The Robot Novels : The Caves of Steel & The Naked Sun

About forty years after I last read "The Caves of Steel" and "The Naked Sun," I was pleased to find that their characters, plots, and social-philosophical commentary remains intriguing and engaging. Admittedly, there are elements that are dated in these works published in 1953-1954 and 1957 respectively, such as incorrectly conjectured future technology and, more prominently, changed social conventions ("political correctness") where the depiction of human-robot relations is that of owner-slave --made even more uncomfortable by Asimov's robots addressing humans as "master" and Lije Bailey, the series protagonist, addressing robots as "boy" in the second book. In addition, Asimov's female characters (what few there are), are show more insufficiently developed, leaving them shallow, unflattering stereotypes -- as others have noted in critique of his works. Although it would be remiss not to mention the positive depiction of his woman roboticist Susan Calvin of his earlier written robot short stories.

In retrospect, I suspect my delight in the relationship and repartee between the two Asimov novel's protagonists, Detective Elijah Bailey and his robot partner R. Daneel Olivaw, influenced my own deep space human & robot detective story "And the Ends of the Earth for Thy Possession" [Giganotosaurus JUL 2015, reprinted in the "More Human Than Human" anthology, ed. Neil Clarke, Night Shade Books, 2017]. As the the tale was well-received and twice-reprinted, my thanks to the Good Doctor, of blessed memory, for the subconscious inspiration. show less

Substance:A set of classic whodunits, playing by the rules. The solution is fairly arrived at with appropriate clues, requiring no scientific expertise.
Style: More dialog than narrative, fair characterization. Emphasis on the futuristic milieu.
Caveat: As with most science-fiction of the early days (fifties and sixties), the future tech is a blend of brilliant extrapolation and amazing retention of contemporary low-tech (the space ships with slide rules paradigm).
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Although the development is partly foreseeable and some events lack credibility (such as the main character's sudden conversion to spacer-like colonisation and the C/Fe society) the action is fast paced and entertaining.

Normally I do not care much for science fiction or even fantasy, but this trilogy rises way above all that.

Classics for the SF afficionado.