov stories as many of the other reviewers have, but I do read a huge variety of genres and always appreciate a good story, intelligent dialog, suspenseful plotlines, and admirable character development. This book certainly had all of those elements and more.

I found the plotline to be fascinating -- without being over-the-top or too fantastical. There was a believable problem and situation to overcome, and a very fascinating race to resolve it. At the same time, there are opposing forces at play, both man-made and otherwise, which create the feeling of underlying suspense and a barely discernable sense of urgency -- though not enough to be distracting. I realized for the final third of the book that I had become extremely impatient (in a tapping-my-foot kind of way). Not at all because I found the book tiresome or too long as others have suggested, but simply because I could not wait to find out how everything would eventually come together.

I was not disappointed in the least.

I found the characters to be fascinating. I've noticed that other reviewers found them to be flat, but I was grateful that they were subtle and very real. Again, everything was truly plausible and believable -- without being in-your-face or insultingly spelled out for you. I was sympathetic to all of the very human traits exhibited by the main characters. Of course Marlene was the best, as most of the other reviewers agreed. I suspect we all wish that we had her gift, and those of us who read and enjoy science fiction especially wish we could decipher people as easily as she does. This made her such a treasured character, someone we wish to emulate -- Which seems especially possible (and therefore easy to sympathize with) when she finds herself confounded or confused.

As contradictory as it may sound, what I liked most about the book was how complex and yet subtle it was all at the same time. The subject matter, scientific and technical elements, and the characters were all extremely complex with conflicting emotions and issues -- all very natural -- but everything was in a quiet, subtle, understated, and not in-your-face Hollywood type of way.

I found the book to be extremely well-written, peaceful, moving, and extremely gratifying -- from the dialog, to the descriptions of landscapes and space, and to the emotional depth of the characters. I look forward to reading the rest of Asimov's works -- and promise to update my review afterwards if I've changed my view. In the meantime, I certainly don't expect to, and from a very avid reader's point of view -- I would rate this book as "extremely highly recommended".

Rating:
Summary: Good Story, Poor Ending
Review: Having Read much of the Foundation Series as well as what I feel is Asimov's most inspired work "I, Robot", I recently picked up a copy of Nemesis. At once, I found Nemesis to be very suspenseful, and I found the character development to be quite creative, though a little predictable at times. The book built more and more intensely towards a climax which sadly never came. It seemed to me that the Asimov must have been under a very tight deadline to finish this book because at the most interesting point, the entire story line simply dissolved in a matter of 4 or 5 pages with nearly nothing resolved. Needless to say, I found this work to be a little disappointing

Rating:
Summary: Very interesting in its oddity.
Review: I found this novel quite peculiar and odd. Its main idea is very thought-provocative. In this way, it is immensely interesting. I thought the "mystery" behind Erythro was brilliant. Although few, all the characters were very unique, especially Marlene (the young girl). In fact, her special abilities were very interesting; I found that idea very original. I might add that in some parts it can get drawn-out, in particular some of the long conversations, but besides that it is still "grabbing" in its overall plot. The ending is not very rounded off, sort of incomplete, although I assure you it is still good. But it does lack something to it. To any sci-fi reader, especially those that enjoy astronomy, you will love this book.

Rating:
Summary: Average
Review: I give "Nemesis" three stars for originality and suspense, but none for the writing or the characters. It is an easily readable book with a decent ending, but it's not nearly as good as some of Asimov's earlier works.

"Nemesis" is set several hundred years in the future, when small numbers of humans have moved away from the planet Earth, which is in decay, and started to live on settlements in space. Janis Pitt, the leader of one of these settlements, decides to move it to a hidden star system nearby, where he hopes to establish a Utopia and prevent any outsiders from entering. The settlement, known as Rotor, is set in orbit around a planet called Erythro. However, a plague apparently caused by sinister forces on Erythro complicates the settlers' plans. Meanwhile, back on Earth, scientists are struggling to discover the secret to faster-than-light travel so that they can find Rotor. The story starts off pretty slowly, but it becomes pretty suspenseful once the main character, a girl named Marlene, starts being pulled by mysterious forces on the planet of Erythro.

For some reason, Asimov always chooses to write about ninety-five percent of each novel in dialogue format. In "Nemesis", this style becomes annoying because all of the characters sound almost exactly the same. There's no attempt to give any of them a unique and original voice. Also, despite the fact that most of the characters are supposed to be brilliant scientists, they're all fairly stupid. They prattle on for pages before suddenly realizing facts that have been obvious to the reader for several chapters. The worst character of all is the archvillian, who's supposed to be a big evil dictator but instead comes across as more of an annoying loser.

Anyway, "Nemesis" is a decent quick read, but it doesn't have the same imagination and character development as Asimov's better works. I recommend "Foundation" and "Foundation and Empire", "Nightfall", and "Fantastic Voyage" instead.

Rating:
Summary: Asimov has done it again!!!!!!!!
Review: I have read all the foundation series Robot series and some other Asimov non related SF as well as getting a hold of the now out of print Empire series but this is definately one of the best the way the two tales of the present and past meet in the last few chapters i love it!!!!

Rating:
Summary: Great concept, lousy story
Review: I read this book about 10 years ago. Although I love the concept of the book, I found the characters flat and unengaging. The technical sci-fi stuff is very imaginative, but the characters are poorly developed with none having distinctive personalities. I still remember this book as the worst book I've ever read.

Rating:
Summary: Great concept, lousy story
Review: I read this book about 10 years ago. Although I love the concept of the book, I found the characters flat and unengaging. The technical sci-fi stuff is very imaginative, but the characters are poorly developed with none having distinctive personalities. I still remember this book as the worst book I've ever read.

Rating:
Summary: A boring novel
Review: I really love Asimov, but i didn't like this story at all. There are many superfluous dialogs and situations, The impact between the two stars, became at the end of the novel, absolutely marginal. Perhaps it dipends on the fact that this book can't be connected to the others, arrangig Asimov's future history.