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The Naked Sun (SF) - Isaac Asimov ****

In my read through of all six of Isaac Asimov's robot books, I'm on the fourth, from 1956 - the second novel featuring New York detective Elijah Baley. Again I'm struck by how much better his book writing is than that in the early robot stories. Here, Baley, who has spent his life in the confines of the walled-in city is sent to the Spacer planet of Solaria to deal with a murder, on a mission with political overtones.

Asimov gives us a really interesting alternative future society where a whole planet is divided between just 20,000 people, living in vast palace-like structures, supported by hundreds of robots each.  The only in-person contact between them is with a spouse (and only to get the distasteful matter of children out of the way) or a doctor. Otherwise all contact is by remote viewing. This society is nicely thought through - while in practice it's hard to imagine humans getting to the stage of finding personal contact with others disgusting, it's an interesting contrast with Baley's Earth where millions are crammed together in close confines.

Given the political views of 1950s America, it's notable that Asimov, an American writer, gives us two very state-controlled societies (though there are other Spacer worlds that are allegedly less authoritarian). We see here the development of Baley as a human being, plus Gladia, one of Asimov's few relatively rounded female characters in the main suspect for the initial murder.

As with the previous novel, The Caves of Steel, the technology is delightfully out of synch. Set around 3,000 years in the future, robots are well developed, but almost all other technology seems only slightly better than 1950s levels - for example, Baley is surprised that the robots can communicate with each other by radio, and media is still at the book film level. But that doesn't get in the way of the readability as Baley tries to solve the murder despite the difficulties of operating in such a different society.

Like Caves of Steel, this book technically features a partnership with the humanoid robot Daneel Olivaw, who is from another of the Spacer planets, the marginally more normal Aurora. If anything, Olivaw is the book's weakest point as he has very little role to play, being mostly sidelined by Baley. Even so, this is the best of the robot books I've got to so far.

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Review by Brian Clegg - See all Brian's online articles or subscribe to a weekly email free here

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