This book makes Back to the Future look like child’s play. Considering the publish date of this novel, Isaac Asimov proves that he is ahead of his time even today. I have not really read many time-travel intesive books but Hollywood can’t compare to the master of Science Fiction. This was a rather short read for me as I had just finished the Lord of the Rings trilogy. The pace of the book is a bit slow at the beginning but picks up quickly toward the end. I enjoyed the time perspective change from the main character and found it to be rather unique. If you are an Asimov fan and haven’t read this book, you are cheating yourself out of a good read.
1 thought on “The End of Eternity by Isaac Asimov”
I agree that the book was a little slow-moving at the beginning, but I appreciated that the storyline and details of the main concept of time travel were laid out so well…otherwise it would have been impossible to understand what was going on at the end. This was an excellent sci-fi read, and a little bit of a love story as well.
This review will most likely contain spoilers for any previous books in the series, read at your own risk.
Toward the end of Alliance, Derek agrees to transport the three shape changing robots to the cannoid inhabited planet that Adam originally emerged from. The title of the book refers to a subplot about a loner named Maverick, which was expelled from a main pack some time ago. His goal is to join PackHome. I really didn’t identify with this character at all. In the meantime the Robots on the planet agree to treat the cannoid inhabitants as humans in order to give themselves a purpose.
Overall this book has a little bit of action, but seems to me to be nothing more than a stepping stone before the final book. I didn’t really enjoy it that much because nothing seemed to really happen. I’m looking forward to the final book to see how all of this will finally be tied together.
I just got a Stumble to Pharyngula’s science blog that has a link to a YouTube video of Isaac Asimov. He is speaking about what he thought the top science story of 1988 was. I like running across videos of him speaking because it is nice to put a voice and face to my favorite author. The video goes out of sync about half way through unfortunately. Check it out!
As I sat down to write this review, I realized I couldn’t remember the last time I read an entire physical book. Since 2018, all my novel reading has been on a Kindle Paperwhite. Before that, I used a Kindle Fire but still alternated with physical books. Reading on the Fire was always a bit of a hassle because of the glare. The Paperwhite’s e-paper display is in a completely different league. I like it so much that when I revisited the Foundation novels a few years ago, I borrowed the ebooks from my local library even though I already had the physical copies on my shelf. One nice perk of the Paperwhite is that it’s easier to read while eating because I can flip pages with my knuckle.
Recently I wanted to disconnect from electronics before bed. The best way seemed to be grabbing something from my bookshelf that I hadn’t read yet and didn’t already have digitally. That’s when I noticed Svaha by Charles de Lint. I vaguely remembered seeing a recommendation for it years ago and picking up a copy through Book Mooch, a site where people trade books they’re done with. I’m pretty sure it’s been sitting unread for over ten years.
When I pulled Svaha off the shelf, I could barely remember how or why I got it. The cover, showing a Native American man with a wolf, didn’t ring any bells, and the back-cover description didn’t sound like my usual genre. Most of my reading leans toward science fiction and, more recently, fantasy. Still, I decided to trust my past self and give it a shot.
The story takes place in Canada sometime after 2094. Without spoiling too much, the setup is that in the 1990s a Native American named Daniel Hollow Horn became a music superstar and used his fortune to educate and empower his people. Over time they became world leaders in science, technology, and law, eventually surpassing the rest of the world. After a period of war, they withdrew into self-contained “Enclaves,” kind of like Wakanda from Black Panther, except everyone knows where they are. They managed to protect themselves from the pollution and fallout left behind while the rest of the world fell apart.
I agree that the book was a little slow-moving at the beginning, but I appreciated that the storyline and details of the main concept of time travel were laid out so well…otherwise it would have been impossible to understand what was going on at the end. This was an excellent sci-fi read, and a little bit of a love story as well.