- Publisher Random House Audio
- Program Type Audiobook
- Audible Release Date July 15, 2014
- Print Release Date 1983
- Version Unabridged
- Language English
- Book 4 of 5: The Robot
- ASIN B00KTFBX70
- Listening Length 15 hours and 43 minutes
- Author Isaac Asimov
- Read by William Dufris
The Robots of Dawn by Isaac Asimov is the third ‘murder’ mystery book featuring Earth detective Elijah Bailey working with the robot, R. Daneel Olivaw. In this story, a humaniform robot essentially identical to Daneel has been driven to destruction. The only one with the skill to cause this type of robot to malfunction in such a way is the roboticist, Han Falstofe. He has asked Elijah to come to the spacer world of Aurora to try to prove his innocence. He is also caught between competing political movements planning the best way to further colonize the Galaxy. Flastofe leads one of these factions which prefers the idea of having Earth humans lead the colonization, and a competing roboticist wants Earth humans to be quarantined on Earth and never allowed to leave. Bailey is convinced that being confined to Earth alone would ultimately be catastrophic for Earth citizens, and for all humans. With huge stakes at hand, the Earth detective has very limited time to solve the unsolvable.
This is a fun little mystery story with enough hints and clues thrown out that, once the answer is given, you see how he came to it. It’s satisfying enough as a mystery, but I think the underlying purpose of this novel is to provide a bridge between the original I-Robot series of stories and the future Foundation books. Various call backs to the original stories are brought up as fables from the past, and hints at psycho-history and galactic empires are thrown out.
This is not Asimov’s best work, but it is a worthy work. It works as a mystery. It works as a bridge. It ties together past and future in a way that is consistent and fun.
Recent Comments