These two renowned writers have invented a world not unlike our own--a world on the edge of chaos, torn between the madness of religious fanaticism...
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Jan 09, 2012
Andre
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I was and still am a big Isaac Asimov fan, both of his fiction and his non-fiction. I was in particular a big fan of his short stories and I loved the original short story version of Nightfall, however when I read the long extended version that was made into a book, I wasn't as thrilled.
I was, however, only 8-years-old, when I read the book version, but I still remember thinking this is too long, too wordy and that Isaac Asimov is right in the assessment that Golden Age science ficti More...
I was, however, only 8-years-old, when I read the book version, but I still remember thinking this is too long, too wordy and that Isaac Asimov is right in the assessment that Golden Age science ficti More...
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Jan 30, 2012
Aaron
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Aaron King
1/29/12
Per. 6
Book Review: Nightfall by Isaac Asimov
Reading has always been a seminal part of the human experience. It keeps the mind sharp and open to new ideas. Reading also maintains one’s vocabulary. If one never reads, he or she is more susceptible to the same “rusting” that an adolescent’s brain suffers over a long summer. On the other end of the literary spectrum, reading also helps the writers. Authors can use their writing to express emotions and ideas More...
1/29/12
Per. 6
Book Review: Nightfall by Isaac Asimov
Reading has always been a seminal part of the human experience. It keeps the mind sharp and open to new ideas. Reading also maintains one’s vocabulary. If one never reads, he or she is more susceptible to the same “rusting” that an adolescent’s brain suffers over a long summer. On the other end of the literary spectrum, reading also helps the writers. Authors can use their writing to express emotions and ideas More...
May 03, 2011
Jeff
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I read the explanation on the cover detailing how this was a short story adopted into a longer novel, but proceeded expecting a fully hashed book. However, I was greeted with a silly portrayal of the same short story, just with different characters and their points of view. This may have worked before, and it may work again, but that writing style does work for Nightfall. Many times I felt like yelling "get on with it already!" and "okayyyyy" when the characters would star
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Sep 06, 2009
Joe
rated it: 
This is a sci-fi novel about the end of the world. Sort of.
Isaac Asimov is the master of sci-fi short stories. He's a little-known author that has written one or two books. One of his stories is called "Nightfall", and is well worth reading. You should probably get a collection of his that includes that story, but if you search around enough, you can find the text online.
Asimov works the short story perfectly. Many sci-fi books have to present an idea or ex More...
Isaac Asimov is the master of sci-fi short stories. He's a little-known author that has written one or two books. One of his stories is called "Nightfall", and is well worth reading. You should probably get a collection of his that includes that story, but if you search around enough, you can find the text online.
Asimov works the short story perfectly. Many sci-fi books have to present an idea or ex More...
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Feb 09, 2012
Pedro
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here
Aug 31, 2011
Matt
rated it:
A must-read for fans of science fiction!
The writing style of this book was very liquid...can someone help me think of a better adjective? What I mean is that the writing had no mental road blocks for me. It was a very cohesive reading experience. I loved the sentence structure and vocab use.
The story was intriguing and very creative (I need to memorize better adjectives). I like how some characters joked about only having one sun, lol. At first the characters' names More...
The writing style of this book was very liquid...can someone help me think of a better adjective? What I mean is that the writing had no mental road blocks for me. It was a very cohesive reading experience. I loved the sentence structure and vocab use.
The story was intriguing and very creative (I need to memorize better adjectives). I like how some characters joked about only having one sun, lol. At first the characters' names More...
Feb 27, 2009
Djrmel
rated it:
Good, basic, no-frills science fiction from the master. Nightfall began life as a short story by Asimov and was expanded to full novel length by the partnership of Asimov and Silverberg. Often, that makes for a story that's obviously padded, but not in this case. A planet with customs and inhabitants very similar to Earth is about to experience something we take quite for granted (but never quite stop fearing) - natural darkness. Five of their suns will be below the horizon and the sixth will be
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Jul 19, 2011
Samuel
rated it:
One of the greatest Asimov's short novels I had the pleasure of reading. Can you imagine what happenned to us if we've at night, and in one entire continnent, the electricity were ran out !? And what in one entire planet. It is true, being us, humans, able, as species that lives under the light of the Sun, were able to conquer the Night after the invention of the electric lamp, but what can happend if those things where gone suddenly !? This way, you can start to feel how the inhabitants of this
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Dec 31, 2010
Michael
rated it: 
This book has taken me several weeks to read because--foolishly--I pretty much only read it before bed, and I keep falling asleep after a three or four pages.
Nightfall is about an alien world that has five suns. Life on this planet has evolved in what amounts to perpetual light: it's never full-dark on this world, and the intelligent life (pretty much like humans) cannot bear darkness. They have also never seen the stars since the sky is always illuminated.
Every 2,500 years, More...
Nightfall is about an alien world that has five suns. Life on this planet has evolved in what amounts to perpetual light: it's never full-dark on this world, and the intelligent life (pretty much like humans) cannot bear darkness. They have also never seen the stars since the sky is always illuminated.
Every 2,500 years, More...
Mar 31, 2010
Steven
rated it:
This represents an expanded version of the 1941 short story by Isaac Asimov, this time with Robert Silverberg as co-author. Whether the book-length version works as well as the short story is a key question. This version does not seem as "taut."
Nonetheless, it is still a nice piece of work. The premise: The planet Kalgash is normally in sunlight. It has six suns circling it, and for an extended period of time, at least one sun has been in the sky. In cuycles of over 2000 ye More...
Nonetheless, it is still a nice piece of work. The premise: The planet Kalgash is normally in sunlight. It has six suns circling it, and for an extended period of time, at least one sun has been in the sky. In cuycles of over 2000 ye More...
Mar 30, 2010
Marts (Thinker)
rated it:
Nightfall tells the story of a fictional planet Lagash which has six stars like suns keeping it illuminated all the time so the people there don't know anything about darkness and night. Well over time some scientists from Saro University including a psychologist, an archaeologist, and an astronomer, make some discoveries with show that there have been these collapses in civilizaion in the past, a sort of cycle that occurs. So the scientists try to find out what causes these anomalies. Well one
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Nov 11, 2009
Fiver
rated it:
There was a time when I wolfed down books by Isaac Asimov, like an elephant in a donut shop. When I saw this one, the premise caught my eye and I was eager to give it a shot.
Here's the long and the short of it: A good short story does not a good novel make. What works in a single sitting simply doesn't have what it takes to last an entire novel. The idea of an entire apocalypse caused strictly by the onset of darkness is thrilling, of course, and right up until the moment that this d More...
Here's the long and the short of it: A good short story does not a good novel make. What works in a single sitting simply doesn't have what it takes to last an entire novel. The idea of an entire apocalypse caused strictly by the onset of darkness is thrilling, of course, and right up until the moment that this d More...
Sep 02, 2011
Tom
rated it:
I went into nightfall having no idea what to expect, and I was rather pleasantly surprised by the outcome of the experience. The story centers around the planet of Kalgash, where six suns circle at all times. Ultimately, that means that even during their "sleep periods," they have at least 1 sun up in the sky, and there are even days where they can have as many as four. A religious group is spouting the end of the world the day the suns disappear from the sky, and some scientists begin
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Apr 20, 2010
iffi
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Много увлекателна история за планета, която е огряна денонощно от няколко слънца и на която веднъж на 2000 години се случва катаклизъм (слънчевата светлина изчезва и се появяват Звездите), което кара всички жители буквално да полудеят.
Чудесно описан е сблъсъкът на фанатизма и лудостта с науката.
Книгата е разширение на разказа "Падането на нощта", който си струва да се прочете преди това. More...
Чудесно описан е сблъсъкът на фанатизма и лудостта с науката.
Книгата е разширение на разказа "Падането на нощта", който си струва да се прочете преди това. More...
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Aug 11, 2010
kittenlogic
rated it:
my best friend told me i should read this one, right when i first realized that i really like scifi. it was exhilarating, a page turner. i couldn't wait to see what happened when the suns finally set ...
... but then it just kind of fizzled out. it seemed almost like the authors didn't really know where they were going once they got there. like a car trip where all the thrill is in the ride, the actual destination was just kind of "meh."
i was torn between 5 star More...
... but then it just kind of fizzled out. it seemed almost like the authors didn't really know where they were going once they got there. like a car trip where all the thrill is in the ride, the actual destination was just kind of "meh."
i was torn between 5 star More...
Jul 10, 2011
Chris
rated it:
Though Nightfall is a great work of fiction, I may have been spoiled by having read the short story version first. I felt as if the book was essentially complete after the first of three segments, the rest of this novel felt more like filler necessary for the expansion from short story to novel than any planned direction of plot. If you're looking for a longer read, this is a great book, and you may not even notice this at all. If you're looking for the essence of this brilliant story, though, I
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May 04, 2010
Carla
rated it:
One of the best science fiction books I ever read. From this book, I learned how necessary it is to really think outside the box to write good fiction. Asimov and Silverberg did just that, and the result was COOL. Harlan Ellison wrote a book about creating a world from scratch for your fiction, and I wonder if these guys read it. Reading Nightfull definitely makes me want to go back and find I think it was called "Medea" by Harlan Ellison. I'm not sure about that name, though I kn
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Nov 11, 2011
Richard
rated it:
One of Asimov's greatest works. Written in his dry, pre-WWII classic American sci-fi style, very matter-of-fact and reverent of science. Brings excellent ideas of how a different society would be in a different solar system, and the psychology of beings living on a world where night never comes. Asimov gradually introduces his ideas to us through his character's scientific processes. He also writes the end of a world very well, how society may very well break apart when the sanity of humanity i
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Aug 22, 2011
Nuno
rated it:
Este livro de Asimov e Silverberg explora de uma forma muito original o medo irracional dos seres humanos. Situando a narrativa no planeta Kalgash, que orbita num sistema constituído por nada menos que seis estrelas, uma das quais brilhante como o Sol do sistema solar, dois pares de estrelas duplas mais distantes e uma anã vermelha. Em virtude desta configuração planetária, o planeta Kalgash é continuamente banhado pela luz solar, pelo que nunca em parte alguma deste globo se experimenta a sensa
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Feb 23, 2009
Kristin
rated it:
On the planet Kalgash, an archeologist, an astronomer, and a news paper reporter begin to realize that life as they know it is facing one of the most horrifying things the planet could ever know: Darkness. Kalgash knows only light, but evidence now points to a recurring event that happens every 2000 years - a solar eclipe that will plunge the world into night and the world into madness and terror.
The blurb on the back of the book reads: Isaac Asimov's short story "Nightfall" More...
The blurb on the back of the book reads: Isaac Asimov's short story "Nightfall" More...
Sep 03, 2008
Poo1987
rated it:
The world in which we live, whether is there only one or six sun, is dangerous. Harm does not come by the hand of God, the anger of demons, or the appearance of Stars, but the madness and bloodthirstiness of man to hunt the scapegoats and make sure that those will die severely or to get rid of those who don't take side along with them. This is the phenomena normal in fanaticist or totalitarian communities. You will see it clearly in such kinds of those; otherwise, vaguely in such society so-call
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May 26, 2008
Katherine
rated it:
This book was the long-awaited elaboration of a fantastic short story as well as a collaboration by two great SF authors, but I was so disappointed. I had been intrigued by Assimov's short story, but I found the book redundant and predictable with a slow plot. I think I finished reading it just because I am a perfectionist.
My other complaint is the abundance of cliches in the dialogue. I couldn't tell if the cliches were (dare I say it of these authors???) bad writing or were inte More...
My other complaint is the abundance of cliches in the dialogue. I couldn't tell if the cliches were (dare I say it of these authors???) bad writing or were inte More...
Mar 18, 2008
Smokey
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Imagine a world of constant light - where at least one of the six suns that cross the sky is always visible. Imagine a world where every bedroom has a nightlight, even though the sky never truly goes dark - a world where a hard-core thrill-seekers pay hand over fist to test their psyche by riding through just a few minutes of total darkness, and a thrill greater than any roller-coaster. Then, imagine that for the first time ever, the last sun sets, and Night falls.
Isaac Asimov and Ro More...
Isaac Asimov and Ro More...
Oct 08, 2010
Kendra
rated it:
I hated this book for the first 30 pages or so. It was depressing and hard to relate to. Then I started to connect the dots between the insanity of the planet Kalgash and our present day reality, and got even more depressed. By this time, however, I was at least engrossed in the story. I don't like to think about the direction our planet is heading in, and unfortunately this book sort of forces you to consider uncomfortable ideas and theories. Good pick for book club though, since I am anxi
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Aug 23, 2010
David
rated it:
Good retelling of the Asimov classic. The added ending is a bit silly, trying to inject a little more optimism than the original had, but ending up being too simplistic and not very good. Still, I enjoyed it for what it was. It's of note that this book is all Robert Silverberg. The basic short story is Asimov's, of course, but this novelization, as well as the first and last third of the book was done entirely by Silverberg. The original is much better, but this is also a good read.
Jul 14, 2011
Quill
rated it:
Well, it was a good concept, however I would have found it much more impactful if it were short story (as the original story was.. this is expanded novel version) as well as if I had been younger. Far-out-man stories are great but this one did not give me any surprises. Of course, the original story was written in the 40s, and I liked how it was delivered, but there's better sci fi out there now in the modern age, as well as better Asimov out there from the classic age.
Jan 31, 2012
James
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The novel starts off strong, nicely fleshing out the world of Asimov's famous short story off which the book is based. However, midway through, a major plot development causes all form of science fiction to be thrown to the wind, as we wander through the wilderness with the now-separated characters, and, in the absence of a framework of speculative fiction, we discover exactly how unlikeable and depressing these characters are.
Mar 26, 2011
Andreas
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An expansion of an earlier story with the same name by Asimov. Very interesting novel about a planet with six suns. This astronomical oddity results in a world that (almost) never knows night, and has never seen the stars. Astronomy is all about calculating the orbits of the suns. An astronomer figures out that night is going to fall soon, for the first time in 2049 years. Chaos and madness follow.
http://www.books.rosboch.net/?p=374
http://www.books.rosboch.net/?p=374
Feb 16, 2009
Rebekah
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One of my all-time favorite books, this is the story of an alien world that has never known night. The planet has six suns and at least one (if not three) is always visible in the sky. Life is ideal, except for some disturbing fossil records that point to global devastation occuring every 2,000 years, and a recently discovered planet that threatens to eclipse the sun on a rare "one-sun" day.
Jul 26, 2011
Kevin
rated it:
I found the premise of this book fascinating. A planet, not so unlike our own, except for the fact that it has multiple suns in such an alignnment so night comes once in only 2000 years or so. I was reminded of the panic that reigned in the in ancient times when there was a total solar eclipse and everyone thought the sun was being eaten or the world was ending. Very good book.
