Reviews
I think someone said that Asimov can't help but write page turners. Unfortunately for us, not all page turners are created equal.
An alternate, miniature Dune.
First book in Asimov's Empire series. Interesting to learn how everything was setup for Foundation, the characters and the story were slow and painful to finish.
An engaging and entertaining Asimov novel, part of his Empire series (which I think I'm just getting into now). Currents of Space is an sf/mystery blend, turning on that old amnesia storytelling device. One character, Rik, appears on the surface of the planet Florina, having lost nearly all of his memory. Various people take interest in Rik, which triggers all kinds of events: (view spoiler)[murder, mistaken identity, revolution, imperial scheming, blackmail, and ultimately the threat of planets destroyed by nova. (hide spoiler)] Several aspect of Currents of Space stood out for me. First, the genre blend of science fiction and mystery. Perhaps 1/2 of the book consists of either people trying to solve a mystery, or telling others their solutions. One character, quite a villain, describes himself as playing detective at one point. At the same time we get science fiction tropes. There's space opera, with starships, interstellar empires, advanced technologies, and (view spoiler)[exploding stars (hide spoiler)]. There's also hard sf, involving what the title means, and its implications, (view spoiler)[broken down in terms of chemistry and interstellar space (hide spoiler)]. Second, the novel is very much about racism and racist societies. The planet Sark rules Florina much like American whites ruled black slaves in the antebellum south. Sarkites are a racial elite, while Florinians exists only to toil in fields, picking something called "kyrt" and which acts a lot like cotton did in the 18th and 19th centuries. Sarkites use classic racist techniques, even calling Florinian males "boy", no matter their biological age. For America in 1952 this must have been obviously evident. Moreover, the Florinians have unusual skin pigment - very white! One major character, Selim Junz, is unusually dark-skinned, which, he says, gives him empathy for the Florinians. Junz cheers every reversal experienced by Sark. All in all, an interesting novel, always engaging.
