“I Do Not Ask You to Like the Podcast – I Ask You to Trust It”
If you’re a fan of Issac Asimov, you probably like robots, the Three Laws of Robotics, and characters having long, expository conversations about interesting ideas.
If that’s true, then Robots and Empire is the book for you! It features, except for when the plot forces its way in, our two favorite robots, Daneel and Giskard, having long, expository conversations about the Three Laws of Robotics. Jon is quite outspoken about how those are his favorite bits. Dan and I are more apt to keep that revelation to ourselves.
Robots and Empire lives in between the three Elijah Baley novels and the Foundation books. As a consequence, it never seems to get the attention of Asimov’s other major novels; it’s never, for example, been made into an official mass-market audiobook.
But if you love the three Elijah Baley novels and the Foundation books and if you’ve bought into Asimov’s project to link most of his work into a tremendous future history, Robots and Empire isn’t just essential, it might even be the most important piece.
And we’re finally talking about it, starting, in this episode, with the first two chapters, “The Descendent” and “The Ancestor.” You don’t want to miss this one!
Stars End: A Foundation Podcast 