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The Caves of Steel (Robot, #1)
by Isaac Asimov
by Isaac Asimov
Nikki's review
bookshelves: robots, speculative-fiction, mystery, crime
Sep 20, 10
bookshelves: robots, speculative-fiction, mystery, crime
Read from September 13 to 20, 2010
I know I read this when I was quite young -- ten or so -- but I found I remembered very, very little of it. I used to read Isaac Asimov obsessively, at that age: the library wouldn't let me take the books out myself, so my mother did it. I racked up an amazing fine for her by keeping The Positronic Man for months.
Anyway, so it's partially nostalgia that makes me love The Caves of Steel so much. And partially my new appreciation for crime novels. Asimov's short mystery stories were very easy to guess; The Caves of Steel, not so much. I had a feeling about the culprit, after a while, but mostly because his innocence kept going unquestioned.
I'm really quite fond of Elijah and Daneel. There's enough of characterisation and personal investment there for that, and for me to be eager to read more of their adventures. I got quite embarrassed for Elijah when he kept getting things wrong -- but it led to the eventual conclusion, so that was nice. Asimov's pretty good at pulling everything together like that.
Anyway, so it's partially nostalgia that makes me love The Caves of Steel so much. And partially my new appreciation for crime novels. Asimov's short mystery stories were very easy to guess; The Caves of Steel, not so much. I had a feeling about the culprit, after a while, but mostly because his innocence kept going unquestioned.
I'm really quite fond of Elijah and Daneel. There's enough of characterisation and personal investment there for that, and for me to be eager to read more of their adventures. I got quite embarrassed for Elijah when he kept getting things wrong -- but it led to the eventual conclusion, so that was nice. Asimov's pretty good at pulling everything together like that.
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Reading Progress
| 09/13/2010 |
|
10.0% | "I know I read this when I was very young, but I remember so very little of it! Oh well, this will be fun. So far, remembering the general anti-robot climate from other Asimov books." | |
| 09/13/2010 |
|
20.0% | "Reaaaally can't remember this at aaaall. But I'm enjoying it, even if I cringed through the last scene because I always hate when people are unknowingly bigots in front of the people they're being bigoted about." | |
| 09/13/2010 |
|
25.0% | "Definitely enjoying it so far, and the anti-robot bigotry plot thread is interesting. I do love Elijah, with his strong sense of duty overriding his personal objections... I can be like that, too. Anyway, time to break off and go to bed." | |
| 09/17/2010 |
|
40.0% | "Back to reading this. I got stuck a bit on the chapter where Elijah Gets Things Very Wrong -- stuff like that is hard for me to read, usually. I get embarrassed for the characters." | |
| 09/17/2010 |
|
53.0% | "Back to enjoying this. There are some characters I find Rather Suspicious at this point in time by virtue of the fact we're assuming their innocence..." | |
| 09/20/2010 |
|
66.0% | "I wish Elijah would stop doing that. I keep getting all embarrassed for him in his wrongness." | |
| 09/20/2010 |
|
78.0% | "Well, that made me feel better about ignoring someone's motivations. Yay." | |
| 09/20/2010 |
|
90.0% | "Eek! And, you know, I still don't remember this book properly." | |
| 09/20/2010 |
|
100.0% | "Heeeee." |
I only found out that Asimov had linked the robot novels and the Foundation trilogy a few years ago, though, when I discovered the complete series at a friend's (and promptly read it all).