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Isaac's Universe #5
Tod eines Androiden
Ein klassischer intergalaktischer Detektivroman aus Isaac Asimovs Universum
Obwohl Androiden Menschenrechte zugesprochen wurden, sehen viel sie weiterhin nur als Maschinen. Doch selbst jene, die die größten Vorurteile hegen, würden Arda nicht als Androidin erkennen. Von ihrer Agentur wird sie an den Bestseller-Autor Fortizak vermietet - offiziell als Haushälterin, inoffiziell soll sie als Agentin auf einem intergalaktischen Kongress für Sicherheit sorgen. Was niemand ahnt: Der Kongress ist Ziel eines groß angelegten Überfalls ...
Obwohl Androiden Menschenrechte zugesprochen wurden, sehen viel sie weiterhin nur als Maschinen. Doch selbst jene, die die größten Vorurteile hegen, würden Arda nicht als Androidin erkennen. Von ihrer Agentur wird sie an den Bestseller-Autor Fortizak vermietet - offiziell als Haushälterin, inoffiziell soll sie als Agentin auf einem intergalaktischen Kongress für Sicherheit sorgen. Was niemand ahnt: Der Kongress ist Ziel eines groß angelegten Überfalls ...
- GenresScience FictionMystery
382 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1995
51 people want to read
About the author
Janet Asimov
60 books22 followersAlso known as: Janet Jeppson Asimov, Janet O. Jeppson, J.O. Jeppson
Janet Asimov was an American science fiction writer, psychiatrist, and psychoanalyst. She originally wrote as J.O. Jeppson. She was an accomplished novelist and short-story writer who sometimes worked in collaboration with her husband, the late Isaac Asimov. Among the Asimovs' joint ventures as writers is the series of juvenile novels involving an endearing robot, Norby, and his young owner, Jeff Wells.
Janet Asimov was an American science fiction writer, psychiatrist, and psychoanalyst. She originally wrote as J.O. Jeppson. She was an accomplished novelist and short-story writer who sometimes worked in collaboration with her husband, the late Isaac Asimov. Among the Asimovs' joint ventures as writers is the series of juvenile novels involving an endearing robot, Norby, and his young owner, Jeff Wells.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
April 2, 2023
Do you want an interesting murder mystery?
Do you want robotic characters who are more than "normal people with added angst about not really being people"?
Do you want a sci-fi universe that feels fleshed-out and whole?
Do you want three-dimensional, well-written characters?
Do you want an interesting book?
WELL DON'T LOOK HERE.
Our main character, Arda, is an android--legally a full person, except most people will be bigoted toward her if they knew because most people don't consider android to be people. Arda is ashamed of this. Arda also, and this is important, has "female-patterned emotive circuits" because HEAVEN FORBID we just say "the robot is a girl," we have to get into gender essentialist nonsense instead.
("Female-patterned emotive circuits," by the way, is a stupid way of saying "the girl robot is heterosexual and gets emotional about things like romance.")
She also has "resilient breasts" and thinks about sex and at one point there's a full sex scene that is 1) incredibly stupid, like the rest of the book, and 2) bad. I kept thinking, a woman wrote this?
Nothing is good. The setting isn't well-explained. There's a "Galactic Writers' Society" dinner but few people attend, which is convenient for plot reasons but y'know, I'd expect more people considering real-life writers' conventions can attract more. Writing and dialog is stilted and simplistic. Most secondary characters are even stupider, so as not to interrupt whatever the main characters are doing. The ending and final reveal takes so long after slogging through the entire book that there's no emotional payoff, and also because the characters involved are the pinnacle of one-dimensionally bad writing.
It is bad. Not even entertainingly bad, it's just dull and frustrating and bad.
Want a good android character? Go read All Systems Red, wherein Murderbot has an actual sense of self, opinions about its gender ("no"), and actually helps solve a mystery ("why are bad things happening") with side characters who won't crumple under pressure.
Do you want robotic characters who are more than "normal people with added angst about not really being people"?
Do you want a sci-fi universe that feels fleshed-out and whole?
Do you want three-dimensional, well-written characters?
Do you want an interesting book?
WELL DON'T LOOK HERE.
Our main character, Arda, is an android--legally a full person, except most people will be bigoted toward her if they knew because most people don't consider android to be people. Arda is ashamed of this. Arda also, and this is important, has "female-patterned emotive circuits" because HEAVEN FORBID we just say "the robot is a girl," we have to get into gender essentialist nonsense instead.
("Female-patterned emotive circuits," by the way, is a stupid way of saying "the girl robot is heterosexual and gets emotional about things like romance.")
She also has "resilient breasts" and thinks about sex and at one point there's a full sex scene that is 1) incredibly stupid, like the rest of the book, and 2) bad. I kept thinking, a woman wrote this?
Nothing is good. The setting isn't well-explained. There's a "Galactic Writers' Society" dinner but few people attend, which is convenient for plot reasons but y'know, I'd expect more people considering real-life writers' conventions can attract more. Writing and dialog is stilted and simplistic. Most secondary characters are even stupider, so as not to interrupt whatever the main characters are doing. The ending and final reveal takes so long after slogging through the entire book that there's no emotional payoff, and also because the characters involved are the pinnacle of one-dimensionally bad writing.
It is bad. Not even entertainingly bad, it's just dull and frustrating and bad.
Want a good android character? Go read All Systems Red, wherein Murderbot has an actual sense of self, opinions about its gender ("no"), and actually helps solve a mystery ("why are bad things happening") with side characters who won't crumple under pressure.
October 15, 2024
OK! Jeg hang på til side 180 af 316, men så kunne jeg ikke holde ud at læse mere.
(Isaac skulle have bedt Janet om at stoppe med at skrive efter den første Norby bog).
Det er elendig litteratur! Der er ingen egentlig sammenhængende handling i bogen, bare en masse beskrivelser af de 6 forskellige intelligente racer, deres samspil (eller mangel på samme) og deres planeter, ren tankespind, vel at mærke super kedeligt tankespind.
Isaac´s Universe er ligegyldig spin-off, som aldrig skulle være skrevet, det er langt under normalt science fiction niveau.
Gaaaaaaab!
(Isaac skulle have bedt Janet om at stoppe med at skrive efter den første Norby bog).
Det er elendig litteratur! Der er ingen egentlig sammenhængende handling i bogen, bare en masse beskrivelser af de 6 forskellige intelligente racer, deres samspil (eller mangel på samme) og deres planeter, ren tankespind, vel at mærke super kedeligt tankespind.
Isaac´s Universe er ligegyldig spin-off, som aldrig skulle være skrevet, det er langt under normalt science fiction niveau.
Gaaaaaaab!
March 3, 2020
Interesting read and nice mystery.
September 14, 2020
I was drawn into the plot but the writing is uneven.
August 30, 2013
Part Jeeves, part Nero Wolfe, part Indiana Jones and part Star Wars, I have mixed feelings about this book. Told in two parts, and in first person, it was sometimes hard getting through. I liked getting to know more about the other of the six space-faring species, but sometimes the new information didn't always seem to jibe with what had been presented in earlier short story volumes. Also, the fact that the mysterious 7th apparently was involved in uplift of several species was a sort of let down.
Part One takes place on earth as a banquet is hosted where the newlywed royal Crotonite princess and her author/rogue husband are starting their royal tour. While there the royal gems are stolen, and it is believed that the thief and the gems are destroyed. It seemed more like a short story than part of a novel.
Part Two is a road trip through the galaxy as the royal couple, accompanied by government agents who were all at the writers banquet. Some odd behaviors take place, we learn more about the various races as we visit each of their planets and some mystery occurs. The style of writing does improve as the narrator matures, but is still a little stilted at times. The sex scene in the middle was a little incongruous, but the necessity of it was explained by the end.
The book was formatted well with only one noticeable error.
Part One takes place on earth as a banquet is hosted where the newlywed royal Crotonite princess and her author/rogue husband are starting their royal tour. While there the royal gems are stolen, and it is believed that the thief and the gems are destroyed. It seemed more like a short story than part of a novel.
Part Two is a road trip through the galaxy as the royal couple, accompanied by government agents who were all at the writers banquet. Some odd behaviors take place, we learn more about the various races as we visit each of their planets and some mystery occurs. The style of writing does improve as the narrator matures, but is still a little stilted at times. The sex scene in the middle was a little incongruous, but the necessity of it was explained by the end.
The book was formatted well with only one noticeable error.
July 22, 2013
An uneven, yet engaging entry in the Isaac's Universe series. I particularly liked the detailing on the various homeworlds of the six major interstellar races and wish that had happened earlier in the series. Unfortunately it ended too quickly and neatly.
October 29, 2012
Wish I could remember this, what a title.
October 6, 2018
A couple snippets that give a sense of the tone:
and
Naxo sniffed. “What’s medias res—cosmic excrement?”
“It means we’ve barged into the midst of things,” I said.
Dee-four nodded. “Ah, yes. Even in nonfiction writing, starting a section in medias res is exciting, but it does result in the necessity to account for the events leading up to the present moment, using tricky exposition of plot that doesn’t slow down the narrative momentum.”
and
“So do something!” yelled Naxo. “We must act now! Damn the story momentum!”
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews