Resumo de The Stars,like Dust

Asimov considered this his worst novel, and one is forced to agree.
It is one of the few books I own by Asimov which I do not particularly
enjoy rereading.

The main flaw with the book is the
inclusion of the silly search for a mysterious document from Earth?s
past which will utterly revolutionize the Galaxy. The document, in the
end, turns out to be the Constitution of the United States. This
subplot was added to the book at the insistence of Horace Gold, who was
scheduled to serialize the novel in Galaxy. Asimov wanted to
remove it from the hardcover publication, but his editor at Doubleday,
Walter Bradbury, objected. As a result, Asimov lost all real interest
in what was probably not one of his better stories to begin with and
finished it mostly to get it out of the way, and his disinterest shows.
(As he points out, the idea that the Constitution should be amenable to
governing large portions of the Galaxy seems ridiculous?particularly
after the 2000 Presidential election and its exercise in the vagaries
of the Electoral College.)

The second main problem with
the book is the extent to which the main characters are unattractive.
Our hero, Biron Farril, starts out as a rather stupid and easily duped
young fop and ends up as a harsh Machiavellian who is willing to hurt
the woman he loves in order to further his aims. Indeed, most
of the characters in the book are more than willing to betray one
another to further their own ends, good guy and bad guy alike. The book
does have some memorable characters, such as the villain, Simok Aratap,
who is more honorable than most of the heros. And the uncle of Farril?s
love interest (herself the unutterably insipid Artemesia), one
Gillbret, is rather fun and revealed to be the inventor of the
visisonor which the Mule would later find so useful.

For
me, a sure sign of this novel?s lower quality is the fact that I really
don?t remember it well. I?ve read it at least a half a dozen times, but
as of the moment I sat down to reread it in 1995, I would not have been
able to describe any details of the plot?or, for that matter, many of
the main plot points. Vague impressions, yes, but no details. Certainly
I could not have named any of the major characters (who are, in any
event, utterly forgettable with one or two exceptions). Granted, it all
came back to me as I reread it?but it was largely gone again by the
time I reread it next in 2001.

No Asimov book is a total
loss, of course, and this one does have its moments, but they are few
and far enough between. It remains Asimov?s weakest science fiction
novel.

Resumos Relacionados