Asimov novels are 90% stilted expository dialogue punctuated by tepid action. Yet they somehow work. Why? I think sheer conceptual ambition.
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They defined a genre. Similar to Doc Smith earlier. As space opera? It stinks. But it was the first fumblings towards greatness
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It doesn't stink! Psychohistory is still one of the finest operatic plot devices ever!
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I still wish Asimov stayed with the vignette approach from Foundation. It makes sense that The Plan failed over 1000 years... but still
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Hmm. I kinda liked how his style matured. The last-written books (Forward the Foundation and Robots and Empire) are my favorites.
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Interesting. I loved R&E growing up. It tied everything together. I hated it rereading it. It tied everything together.
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Not quite everything. He tried and failed to integrate the End of Eternity. Tying it all up vastly improved retreads of Empire novels.
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Eternity hooks itself in. "Infinity, not Eternity!" Hints of the Settlers vs. Spacers debate. External growth vs. internal "perfection"
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