stillhq.com : Mikal, a geek from Canberra living in Silicon Valley (no blather posts)

Asimov's Aurora

Sat, 21 Aug 2010 15:56:00 GMT

ISBN: 0743444604
I Books (2002), Paperback, 464 pages
LibraryThing

This is the third and final book in the iBook Asimov Robots spinoff series. The first two were Asimov's Mirage and Asimov's Chimera. Like the second one, this is better than the first and has a nice flow to the plot line. The story also is easier to believe than those used in previous spinoffs such as the Robot City and Robots and Aliens series. Weirdly, this is the first of the books in those spinoff series to really use sex as a plot element. The other books haven't been celibate, but they also haven't been as in your face as this one. That was probably the weakest part of the book, because those parts felt clumsy and extraneous.

Tags for this post: book mark_w_tiedemann isaac_asimov robot robot_city robots_and_aliens caliban crime cybernetics politics disease
Related posts: Asimov's Chimera; Asimov's Mirage; Isaac Asimov's Robot City: Robots and Aliens: Humanity; Isaac Asimov's Robot City: Robots and Aliens: Maverick; Isaac Asimov's Robot City: Robots and Aliens: Changeling; Isaac Asimov's Robot City: Robots and Aliens: Alliance; The Robot City, Robots and Aliens Series; Isaac Asimov's Robot City: Robots and Aliens: Intruder; Isaac Asimov's Robot City: Robots and Aliens: Renegade; Caves of Steel; Caliban Series; Mona Lisa Overdrive; The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress; Foundation's Triumph; Naked Sun; Isaac Asimov's Robot City: Refuge; Isaac Asimov's Robot City: Suspicion; Count Zero; Isaac Asimov's Robot City: Cyborg; Isaac Asimov's Robot City: Perihelion; Isaac Asimov's Utopia

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Asimov's Chimera

Sat, 10 Jul 2010 01:48:00 GMT

ISBN: 0743412974
I Books (2001), Paperback, 480 pages
LibraryThing

This is the second book in the iBooks spinoff series based on Asimov's robot mysteries and the Robot City and Robots and Aliens series. Overall it fits into the Foundation Series acceptably. This book is a mystery much like Mark's first Mirage.

I think overall this book is better written than Mirage, and is certainly better plotted than the Robot City and Robots and Aliens series. The book is believable and entertaining, without having to suspend too much disbelief. I enjoyed it, although the book isn't important to the development of Foundation Series overall.

Tags for this post: book mark_w_tiedemann isaac_asimov robot robot_city robots_and_aliens caliban crime detective disability cybernetics politics
Related posts: Asimov's Aurora; Asimov's Mirage; Caves of Steel; Isaac Asimov's Robot City: Robots and Aliens: Humanity; Isaac Asimov's Robot City: Robots and Aliens: Maverick; Naked Sun; Isaac Asimov's Robot City: Robots and Aliens: Changeling; Isaac Asimov's Utopia; Isaac Asimov's Caliban; Isaac Asimov's Robot City: Robots and Aliens: Alliance; The Robot City, Robots and Aliens Series; Isaac Asimov's Robot City: Robots and Aliens: Intruder; Isaac Asimov's Robot City: Robots and Aliens: Renegade; Isaac Asimov's Inferno; Caliban Series; Mona Lisa Overdrive; The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress; Foundation's Triumph; Isaac Asimov's Robot City: Refuge; The Ship Who Sang ; Isaac Asimov's Robot City: Suspicion

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Asimov's Mirage

Thu, 07 Jan 2010 01:16:00 GMT

ISBN: 0743475232
I Books (2003), Mass Market Paperback, 464 pages
LibraryThing

If I was to name one flaw with the Robot City and Robots and Aliens series, it would have to be that they're not very good. They're lackluster, have difficult to believe plots, very simple structure, and are overall poorly thought through. Its a similar sensation to that I feel when I read the tie-in books written after Harrison's Bill the Galactic Hero series. I feel a little sorry for the writers in later books in these series, because I suspect their hands were tied by the poor decisions of previous authors (similarly to the mess that Bear's Foundation and Chaos had to dig that series out after Benford's tragically terrible Foundation's Fear).

Robot City and Robots and Aliens were disappointments because I read Roger MacBride Allen's Caliban series before them, and Caliban is ok. Not awesome, but ok.

I say all of this as an introduction to Mirage. I guess what I'm saying is that I've been wading through Asimov robot tie-ins from other authors for a while now, and some of them are not very good. That's why finding Mirage was such a delight. Its well written, has a similar style as Asimov's own writing, reuses characters and plot elements from previous tie-in books sufficiently to acknowledge their existence without getting bogged down by the poor decisions of those previous series. Its an engaging read, and I'm glad I stuck through these various series long enough to find it.

My only complaint with this book is that the epilogue is confusing and doesn't align with my understanding of the end of the story.

Tags for this post: book mark_w_tiedemann isaac_asimov robot robot_city robots_and_aliens caliban mirage crime population detective
Related posts: Asimov's Chimera; Asimov's Aurora; Caves of Steel; Naked Sun; Isaac Asimov's Robot City: Robots and Aliens: Humanity; Isaac Asimov's Robot City: Robots and Aliens: Maverick; Isaac Asimov's Robot City: Robots and Aliens: Changeling; Isaac Asimov's Utopia; Isaac Asimov's Caliban; Isaac Asimov's Robot City: Robots and Aliens: Alliance; The Robot City, Robots and Aliens Series; Isaac Asimov's Robot City: Robots and Aliens: Intruder; Isaac Asimov's Robot City: Robots and Aliens: Renegade; Isaac Asimov's Inferno; Robots and Empire ; Caliban Series; Mona Lisa Overdrive; Foundation's Triumph; Robots of Dawn ; Isaac Asimov's Robot City: Refuge; Isaac Asimov's Robot City: Suspicion

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