Daniel Darabos reviewed Nightfall and Other Stories by Isaac Asimov
Review of 'Nightfall and Other Stories' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
I grew up reading lots of Asimov, mostly Robot, Foundation, and Lucky Starr books. I haven't read much from him since. So it was nostalgic reading these short stories. They are not associated with his big works, but they may represent his overall approach.
I'm surprised how much he doesn't care about aspects that are pillars of many science fiction novels. He doesn't care about world-building, characters, or drama. I don't think he cares much about a good story. His presentation is bland, never feeling either serious or entertaining. (He tries for humor in one of the included short stories, but it didn't work for me. With humor and a lot of other things, the 5-6 decades between us are an obstacle.)
What I think he cares a lot about is interesting ideas. And the way he examines ideas is always through how people would react to these fanciful new …
I grew up reading lots of Asimov, mostly Robot, Foundation, and Lucky Starr books. I haven't read much from him since. So it was nostalgic reading these short stories. They are not associated with his big works, but they may represent his overall approach.
I'm surprised how much he doesn't care about aspects that are pillars of many science fiction novels. He doesn't care about world-building, characters, or drama. I don't think he cares much about a good story. His presentation is bland, never feeling either serious or entertaining. (He tries for humor in one of the included short stories, but it didn't work for me. With humor and a lot of other things, the 5-6 decades between us are an obstacle.)
What I think he cares a lot about is interesting ideas. And the way he examines ideas is always through how people would react to these fanciful new things. (Like self-driving cars, which is really interesting to read about in a 1952 short story today.) Ultimately he seems to care more about the reactions than the ideas. He never tries to work out scientific details or give reasons. The sci-fi stuff just pops up, like in a fairy tale. This feels strange now, because most of the sci-fi I read is more technical and cares more about the these things (rockets, aliens, cosmology, etc). But of course I don't want to criticize Asimov for it — this is probably one of the things that made him so successful after all.
