Resumo de Isaac Asimov's Inferno - Roger Macbride Allen for the Estate of Isaac Asimov

Introduction

Inferno is the second book of the Trilogy (Caliban and Utopia are the
other two books in the Trilogy) authorized by the Asimov Foundation
where in Roger MacBride Allen tries to take on the cudgels from the one
and only Sir Isaac Asimov.

Given this fact, the Trilogy has panned out brilliantly with each
of the three producing a searing examination of the three laws of
Robotics.

The Backdrop

When the earth became too small to accommodate its people and also
started becoming more radioactive, a set of adventurers flew out to
discover new worlds to inhabitate. These daredevils were known as the
Spacers. They flew out and terraformed (make good to live) many worlds
and settled down at these worlds. The spacers used Robots to do all
their chores and all of these Robots followed the three laws of
Robotics namely,

a)A Robot would not by action or inaction allow a human to come to harm.

b)A Robot would follow the orders given by a human provided First law is not broken.

c)A Robot would not allow itself to get to harm provided First Law and Second Law are not broken.

The people who settled down on earth were known as settlers and
they took the cudgels to restore earth back to its old health and
restore its pride. They detested Robots as they felt Robots would
replace their place at work.

The Story

Governor Chanto Greig is the man in the hot seat. He has the
unenviable task of entrusting the terraforming project of Inferno to
reliable authority.

On the one hand are the Spacers with their precise Robots. The trouble
with them is that if they have to take some tough stand, which is even
remotely harmful to even a single human being, the robots won?t allow
that to take place. And given the current situation such decisions
would have to be plenty.

The other side of the story is lead by the Settlers who with their
grand expertise of terraforming process are presenting a grand case.
But they entirely worked with humans and no robots and in a project of
this magnitude even a small mistake could be fatal to the whole
population of Inferno.

The only man he can trust is the commissioner of police Alvar Kresh
who seems to be the only man other than him who can understand the
complexions, but doesn?t seem to care a penny about it.

After lots of contemplation Governor Chanto Greig comes to a
decision. But before he can make it public the man in the hot seat is
murdered in the most mysterious of circumstances with all the
proofs point to the Caliban the no law robot.

Alvar Kresh, unwillingly finds himself as the Governor of Inferno.
Suddenly all the questions he had managed to duck as commissioner of
police come straight back at him.

Who murdered the Governor Chanto Greig? What was the governor?s
decision? What is the racket regarding the Second Law Robots? Who
seizes the power at Inferno?

To find out the answers to all these intriguing questions check out Inferno.

Brief Cast of Characters

Chanto Greig
Governor of Inferno and the man entrusted the unenviable job of
finding a solution to Inferno?s problems. But his life seems to be
under danger from all quarters.

Alvar Kresh

Commisioner of police of Inferno and the man pushed into Governancy after Chanto?s death. Will he be the saviour of Inferno?

Fredda Leving

A robot scientist by profession. She was the inventor of the Second Law Robots and Caliban. She was strong supporter of them.

Caliban

The no law Robot. The Robot who could kill people if it wanted to.

Prospero
The leader of the New-Law Robots. Something about him seemed to be
in contradiction with Robots. His creativity and the desire to lead was
unheard till he arrived on the scene. What deep secrets does he hold?

Rating of this Book

One of the better books on Sci-Fi, Inferno is a follow-up to the Caliban. The salient features of the book are:

1) A great plot.

2) The book maintains a great paace except for a few patches.

3) All the characters are brilliantly evolved.

4) The complications in the plot have been brilliantly woven.

5) The author has a great eye for details.

Despite all these ravings the book also has some scope of
improvement. Some portions seemed to have been unnecessarily stretched
out. There seem to be slight loose ends dealing with the Second Law
Robots and the Ironheads which could have been addressed better.

Rating of the author
One of the most difficult things for Roger MacBride Allen is the
inevitable comparison he would draw with the one and only Sir Isaac
Asimov. But given that fact, Roger acquaints himself quite well,
although he still has to go a long way to stand shoulder to shoulder
with Asimov.
The skills that Roger MacBride Allen needs to improve upon is
correlating the various characters in a manner that they gel together.
Also he needs to learn the art of not stretching things too long so as
to make it slightly boring.

But overall a good performance from Roger MacBride Allen.

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