The End of Eternity

Rating:
Summary: Somewhat dated, a little over-the-top
Review: Seeing as the Eternals have access to most time periods of the future, you would think they would have better technologies than micro-film to store books and other information :) Another problem is the relationship between Harlan and Noys... one non-described roll in the sack isn't going to create the deep romantic interest we see presented in the book. I'm a huge Asimov fan, and have read almost all of his SciFi work, and this book, while not a failure, has earned my lowest rating so far.

Rating:
Summary: invites you to think
Review: That's what makes a sci-fi book/movie great!! The plot and environment are totally plausible if you project our civilization a few thousand years into the future.

This was my first Asimov book, I've also read the first three of the foundation series but this one is much better.

Rating:
Summary: The End of Eternity Works on Many Levels
Review: The End of Eternity is a remarkable novel. To begin with, it's Asimov at his best. Except for minor lags when he pauses the story to give lots of background information, it's a pageturner. It's also not only a love story, it's the only one of his novels I recall where he has a number of love scenes. Something that I thought was a mistake - the love interest Noys seemed to only be that, suddenly changes in the final pages when you realize who she really is and what she is doing. It's Asimov at his misleading best. You see what's happening through the eyes of Andrew Harlan, which means that your view of what's going on keeps changing. Then, underlying the story is a whole other level of theological meaning. I don't know if Asimov intended this or not, but essentially the novel, without ever mentioning religion, deals with the old question of why doesn't God intervene to prevent evil. The novel shows a universe in which men acting like gods are intervening constantly to make the universe a better place. Asimov shows the logical consequences, what a true horror that world would end up being.

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant!
Review: The fame of Asimov's Foundation and Robot series has tended to steal the limelight from some of his other masterpieces, chief among them, The End of Eternity, a book that is hard to find. In this book, Asimov consciously set out to explore the limits of the classic paradox of time travel that has bedeviled so many works of science fiction. As a result, this is a "bare bones" novel; no robots or empires or any other such distractions. Its strength lies in imagination. Asimov looks at our world as it has evolved, and then introduces the organization called Eternity, whose mission is to protect humanity from its own mistakes, by making deft changes in key events over time (past and future). Along the way, he has fun making digs at the unchanging fundamentals of human nature (competition, drive, love) amid centuries of changing social mores. At the heart of the book is the love story of Andrew Harlan and Noyes Lambent, but this tale is just a framework for Asimov to build on. In the final analysis, Asimov is making the point that just as a child learns to walk by repeated falls, humanity's ultimate characteristic is the Schumpeterian desire and ability to innovate through risks. If we are protected from ever making mistakes, we may avoid tragedies, but the human race itself will vegetate and die. As with many of his earlier works, the dialog can be jarring and characters often one-dimensional. For all that however, The End of Eternity ranks among Asimov's finest in the field of science fiction and makes it all the more strange why this book is so difficult to find. Do take the time to lay your hands on it; you will not be disappointed.

Rating:
Summary: The Future in Flux
Review: There once was a time when authors could write books about important subjects with a short page count, and the books were good, and the stories were complete. This work is an example of the past which has changed.

This book has thematic similarities to both his Galaxia/Gaia of the end of Foundation, as well as with Clarke's City and the Stars and Childhood's End. In that it deals with the grand transfiguration of human culture from the safe and staid to uncertain limitless potential. Oddly though, Asimov's position in this early work is diametric from the result in Foundation and Earth.

This dichotomy also appears in the work, it is almost like two books in one. A straightforward, simplistic 'Back to the Future' naive work that was common for the time dealing with simple characters exploring the neat idea of time travel and its paradoxes. Then for the very last few pages we switch gears to a philosophical discussion on man's place in the universe and his destiny.

For me, the straightforward adventure story of fixing the timestream worked better than the philosophy of fixing the future so mankind will not be safe, but be adventurous and leading to his Galactic Empire/Foundation series. Particularly as I have mentioned Foundation comes right back full circle to a planned safe society rather than an uncertain dynamic society.

Perhaps this was done intentionally as in this book we are told that the centuries are cyclic with industries and attitudes returning over and over again. It could be Asimov's arcing storyline over this and his other series was hinting that not only did industries and social mores repeat, but that a slower cycle of uncertain expansion alternated with the safe over-controlling method of Eternity in this novel and Gaia/Galaxia at the end of Foundation.

To try and summarize, the adventure story here will go down easy and please you while the ending will give you things to think about and possibly disturb you.

Rating:
Summary: timeless classic
Review: There's a tremendous irony in finding this novel a little bit 'old fashioned'. But it's even more ironical to realise that something so old/modern can still have a galvenising effect 50 years after it was written.
In fact it's a timeless classic - a brilliant take on the well worn 'time travel' genre with a great paradoxical twist at the end. Give up the modern stuff and settle down with the instructions from somebody else's future.

Rating:
Summary: A goodie from Asimov
Review: This book is almost the paragon of Asimov's earlier science fiction. Critics blow nonesense about lack of character depth and so on and other such maunderings, but the power behind this novel comes from the plot, the science fictional ideas, and the love story. I believe it was of this novel that Damon Knight spoke when he said to Asimov, "If you can write love stories like this, then why bother with science fiction at all?" I must admit, though, that the ending seemes a bit to melodramatized for my tastes, but surely at the time the book was written it carried more power. The revelation of Noys' true identity is the paragon "Asimovian Twist" that I have come to see recurrent through the late grandmaster's work: he starts by feeding the reader a bit of information-- an assumption, if you wil-- about someone or something(more often than not the former) and then at the climax of the story, tears that assumption right out from underneath the reader's feet. Only through intense reding and study of Asimov's works was I able to predict this twist several pages in advance, but I was fooled until then, which says enough in itself, because I knew what to look for. Any fan of Asimov's will already read this book, so it is to the not-yet fans that I speak: if you like science fiction this is as good an early example of it as there is, and it still makes for great reading. PLus, it's not as long as some of his later works, so feel a bit of relief there. Also, look for tie ins to the Empire/Foundation/Robot series in the form of certain concepts and devices mentioned.

Rating:
Summary: Astonishing
Review: This is clearly one of the best of Asimov's works. A pleasure to read. Its a simple story of alternative reality going into non-existance when one unknown Technitian falls in love with a very special woman. The result of love is nothing unexpected except that Eternity ends clearing way to Galactic Empire which in turn switches to the Foundation. It is simply amazing how Asimov sticks to his original idea and how he introduces new perspective. In this book you will learn a great deal on time travel and all its aspects. Read it as soon as you can, the ending is really astonishing.

Rating:
Summary: A sadly neglected Asimov classic.
Review: This is one of Asimov's best books, but since it isn't really in the Robot-Empire-Foundation series you might have missed it. Also this book shows that early on Asimov could argue against social engineering ,like the Second Foundation's. A must read for Asimov fans.

Rating:
Summary: Great book, but the price is all kinds of wrong
Review: This is one of my favorite Azimov novels. I liked it much more than some of his more popular books. It has a tight plot, a snappy pace, and some thoughtful insights.
I love the characters in this story. I think he drew more than just a little on his experiences in the scientific community to flesh them out.

The only criticism I have is about the publishers:
26 dollars????? For a <200 page paper back?????
Are these Liberian dollars?
Are the pages printed on gold foil?
Do the pages exude an airy humor that cures cancer?

If you want my opinion, buy the book second hand. It's well worth the read.