Asimov shows his class yet again
Written: Jul 28 '03 (Updated Aug 04 '03)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Fantastic story, compelling storytelling, plot twists aplenty
Cons: Poor production values
The Bottom Line: Unless you happen to dislike Asmiov, science-fiction, or complicated storylines, you MUST get this.
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| captaind's Full Review: Isaac Asimov - El fin de la eternidad/ The End of ... |
The End of Eternity is a great title, has a great cover design, a great storyline, and is written by a great writer. Which is a pretty good start, I think you’ll agree.
This book is about a group called “Eternals”, who travel up and down the stream of time, observing and analysing events in an attempt to see where catastrophe’s can be averted and the human condition be bettered in general. Andrew Harlan is a Technician, one of the few who actually go into Time (as opposed to Eternity, which has a whole new set of rules but where the eternals spend their time) to make the changes deemed necessary. These changes, by their nature affecting reality for maybe centuries to come, can affect up to 50 billion people. And he believes in the system, its ethics, and its goals. Until, that is, he meets the beautiful and mysterious Noÿs from the 482nd century… As events unfold, Andrew realises his actions can affect not just the lives of billions of people, but the very existence of Eternity itself…
This is an outstanding work of fiction. It isn’t, however, an easy read. I suspect there were around 25 twists in the plot, and to Asimov’s huge credit, I only saw one of them coming. (I usually guess in advance and find myself half congratulating myself for guessing right, and half annoyed that there is no element of surprise left!) I read the book in 2 days, which for me is an amazingly short time, but if you do read it over a longer period you’re likely to find yourself lost in this book as you’ll have forgotten key plot and character details in the meantime. I’m a great fan of Asimov’s work – I know many people find his style a little dry, and okay it is sometimes, but it works. There is a little wry humour inserted here and there, and the creation of basically a whole new universe, with its own set of standards, ethics, technology, and terminology is carried out faultlessly and believably. The plot gets rather complicated and this may be an off-putting factor to some people. Personally, I love a book I can get completely lost in. Very few books as short as this (a little shy of 200 pages) has managed to capture my imagination quite as much as this. (It normally takes something of the scope of, say, “Lord of the Rings” or “Shogun” to get me really and truly hooked). There are absolutely no plot flaws or inconsistencies, and everything is tied together perfectly. If you like your Sci-fi hard, fast, and intense (which is probably the word I would choose if I had to describe this book in a single word), this is perfect.
But… unfortunately Voyager (an imprint of Harper Collins, who I have come to expect far better from) have done an appalling job with either the proof-reading or typesetting, or maybe both. The book is littered with typos, and a string of spoken sentences (without the "said Andrew", "said Noÿs" tags on each one - which is the only thing that annoys me about Raymond Fiest's writing) that doesn’t appear to end with the person you expect to speaking, so it’s a little unclear as to which of the preceding sentences was, in fact, said by whom. (Maybe Fiest is trying to avoid this sort of thing ever happening in his books!) You will know if this is the sort of thing likely to annoy you or not. It annoyed me greatly, but the story itself is just so good it has to get 5 stars. Maybe they’ve corrected this problem in future editions, I certainly hope so - having this story poorly produced is like having a Canaletto masterpiece in a kennel. It’s actually replaced “Nemesis” as my all-time favourite Asimov book. It’s just a real shame that it wasn’t properly produced.
Recommended:
Yes
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