The Empire Novels

By Isaac Asimov

Book Overview

3 in 1 Novels Includes The Stars, Like Dust, The Currents of Space and Pebble in the Sky. Description: In the 1950s, after penning his Future History stories-what would become his most famous series,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0739431056
• ISBN13: 9780739431054
• Release Date: January 2002
• Publisher: SFBC
• Length: 548 Pages
• Weight: 1.49 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Empire Novels Finally Together in One Beautiful Book

Isaac Asimov's universe is vast; beginning with the near-future Robot novels and ending with the far-future Foundation novels. These three stories that comprise the Empire novels sit inbetween. Set many years after a nuclear holocost ravaged the Earth, the Empire novels trace Asimov's vision of mankind's civilisation of the galaxy and the empires that govern it for thousands of years prior to the revolution that was the Foundation. The three stories are: The Stars, Like Dust: A native of one of the backward planets conquered by the cruel Tyranni Empire, Biron Farrill is only days away from graduating from the University of Earth when someone tries to murder him in his sleep. As a resistance leader, his father was eliminated and so Biron decides to cast his lot with the freedom fighters. With treachery on both sides, Biron is caught between the woman he loves and the revolution his father died for. The Currents of Space: Set thousands of years after The Stars, Like Dust, a man named Rik is wiped of his memories and dumped on the planet Florina. After he is adopted by a peasant girl his memories return and they are thrust into a game of interplanetary intrigue with high ranking officials and spies. For what Rik remembers could spell the end of an empire. Pebble in the Sky: Modern day man Joseph Schwartz is inexplicably transported thousands of years into the future to a strange new Earth which is considered the least significant planet in the Galactic Empire. He undergoes treatment and discovers a conspiracy of scientists that are willing to do anything to return the Earth to its former glory - even with the use of bioweapons. This 550 page book is a really nice edition; a normal hardcover book with dust-jacket - no special binding. Being the only omnibus that contains these three novels (they aren't published anymore!) it has filled a niche in my Asimov collection that was vacant. This, along with the quality of the book, is the reason for giving it 5 stars (the stories themselves are probably worth 4 stars each). Although it is not his best work, I recommend this book to any fan that wants to link Asimov's superb Robot novels to his Foundation novels. A forward by the author, however, would have been a nice touch.