A man wakes up in a rural town on an oppressed planet with no memory of his identity or past. Slowly, as his memories begin to return, events are set in motion that will shake the future of two worlds, and possibly the entire Galactic Empire. This shorter novel shares some of the same characteristics of Asimov's more famous Foundation series: a big concept hook that underpins the story but isn't actually that integral to it; an emphasis on plot rather than characters; and a reliance on wildly improbable coincidences, some of which turn out not to be coincidences after all, to drive the story. On the other hand, in the various perspectives this novel offers of a radically unjust social and economic system -- and the compromises power makes to preserve privilege -- the novel implies a little more political reflection than the Foundation or Robot series. It's also a little less fun. ( )

Apart from a great looking cover, there's very little of note in this Asimov book. ( )

I don't think I had ever read this book until the recent Tor reissue. It is perhaps the best of all the Galactic Empire novels before the Foundation series, almost entirely because of the profoundly moving conclusion where Asimov thinks brilliantly and wisely about what the greatest good of the greatest number means in a galaxy with one quadrillion people.

The world of Sark is referenced extensively in the 'three Bs' follow-on to the FOUNDATION series.

This is sort of a pre-Foundation novel, even a pre-Robot novel. Mostly, this seems to be Asimov's exploration of a theory he had, and one of his usual commentaries on forms of government. Not bad, but his later books are better. ( )

This book is completely separate from The Stars Like Dust, in that while it might use the same universe the characters are entirely different and there quite a distance between the books in the time line of the series. Really, they're separate novels entirely.

I found it quite hard to get into this book, and I don't think it is as well written as The Stars Like Dust. The problem might have been that I found it pretty hard to care about Rik, and the Florina / Sark division was a bit shallowly constructed. Its hard to imagine a segregation system which is as completely effective as the one described. How did it ever occur? Why didn't people fight back? Did people never randomly fall in love with the "wrong" set of have affairs?

I persevered however, and the second half of the book is much better that the first, including some twists I didn't expect. Overall an ok book, but not fantastic.

http://www.stillhq.com/book/Isaac_Asi... ( )