The Stars, Like Dust

by Isaac Asimov

Paperback, 231 pages

English language

Published Nov. 9, 1983 by Ballantine Books.

ISBN:: 978-0-345-31194-8
OCLC Number:: 10272354

(31 reviews)

Biron Farrell was young and naïve, but he was growing up fast. A radiation bomb planted in his dorm room changed him from an innocent student at the University of Earth to a marked man, fleeing desperately from an unknown assassin.

He soon discovers that, many light-years away, his father, the highly respected Rancher of Widemos, has been murdered. Stunned, grief-stricken, and outraged, Biron is determined to uncover the reasons behind his father’s death, and becomes entangled in an intricate saga of rebellion, political intrigue, and espionage.

The mystery takes him deep into space where he finds himself in a relentless struggle with the power-mad despots of Tyrann. Now it is not just a case of life or death for Biron, but a question of freedom for the galaxy.

36 editions

Libbum reviewed The Stars, Like Dust by Isaac Asimov (Galactic Empire #2)

Review of 'The Stars, Like Dust' on 'GoodReads'

1 star

So, I'm going through Asimov's suggested reading order for his works, since I really want to get a good background before (finally) getting to Foundation.

With this being one of the first books Asimov wrote, it has not aged well. In general it's pretty dull, shallow, sexist, childish for no good reason and frankly boring.

Asimov's writing style is forced in this story: the plot only really moves on when some character monologues about some deductive theory they have concerning everyone else's actions. In the Robot trilogy this makes a bit more sense, since R. Daneel and R. Giskard must work within the confines of their positronic brains.

The sense of time is off, or at least the characters are not developed enough for us to understand their motives completely. The so-called love story has no basis, and Farrill's outbursts are either ridiculous and/or cringe-worthy by today's standards.

I'm happy …