Rating: 
Summary: Not as good as the short story, but still worth a read.
Review: This book expands the original short story "Nightfall" written by Asimov many years ago. Just about every science fiction aficionado agrees that the original story, based on an Emerson quotation, is one of the classics of the genre. The basic premise is a superb leap of the imagination. Picture a planet which is part of a six-sun system. The respective orbits of the planet and the six suns are so defined, that one or more of the suns is always in the sky over any part of the planet. As a result, the people of the planet have only the faintest conception of what the absence of light i.e. darkness can be. With no dark night sky, they have no idea of other stars in the universe (forget radio astronomy as an inconvenient abstraction!). As far as they know, they are the masters of the universe. Now picture an unexpected total eclipse, at a time when only one sun is in the sky: a strange and frightening darkness covers the land, and the night sky now reveals millions of stars looking down on the stunned populace. How does a society deal with so drastic a blow to its fundamental picture of itself? In sheer imagination, in boldness, in vision, this story has few equals. The skillful blending of a religious doomsday cult and its interweave with a psychologist and baffled yet striving physical scientists brings out the roles of superstition and rationalism in society. I still remember the awe that gripped me when I first read this story more than a decade ago. This collaborative book builds upon the story and introduces some interesting ideas. The use of archaeology to derive the cyclical history of the plant is both imaginative and educative. The longer book format also allows the author to develop the characters more fully than in the short story. The weakness of the book however is the ending; to be fair, the cataclysmic end portrayed in the short story cannot possibly be improved upon. All the book does is stretch out the period of rebirth, adding interesting human vignettes along the way. I withhold one star for this reason. Do not miss this book, but do try to read the short story of the same name that started it all.
Rating:
Summary: A solid work of science fiction
Review: This book reads like a much older story than it really is, first seeing publication in 1990, just a few years before Asimov's death. Perhaps that's because it is based on a much older short story of Asimov's, perhaps that's because his collaborator, Robert Silverberg, really managed to capture the Master's old-fashioned writing style. No matter -- none of this should be construed as a criticism of the book -- no, instead, take it as praise.The lonely planet Kalgash roams the heavens in orbit around six suns, resulting in the odd situation of perpetual daylight all over the globe. No one on Kalgash has ever seen nightfall, even has any concept of what "night" is, and darkness, one of the most primal fears of even our own half-and-half world, is enough to drive a person mad if exposed to it for too long. Slowly, groups of scientists across Kalgash begin to conclude, through evidence both anthropological, mathematical and astronomical, that Kalgash has a satellite of its own that it never sees, and that satellite lines up just properly with the suns every 2049 years to create a total eclipse, plunging the planet into darkness for hours. The cataclysm will most certainly be enough to drive everyone mad, and the world as they know it will end. The book is kind of hard to classify -- not a thriller, not a mystery, not really hard science fiction and not completely a post-apocalyptic tale, but it's still very good. Silverberg assimilates Asimov's style well and you can't tell that you're reading the work of two separate authors, which to me is the mark of a successful collaboration. The book does get a bit tiresome at points as characters begin to "hypothetically" debate how life would evolve on some impossible world that was in darkness a whole half of its day, but those segments fortunately never last very long and don't detract too much from the story itself. All in all, a good, solid sci-fi tale that Asimov readers will most certainly enjoy.
Rating: 
Summary: Good stuff
Review: Like all of Asimov's better works (because not all of his works are all that great), this is both entertaining and insightful. I greatly enjoyed it.
Rating: 
Summary: German students on Nightfall
Review: "Darkness is more than most of us can handle, and that's never going to change so long as we've got a sun left burning in the sky." This sentence expresses the main theme of the book Nightfall written by Asimov and Silverberg in 1988. The story takes place in an alien world named Kalgash, which has a lot of parallels to our planet earth. On Kalgash, scientists and religious fanatics unite to predict an eclipse and total darkness - something that is unthinkable because the six suns of Kalgash constantly illuminate all corners of the known world. For the reader it's easy to imagine how things work on this world, because the book is written in such a real way. Besides, it is thrilling to see how different scientists come together to one conclusion and one destiny. Although Story and characters are created well and the text can be read easily the book is quite predictable and a little lengthy. Altogether the book is recommendable to all science fiction fans and those who like thrilling stories.
Rating:
Summary: German students on Nightfall
Review: "Darkness is more than most of us can handle, and that's never going to change so long as we've got a sun left burning in the sky." This sentence expresses the main theme of the book Nightfall written by Asimov and Silverberg in 1988. The story takes place in an alien world named Kalgash, which has a lot of parallels to our planet earth. On Kalgash, scientists and religious fanatics unite to predict an eclipse and total darkness - something that is unthinkable because the six suns of Kalgash constantly illuminate all corners of the known world. For the reader it's easy to imagine how things work on this world, because the book is written in such a real way. Besides, it is thrilling to see how different scientists come together to one conclusion and one destiny. Although Story and characters are created well and the text can be read easily the book is quite predictable and a little lengthy. Altogether the book is recommendable to all science fiction fans and those who like thrilling stories.
Rating:
Summary: Glorious
Review: Another superb work by the Grand Master of the genre, co-written by another great author, namely Robert "Where Silverberg goes today Sci-Fi goes tomorrow" Silverberg. An ingenius plot, with seemingly unmatched detail. A six-sun world, where not a second is without the glow of light from at least one of the gleaming suns. Except one day where in a matter of hours the vail of darkness envelops the world of these sun-shoned creatures. Struck by sudden madness they tear their world apart, dooming civilization. The depth of thought and vision needed to contribute to the world of litterature in the way this book has done, is what makes Asimov the GRAND Master of Science Fiction. I was grasped by it when I read it the first time and I have enjoyed every single moment the other five times I've read it! Intense excitement and suspense makes it a worthy equal to "Nightfall": The short story, not to mention many other great works by this and the other masters of the genre.
Rating: 
Summary: Diluted Asimov
Review: I love to read. I've loved reading science fiction for 30+ years. I like Asimov (very much). This book is mind-numbing garbage. By page 10 it was obvious where the various plot threads were headed. By page 100 the threads were wandering and the characters babbling aimlessly. With a yell, I threw the book across the room in disgust (something I NEVER do because I treat my books as close friends) and have not touched it since. I really should have known better. About 10 years ago I swore off all science fiction that was "co-authored". I read science fiction, not only because of the unimaginable and inventive concepts, but primarily because of the author's style. In my mind, the author's style is their personality in print. You can read any of their books, no matter what the theme or subject, and it's like meeting an old friend. In the co-authored books that I have attempted reading in the past, the imprint of either author is muddled. Style is virtually non existent or erratic. If all I want is concepts, plot ideas, and situations I'll read Cliff Notes. The premise of this book is so very much Asimov (I will definitely read the short story). The expansion of the premise is tedious, wordy, and throws your mind into a stupor. This book is totally devoid of any of the wry humor, the quirks of human nature and the clever wit that I associate with Isaac Asimov. No Asimov is better than watered down, faux Asimov.
Rating:
Summary: From the Dust
Review: To start with, I thought the original 1941 short story was simply fascinating. People experiencing a world-wide event that had never occurred before in their entire history, trying to prepare for it and being horrified as it actually occurs. The end is an absolutely masterful span of writing, ever-increasing suspense and dark madness as a mob descends, ending so abruptly, it's almost certainly the reason the story is so popular.
This novel includes that short story as most of the middle third of the book, and provides an interesting contrast between novels and short stories in general. This has been expanded and a whole backstory and extension developed. Much of it seems to be the ideas that went into the original story, finally put on paper and explored more thoroughly.
The characters are what drive this story, much more than in the original. The pacing is slow and drawn out, letting them discover, ponder, agonize, reflect, and discuss. Much of the mundane could have been left out, though it helps to drive home a sense of how un-alien the people are, and the prose could have been tightened up. Still, the only truly jarring parts were the long flashbacks stitched into the beginning of the middle.
Although the plot has a definite "fluffed-out" feel, the masterful writing style of Asimov, especially combined with Silverberg, always keeps it from becoming stale. He also manages to paint a very convincing picture of the new post-apocalyptic world, full of fire and distrust and petty warlords and above all, ever-increasing despair and loss. By the end, the heros' failure is absolute, and even the twist (but not so surprising) ending can't eliminate the sense that the survivors are doomed. That kind of emotional response is rare in science fiction.
I kind of liked it. I don't think it's nearly as rereadable as the short story, because nearly all of the forward motion hinges on the original section, but the character interaction and explorations of the old culture and the new provide a passtime for an afternoon.
Rating:
Summary: A good story, but why fix it?
Review: _Nightfall_, the book, is "Nightfall", the Asimovian short story, padded into a novel by Robert Silverberg. I enjoyed the original story very much, and apreciated Silverber's adaptation of _The_Ugly_Little_Boy_, but in this case, I think that Silverberg should have left well enough alone. His additions to the story include a huge novelette that could have been a sequel to "Nightfall", "Daybreak." Ugh. This section feels forced, like a movie that's trying desperately to have a happy ending, so it just keeps going until something less depressing happens. It is unneccessary, and detracts from the rest of the storyline as originally intended. In summary, I can't see why this version is any improvement on Asimov's original, and I recommend that original instead of this superfluous adaptation.
Rating:
Summary: Nightfall, a page turner
Review: Nightfall is a extrememly interesting book with amazing concepts. The storyline and plot keeps your eyes glued to the words, and you don't want to stop turning the pages until the climax. The book itself was written by both two of the most brilliant science fiction writers. Nightfall was only a short story by Isaac Asimov until he teamed up with Robert Silverberg. This book will pull you into the story as things turn dramatic. I read this in a matter of days and for you Sci-fi fans, you will be thinking about this book long after you read it.
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