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3.61 AVERAGE
3.61 AVERAGE
Asimov, neste livro dá indicações do surgimento do império galático. estamos em um período histórico onde ainda existem terráqueos e eles sabem que são o planeta de origem dos humanos. Mas essa informação já é vista como uma lenda pelos outros planetas da galáxia.
A trama tem como pontos centrais a relação social Florina-Sark e a espaçoanálise. Sobre a espaço análise o que posso dizer de modo seguro (sem spoiler) é que Asimov pega uma teoria do seu tempo e a utiliza como base para formular uma história. Isso se materializa no espaçoanalista e sua teoria.
Sobre Florina-Sark, temos o conhecido caso de um povo (aqui os sarkitas) que subjulga o outro (os florinianos) por interesses econômicos. O modo como são subjulgados faz com que inexista uma resistência organizada e muito facilmente uma resistência pode ser sublimada. Mas é algo interessante de acompanhar, principalmente quando vemos em algumas cenas os sarkitas subestimando florianos e, por isso, comentando erros. Nossa repulsa à sociedade sarkita e suas práticas absurdas é expressa pelas falas e reflexões do Dr. Junz, da AIE.
A trama tem como pontos centrais a relação social Florina-Sark e a espaçoanálise. Sobre a espaço análise o que posso dizer de modo seguro (sem spoiler) é que Asimov pega uma teoria do seu tempo e a utiliza como base para formular uma história. Isso se materializa no espaçoanalista e sua teoria.
Sobre Florina-Sark, temos o conhecido caso de um povo (aqui os sarkitas) que subjulga o outro (os florinianos) por interesses econômicos. O modo como são subjulgados faz com que inexista uma resistência organizada e muito facilmente uma resistência pode ser sublimada. Mas é algo interessante de acompanhar, principalmente quando vemos em algumas cenas os sarkitas subestimando florianos e, por isso, comentando erros. Nossa repulsa à sociedade sarkita e suas práticas absurdas é expressa pelas falas e reflexões do Dr. Junz, da AIE.
Durante todo o treinamento que [o floriano] recebeu, ao longo de todos os estudos nos quais se saiu tão bem, nunca se esqueceu de que os nobres eram homens.
Como então impor a paz? Não pela razão, com certeza, nem pela educação. Se um homem não conseguia olhar para a paz e para a guerra e escolher o primeiro em detrimento do segundo, que outro argumento poderia persuadi-lo? O que poderia ser mais eloquente como condenação da guerra do que a própria guerra? [...] Então, para acabar com o mau uso da força, só restava uma única solução: a própria força.
Era por isso que eu não me importava em ficar no espaço. Meu mundo era um planeta morto.
Qualquer um que viva em um mundo radioativo está fadado a crescer com medo e insegurança. [...] Isso inculca uma espécie de ansiedade em nós. [...] Só estamos felizes no espaço; é o único lugar onde podemos nos sentir seguros.
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
So, I'll cut right to the meat of it, the first 50% of this book was confusing, boring and soul sucking, with little sprinkles of interesting character work and moments.
But really, majority of the first 50% was sending me into a reading slump and depressing me.
The premise was really interesting:
A science man has discovered that an important planet and all it's inhabitants will be destroyed. Said planet is the only pure source of the most valuable and versatile material in the known universe and a barbaric civilisation controls it and is so powerful due to its possession, harvesting and trading of this material.
Said man has his memory wiped and thrown on the dangerous planet and made to work as a slave, essentially. Man starts to remember, all sorts of politics come into play with different people and factions all trying to find said man as they're all looking for some edge in the bid for control of the valuable planet and to gain majority power in the galaxy.
Doesn't sound half bad at all, does it?
It actually sounds like it could be pretty epic, filled with tense moments and juicy political intrigue.
But no, it wasn't like that, it was badly executed and Asimov managed to make a brilliant setup, shite.
I've come to realise that Asimov writes like a historian trying his arm at writing science fiction novels. He writes so inconsistently, and this goes for his other books too, the quality of writing never ever stays consistent and he eventually has a streak of brilliant and engaging writing, and then breaks the flow somehow and goes back to writing boring and clinical writing.
Its really annoying at this point, the man writes the best when he's writing his best, and writes some of the worst when he's at his worst.
So, back to the book.
The second half of the book was a massive improvement, with characters meeting, certain hidden details, such as people and actions, coming to light and just overall better writing, pacing and engaging situations.
It finally got interesting and things were making sense.
The quality of the Second half was so good that it saved this review being between a 1 and 2 stars, which was definitely heading that direction.
But, again, while the robots series and this are connected and aren't outright told to us that is the case, that's fine, because they're seperate series and I feel that is acceptable.
But, book 1 and book 2 of a series should not feel like they're not even part of the same series, which happened BAD here.
Suddenly we're talking about Sark and Trantor in this book and Trantor has hundreds of worlds part of their republic, where did that come from?
There's no mention of any of the planets or factions from the first book, such as Tyrann, Rhodia or Lingane. I can only assume the Rhodians evolved into Trantorians over the years as they had the US constitution as the basis of a Galactic Republic?
But, yes, again, this did not feel like the second book in a series, but a standalone set in the same universe as Robots and Foundation.
Please, for fuck sake Asimov, be consistent in book 3, PLEASE?! It has an amazing premise going by the description, please be good! 🙏
But really, majority of the first 50% was sending me into a reading slump and depressing me.
The premise was really interesting:
A science man has discovered that an important planet and all it's inhabitants will be destroyed. Said planet is the only pure source of the most valuable and versatile material in the known universe and a barbaric civilisation controls it and is so powerful due to its possession, harvesting and trading of this material.
Said man has his memory wiped and thrown on the dangerous planet and made to work as a slave, essentially. Man starts to remember, all sorts of politics come into play with different people and factions all trying to find said man as they're all looking for some edge in the bid for control of the valuable planet and to gain majority power in the galaxy.
Doesn't sound half bad at all, does it?
It actually sounds like it could be pretty epic, filled with tense moments and juicy political intrigue.
But no, it wasn't like that, it was badly executed and Asimov managed to make a brilliant setup, shite.
I've come to realise that Asimov writes like a historian trying his arm at writing science fiction novels. He writes so inconsistently, and this goes for his other books too, the quality of writing never ever stays consistent and he eventually has a streak of brilliant and engaging writing, and then breaks the flow somehow and goes back to writing boring and clinical writing.
Its really annoying at this point, the man writes the best when he's writing his best, and writes some of the worst when he's at his worst.
So, back to the book.
The second half of the book was a massive improvement, with characters meeting, certain hidden details, such as people and actions, coming to light and just overall better writing, pacing and engaging situations.
It finally got interesting and things were making sense.
The quality of the Second half was so good that it saved this review being between a 1 and 2 stars, which was definitely heading that direction.
But, again, while the robots series and this are connected and aren't outright told to us that is the case, that's fine, because they're seperate series and I feel that is acceptable.
But, book 1 and book 2 of a series should not feel like they're not even part of the same series, which happened BAD here.
Suddenly we're talking about Sark and Trantor in this book and Trantor has hundreds of worlds part of their republic, where did that come from?
There's no mention of any of the planets or factions from the first book, such as Tyrann, Rhodia or Lingane. I can only assume the Rhodians evolved into Trantorians over the years as they had the US constitution as the basis of a Galactic Republic?
But, yes, again, this did not feel like the second book in a series, but a standalone set in the same universe as Robots and Foundation.
Please, for fuck sake Asimov, be consistent in book 3, PLEASE?! It has an amazing premise going by the description, please be good! 🙏
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I can't rate this... I want to rate it low because the message of green and class distinction was incredibly blunt. At the same time, this was written in the 50s, so I feel like that should make it more acceptable. I don't know.
"¿Cómo forzar, pues, la paz? No mediante la razón, seguramente, ni por la educación. Si un hombre no era capaz de pensar en la paz y en la guerra y elegir la primera preferencia a la segunda, ¿qué otro argumento podía persuadirle? ¿Qué condena de la guerra podía haber más elocuente que la guerra misma? ¿Qué tremenda acumulación de dialéctica podía llevar en sí la décima parte de la fuerza de una sola nave destruida con su cargamento de muerte?
Así pues, para terminar el mal empleo de la fuerza sólo quedaba una solución, la fuerza misma."
"La verdad es un método desacreditado entre diplomáticos."
Así pues, para terminar el mal empleo de la fuerza sólo quedaba una solución, la fuerza misma."
"La verdad es un método desacreditado entre diplomáticos."
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
A fine pulpy sci-fi adventure story. Good mystery, surprising twists and believable stakes.
Character writing as with most of Asimov in this era is relatively flat. I had hoped that this was a symptom of his writing series of short vignettes like Foundation and I, Robot. It is disappointing that it persists in his longer form prose as well, though hopefully the improvement seen in Foundation's Edge doesn't have its beginnings that late in the publication.
Character writing as with most of Asimov in this era is relatively flat. I had hoped that this was a symptom of his writing series of short vignettes like Foundation and I, Robot. It is disappointing that it persists in his longer form prose as well, though hopefully the improvement seen in Foundation's Edge doesn't have its beginnings that late in the publication.
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
3.52 star average:
Me: i like-a the Asimov =)
Me: i like-a the Asimov =)
Less sci-fi than political thriller. This had nothing to do with the first book in the series (nor the third & final, I'm told). They're more like time snapshots of the Trantorian Empire in its heyday. Looking forward to reading the next one.
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No