Silver Glow

1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.

2. A robot must obey the orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.

3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws.

The Three Laws of Robotics 

I am pretty sure that most people who will see the cover of today's book will think of one particular robot. I for one really can't unsee it.

Robot series
The Caves of Steel (1954)
The Naked Sun (1956)
The Robots of Dawn (1983)

In the future, humankind has evolved into two different beings. The humans who remained on Earth all live packed in sealed-off cities of steel, that keep the big bad outside world and air outside. The Spacers on the other hand, who live in wealth and luxury thanks to their robot-supported economies, naturally look down on the primitive and short-lived humans of Earth and would like the humans to stay on their little Earth. But things are starting to change on Earth thanks to plainclothesman Elijah Baley, who has been succesful in solving two Spacer-related murder cases in The Caves of Steel and The Naked Sun. Under his guidance, a small group of humans are slowly, but surely learning to adapt to the Outside world and they hope to one day move out to new planets, like their ancestors once did before them. But one incident on the planet of Aurora, one of the mightiest of Spacer planets, is about to put a stop to their plans. Dr. Falstofe is accused of having destroyed a humanoid robot of his own invention with a mental block on purpose. Dr. Falstofe is a very promiment member of the pro-Earth movements on the planet and the 'roboticide' has put the political position of Dr. Falstofe in grave danger, and if Falstofe should fall, the humans on Earth will never get a chance to move out to new planets again. Dr. Falstofe denies the accusation, but also states that he is the only person with enough knowledge to create the mental block. Baley is called to Aurora to work together with his old buddy Robot Daneel Olivaw (also a creation of Dr. Falstofe) and solve the roboticide, not only to save Dr. Falstofe, but also the future of humankind in Isaac Asimov's The Robots of Dawn (1983).

The Robots of Dawn is the last novel in Asimov's science fiction mystery Robot trilogy starring plainclothesman Elijah Baley and his robot partner R. Daneel Olivaw. The series would later merge with Asimov's Foundation series, but I think this is Asimov's last mystery novel in this particular setting. I loved the previous two books: The Caves of Steel and The Naked Sun were fun mystery novels that had a good, fleshed-out science fiction background, which was actually of importance to the mystery plots: the Three Laws of Robotics in particular were set at the core of the plots of each of those novels and the books showed that it is perfectly possible to have fair play mystery plots even with non-realistic and highly advanced settings, as long as the reader is given a fair look at the world and the rules are clear. And the Three Laws is as clear as you can get.

But I have to say that I thought The Robots of Dawn was the weakest of the trilogy in terms of mystery plot. I think that is because of the nature of the "roboticide". The robot was taken out with a mental block; a conundrum its mind could not handle, resulting in Blue Screen of Death. The problem is thus about finding the one who could have the skills to force a mental block. We are told that Dr. Falstofe is the only one, but  "skill" is something vaguely defined and because we're also told that the Laws of Robotics don't work on an absolute scale, you are not given with a clear cut logical problem that could be solved by a close reading of the text, like in The Caves of Steel and The Naked Sun. You have mystery that can be explained by "well, maybe X could be skilled enough in Y to do Z, but it's just a guess and not based on any evidence or anything verifiable at all". The final solution in particular contains elements that had hardly been established in the world of the Robot series and kinda came out of nowhere (the hints were quite weak too). "It's the future, it's possible" is the explanation, and that is not how a science fiction mystery novel should work. The Caves of Steel and The Naked Sun were great examples of how to do SF mystery right, but The Robots of Dawn is a gigantic step backwards in showing the possibilities of the SF mystery novel.

I did think the novel was enjoyable as a conclusion to the trilogy though. Not only do we see a couple of familiar faces from the previous two novels, the worlds depicted in this series are always evolving and it's great to see how Elijah and humankind on Earth in general have grown in the last couple of years in regards to looking outside Earth for the future. It's also funny to see how the worlds react to each other in the course of the books: the murder on Solaria (The Naked Sun) which was solved by the mere human Elijah for example has been made into a succesful "TV" series for example and Elijah's exploits (and his more handsome actor-counterpart) are famous even outside Earth.

As always, there is also a good amount of philosphical talk about humankind, the man-machine interface and human society, which may or may not be to your liking. I find it very fun to read though and Asimov obviously had fun in creating the Spacer worlds, where Spacers act all high-and-mighty towards Earthlings, but you can still see the same old follies, the same old mistakes even in their exalted societies.

The Robots of Dawn is a rather disappointing end to an otherwise excellent trilogy of science fiction mysteries. As a science fiction novel, it's still good, but as a mystery story, it is simply not as well constructed as the previous two novels. The dangers of the science fiction -  mystery marriage were well evaded in the first two novels, but sadly showed their face a bit too clearly in this last novel. Still, I think that if you have enjoyed Elijah and Daneel's previous adventures, you really should read this last one too.

Evil Under the Sun

1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. 

2. A robot must obey the orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.

3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws.

The Three Laws of Robotics

Man, that's some nicely painted cover art! It might be me, but I have the feeling that these kind of covers aren't that common anymore in English-language releases.

Colonization of other planets have created a rift between the humans of Earth, who live in gigantic sealed cities of steel that keep fresh air and the sky outside, and the "Spacers", who enjoy economic and military superiority thanks to extensive use of robots. In The Caves of Steel, police detective Elijah Baley was forced to work together with the Spacer robot R. Daneel Olivaw (R. stands for Robot) on a murder investigation on a Spacer outpost on Earth. In Isaac Asimov's The Naked Sun (1956), Elijah is sent out as the first Earth-human in centuries to venture outside Earth: local authorities on the planet Solaria have trouble with a murder, because it's basically the first murder that happened there. The prosperous planet has a fixed population of twenty-thousand and because of the enormous estates available for each person, the Solarians have lost their need for personal contact. Most people only "view" each other through holographic projections and even married couples rarely "see" each other. It is under these circumstances that Rikaine Delmarre was murdered. Logically, only his wife could have come close enough to actually murder him, but there was no murder weapon found on the scene. Elijah and Daneel are asked to solve the case, as an Earthling would have much more experience with such vulgar and intimate behavior like murder.

The Naked Sun is a direct sequel to The Caves of Steel, which was an excellent science fiction mystery novel that presented a fleshed-out future Earth where the evolution of humankind on Earth appears to be reaching a critical point and robots have become more or less accepted as common tools in society. Asimov's famous Three Laws of Robotics also featured heavily in the novel and were used in surprising ways to give the reader a perfectly fair and intricately plotted impossible crime.

The Naked Sun lacks the impact factor The Caves of Steel had for me, as it was the first in the series I read, but it is still an excellent mystery novel that builds further on the foundations laid in the first novel. The most interesting point about the book is definitely the special socio-cultural environment of Solaria: Solarians absolutely detest personal contact and the actual presence of other people. All contact is done through holographic projections and practically everything is done by robots, so the Solarians all live in perfect leisure without having to do a thing. The result is that the Solarians are described in a way similar to how the robots work in Asimov's work: like robots, Solarians have specific characteristics that prevent them from doing certain actions.

That is why the murder on Rikaine can be presented as an impossible crime. Psychologically speaking, only the wife could have come close to the victim, as the only person with whom he occassionally had personal contact, yet there was no murder weapon found on the crime scene. So physically someone else must have done it and taken the weapon with them, yet psychologically the victim would never have allowed other people to come even close, and very probably the same for the murderer. It is a very interesting conumdrum that arises from Asimov's careful plotting and rules and I absolutely love it.

Like in The Caves of Steel, the Three Laws of Robotics are of great importance in this novel and Asimov manages to explore them even more as both a mystery plot device (once again, very cleverly so), as well as a philosophical question, using Elijah and the robot Daneel to explore the consequences and limits of the three laws.

I hardly read science fiction, but I kinda like the sociological discussions that go in Asimov's Robot series. The questions of where humankind could be going, the man-machine interface, the way communities develop under special circumstances: personally I find this all very interesting and I think Asimov's done a great job at addressing these questions, but still keeping these themes very relevant to the main mystery plot. Oh, as for other science fiction mysteries: I also liked Inherit the Stars!

Anyway, The Naked Sun is a great science fiction mystery novel that does everything it wants to do fantastically: it is a great mystery novel, it is a great science fiction novel and it's fun. Will probably read the last book in the series (relatively) soon!

The Robots of Death

1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.

2. A robot must obey the orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.

3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws.

The Three Laws of Robotics

Yes. It has finally happened. I've reviewed more English-language works than Japanese works this month. (The Japanese audio drama of Christie's The ABC Murders is a special case though). But actually having discussed more non-Japanese works than Japanese works feels.... really weird. Almost disturbing. Shouldn't do this too often.

Anyway, earlier this week I took a look at the classic in the science-fiction mystery subgenre: Isaac Asimov's The Caves of Steel. I doubt Asimov needs any introduction (or else I refer to wiki). The story of The Caves of Steel is set in a faraway future, where space-travel has been perfected and planets near Earth have been colonised by mankind. The descendants of these colonists, Spacers, are rich and make extensive use of robot labor on their planets. Earth itself is having troubles with overpopulation and man has started to live in so-called Cities, gigantic building complexes covered by metal that are barely able to economically sustain the millions of inhabitants inside it. Spacers have taken a rather imperialistic stance towards Earth, while Earthmen in return don't like Spacers.

The story starts with the murder on a Spacer ambassador / scientist in the Spacer outpost on Earth. The Spacers think it was someone outside their outpost (i.e. a non-Spacer) who killed their man and low-level Earth cop Elijah Baley is charged with the job. Elijah is forced to work with the Spacer robot R. Daneel Olivaw (R. stands for Robot) to solve the murder, all to prevent a gigantic diplomatic incident. Yes, it's a buddy cop story.

There is a locked room element to the murder of the Spacer, but I feel that it is hard to describe it without making it all too obvious what the solution is. Which makes it seem like a very obvious solution, but I have to admit that Asimov wrote a very satisfying mystery set in the future. Yes, this is definitely SF, with Asimov describing his future Earth in great detail, adding in speculations about the way human society is going to evolve and technical advancements, but we also have a very competent mystery plot. The hinting, a locked room situation, it even features false solutions. It's a very competent novel that is exactly what it was intended to be: a science-fiction mystery that is fair and fun to read.

I was also pleasantly surprised to see that the 2001 movie Metropolis (loosely based on Tezuka Osamu's manga) borrowed some its plot-elements (especially concerning robotics) from The Caves of Steel. Then again, The Caves of Steel is apparently a science-fiction classic, so that's not really surprising, I guess.... (hey, I really know nothing about science fiction).

The only science fiction mysteries I've read are The Caves of Steel and Sonada Shuuichirou's Dakara Dare Mo Inaku Natta ("And That Is Why There Were None"), but I have to admit that I like the latter better. The latter is purely a puzzle plot built on the Three Laws of Robotics, a compact thing that never feels too big to me. It was definitely set in the future with robots and all, but they were clearly just part of the mystery story. Just the three rules. The Caves of Steel is fun and there is no mind-boggling technobabble in it, but the extensive attention to the future world, to the future society do give the book a distinct 'future' feeling, something I am not too  familiar with and is thus a bit distracting at times.

But I do like the way Asimov clearly indicated what was possible in his future world and what was not. It seems there is always a need to make very, very clear what the rules are for the mystery. Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics as they are used in The Caves of Steel are a clear example, but Mitsuhara Yuri's fantasy story Hana Chiru Yoru ni ("On the Night the Flowers Scattered") also went out its way to describe the workings of the Devil Fruit in detail. The use of these non-meta rules (as opposed to the meta-rules by Knox and Van Dine) to create clearly definied mystery that still manages to surprise is something I have enjoyed for a long time. Take a look for example at the usage / interpretation of rules in the popular manga Death Note and Liar Game.

And yes, my reviews of non-Japanese works are always written this badly. Should work on that, actually. Hmm...