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| Isaac Asimov, The Robots of Dawn |
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The Robots of Dawn is the third (and last)
story featuring plainclothesman Elijah Baley (though he also appears
in Robots and Empire, as a memory). Elijah is about to
take on the most challenging investigation of his career. Not only
will he lose all the privileges earned by previous successful
investigations if he fails, but nothing less than the fate of Earth
seems to rest on his shoulders... Baley
must be shipped to Aurora, where Dr Fastolfe (which he has
previously met in The Caves of Steel)
is accused of having "killed" Jander, a robot whom he himself
designed, and who was the only other humaniform robot beside Daneel.
Jander belonged to Gladia Delmarre, a Solarian woman whom Elijah is
partial to, and who moved to Aurora (see
The Naked Sun). Even though the termination of a robot is not usually considered as
murder, Fastolfe is accused of a darker motive behind his deed,
a motive linked to the future of space colonization, and that could
have consequences for both Aurora and Earth.
In the ship, Baley is a bit worried because of
his agoraphobia, but he is reassured by the presence of his former
partner and friend, R. Daneel. Daneel is here to protect him, along
with another, more primitive robot named Giskard, who belongs to Fastolfe. Indeed, Fastolfe fears for Elijah's safety, because of the
anti-earthmen feeling that predominates on Aurora. Moreover, the
prospects for a successful outcome to Elijah's investigation are
almost inexistent: by his own admission, Dr Fastolfe is the only
person capable of "killing" R. Jander, although he claims he did not
do it. How will Elijah solve this conundrum?
In The Robots of Dawn, along with
following an interesting classical whodunit, we learn a little bit
more about Asimov's robots and their endless subtleties, as he draws
the thin, permeable line between robots and human beings. We also
get a better picture of the sociologic aspects of his different
societies. The parallels we can still make today between his
societies and our various parts of the world are numerous, proving
once more Asimov's visionary skills. However, Asimov is
much better when dealing with mass psychology: his psychology of
individuals appears rather simplistic and reductive at times, mostly
when it comes to women...
In order to get the best of the novels, read
them all (after I, Robot which
serves as a good preliminary) in order...
Rating: 
© Discussing Books, 07/16/2005
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| Further Readings |
By Isaac Asimov:
The Foundation Saga:
Asimov, Isaac Prelude to Foundation
Asimov, Isaac (1951) Foundation
Asimov, Isaac (1952) Foundation and Empire
Asimov, Isaac (1953) Second Foundation
Asimov, Isaac (1982) Foundation's Edge
Asimov, Isaac (1986) Foundation and Earth
Robots Stories and Novels:
Asimov, Isaac (1950) I, Robot
Asimov, Isaac (1964) The Rest of the Robots
Asimov, Isaac (1982) The Complete Robots
Asimov, Isaac (1954) The Caves of Steel
Asimov, Isaac (1957) The Naked Sun
Asimov, Isaac (1983) The Robots of Dawn
Asimov, Isaac (1985) Robots and Empire
Galactic Empire Novels:
Asimov, Isaac (1952) The Currents of Space
Asimov, Isaac (1950) Pebble in the Sky
Asimov, Isaac (1957) Earth is Room Enough
Asimov, Isaac (1955) The Martian Way
Asimov, Isaac (1955) The End of Eternity
Asimov, Isaac (1983) The Winds of Change
Asimov, Isaac (1968) Asimov's Mysteries
Asimov, Isaac (1972) The Gods Themselves
Asimov, Isaac (1990) Nightfall One
Asimov, Isaac (1969) Nightfall Two
Asimov, Isaac (1993) The Bicentennial Man
Asimov, Isaac (1959) Nine Tomorrows
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Critiques