Norby Through Time and Space

The Norby Chronicles #5-6

by Isaac Asimov

Chronicles the further adventures of Norby, the mixed-up little robot, and Jeff, his faithful human companion, as they are taken prisoner in a distant universe and transported back in time

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Young Adult, Science Fiction Fantasy, Childrens

202 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published September 1, 1988

About the author

Works of prolific Russian-American writer Isaac Asimov include popular explanations of scientific principles, The Foundation Trilogy (1951-1953), and other volumes of fiction.

Isaac Asimov, a professor of biochemistry, wrote as a highly successful author, best known for his books.

Asimov, professor, generally considered of all time, edited more than five hundred books and ninety thousand letters and postcards. He published in nine of the ten major categories of the Dewey decimal classification but lacked only an entry in the category of philosophy (100).

People widely considered Asimov, a master of the genre alongside Robert Anson Heinlein and Arthur Charles Clarke as the "big three" during his lifetime. He later tied Galactic Empire and the Robot into the same universe as his most famous series to create a unified "future history" for his stories much like those that Heinlein pioneered and Cordwainer Smith and Poul Anderson previously produced. He penned "Nightfall," voted in 1964 as the best short story of all time; many persons still honor this title. He also produced well mysteries, fantasy, and a great quantity of nonfiction. Asimov used Paul French, the pen name, for the Lucky Starr, series of juvenile novels.

Most books of Asimov in a historical way go as far back to a time with possible question or concept at its simplest stage. He often provides and mentions well nationalities, birth, and death dates for persons and etymologies and pronunciation guides for technical terms. Guide to Science, the tripartite set Understanding Physics, and Chronology of Science and Discovery exemplify these books.

Asimov, a long-time member, reluctantly served as vice president of Mensa international and described some members of that organization as "brain-proud and aggressive about their IQs." He took more pleasure as president of the humanist association. The asteroid 5020 Asimov, the magazine Asimov's Science Fiction, an elementary school in Brooklyn in New York, and two different awards honor his name.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_As...

Reviews

[Dnabre · Rating 2 out of 5]

I hadn't read any of the Norby books before, so I was just jumping into the middle of things with the characters and the world and all. While having read the prior books might have been a little helpful, jumping in is certainly not a problem. I think I picked this up at a bag book sale based solely on Asimov as the author. It is a join worth by Isaac and Janet (husband and wife). It is very much light reading. I don't know for sure, but it seems targeted at a relatively young audience. I grabbed it off the shelf because it was thin and I was waiting for the next book in another series to arrive.

This book has two separate stories/novellas in it: Norby and the Queen's Necklace and Norby Finds a Villain.

In both stories, Norby a sentient alien made but human-built-looking robot (and a very cute character) basically causes a horrible problem that his human friend Jeff and his brother have to fix in order to most importantly get home and generally save the universe as we know it as a side effect. This Norby causes the big problem to be solved through the best of intentions seems to be the norm for him.

There is a lot of time hopping and some space hopping. The first of the two stories, ends up focusing around the French Revolution and its causes. While Norby helps educate his friends (and the reader) with the basic history need to follow, it is far from historic fiction. The second story has more to do with characters from outside Earth and even this universe, the former having been introduced in other books.

Overall, it is very "fluffy". Lots of power of friendship, extremely soft-scifi, and generally very little violence or real peril. While written to a younger audience, it is very well written. I can't say I'd go out my way to pick up other Norby adventures, I'd definitely read them if I had them lying around. Once you get into the story, it is completely. There is no doubt that everything will be fixed perfectly at the end and it will likely be better hand-wavy as to how, but you definitely want to see the characters get home safely.

I'd recommend as a nice light filler when you don't want to think to hard, or as something to introduce children to the idea of space/time travel and robots.

[Cheryl · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lots of fun... for a naive child. I would have liked these when I was eight. Sort of - the first one had too much history in it, and even as a child I did not like stories about the French revolution, etc. The villain in the second is odd; maybe if I knew his backstory he would have made more sense. But it's a neat story anyway.

So, yeah, what the hey, if I run across more Norby at a thrift store or whatever, I'll read 'em. But I won't recommend them. Even to kids - there's a lot more awesome SF for kids nowadays. Iirc, the only juv. genre SF that is old like this that I would recommend would be stuff by William Sleator.

... very mild spoilers below, not worth hiding imo but if you're terrifically fussy stop reading now...

The thing that always has frustrated me, since I started to love books five decades ago, is a *wrong* cover. If it's abstract, fine. But if it looks like a scene from the book, dammit, it better be accurate! And this is not. The necklace doesn't look anything like the one in the story, which is pretty and has diamonds and, plot point!, has tassels, not a clasp. And that green cat, Oola, is only in the other story... though she must be in previous Norby books and I'd like to get to know her better.
.....

[Michael Bertrand · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like all books in the Norby series, this is written for children. Why did I, an allegedly grown up adult, read it? I bought it and the other two collections (The Norby Chronicles and Norby for Hire) for my son. He tried one and didn't like it, and they were sitting on the shelf gathering dust so...

Here's what I found: 1) The series hasn't aged well. Janet Asimov wrote these in the 80s, which means there's no internet of any kind. Characters discuss programming computers and spaceships. There are no cell phones or tablets. 2) The dialogue is cheesy and the plots are dated. Yes, the author makes a point of including strong, vocal female characters, but for the most part the women still end up playing the old "please save me" role. The plots are very sanitized and kid-friendly when compared against contemporary children's work, like the early books in the Harry Potter series. 3) Considering points 1 & 2, the author makes an odd point of emphasizing that religion is obsolete in the future. The main character, Jeff Wells, practices a sort of non-theistic meditation at several points to calm himself, and the author makes a point of underscoring that nothing transcends nature or science- not even the technologically advanced Others the characters meet.

All in all, the book was enjoyable even if it was very simplistic. A 4th grader would probably enjoy them immensely.

[Alger Smythe-Hopkins · Rating 2 out of 5]

Since Isaac Asimov wrote at a young adult level in even his most mature and complex novels (a feature of his writing, not a flaw), these stories are mostly revealing in what pieces are left out to sell to the kiddie readers. The answer is, not much. More interesting is that Isaac, who admitted he had no facility with humorous writing, apparently felt either that his sense of humor would either work in a children's novel, or was inserted by Janet. Either way, it's a mistake.

So mostly what we have between these covers is a mildly entertaining series of random events, a lot of repetitious exposition, some patented Asmovian nonsense posing as scientific fact (dude never really got a handle on quantum physics, but he tried to fake it), and a seriously awkward scene of preteen seduction. Adding Janet to the project really did nothing for Asimov's terrible characterizations of women, and neither did it add dimensions to his male characters.

In all, this is a bog-standard Asimov fiction only dumbed down for the kiddies. Neither bad nor good. Just there.

[Mark Isaak · Rating 4 out of 5]

Norby, a sentient, emotional, and mixed-up robot, and friends get drawn into the French Revolution by an alien artifact in the form of a necklace. There's lots of time travel, and a young reader will learn some history, and will probably also figure out how to set things right before the characters in the book do. That's the first story; in the second story, a madman tries to destroy the universe but only opens a way into an alternate universe, leading the local Biguglies back into ours, where their efforts at destruction are almost as bad. Norby must again travel in time and hyperspace to set things right.

The book is for children; I found the book (like the others before it) lacked depth of plot and character. Although facing destruction multiple times and ways, I almost never felt that the characters were in peril. Solutions to the problems were not quite deus ex machina, but they certainly involved a lot of hand-waving. Still, they are enjoyable light (very light) reads

[Ashleigh Carter · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is part of a series and I don't have the rest of the series. I don't feel like I missed much by it though. It is a decent, fast read, but I didn't connect too much with the story. It moves and reads super fast and I think middle grade and early high school kids would enjoy this!

[Zack · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm at a disadvantage since this was my first Norby book. Not my favorite Asimov.

[Diana McGuire · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not my style

[Rob Pantoja · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my first childhood experience with sci fi. I have been hooked since.

[Steve R]

A collection of two Norby stories - 'Norby and the Queen's Necklace' and 'Norby Finds a Villian'. Written by Asimov's wife, as his name was added to the cover by the publishers to increase sales. Not remebered.