Nightfall

Rating:
Summary: Call me sisyphus....
Review: Standard fair for asimov as he got older in that there is an excellent idea with an execution written for science-simpletons that was somewhat tedious.

Also standard fare for Robert Silverburg who, along with his highly obnoxious pseudointellectual fans, manages to be singularly pretentious to a degree I never imagined possible; he is the personification of arrogance with no justification in my admittedly not so humble opinion.

Read a real book on science if you want something truly interesting, but if you are an obnoxious Silverberg fan or if you simply must read every asimov book then go ahead.

Rating:
Summary: Truly Creative Idea, Well-Executed
Review: Nightfall is a novel about what would happen to a people who have never experienced night once the sun goes down. Asimov came up with the idea of a planet in a 5 sun system. There are almost always 2 or 3 suns in the sky. On rare occasions, there is one sun in the sky, but never are there 0 sun in the sky. However, unbeknownst to the inhabitants of the planet (since it is never night and they do not see stars), the solar system also contains another planet the rotation of which causes an eclipse once in a great while. The eclipse just happens to always occur on a day in which only one sun in the sky. Therefore, during the eclipse, the planet experiences night.

Asimov wrote a short story about this planet and Silverberg and Asimov extended it to a full-length novel. I loved the novel and later found the short story and thought that was extremely well-done too.

In the novel, a group of scientists discover that the eclipse and the nightfall are imminent just at the same time as archeologists discover that societies have risen and fallen on the planet at regular intervals. The only other people who believe night is coming are the priests of a religion with whom the scientists do not get along. Thus, society is unprepared for nightfall despite the warnings of the scientists and the priests. Devastation follows during night as well as during the eternal day following the night.

Asimov and Silverberg do a compelling job setting up the discovery that night is coming. Their description of the actual eclipse and the reaction to it is truly fantastic. I also enjoyed (although a little bit less so) the description of the shambles of society after the day dawned again and, again, a little bit less, the rest of the story, although the characters have been written so well by this point that you really care what happens to them. The end could have been handled a lot better. The book ends abruptly, and, I think, in an unlikely way.

However, the ending is nothing that should stop you from reading this extremely well-done book about a truly creative idea.

Rating:
Summary: A delightful jaunt into the short and sweet
Review: Like Fahrenheit 451, Asimov tells a very believable story about a people coming into knowledge -- but with terrible consequences. Unlike Fahrenheit 451, however, Asimov tells not of the continuous evolution of a people, but of a cyclic rise and downfall. Or, rather, Nightfall.

Kalgash is an Earth-like planet in all but one respect: it is surrounded by six suns which in turn provide illumination so that the planet is never in darkness. Most of the time there are at least three suns in sky; but on extraordinary days there can be as many as five. The residents know darkness only as a fearful presence that lurks in caves, and they never subject themselves to it, even sleeping with a sort of nightlight during the duskiest parts of the day.

However, evidence exists that every 2049 years there is a total eclipse, enshrouding every part of the planet in complete darkness for several hours. This evidence is murky and incomplete, having just been turned up by an archaeologist and held by religious fanatics since the last eclipse. However, records indicate that the time of the eclipse approaches within the year, and astronomers begin to see the signs that there is something else lurking in their sunny universe that they had been previously unaware of, which spells mankind's insanity and destruction.

Rating:
Summary: Awesome Sci-Fi Book...
Review: This book is definitly movie-material...or at least that of a sci-fi mini series. I loved this book in its entirety. My father originally had picked it up on a sale for $5. Thats pretty good for a hard cover book. I'm glad he did, as I loved it. You just have to read for yourself on this one. Great building up for the climax and then the sometimes violent occurances in the downfall thereafter.

Rating:
Summary: Among the Best SF novels ever written
Review: Nightfall, by Isaac Asimov and Robert Silverberg, is set on a planet that has six suns and perpetual daylight. The plot revolves around an unlikely event: an eclipse that shrouds the world in darkness for several hours. The main characters in the story are all scientists, and they are able to predict the arrival of the eclipse, but not its results. Because people on this world have lived with sunlight for their entire lives, the darkness inflicts severe psychological trauma on the population. The book is divided into thirds, with the first section showing the discovery of the eclipse, the second section is set on the night of the eclipse, and the third shows what happens afterwards.

This is a fairly short novel, just over 300 pages, and the authors' writing is quite good. I think that Asimov does a better job with the characters and dialogue in Nightfall than he did in most of his other novels. Also, there isn't much time wasted on long descriptions or on lecturing about the novel's themes, so the novel keeps moving at a good pace. I would have liked it if a little less time was dedicated to the character's personal lives, especially since some of their actions during and after the eclipse seem a little bit absurd. Overall, the book's strongest component is the originality of the concept. The idea of a world where darkness is a catastrophe is so different from the repetitive and predictable plots of so many other SF novels that I found Nightfall hard to put down, even when reading it for the second time.

Some people have complained that the authors' attitude towards religion is insulting, but I disagree. I don't think that they intended to bash all religions. They were, rather criticizing fanatiscism and cult-like behavior. And while some people might not agree with Asimov's rigid insistance on following science and logic at all costs, that shouldn't prevent anyone from enjoying the book as a good work of science fiction.

Rating:
Summary: Good premise spoiled by shoddy writing
Review: What prevents me from giving this book two stars is the fascinating idea behind it. The authors ask us to imagine a planet constantly lit up by six suns. Imagine then the turmoil that the inhabitants of this planet would face if they encounter even a few hours of darkness.

I picked up "Nightfall" because of this central premise, and the first section (describing the findings and attitudes of four scientists and a religious cult towards the coming disaster) was quite interesting. However, things went steeply downhill from the second section. The characters went flat before they could be sufficiently developed. And the continued demonisation of the cult (called the Apostles of Flame) was hard to understand given that they were the first to sound the alarm over the impending Darkness.

It is easy to see that the Apostles of Flame are a thinly veiled metanym for all religion, and the authors (along with the lead characters) relentlessly attack it as a hoax, even when clues to the contrary start arising in the plot. We are not given a chance to get a balancing view from any other character or the tiresome omniscient narrator. For a refreshing contrast, take a look at the beautiful myths constructed by Ursula K. Le Guin in "The Left Hand of Darkness" as a guide to her planet's belief system.

The comparison with Le Guin arises naturally because she is known for writing books that present us with an intimate look at a world in some fundamental way different from ours: androgynous in "The Left Hand of Darkness" and anarchic in "The Dispossessed". I was hoping that, in presenting to us a world that is perpetually flooded with light, Asimov and Silverberg would do an equally good job. I must say that I was disappointed.

Rating:
Summary: I am looking for the short story "Nightfall"
Review: I heard about the short story "Nightfall" about a year ago, and am extremely excited to read it, but I cannot seem to find the short story anywhere. Could someone please tell me where it is located? (Like in a collection of short stories or another collection of his works?) It would be extremely helpful to me, and I would be eternally thankful to you. If you do know of a collection of stories where I can find "Nightfall," please leave another review with the name of the publication it can be found in and the author of that publication and I will come and read it later. Thank you so much.

Rating:
Summary: Nightfall
Review: Quite simply one of the best thought provoking condemnations of religion I have read.

Rating:
Summary: "Nightfall" illuminates the frailties of the human condition
Review: On a distant planet, a world illuminated by multiple suns basks peacefully in continuous, nurturing light. The society is human, and the technology is similar to our own circa. 1950. When the novel begins, a new funhouse ride opens that promises a trip through a straight, level tunnel in complete darkness. Elsewhere, an archeologist makes a disturbing discovery, and a physicist runs some calculations he knows to be right, but should not be. Although the setting is alien, the characters of this world are human and their many trials and tribulations purposely mirror our own. For all its fantastic elements and unique storyline, "Nightfall" is a study of the modern human condition, with insights very much meant for the Earthborn reader.

At one point, a psychologist asks a colleague if he sleeps with a "godlight" (their equivilent of a mere night light) in the bedroom. The colleague replies "of course", and when the psychologist asks him to turn it off or remove the "godlight", it is an alien and unfathomable idea. "Nightfall" is about the fragility of the human mind, its stubborness toward accepting change, and its inability to overcome monumental change in the face of a sudden epoch thrust upon mankind's collective psyche. The novel touches upon many aspects of this, with moments of scientic and religious backlash reminiscent of Galileo, and deeper delvings into the human mind and how, even in an enlightened age, the most primitive instincts can compel the strongest actions and reactions.

Although the third act of the novel is not as tightly written, "Nightfall" remains an engrossing work of science fiction by one of the great masters of the genre, Isaac Asimov, in turn ably assisted by notable contemporary Robert Silverberg. Recommended for all science fiction fans and for any curious readers with a background/interest in psychology or sociology.

Rating:
Summary: Great Premise but the ending falls short
Review: The 300 pages of this novel are fantastic. The authors started with a brilliant idea - what would happen to a world that never saw night if the sun should set?

In the world of this novel, the world orbits six suns (luckily you never have to examine the astronomy of this, it would be ludicrous) which means a sun always shines in the sky. Because of this, the inhabitants of the world have a great fear of darkness - an amusement park ride consisting of nothing more than a boatride in darkness causes some of its riders to go insane.

When a group of scientists piece some clues together, showing that there will be a period of darkness, an eclipse on a day when only one sun crosses the sky, they try to warn society. But they fail and the world begins falling apart - so does the novel.

The tightly bound writing collapses. A brilliant beginning is followed by such a sub par ending that I cannot recommend this novel higher than two stars.