Isaac Asimov: The Caves of Steel

[sparkchaser]

This is essentially a SciFi detective story and less a robot story. A spacer has been murdered in Spacetown and an Earthman is suspected of being the murderer. In order to make sure the investigation is conducted quickly and justice is served, Earthman (and agoraphobic) detective Elijah 'Lije' Baley is teamed up with R. Daneel Olivaw. The R. stands for Robot.

What follows is a mildly engaging whodunit that to me seemed rather light on the mystery and focused more on the details of a world where people or an overpopulated Earth are crammed into enclosed cities like sardines.

Not my favorite work by Asimov and I'm not sure I want to read the two sequels.

I give it - (call it 2-1/2 out of 5)

 

[Eva]

Asimov himself was especially pleased with this book. He liked the combination of sf and mystery that he felt he achieved. He was also agoraphobic. So the intensely packed, urban world that was essentially all indoors wasn't necessarily a dystopia to him.

 

[sparkchaser]

That's an interesting point. I didn't think the book as being dystopian (even though as I think about it, I probably should have) and now knowing Asimov was agoraphobic, it makes sense why I get had that impression.