I've always had a soft spot for Asimov since I was a kid, although his style of SF is like a nostalgic trip through oldtime radio these days. Later in his career, he became a bit of a caricature of himself, like an old uncle at family gatherings that you can listen to for five minutes before realising he's a self-obsessed bore.

After finishing a long literary novel, I decided to take a break by quickly reading his Empire novels, which I'd never read before. This is a younger, fresher Asimov from the early 50s, and he proves that he really could write. I think I've read them slightly out of order - this is the second in the series and I'm now on the first - but it doesn't really matter since they're only loosely connected to each other.