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‘Caves of Steel’ is the first full length novel of Asimov’s The Robot series consisting of four standalone books and a wealth of short stories. The first three novels are SF crime stories featuring detective Elijah Baley and portray a society where mankind lives alongside robots that are governed by Asimov’s renowned Three Laws of Robotics. In ‘Caves of Steel’ these laws are however somewhat extraneous and do not really play an essential role in the story. A more thorough investigation of the consequences and shortcomings of the Three Laws can for instance be found in Asimov’s short story collections such as ‘The Complete Robot’, which therefore constitutes an excellent introduction to The Robot series.

‘Caves of Steel’ is set at about a millennium into the future when Earth has become grossly overpopulated and humankind has completely retreated itself from the depleting environment into the safe womb of his metropolitan society. It describes the three days that detective Elijah Baley works on a murder case with Robot Daneel Olivaw as unlikely partner. The interactions between Olivaw and Baley, who himself is not a robotics enthusiast and fears that someday a robot like Olivaw might make him superfluous, are very amusing and form the actual backbone of the story. The crime story on the other hand, although enjoyable and an excellent read to get through a rainy weekend is rather canonical and unremarkable. With the same applying to Asimov’s writing style which is accessible but undistinguished this is a book that would in itself probably not turn many heads anymore these days. The principle value of the novel is however derived from its part in Asimov’s seminal future-history framework which also comprises his (extended) Foundation series and the Galactic Empire series. In this context ‘Caves of Steel’ is an indispensable addition that introduces some essential characters and describes a vital period in the future and is for that same reason a must-read.

Geschreven bij Caves Of Steel

Toekomstvisie die stillaan geheel waarheid aan het worden is, gegoten in een spannend detectiveverhaal met leuke goed onderbouwde persoonlijkheden.