A collection of Harry Harrison short stories that I read on the flight back from Australia to the US. Includes a Stainless Steel Rat story, as well as a story using the Deathworld characters (I haven't read any of the Deathworld books yet). Excellent read. [isbn: 0099925605]
Utopia The Stainless Steel Rat Gets Drafted The Stainless Steel Rat Sings The Blues The Stars, Like Dust The Currents of Space Pebble in the Sky The Stainless Steel Rat Prelude to Foundation The Stainless Steel Rat's Revenge The Stainless Steel Rat Saves the World
I thought this was quite weak -- certainly the weakest Stainless Steel Rat book. It was ok, but I wouldn't recommend it to someone who hasn't read any of the others first. Frankly the time travel premise is hard to believe, and the resolution at the end of the story is a total non-resolution. [isbn: 0727845373;0722143699;0553173960]
I'm frantically trying to reduce the size of the mound of books I need to take back to the US at the end of our annual trip back to Australia. As part of this I read the Stainless Steel Rat's Revenge last night and on a flight to Sydney this morning. That's not in any particular rush though -- the Stainless Steel Rat books are pretty light reading. I didn't like this one as much as the others, to be honest. It wasn't as humorous, and seemed to lag a little in the middle. It kept me occupied on the plane though. [isbn: 0441779123;0722144822;0553173952]
Written well after the original Foundation novels, Prelude to Foundation is one of two prequels. The book ties in nicely with Robots and Empire, as well as the other robot novels. Its a good book too, with its 460ish pages only taking a few days to read (I think I knocked it over in about four days). The story is sufficiently engaging that I kept looking up and discovering that I had read another 100 pages. There are also a couple of twists in the book (I count three in fact), only two of which I had figured out before the characters. A good book. Probably better than Robots of Dawn and Robots and Empire, and definitely better than Allen's Caliban trilogy (Caliban, Inferno, and Utopia. [isbn: 0586071113;0553278398]
I'll keep this post short and sweet, like the book which took me three hours to read. This is the first Stainless Steel Rat book, and I think the best that I have read so far. Love it. [isbn: 1857984986]
This is Asimov's first book, and not his best. Its set on an Earth which is radioactive (possibly because of a global nuclear war as supposed in the book, or perhaps because of events described in Robots and Empire). There is a galactic empire at this point, and overall humans have forgotten that they originated on Earth. (I find that a little hard to believe by the way. Whilst it is true that we have lost historical records from thousands of years ago, we do have some and archeology has constructed at least a partial history for humanity. Additionally, we now have pretty solid record keeping as a society, and it is left unexplained where all those records might have gone. Finally, there is no mention of techniques like carbon dating, which presumably could have been used to prove that Earth is indeed the original planet.) I did like the general gist of the book, although the conclusion was unsatisfying as well. Overall, not Asimov's best work. [isbn: B000K052KS;0345335635] [award: nominee hugo 1951]
"The Currents of Space is a 1952 novel by the American science fiction author Isaac Asimov. It is the second of three books labelled the Galactic Empire series. Each occurs after humans have settled many worlds in the galaxy after the second wave of colonisation that went beyond the Spacer worlds and before the era of decline that was the setting for the original Foundation series. Each of the three is only loosely connected to other works, being separated by a fairly large gulf of centuries." That's the description from Wikipedia. This book is completely separate from The Stars Like Dust, in that while it might use the same universe the characters are entirely different and there quite a distance between the books in the time line of the series. Really, they're separate novels entirely. I found it quite hard to get into this book, and I don't think it is as well written as The Stars Like Dust. The problem might have been that I found it pretty hard to care about Rik, and the Florina / Sark division was a bit shallowly constructed. Its hard to imagine a segregation system which is as completely effective as the one…
This is a short book, and quite different from the other Asimovs I've read recently. Specifically it doesn't have any robots, and isn't a murder mystery. Its also set about 1,000 years into the future from the previous Robot Mysteries. Its a good book, with a style similar to the original Robot Mysteries (distinct from the newer ones written 40 years later). Its short and an easy read. I liked it. Update: I originally thought the space between the Robot Mysteries and this book was much bigger than apparently it is meant to be. According to Wikipedia's page on the empire series: "Some sources further this argument by asserting that The Stars, Like Dust takes place about one thousand years following the events of Robots and Empire." [isbn: 0449023737;0345339290]
The underlying premise of this book is weak (a criminal forced into a band in order to find a stolen item), but like I've said in the past the Stainless Steel Rat books are fun, and not really intended to make you a better person. This one is along those lines too -- its an enjoyable light read, with a much better plot twist than the other Stainless Steel Rat books I've read. I liked it, even with the weak premise. [isbn: 0533405012]