Fantastic Voyage (1966)

So this was a novel written based on the screenplay for the movie Fantastic Voyage. With that in mind, it's obvious that Asimov had some severe limitations on what he could do for the story. All in all, I thought he did an admirable job of adaptation. The story itself is dated - the Cold War; the Other Side; gender roles; willingness to acquiesce to authority. The characters are perhaps even more dated especially Miss Peterson - even down to her title. No one goes by Miss anymore...

The basic idea is that a fantastically brilliant scientist from the Other Side has developed new technology that could help win the Cold War once and for all. He has decided to defect. On the way to the lab where is to spill his proverbial guts, an attempt is made on his life. He survives, but injures his head and a blood clot forms deep in his brain. Normal surgical methods would risk our scientist's life or risk his ability to transmit his knowledge to others. So the only option is to miniaturize a submarine and a crew of five people down to the size of a bacterium and inject that submarine into the scientist's body where, with a laser, the crew will clear the blood clot from the brain. All very plausible.

Of course, it can't be just that simple. There's a traitor in the group someone who wants the mission to fail and for our scientist to die without being able to transfer his knowledge. So in addition to this being a regular bus tour through the major components of the human body, it's also a who-dun-it.

Of course, you could skip the book and just watch the movie. Although, in truth, the book is very quick read - probably not much longer than the movie itself... ( )

This novel isn't an original Asimov story, but his only novelization of a screenplay. While I prefer the movie for the sheer sense of wonder of the visuals, this is far from the worst novel Asimov wrote; he sticks close to the movie script, but manages to work in a bit of characterisation and background, and fixes some of the worst plot holes of the film. The end result is still recognisably Asimov and makes for non-essential but decent reading. ( )

Fantastic Voyage is a little novel by Asimov with all his hallmark style. He starts off by cranking up the tension with everyone anxiously waiting for a defector with a great secret to land safely and be transported to the safe house. Things get ratcheted up from there.

Some time in the future, an important man is injured, and causes a blood clot in his brain. The safest way they can figure out to save him is to shrink a submarine with a crew of 5 to a size smaller than a bacteria inject them into the circulatory system to use a laser to clear out the clot. It should be fairly simple and only mildly dangerous if they all successfully survive the shrinking procedure. Of course things never go as smoothly as planned.

Like much of Asimov's work it is a great story that captures your attention and makes you think about things. The story is what is important, and he has a way of casually explaining away things that would make the story impossible, in order for the reader to ignore those problems and focus on whats important. I've enjoyed every Asimov book I've ever read and this one is no exception. ( )

A quick and reasonably entertaining read, although not nearly the equal of Asimov's other works. It's an adaptation of a screenplay, which is itself an adaptation of a story written by someone else. Asimov does what he can with the story, and the result should hold your attention, but if you are looking to read Asimov, this is not what you should pick up. ( )

OK for its type. Glad I read it, as a semi-classic, but I don't need to read it again. ( )