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The Norby Chronicles #3
Norby and the Lost Princess
Norby the robot and his friend Jeff travel to the distant planet of Izz and help to rescue a lost princess.
129 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1985
6 people are currently reading
90 people want to read
About the author
Isaac Asimov
4,337 books27.7k followersWorks of prolific Russian-American writer Isaac Asimov include popular explanations of scientific principles,
The Foundation Trilogy
(1951-1953), and other volumes of fiction.
Isaac Asimov, a professor of biochemistry, wrote as a highly successful author, best known for his books.
Asimov, professor, generally considered of all time, edited more than five hundred books and ninety thousand letters and postcards. He published in nine of the ten major categories of the Dewey decimal classification but lacked only an entry in the category of philosophy (100).
People widely considered Asimov, a master of the genre alongside Robert Anson Heinlein and Arthur Charles Clarke as the "big three" during his lifetime. He later tied Galactic Empire and the Robot into the same universe as his most famous series to create a unified "future history" for his stories much like those that Heinlein pioneered and Cordwainer Smith and Poul Anderson previously produced. He penned "Nightfall," voted in 1964 as the best short story of all time; many persons still honor this title. He also produced well mysteries, fantasy, and a great quantity of nonfiction. Asimov used Paul French, the pen name, for the Lucky Starr, series of juvenile novels.
Most books of Asimov in a historical way go as far back to a time with possible question or concept at its simplest stage. He often provides and mentions well nationalities, birth, and death dates for persons and etymologies and pronunciation guides for technical terms. Guide to Science, the tripartite set Understanding Physics, and Chronology of Science and Discovery exemplify these books.
Asimov, a long-time member, reluctantly served as vice president of Mensa international and described some members of that organization as "brain-proud and aggressive about their IQs." He took more pleasure as president of the humanist association. The asteroid 5020 Asimov, the magazine Asimov's Science Fiction, an elementary school in Brooklyn in New York, and two different awards honor his name.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_As...
Isaac Asimov, a professor of biochemistry, wrote as a highly successful author, best known for his books.
Asimov, professor, generally considered of all time, edited more than five hundred books and ninety thousand letters and postcards. He published in nine of the ten major categories of the Dewey decimal classification but lacked only an entry in the category of philosophy (100).
People widely considered Asimov, a master of the genre alongside Robert Anson Heinlein and Arthur Charles Clarke as the "big three" during his lifetime. He later tied Galactic Empire and the Robot into the same universe as his most famous series to create a unified "future history" for his stories much like those that Heinlein pioneered and Cordwainer Smith and Poul Anderson previously produced. He penned "Nightfall," voted in 1964 as the best short story of all time; many persons still honor this title. He also produced well mysteries, fantasy, and a great quantity of nonfiction. Asimov used Paul French, the pen name, for the Lucky Starr, series of juvenile novels.
Most books of Asimov in a historical way go as far back to a time with possible question or concept at its simplest stage. He often provides and mentions well nationalities, birth, and death dates for persons and etymologies and pronunciation guides for technical terms. Guide to Science, the tripartite set Understanding Physics, and Chronology of Science and Discovery exemplify these books.
Asimov, a long-time member, reluctantly served as vice president of Mensa international and described some members of that organization as "brain-proud and aggressive about their IQs." He took more pleasure as president of the humanist association. The asteroid 5020 Asimov, the magazine Asimov's Science Fiction, an elementary school in Brooklyn in New York, and two different awards honor his name.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_As...
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
June 23, 2020
Le avventure di Norby si fanno sempre più assurde e strampalate.
Stavolta l'ammiraglio Yobo - la cui principale occupazione sembra essere il fare visita ai Wells per assegnare loro missioni segrete a cui partecipa pure lui - vuole scoprire qualcosa di più sugli Altri, i misteriosi alieni che hanno costruito inizialmente i componenti di Norby.
Si ritrovano così sul pianeta Izzi, popolato da antichi umani portati lì dagli Altri, e da qui si imbarcano in un'ulteriore avventura alla ricerca della principessa di Izzi che si è persa in una spedizione di esplorazione del pianeta Melodia.
La storia poteva chiaramente essere gestita meglio, il finale è come al solito decisamente affrettato e troppo "a lieto fine". Non che mi dispiaccia, ma oggettivamente la risoluzione del dramma della principessa è troppo veloce e "fantasy" per essere in un racconto di fantascienza.
Stavolta l'ammiraglio Yobo - la cui principale occupazione sembra essere il fare visita ai Wells per assegnare loro missioni segrete a cui partecipa pure lui - vuole scoprire qualcosa di più sugli Altri, i misteriosi alieni che hanno costruito inizialmente i componenti di Norby.
Si ritrovano così sul pianeta Izzi, popolato da antichi umani portati lì dagli Altri, e da qui si imbarcano in un'ulteriore avventura alla ricerca della principessa di Izzi che si è persa in una spedizione di esplorazione del pianeta Melodia.
La storia poteva chiaramente essere gestita meglio, il finale è come al solito decisamente affrettato e troppo "a lieto fine". Non che mi dispiaccia, ma oggettivamente la risoluzione del dramma della principessa è troppo veloce e "fantasy" per essere in un racconto di fantascienza.
August 12, 2018
In this installment of the series, Norby, Jeff and company are practicing for a singing competition. They interrupt their preparations (long story) to travel to the planet Izz where they find a society of humans who don't know that there are others of their kind in the universe. Thinking that the travelers are long-lost Izzians, the Queen of the planet tasks Norby, Jeff and their companions with finding her daughter, Princess Rinda, who disappeared while aboard the Izzians first ever hyperspace-capable ship. The entourage eventually makes their way to Melodia, a muddy planet where they are captured by the semi-intelligent natives and discover that Princess Rinda has been transformed into a plant. Only Norby's special abilities - and perhaps the group's singing prowess - will save the day.
It's very hard to describe the Norby books to those who haven't read them. They're science fiction, but there's not a lot of hard science in them. They're designed for children, so they have a lot of humor and silliness in them; they read pretty quickly. There is often a great deal of plot, and yet nothing much ever really happens. Each book follows a pretty simple formula: The regular cast of characters (almost a stock company at this point) gets into some scrape on a strange planet and Jeff and Norby have to figure out how to get them out of it.
I don't really dislike these books, but I can't say that I truly enjoy them either. I guess my tastes run to things that have a little more gravitas to them, even when it comes to children's books.
It's very hard to describe the Norby books to those who haven't read them. They're science fiction, but there's not a lot of hard science in them. They're designed for children, so they have a lot of humor and silliness in them; they read pretty quickly. There is often a great deal of plot, and yet nothing much ever really happens. Each book follows a pretty simple formula: The regular cast of characters (almost a stock company at this point) gets into some scrape on a strange planet and Jeff and Norby have to figure out how to get them out of it.
I don't really dislike these books, but I can't say that I truly enjoy them either. I guess my tastes run to things that have a little more gravitas to them, even when it comes to children's books.
June 17, 2019
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This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 23, 2020
Bedtime reading to my kid. she loved it.
April 20, 2024
2.521 stars, I liked it, but probably won't read again.
Norby discovers two new worlds and Melodia, well, best leave that one alone. The question is, what were the Others, and why did they seed the galaxy with intelligent races.
Asimov Novel Completionist: 24/38
Norby discovers two new worlds and Melodia, well, best leave that one alone. The question is, what were the Others, and why did they seed the galaxy with intelligent races.
Asimov Novel Completionist: 24/38
May 17, 2015
When I was young, I loved Janet and Isaac Asimov's "Norby" books. I was reading anything with Asimov's name on it at the time, and I didn't know at that point that Janet mostly wrote the books herself, but his name was added for the sales bump. I didn't care, and honestly, I still don't.
In this book, third in the series, Norby leads his human friends to another planet that was seeded with humans taken from Earth eons ago by the mysterious alien "Others" that the series focuses on so much. They find themselves hunting for the princess of the planet, who has been lost on an expedition to test a new spacecraft with an experimental hyperdrive. It's a charming book, less sophisticated than most modern Young Adult fiction, but with a silly, Silver Age sci-fi feel to it that appeals to me to this day. Since the books are difficult to find, I was hoping that they'd be available digitally now, but only this one and the fourth book (out of ELEVEN) are currently in the Kindle store. Baffling.
In this book, third in the series, Norby leads his human friends to another planet that was seeded with humans taken from Earth eons ago by the mysterious alien "Others" that the series focuses on so much. They find themselves hunting for the princess of the planet, who has been lost on an expedition to test a new spacecraft with an experimental hyperdrive. It's a charming book, less sophisticated than most modern Young Adult fiction, but with a silly, Silver Age sci-fi feel to it that appeals to me to this day. Since the books are difficult to find, I was hoping that they'd be available digitally now, but only this one and the fourth book (out of ELEVEN) are currently in the Kindle store. Baffling.
June 28, 2010
It seems that (at least for the first 3) each Norby book is better than the previous one. This one certainly doesn't disappoint. This one has exciting new planets and creatures. Jeff, Norby, and friends travel to the planet Izz where they discover the princess of Izz has been trapped on the planet Melodia.
They travel to Melodia where they encounter strange creatures that they call slithers. The adventures continue with all of the fun things that we are familiar with from previous Norby books: dragons, robots, time travel and Norby's continued tendency towards being mixed up.
Definitely a fun read.
They travel to Melodia where they encounter strange creatures that they call slithers. The adventures continue with all of the fun things that we are familiar with from previous Norby books: dragons, robots, time travel and Norby's continued tendency towards being mixed up.
Definitely a fun read.
September 6, 2016
I really enjoy this series of young adult novels from years back by Janet Asimov. I wish I had read these as a kid. What fun stuff.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews