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Product Description
High above planet Florinia, the Squires of Sark live in unimaginable wealth and comfort. Down in the eternal spring of the planet, however, the native Florinians labor ceaselessly to produce the precious kyrt that brings prosperity to their Sarkite masters.
Rebellion is unthinkable and impossible. Not only do the Florinians no longer have a concept of freedom, any disruption of the vital kyrt trade would cause other planets to rise in protest, resulting in a galactic war. So the Trantorian Empire, whose grand plan is to unite all humanity in peace, prosperity, and freedom, has allowed the oppression to continue.
Living among the workers of Florinia, Rik is a man without a memory or a past. He has been abducted and brainwashed. Barely able to speak or care for himself when he was found, Rik is widely regarded as a simpleton by the worker community where he lives. As his memories begin to return, however, Rik finds himself driven by a cryptic message he is determined to deliver: Everyone on Florinia is doomed…the Currents of Space are bringing destruction. But if the planet is evacuated, the power of Sark will end-so there are those who would kill the messenger. The fate of the Galaxy hangs in the balance.
Rebellion is unthinkable and impossible. Not only do the Florinians no longer have a concept of freedom, any disruption of the vital kyrt trade would cause other planets to rise in protest, resulting in a galactic war. So the Trantorian Empire, whose grand plan is to unite all humanity in peace, prosperity, and freedom, has allowed the oppression to continue.
Living among the workers of Florinia, Rik is a man without a memory or a past. He has been abducted and brainwashed. Barely able to speak or care for himself when he was found, Rik is widely regarded as a simpleton by the worker community where he lives. As his memories begin to return, however, Rik finds himself driven by a cryptic message he is determined to deliver: Everyone on Florinia is doomed…the Currents of Space are bringing destruction. But if the planet is evacuated, the power of Sark will end-so there are those who would kill the messenger. The fate of the Galaxy hangs in the balance.
About the Author
Isaac Asimov, author of the Foundation trilogy and many other novels, was one of the great SF writers of the twentieth century.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I read this book after the robot novels and the Foundation series, and it is definitely best read when you are already an Asimov fan. If this were the only Asimov book you had read, you would not be able to understand his reputation as a Science Fiction master. I enjoyed it, and it's nice to read something set in between the two great series he wrote, but it's a pretty workmanlike effort. I recommend it only to those who have finished all his more famous works and fancy exploring the world he created a bit further. In fact, the best thing about this book is the political and social world Asimov creates, especially as it acts as a link in the chain between the robot novels and the time of the Foundation era, being set in a time when Trantor is powerful, but has not yet dominated the whole galaxy. Overall: decent early Asimov, but not for the casual reader.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
Of course this is science fiction and quite notable science fiction at that. But in the hands of Isaac Asimov, it's also a mystery although not in the style of the first three robot novels. Somebody used a psychic probe on an Earthman, wiping out his memory, and dumped him in a small village on the planet, Florina. The woman who takes charge of him and the village's townsman eventually team up as the man begins regaining memory, and all become embroiled in political machinations. We're introduced to the planet Trantor, the center of the Galactic Empire.
While this is the last of the Empire trilogy written by Asimov, it's the earliest in the fictional time sequence, occuring in an era much later than that era covered in the Robot novels.
This is an engaging, tightly written novel with twists which will keep the reader involved.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
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37 reviews
18 of 23 people found the following review helpful
The best Asimov I've read so far!
29 Oct 2001
Format:Mass Market Paperback
I just finished this book a couple nights ago. I've also read all four Robot novels and the first Empire book Stars Like Dust. I have to say that out of those books, The Currents of Space drew me in the most and really delivered!
The Trantorian Empire is rapidly approaching its full conquest of the galaxy. However, the wealthy planet Sark is one of the relatively few major obstacles remaining to the Trantorians in their mission. Sark is independent and important to the galaxy for its sale of the extremely valuable substance known as kyrt. Kyrt is similar in some ways to cotton but vastly superior in other respects, and it's only available from Sark.
However, Sark doesn't produce the kyrt itself. For some unknown reason, kyrt grows *only* on the nearby planet of Florina. Sark basically uses the Florinian natives as cheap slave labor to harvest and process the kyrt. No one has been able to get kyrt to grow elsewhere as anything but plain cotton. Thus, Sark has become wealthy and powerful. In addition, though Trantor could easily subdue Sark militarily, it would face the wrath of the rest of the galaxy for disrupting the supply of kyrt. Naturally, Sark depends entirely on its exploitation of Florina for its wealth.
Now enter a man who knows that Florina is doomed and that the immensely important kyrt production may be in jeopardy. This leads to a fantastic tale of political intrigue, murder, and sci-fi that somehow seems to have a lot more substance than the 200 pages it takes up. Read it!
If you can get it, that is. All three Empire novels are out of print. I suggest trying online auctions or used book stores.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
The Best Of The Galactic Empire Novels
1 Jan 2007
Format:Mass Market Paperback
After finishing "The Stars, Like Dust", Asimov started working on a third novel which would be called "The Currents of Space", which he was intending to publish in "Astounding". After discussing the idea with Walter Bradbury of Doubleday & Co., Bradbury expressed interest in publishing the third novel as he had the first two. The novel was published in October - December of 1952 in "Astounding", and by Doubleday in December.
"The Currents of Space" is easily the best of the three precursor novels to the Foundation series which have become known as the Galactic Empire Series; however that is not all that difficult. This story takes place in Asimov's universe chronologically between the other two books, at a time when Trantor had become an empire, but not the Galactic Empire that it would become later.
The story is centered on the planet Florina and on a man named Rik, who initially appears to be mentally challenged, but who is in fact a spatio-analyst from Earth who has had much of his mind erased by a Psychic Probe after he tried to warn of the impending destruction of the planet. When Rik's memory starts to return, people from Trantor and Sark (the world which rules Florina), and perhaps others as well become aware of his existence and try to find and control him.
As with the first two Galactic Empire novels, Asimov wrote an afterword where he explains the scientific errors in the story. In this story the error is rather significant to the plot; however, the other elements of this story do not suffer as badly as they did in "Pebble in The Sky" or "The Stars, Like Dust". Regardless, this is only a fairly average novel, and not the best place to start if you are unfamiliar with Isaac Asimov.
"The Currents of Space" is easily the best of the three precursor novels to the Foundation series which have become known as the Galactic Empire Series; however that is not all that difficult. This story takes place in Asimov's universe chronologically between the other two books, at a time when Trantor had become an empire, but not the Galactic Empire that it would become later.
The story is centered on the planet Florina and on a man named Rik, who initially appears to be mentally challenged, but who is in fact a spatio-analyst from Earth who has had much of his mind erased by a Psychic Probe after he tried to warn of the impending destruction of the planet. When Rik's memory starts to return, people from Trantor and Sark (the world which rules Florina), and perhaps others as well become aware of his existence and try to find and control him.
As with the first two Galactic Empire novels, Asimov wrote an afterword where he explains the scientific errors in the story. In this story the error is rather significant to the plot; however, the other elements of this story do not suffer as badly as they did in "Pebble in The Sky" or "The Stars, Like Dust". Regardless, this is only a fairly average novel, and not the best place to start if you are unfamiliar with Isaac Asimov.
11 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Definitely one of Asimov's best
27 July 1999
Format:Mass Market Paperback
This is certainly the best of the three Empire novels, and one of Asimov's best science fiction novels of any type. I love his early fiction in general more than his later stuff, like FOundation and Earth and Robots and Empire and Nemesis. In comparison, Currents is much tighter, and more cleanly written, with a plot that GRIPS you like a good mystery(which, I think, is the type of writer Asimov was at heart). My one regret about this novel is that it is one of the last of his that I have to read, and I don't want to be left without any more. And if there was one thing I was left wanting in the book, it was for a certain kiss(not to give away anything) to develop into something more-- but I suppose that is the working of modern hack-fiction on me, and Asimov's abstinence from such cheap "attention-catchers" demonstrates his superior writing ability. He didn't NEED that to make the book more interesting.
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