Product Description

Called to the Spacer world to solve a case of roboticide, New York City detective Elijah Baley teams up with humanoid robot R. Daneel Olivaw. Together they are tasked with proving that the prime suspect, a renowned roboticist, is innocent of the crime. Plain clothes man Elijah Baley must travel to the planet Aurora to investigate the murder of Robot Jander. He would rather not. His last trip off-Earth on police business resulted in a TV drama being made of the case - as a result of which even his son Bentley suspects Elijah had an affair with Gladia Delmarre, the murder suspect whom he proved innocent. Not only does Gladia now live on Aurora, the murdered robot belonged to her...and was her lover! Elijah is teamed once more with Robot Daneel, and they are joined by another interesting robot, Giskard. The investigation should benefit from a secret and unique ability possessed by Robot Giskard. But Elijah is disturbed by his presence, sensing perhaps that Giskard's positronic brainpaths function to a hidden agenda. What Giskard knows but Elijah does not is that the future of mankind in space hangs on the outcome of this investigation...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #23990 in Books
• Published on: 1994-01-10
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 480 pages

About the Author
Isaac Asimov was the Grand Master of the Science Fiction Writers of America, the founder of robot ethics, the world's most prolific author of fiction and non-fiction. The Good Doctor's fiction has been enjoyed by millions for more than half a century.

Customer Reviews

Excellant sequel to THE NAKED SUN
This was written much later than the original two robot novels, the three Empire novels, and the Foundation trilogy. It and the following book, ROBOTS AND EMPIRE, link the first two robot books with the Empire series and leads up to Foundation.

There are a couple of points easy to miss here. First, psychohistory is first suggested by Dr. Fastolfe, and then advanced by the two robots. Secondly, while there is a mystery involved here, the emphasis is on the future of space exploration and who is going to be in it. The original pioneers into space have become spoiled by their reliance on their robots and no longer have the spirit of adventure necessary to continue further exploration, and yet they are fearful of the idea of generally despised Earth people colonizing planets.

So much indeed is at stake here. For full enjoyment, I suggest reading first the Susan Calvin stories and also "The Bicentennial Man" which are in Asimov's THE COMPLETE ROBOT, and then THE CAVES OF STEEL and THE NAKED SUN, the first two Elijah Bailey & R. Daneel Olivaw novels. And be prepared for this book to be more centered on mankind's future venturing into space than in the mystery element.

The Best
I was 17 when I first read this book and by then I had read quite a few books by the good Doctor. This bowled me over. From the increasing intensity of its characters, storyline and arguments this book drew me. This is the third book of a generally overlooked classic Asimov series - the Lije Baley and R.Daneel Olivaw stories. The first, The Caves of Steel was an excellent book. The second, The Naked Sun was equally good, but this one was and continues to be the most memorable book I have ever read.

The basic premise is of a time when the human race has split into two factions: the agoraphobic Earthers who live in vast underground cities aka Caves of Steel; and the Spacers, descended from earlier explorers, now settled on other worlds. As the Earthers begin to shake of the shackles of their agoraphobia and seek to reach for the stars once again, so the Spacers have become attached to their new worlds with little desire to continue their explorations. To some Spacers the thought of the diseased Earthers regaining a foothold in space is just too much. They must rveise their own exploration plans and that requires the use of humaniform robots, robots which look and act like humans, extremely sophisticated machines. Only one man, a Spacer, has the expertise to construct such robots and he stands accused of the "murder" of the prototype. He alone has the skill to have destroyed its mind, he has the motive, being a supporter of the Earther's new desire to explore. He enlists the aid of Earther detective Lije Baley and early prototype humaniform robot Daneel Olivaw to prove his innocence. What follows is a well crafted and brilliantly written SF mystery novel of the highest order. If you must read one Asimov then read this one.

Beautifully woven web of intrigue, lust and murder
'Robots of Dawn' is the last of the Elijah Bayley and R. Daneel Olivaw detective mysteries and by far the best. Asimov brilliantly counterpoises the hopes and ambitions of powerful, brilliant, flawed men and women of the planet Aurora (or Dawn), faithful, constant robots striving to do nothing but please their masters and the hapless intuitive blundering of an Earth detective plucked against his will to solve an unsolvable crime upon which rides the future of mankind. You should read 'Caves of Steel' and 'Naked Sun' before 'Robots of Dawn' as the context they provide will enhance the enjoyment of this book and they are good in their own right. After 'Robots of Dawn' you will not be able to resist its sequel 'Robots and Empire' which is even better and finalises the early part of Asimovs 'history of the future'.