Thursday, June 14, 2007

The Naked Sun

The Naked Sun

Isaac Asimov

  —   $7.19   —   Book

product page

Rating:

Fiction, Science Fiction

Detective Elijah Baley is back, and with his robot partner, he's fighting crime! well... actually, it's not that silly, I'm just being flippant.

For reasons unknown to Lije Baley, he's been called to the planet of Solaria to help solve a confusing crime. He's the first Earthling off the planet in a long time, as Spacers largely want to quarantine the teeming hives of Earth. He's trying to solve a crime in a completely foreign culture that eschews personal contact, and he really doesn't want to prove the person who must be responsible for the crime actually guilty, as that could mean both personal and planet-wide repercussions.

He is assisted in his endeavors by Daneel Olivaw, the humanoid robot who helped him solve a crime in Caves of Steel. He is, however, severely hampered by his agoraphobia, common to Earthfolk who have never been outdoors. He's also hampered by the fact that as a robot, Daneel is overwhelmed by the need to protect Baley, even when his efforts could harm the investigation. But most of all, he is hampered by the difficulty of trying to work past the blind spots of an unfamiliar culture, one that may know his blind spots all too well.

No comments: