I love this book. It shows an alien culture that is truly alien. It is not an alien invasion story. Its about sharing technology and discovery and reminding ourselves that not everyone, human or not, has our best interest in heart. ( )

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD!

In The Gods Themselves, Asimov presents a tale of three cultures woven around a device which offers unlimited free energy. The Electron Pump offers two universes a way to feed their need for energy, but at what cost? As para-physicist Dr. Lamont delves into the pump’s past he uncovers a critical flaw that could endanger both universes. He is thwarted by the self-proclaimed Father of the Electron Pump, Dr. Hollam, who is loathe to believe his invention is anything but a panacea. Dr. Lamont and his associate, Dr. Bronowski, attempt to communicate with the beings of the para-verse in a final effort to end the pumping project. The messages they receive are cryptic and disturbing. The tale turns to the lives of the para-beings, a strange species divided into four classes and finally to the moon colony and Dr. Denison whose snide remark started it all.

Though the first two thirds of the book are plotted remarkably well, the entire work is plagued by poor writing. Reading the first few pages, I was struck by the relative poverty of Asimov’s writing style. How could such a revered writer produce such stumbling and cliché-ridden prose? As I pressed on, the excellent plot veiled the poor writing and I was utterly immersed in the story.

I was thoroughly enjoying myself until the end of part one. At the beginning of part two, I thought I would have done things differently. The book is divided into three parts each with different main characters and plots that hang together on the string of the Electron Pump and it’s dangers. The problem with this method of story telling is that readers are often irritated when asked to leave an interesting set of characters behind for a new set. I put the book down at this point and almost didn’t pick it back up. Obviously, anything that causes a reader to contemplate abandoning a book is something to avoid. So when I saw that the new section would not retain any of the characters from the previous, I was a bit annoyed. However, after reading the second section, I realized it was one of the strongest points of the book and was glad Asimov structured the book in this way.

I’m sorry to say I cannot be so generous of the third part. It was by far the weakest part of the book, which is unfortunate as the end should be at least the second strongest section. If I were Asimov’s editor, I would have suggested he begin the book with the development of the pump, rather than relying on long and distracting info-dumps throughout the narrative. Then the original part one would become part two and part two becomes part three, with the book ending on the combination of the Trit-Dua- Odeen triad into Estwald. This would have created an interesting and open ending and avoided the cliche “older scientist man gets younger girl” that plagues so many earlier sci-fi works. If Asimov wanted to end the book with a happy ending, he could have drug out the para-verse section a bit longer and shown Estwald to have a new consciousness thanks to Dua’s wanderings through the rocks- perhaps having absorbed some worldly wisdom from them.

All in all, I’m not sorry I read it, but I don’t think I’d recommend it unless you’re a fan of Asimov or parallel universe theory. ( )

I love this book. It shows an alien culture that is truly alien. It is not an alien invasion story. Its about sharing technology and discovery and reminding ourselves that not everyone, human or not, has our best interest in heart. ( )

One of Asimov's true novels and a great story at that. He looked into the future and decided to see what would happen if man discovered and new energy source what they would do when it was discovered to have a dark side to it. He also goes into great detail on tri-sexual beings from a another universe.

The parallel universe is interesting. The politics are intriguing. The characters are wonderful. ( )

Absolutely positively MEMORABLE! A classic right along with Dragons Egg by Robert L. Forward. I read it the first time in the late '60's or early '70's and again in 1999 or 2000, and plan to read it again. It stands out in my memory even more clearly than the Foundation Series. With the new developments in string theory, speculation about hidden dimensions, and parallel universes with different physical laws, its more timely than ever. ( )