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CURRENTS OF SPACE, THE

CURRENTS OF SPACE, THE

List Price: $5.99
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Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Complex and Suspensful Plot
Review: A suspensful plot. Considering it was written in the 50's it makes Asimov out have been a great visionary of the future. A great Asimov book for any Sci- Fi reader. Good for anybody else as well.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great world building and social commentary
Review: Asimov draws many parallels with history hear on Earth. The planet Florinia is the old south with kyrt as its cotton and the natives as African slaves. Trantor is the mighty expanding Roman Empire. The planet Sarth (sp?)is Europe and America consuming the produce of the undeveloped third world (Florinia). Asimov also includes technical detail that enhances the story's realism. Its sharply drawn characters, beautiful imagery, social commentary and interesting plot make it Asimov's best book.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: ¿porqué se descontinuan las obras maestras?
Review: Han sido muchos los años que he intentado encontrar la saga del imperio (pertenenciente a las fundaciones) pero es casi imposible encontrarlas. Me jacto de haber revisado cada librería en internet y no he encontrado un solo título de ellos.

Es acaso que las librerías no se dan cuenta de la importancia de Asimov dentro de la literatura mundial? bajo que criterio son catalogados los títulos a imprimir?

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Best of the Empire and Robot novels
Review: Having read all of Asimov's early works, it's fair to say that this is the best of the crop of the Empire novels, and is better than all the Robot novels as well. It's not quite up to the Foundation stories, hence the rating of 4 stars.

The plot is interesting, and has aged well. There is not very much that makes you snicker in the light of current scientific knowledge. He has a lot of characters for a 200 page book, but it is never confusing; they are individuals and it's easy to keep them separated in your mind. The story draws you in and keeps you interested from beginning to end.

Asimov had the tendency to throw too many cliffhangers/revelations that didn't go anywhere in his early novels (as compared to, say, Nightfall), and it feels like he's cheaply manipulating the reader. This book, while containing some of these events, are far more logical and less contrived than in the other Empire and Robot novels. This makes it a far more enjoyable read.

It is a shame that these books are out of print. I think the fact that 14 people have written reviews of this book points to the fact that there is still a following for Asimov out there, and maybe the publishers should print another edition of these early books, even in a single volume (as each Empire book is only 200 pages or so).

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Best of the Empire and Robot novels
Review: Having read all of Asimov's early works, it's fair to say that this is the best of the crop of the Empire novels, and is better than all the Robot novels as well. It's not quite up to the Foundation stories, hence the rating of 4 stars.

The plot is interesting, and has aged well. There is not very much that makes you snicker in the light of current scientific knowledge. He has a lot of characters for a 200 page book, but it is never confusing; they are individuals and it's easy to keep them separated in your mind. The story draws you in and keeps you interested from beginning to end.

Asimov had the tendency to throw too many cliffhangers/revelations that didn't go anywhere in his early novels (as compared to, say, Nightfall), and it feels like he's cheaply manipulating the reader. This book, while containing some of these events, are far more logical and less contrived than in the other Empire and Robot novels. This makes it a far more enjoyable read.

It is a shame that these books are out of print. I think the fact that 14 people have written reviews of this book points to the fact that there is still a following for Asimov out there, and maybe the publishers should print another edition of these early books, even in a single volume (as each Empire book is only 200 pages or so).

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The best Asimov I've read so far!
Review: I just finished this book a couple nights ago. I've also read all four Robot novels and the first Empire book Stars Like Dust. I have to say that out of those books, The Currents of Space drew me in the most and really delivered!

The Trantorian Empire is rapidly approaching its full conquest of the galaxy. However, the wealthy planet Sark is one of the relatively few major obstacles remaining to the Trantorians in their mission. Sark is independent and important to the galaxy for its sale of the extremely valuable substance known as kyrt. Kyrt is similar in some ways to cotton but vastly superior in other respects, and it's only available from Sark.

However, Sark doesn't produce the kyrt itself. For some unknown reason, kyrt grows *only* on the nearby planet of Florina. Sark basically uses the Florinian natives as cheap slave labor to harvest and process the kyrt. No one has been able to get kyrt to grow elsewhere as anything but plain cotton. Thus, Sark has become wealthy and powerful. In addition, though Trantor could easily subdue Sark militarily, it would face the wrath of the rest of the galaxy for disrupting the supply of kyrt. Naturally, Sark depends entirely on its exploitation of Florina for its wealth.

Now enter a man who knows that Florina is doomed and that the immensely important kyrt production may be in jeopardy. This leads to a fantastic tale of political intrigue, murder, and sci-fi that somehow seems to have a lot more substance than the 200 pages it takes up. Read it!

If you can get it, that is. All three Empire novels are out of print. I suggest trying online auctions or used book stores.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: An ending worthy of Agatha Christie
Review: I recently acquired a copy of this classic and I was gladly surprised. The book takes place (like most of Asimov's universe) on a extremely distant future. It's been so long that people don't even remember that Earth was the original homeworld of humankind. Thousands upon thousands of star sistems have been settled for millenia, with myriad kingdoms and confederacies. From the planet Trantor a colosal empire has been growing for the past five hundred years from it's location near the galactic center and now controls over half the worlds in the galaxy, with plans to get their hands on the rest, becoming rulers of all humanity.

But one thorn on their galactic side is the planet Sark, for they control the only source of the miraculous (and fabulously expensive) fabric called kyrst, on the planet Florina, wich the sarkites rule with an iron hand and keeping the population very ignorant. Trantor can easily take both planets militarily, but such a move would terrible political repercutions, because it could convince the rest of the galaxy not under their control (whose nobilities and upper classes are crazy about kyrst) to unite against them. But on the other hand they don't like to have to put up with the sarkites arrogance.

It is in this complicated settup that we encounter our hero, a man who hasd his brain almost fried and doesn't remember anithing about himself, but posses a secret that could blow the entire galaxy wide open, with the future of Florina and tha galaxy in the balance. Trying to put the puzzle together will be almost imposible and in the end you will never guess who the guilty one is. Asimov created a story that will never age and will be fun to readers today as it was on those days. I strongly recomend it to anyone who is able to find it. A pity that it's out of print.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A fantastic and complex sci - fi
Review: I think this book should be read by all sci -fi readers everywhere. The best in the Galctic Empire series and in all of Asimov's books. This a fantastic book for both children and adults with a suspensful, but fantastic plot, and a surprising conclusion.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Space Opera at its best
Review: It is really an enormous tragedy that so many of Isaac Asimov's greatest Science Fiction works remain out of print. The three 'Empire' novels by Asimov are a great example. All three books are wonderfully written and fill the gap between The Robot novels and the Foundation series beautifully. These novels are also a glimpse at the state of science in the fifties. If you are an Asimov fan and see any of the Empire novels available for loan or purchase please do so. You will not be sorry. To clear up some confusion on the part of some, the reason these novels are called 'Empire' novels is because they take place just before the Empire began, during its infancy and at its peak. Very much fun indeed.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Space adventure/mystery as only Dr. A can deliver...
Review: Of course this is science fiction and quite notable science fiction at that. But in the hands of Isaac Asimov, it's also a mystery although not in the style of the first three robot novels. Somebody used a psychic probe on an Earthman, wiping out his memory, and dumped him in a small village on the planet, Florina. The woman who takes charge of him and the village's townsman eventually team up as the man begins regaining memory, and all become embroiled in political machinations. We're introduced to the planet Trantor, the center of the Galactic Empire.

While this is the last of the Empire trilogy written by Asimov, it's the earliest in the fictional time sequence, occuring in an era much later than that era covered in the Robot novels.

This is an engaging, tightly written novel with twists which will keep the reader involved.


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