Roger MacBride Allen

The scientific enterprise of using a comet to dig canals on a planet (by exploding it and guiding the chunks to fall along a predetermined line) was interesting. The philosophical problems investigated by contrasting 3-law, new-law, and no-law robots are no different from those of people more-or-less bound by human law & convention (and you can't discuss them for metal or meat intelligences without considering the reality of Free Will).
The character were fairly well drawn, reasonably show more interesting, but ultimately it's just a nice read not an earth-shattering revelation.
MacBride does a good job of channeling Asimov's style but doesn't have the Doctor's depth of scientific understanding, or life-experiences to really substitute for him.
Basically, putting Asimov's name on the book is like putting a trademark symbol on a product.
NOTES: pp160-ff: circumventing a 3-law computer (not ambulatory robot) by posing real-world data and decisions as "simulations" works up to a point (more interestingly explored in "Ender's Game" of course).
p. 188: A conundrum not just with robots but with children: "It was bad enough when you could do very little for your own creations. It was worse when they expected even less."
p. 268: reaching the crux of the primary theme - does having robot slaves enable people to do more and better things, or does it disable them through dependence and arrogance? The author is unquestionably of the latter belief, although (Like Asimov) he really wants a partnership of meat and metal people. "In the old days, the people of Inferno had only known of one way to do things, one way of living life: have the robots do it. That was the answer to everything. And it was an answer that had worked. Now they had been exposed not just to other possibilities, but also to the notion that there were other possibilities, other answers that might work as well....Now a way of life based solely on robotic labor was merely one option among many. How could that be changed back?"
Not knowing anything about the author's political positions, still I wonder if he even sees that this is directly analogous to believing that the solution to every problem is "have the Government do it?"
pp. 298-299: facing another conundrum that applies to meat as well as metal persons: acting to save one person in danger can result in harm to more people, and will-less obedience to the "law" actually defeats the purpose of that law. Donald is a Three-Law robot with the usual problem of balancing conflicting demands of the Laws in some instances. Kresh is his owner, governor of Inferno, who ordered him not to tell other robots of the man Beddle's possible danger. "In short, distracting robots from the evacuation could cause endless mischief. Besides which, the clear intent of Governor Kresh's order had been to prevent Donald from talking. By disobeying only part of Kresh's order, he had minimized his violation of the Second Law. Donald had done his best to balance all the conflicting demands, retaining the option of hyperwaving a warning to the other Three-Law robots while refraining from actually doing so...But the time would come. He knew that. Unless Beddle was rescued in time, the First Law demand that Donald act to save him would, sooner or later, overwhelm the conflicting First and Second demands that he keep silent. Sooner or later, he would be compelled to act. Understanding the compulsion he was under in no way reduced the force of that compulsion. He would have to do something. But he had no idea what." show less

My Isaac Asimov kick starts to wind down with the first book of Allen's Caliban trilogy, a series that examines the Three Laws in a way Asimov himself hadn't done since Robots and Empire, and hadn't done with success since I, Robot. In addition, Allen creates a robot mystery better than any since The Naked Sun (possibly even The Caves of Steel). The planet of Inferno also manages to give us a good glimpse at both Spacer and Settler cultures; it's nice to see a bunch of Spacers who, while show more dependent on robots, aren't total nutjobs for once. Caliban himself is a compelling character, too, a type Asimov never did much with himself (aside from Andrew Martin, maybe)-- someone not quite a robot, not quite a human being. show less

This is a nice, satisfying end to the trilogy and I especially enjoyed the scenes with Jacen, Jaina, and Anakin. The ideal of a machine that can move planets is pretty amazing and makes for some interesting sci-fi speculation.

Not a ton going on. A bunch of exposition and some action sequences but little character development. Still fit the bill for a easy read and fun to revisit after reading it as a kid.