Rating: Summary: Absolutely excellent!!! Review: This is one of the best Science Fiction novels of all time!
Rating: Summary: Wow! Review: This is one of the shortest novels Asimov has written (at least, the shortest I've read, and I've read plenty), but it packs a hell of a punch. Asimov's presentation of Eternity, an organization which exists out of time for the continual betternment of mankind, is very thought-provoking. This novel is unique among Asimov's in at least two respects: it explores (and questions) the morality of the "future" he presents (although Asimov deals a lot with morality in one form or other in most of his novels - this is one of the things I like most about reading him); and his characters are unusually human. Actually, for much of the book they are almost too human: they are often irrational and, well, dumb - as are some aspects of the world he creates. But persevere. As always, there is a reason for everything. It all comes together in an ending which will bend your mind. In short, a great read.
Rating: Summary: The Greatest Time Travel Novel Ever (Barring Reality Change) Review: This is the greatest time travel novel ever written, and that includes 'The Time Machine' by H.G. Wells. Like the other reviewers, I can't figure out why this novel is so obscure. Maybe there really is an Eternity, and it's doing all it can to suppress the truth, even in fictional form!
Rating: Summary: Possibly asimov's best work & possibly the least known. Review: This is the only asimov book I've had trouble finding. Sadly he's one of the few science fiction authors of his generation still largely in print. This book is more emotionally engaging than most of his work. Also I think this is one of his earliest stories to have an independent woman who wasn't a spinster. This is quite possibly my favorite of his books, but I like time travel stories. The Robot-Empire-Foundation series is great too, but it's a shame it's overshadowed this (Although this book does have a ,very tenuous, connection to that series.)Interestingly my favorite of his short stories ,as I recall, was "The Last Question" which is overshadowed by "Nightfall". Funny how things work.
Rating: Summary: Unknown little masterpiece Review: This short book is one of Asimov's minor masterpieces and, inexplicably, one of the least well-known of his sci-fi novels. Asimov wrote about 18 sci-fi novels, and for some reason this little book gets overlooked, probably because of the success of his Robot series, Daneel and Elijah series, and of course his epic Foundation series. However, if you want a fine Asimov read that stands on its own with an engaging plot about time travel and what you could do with that, in addition to some nice characterization, give this little gem a try.
Rating: Summary: Fascinating story about time traveling Review: This story begins a little slow, but when it finally kicks off, you really want to know what happens next. One of the really good points of this sci-fi story is the way the details of the world fit into each other. The world and the characters are interesting because they are believable. It all makes sense, because of the amount of detail that goes into everything.
Besides that, this book gives you another interesting view at time travel than most stories about this subject. I truly recommend this to every sci-fi fan that likes an intelligent story.
Rating: Summary: Just Where does Eternity End? Review: This was the Good Doctor's response to Heinlein's seminal 'By His Bootstraps': a time travel novel that adds more to the mix than just man-goes-back-to-meet-his-grandfather. Asimov envisions a society that has tasked itself with improving the lot of mankind by introducing carefully calculated changes in the time flow, a society of 'Eternals' that live outside of the normal time stream in their own environment constructed with full living habitats in each century, all powered by a thin line to the far future when our sun goes nova. It is a caste society, with each individual rigidly relegated to the status and job they are deemed best suited for, from Maintenance to Computer to Technician. The individuals are recruited from the normal time flow, as the Eternals, by their own rules, are forbidden to have children. Andrew Harlan is one such recruit, who is quickly tabbed as having the emotional makeup and intellectual skills to be a Technician, one of those who actually implement changes in 'normal' time. Somewhat naive, a little bit of an aesthetic who is somewhat bothered by hedonistic societies that he is sometimes required to observe or change, he finds himself in a quandary when he falls in love with a lady from such a society. Determined to have her, he decides on actions that he knows might bring about the end of Eternity, for he has determined a great secret, just how Eternity was started in the first place. Asimov unravels the mysteries and paradoxes of this situation in his usual inimitable style, carefully laying down the parameters of the problem, leaving clues lying about here and there (which Harlan, obsessed as he is, blithely ignores), all leading to a grand climax that gives new perspective to the traditional time paradox problem. The idea of time 'inertia', where the effect of changes that are introduced to the time line slowly die out, is an interesting one, and is carefully folded into the plot line. Though other books envisioned a corps of people who manage time, the society shown here is better fleshed out than just about all previous attempts, not to be surpassed until Fritz Leiber's The Big Time. And possibly there would not be another better worked out 'solution' to the basic riddle of the time paradox until Heinlein's 'All You Zombies...' appeared. As an intellectual exercise, then, this book is excellent. But as is also typical for Asimov, his characterization is somewhat weak, although he does a better job here than in some of his other works. Harlan is too one-dimensional, too driven, a little too arrogant about his own abilities, to be totally believable. Noys, his ladylove, is almost a nonentity, although she will become one of the lynch-pins of the final resolution. And Computer administrator Twissell is very close to a stereotype. Still, the characters are adequate to move the plot, and as this is an idea driven novel, not one of character, this failing is not fatal to the enjoyment of the book. This is one of the very few Asimov novels that is not part of his Foundation or Robot sets. Read it, if for no other reason, to see just what he could do outside of those confines. --- Reviewed by Patrick Shepherd (hyperpat)
Rating: Summary: Perhaps Asimov's best. Review: What makes this book so fascinating for me is that I kept thinking I had figured out where Asimov was going with his story. Each time I did, I soon found I was right, and then I wondered what he would do with the rest of the book. He would then use what I thought had been the solution to set up an entirely new problem that led the book to a completely new level.
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