| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
Isaac Asmiov’s classic novel about the decline and fall of Solaria.
Gladia Delmarre's homeworld, the Spacer planet Solaria, has been abandoned - by its human population. Countless robots remain there. And when traders from Settler worlds attempt to salvage them, the robots of Solaria turn to killing…in defiance of the Three Laws of Robotics.
Pax Robotica
Long ago, Gladia's robots Daneel and Giskard played a vital role in opening the worlds beyond the Solar system to Settlers from Earth. Now the conscience-stricken robots are faced with an even greater challenge. Either the sacred Three Laws of Robotics are in ruins - or a new, superior Law must be established to bring peace to the galaxy. With Madam Gladia and D.G. Baley - the captain of the Settler traders and a descendant of the robots' friend Elijah Baley - Daneel and Giskard travel to the robot stronghold of Solaria…where they uncover a sinister Spacer plot to destroy Earth itself.
From the Back Cover
DECLINE AND FALL OF SOLARIA
Gladia Delmarre’s homeworld, the Spacer planet Solaria, has been abandoned – by its human population. Countless robots remain there. And when traders from Settler worlds attempt to salvage them, the robots of Solaria turn to killing … in defiance of the Three Laws of Robotics!
PAX ROBOTICA
Long ago, Gladia’s robots Daneel and Giskard played a vital role in opening the worlds beyond the Solar system to Settlers from Earth. Now the conscience-stricken robots are faced with an even greater challenge. Either the sacred Three Laws of Robotics are in ruins – or a new, superior Law must be established to bring peace to the galaxy. With Madam Gladia and D.G Baley – the captain of the Settler traders and a descendent of the robots’ friend Elijah Bailey – Daneel and Giskard travel to the robot stronghold of Solaria … where they uncover a sinister Spacer plot to destroy Earth itself.
THE THREE LAWS OF ROBOTICS
• A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm
• A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law
• A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
This takes up 200 years after ROBOTS OF DAWN and Elijah Bailey is long dead. However, R. Daneel Olivaw and Giscard continue and are actually the primary movers in this novel, although Gladia, a villainous descendent of hers, a descendent of Elijah's and a continuing villain from the earlier book are all important characters.
There's a lot of rather philosophical dialog between the two robots which slows down the story quite a bit, as they ponder over the ramifications of the three robotic laws and come up the the zeroth law which will in time enable R. Daneel Olivaw to return in later books.
It helps explain how Earth's descendents gain the edge over the spacers in their expansion in the galaxy. It also explains Earth's radioactivity which is referred to in later volumes.
This is straight science fiction without any of the mystery subplotting of the previous novels. There are hints of the types of power struggle which permeate the following books. Also, one must realize that this book and the preceding robot novel were written after the three Empire novels and the Foundation Trilogy.
All in all, a satisfying enough read best enjoyed when read in chronological sequence.
Here we seen the birth of a dynamic galactic culture and its interaction with the ossified spacers culture.
Asimov's capcity for weaving lots of ideas into a fast moving story is undiminished. This is a worthy addition to the 'robot' stories.
Particularly the ruminations between Giskard and Daneel. Daneel maybe the humanform, but it is Giskard that is the more powerful robot and between the two of them they surmise quite amazing insights on the human mind and how that plays off their own robotic laws.
Their eventual discussions lead them to the development of a three laws of humanics and the possibility of predicting human behaviour on a mass scale and tying this in to Hari Seldon's psychohistory from the foundation series.
Buy this book and really get into the positronic heads of the two robots, it won't disappoint and it is a perfect precursor to the later foundation series. I read Foundation first and then this and the related robot stories and I think this works best as the robot books do unleash a lot of hidden information that is only alluded to in the Foundation series.
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
