The Currents of Space, by Isaac Asimov

Today I'm looking at the middle book of the Empire series by Isaac Asimov, The Currents of Space. This is another one of Asimov's serialized novels that was published chapter by chapter in the sci-fi pulp magazines of the mid-century and later collected into a single book. As I've said with Pebble in the Sky and The Stars Like Dust, this book is okay, but I don't think it's necessarily something to write home about.

This book is set after the rise of Trantor and its empire, but before Trantor has become a truly galactic empire, with significant portions of the outer rim still independent. The action of this book focuses on the worlds of Florinia and Sark. Florinia has been thoroughly colonized by Sark and the source of Sark's tremendous wealth, wealth which is only exceeded by Trantor. This is because Florinia is the only planet in the world capable of producing kyrt, a fabric stronger than steel at a fraction of the weight, impossibly glamourous, and the unrivaled king of textiles. The demand for kyrt throughout the galaxy is so high that the squires of Sark are able to live in absolute luxury, while keeping the half a billion people of Florinia in almost abject poverty.

In some ways, this book is a lot like Pebble in the Sky. There's a male character who ends up in a completely unfamiliar situation. Instead of a twentieth-century tailor transported to the distant future, however, we have Rik, a deep-space explorer whose mind has been subjected to a psychic probe which has left him unable to even walk or feed himself. However Rik's memories slowly return and he finds himself at the center of a plot of interplanetary intrigue which promises to affect the future of Trantor and the rest of the galaxy.

As I've said with the other books in the Empire series, plus the Robot novels, I think I'm just not very good at detective novels because I found myself pretty darn confused by the twists and turns and the ultimate ending I didn't really see coming. Granted, I could kind of see parts of it in hindsight, but it seemed a jumbled mess to me. And it may be that I'm just not used to picking apart a thrilling detective novel for clues to find and help me figure out the ending. I'm certainly willing to say that before I say that it's poorly written.

Otherwise, it's very much a pulp mid-century sci-fi adventure. I do wish we could have seen more of the political intrigue aspects and seen more about the rise of Trantor and its growth into a galactic empire, but you can't have everything. And if you like mysteries and pulp sci-fi, this is definitely worth a read.

- Kalpar

The Stars, Like Dust, by Isaac Asimov

Today I'm looking at the first, chronologically speaking, book in the Empire novels by Isaac Asimov, which bridge the gap between the Robot novels and the Foundation novels, both of which I've talked about previously on the blog. This book is actually set some time before the Galactic Empire based on Trantor is formed, and deals with politics within the kingdoms beyond the Horsehead Nebula, ruled by the Tyrannian (subtle!) khanate which threatens to impoverish not only the conquered, but the conquerors.

The story focuses upon Biron Farrell, the son of the the Rancher of Widemos who has been studying a variety of subjects at the University of Earth. Biron is about to graduate when he discovers a bomb placed in his dorm room, placed by Tyrannian agents. Biron then learns that the Tyrannians have executed his father for treason and threaten to seize his planetary estate. Farrell must rush back to the Nebular kingdoms and gets involved in a conspiracy of rebellion against the tyrannical Oppresons. I mean, the Tyrannian oppressors. (Okay, last joke about that I promise.)

I have to say this book is very, very silly fifties sci-fi pulp that was serialized in a magazine chapter by chapter before it was collected in a single book. As I mentioned with Pebble in the Sky, the plotting is not the best, which is a shame but this is an early work from Asimov so I can't say I'm entirely surprised. There's one plot twist towards the end which doesn't make terribly much sense and there's a plotline with an ancient document which I'm pretty sure original Star Trek just stole outright and recycled. Honestly, I suspect on some level if this wasn't a work by one of the giants of science-fiction then I don't know if this would be particularly memorable today.

That being said, I still liked this book. As anyone who reads my blog will know, I am an absolute sucker when it comes to old-fashioned space opera and sci-fi pulp. There was a part where the characters seemed to just stand around arguing a lot which I didn't like, but overall, it was a fun space adventure for me. If you like the crazy space pulp adventures, then this is definitely worth reading or listening to. If you're not a fan of crazy space pulp adventures, then this book just doesn't have anything for you, and that's okay.

- Kalpar

Pebble in the Sky, by Isaac Asimov

Today I'm looking at Pebble in the Sky, by Isaac Asimov, which was his first full-length novel. While works like the Foundation short stories or the robot stories of I, Robot would later be collected in novel form, this was the first book written by Asimov as a full-length novel. That being said, it feels kind of rough around the edges which is a little odd considering I've known Asimov to write good short stories and to write good full-length novels so it may have been just an awkward transition between the mediums for him.

Pebble in the Sky, is actually the third book, chronologically, of the Empire series, set between the Robot stories and the Foundation stories of Asimov's greater literary universe. After doing some digging around I found that the Empire books, opposed to the Foundation or the Robot books, are separated by centuries and while they deal with the rise of the Trantor-dominated Galactic Empire, the three books don't necessarily connect one to the other. I may take a look at The Stars Like Dust and The Currents of Space because they sound like things I might be interested in reading and/or listening to. But I feel like this book is muddled more than anything else.

The biggest problem, I think, is that there are a lot of different plotlines going on at once and since the book isn't all that long in the first place, it feels like none of them get as well developed as they might have been. We begin with Joseph Schwartz, a retired tailor living in Chicago in 1949, out for a morning walk. Suddenly a mysterious atomic energy experiment attacks and flings Schwartz into the distant future where Earth is just one of hundreds of thousands of worlds in the Galactic Empire. Instead of being the capital of this mighty empire, or even revered as the cradle of humanity, Earth is reviled as a provincial backwater, the only inhabited planet polluted with high levels of radiation. Because resources on Earth are so scarce, the population is strictly controlled and once a person reaches sixty years of age they are euthanized, an issue of special concern for Schwartz since he is sixty-two.

If that had been the only plot in the book, a temporal fish-out-of-water situation, I think it might have been better than ''just okay''. Unfortunately Asimov starts cramming in a bunch of other plotlines and while they all end up tying together, it feels very disjointed. We have scientists working on a device that increases the synaptic connections in human beings, making them more intelligent. We have an archaeologist who thinks Earth may be the original home of humanity, opposed to the more commonly held belief that humanity evolved on separate worlds and was able to interbreed with the advent of interstellar flight. And we have a shadowy cloak and dagger conspiracy among the ministers of Earth's home government which ends up taking over the book. I think if Asimov had stuck with one or maybe two of these plots it would have been a lot better, but with four it kind of turns into a jumbled mess.

The only other complaint I could think to make is the book feels very much like it was written in the 1950's with the mores of the time period, but there's not really a lot we can do about that. It's okay, I just think it could have used a bit tighter focus.

- Kalpar