The Robots of Dawn

by Isaac Asimov

Hardcover, 1983

Status

Available

Publication

Doubleday (1983), 408 pages

Description

Classic Literature. Fiction. Science Fiction. HTML:A millennium into the future two advances have altered the course of human history: the colonization of the Galaxy and the creation of the positronic brain. Isaac Asimov's Robot novels chronicle the unlikely partnership between a New York City detective and a humanoid robot who must learn to work together. Detective Elijah Baiey is called to the Spacer world Aurora to solve a bizarre case of roboticide. The prime suspect is a gifted roboticist who had the means, the motive, and the opportunity to commit the crime. There's only one catch: Baley and his positronic partner, R. Daneel Olivaw, must prove the man innocent. For in a case of political intrigue and love between woman and robot gone tragically wrong, there's more at stake than simple justice. This time Baley's career, his life, and Earth's right to pioneer the Galaxy lie in the delicate balance.… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member nesum
My wife prefers the Robot novels while I prefer the Foundation ones. In this book, the two begin to merge. That is not to say that the future Foundation books do not read like Foundation books, or that this novel seems more like a Foundation one, but it is here that the Robot books begin to write
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the history of the Foundation ones. Psychohistory makes its beginnings here, as does the concept of a Galactic Empire.

Standing on its own, this mystery is the best of the Lije Baley and Daneel Olivaw (I adopt the custom of Aurora by leaving the "R." off Daneel's name) books, though it honestly starts off weak. Yet the second half of the book is exciting, stimulating, and more human than most of Asimov's books (I do love his work, but his great flaw is the coldness of his characters). The solution is clever, and better than most mystery novels offer. A good and thoughtful read.
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LibraryThing member clong
I consider myself an Asimov fan, and I recognize that he's generally an author you come to looking for great ideas more than great characters. Having said that, this book really didn't work for me on any level. I found it contrived and long-winded. If you cut out all of the references to the design
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and use of "personals" (i.e., bathrooms), as well as the almost comically bad sex and clueless ruminations thereon, you would have a significantly shorter and moderately better novel.

As I was reading the second half of this book I couldn't get out of my head the notion that Asimov had written an 84 point outline of the plot, and then turned the project over to a robot with the assignment to write a chapter on each. At least there were a couple of scenes that left me chuckling thinking about a Daneel/Elijah slash treatment. This is my 27th science fiction book read to date this year; maybe a little break would be in order?
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LibraryThing member aethercowboy
Lije Bailey and R. Daneel Olivaw return in a third book. This time, they're sent to the Spacer world of Aurora, and are investigating a case of roboticide, in which a robot resembling the humaniform Daneel has been deactivated beyond the point of repair.

Plots within plots untangle as Lije and
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Daniel weave their way through each tale spun by the suspects. Though is the real robotocidist who we think it is?

A wonderful book for fans of Asimov, especially other books of Lije and Daneel. Also recommended for science fiction mystery buffs.
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LibraryThing member antiquary
Lije Baley returns to Aurora (scene of the second robot mystery The Naked Sun) to investigate the murder of a humaniform robot
LibraryThing member dannyhanson
Great ending to the Robot Series. Very typical of Asimov's style. This was the wordiest of the series and I think Asimov put in a lot of unneeded dialog.
LibraryThing member tronella
I'm not usually a fan of detective novels, but an Asimov detective novel in which many of the main characters are robots? I'm totally sold.

Also: Elijah/Daneel omg so in love.
LibraryThing member Cecrow
This was a pleasant surprise. I half expected him to turn the series on its head like he did with the Foundation trilogy in "Foundation's Edge". Instead it was true to form, recapturing all the character and style of the original novels from thirty years earlier - a major (and welcome)
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accomplishment. I'm very glad I read all three Robot novels back-to-back (starting with "The Caves of Steel"). I've heard 'Robots and Empire' is a bridging novel to the Empire trilogy (although linkages to that and the Foundation novels have already begun to appear) that isn't quite the same as these, so I'll save that for when I need another Asimov fix in the future.
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LibraryThing member StormRaven
This is the third of the Elijah Baley/R. Daneel Olivaw murder mystery novels, and the one that opened the door for connecting the robot series with the Foundation series. It is better than many of the Robot-Foundation crossovers, though the crime to be solved also probably the weakest of the three
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Robot mysteries, but contains a frightening depiction of the dysfunctional spacer society.

The mystery at the heart of the book concerns the destruction of the humaniform robot Jander on the planet Aurora. Once again, Lige Baley is teamed with Olivaw to hunt down the culprit, but the mystery serves mostly as a vehicle to explore the oddity of the spacer culture. Once on the outwardly utopian Aurora, Lige delves further into dysfunctional nature of spacer society revealed in The Naked Sun. Gladia, introduced in The Naked Sun, turns out to be Jander's owner, and is so distanced from human contact that she took Jander as her lover and "husband". The murder mystery leads Lidge into Auroran politics, featuring a struggle between Aurorans who believe that colonizing the galaxy is their destiny, and others opposed to such a goal.

Along the way, Lidge discovers attempts to construct further humaniform robots to further the goal of colonizing the galaxy, the seeds of the idea that will be developed by Hari Seldon as psychohistory, and a love triangle. The intersection of these elements, especially the attempts to construct humaniform robots without the assistance of the one roboticist who knows the secret of their construction, proves to be the thread that ties together the answer to the mystery. Unfortunately, the answer, and Baley's handling of the denoument of the book is mostly just a set up for the various Foundation-Robot cross overs that came later.

The weakness of this book is not necessarily contained in the story or characters in the book, but the implications that the story has for other Asimov works. The introduction of psychohistory here, thousands of years before Seldon, lessens the "revolutionary" insight that got Seldon arrested and put on trial in Foundation. The introduction of Olivaw and Giskard are more or less benevolent robot-gods shepherding humanity through a crisis begins the process that ends with the omniscient robot guardian of Foundation and Earth. While the story contained within the book itself is well-crafted, the connections it makes with other works serves only to cheapen them.
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LibraryThing member isabelx
Since his trip off-world to the planet Solaria, plainclothesman Elijah Baley has founded a group of people who go outside the cities in their spare time. Although he still finds being outside difficult, he hopes that the younger members of the group, such as his son Bentley will one day get the
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chance to settle on another planet.

Since he has been trying unsuccessfully to get permission to travel to the planet Aurora, Elijah Baley is pleased to be summoned there to find out who 'killed' a humaniform robot, and he is even happier to meet up with his old friend R. Daneel Olivaw again. But the case has political ramifications, and failure to clear Hans Fastolfe's name could mean that Earthmen will never get the chance to live on other worlds.
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LibraryThing member Karlstar
A robot/scifi mystery. Lije Baley and R. Daneel Olivaw must travel far from Earth to solve a robot related mystery. Exactly what happened on Aurora? A fun exploration of the relation of human to robot and the 3 Laws of Robotics.
LibraryThing member ashishg
Yet another robotics science-fiction mystery story.
LibraryThing member annbury
The last of the Elijah Baley trilogy, in which New York City detective Lije Baley must deal with the culture of the spacers -- humans whose ancestors abandoned earth to form a galactic empire, who have become much more powerful than the crowded millions who remain on Earth. In so doing, he must
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cooperate with the robot detective, R. Daneel Olivaw. In this last in the series, Lije is middle aged, and must go to the planet Aurora -- center of the spacer world -- to solve a murder. He is reunited with the gorgeous Gladia, and the plot thickens to a point where Earth's fate hangs in the balance.
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LibraryThing member librisissimo
Substance: Mystery on Aurora not as convincing as previous two, because no one should really care that Dr. Fastolfe "killed" one of his own robots, even if it was humaniform.
Style: Because of the time gap, contains lots of internal self-references to Asimov's robot stories, by way of creating a
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"universe" connection.
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LibraryThing member buffalogr
Deja vu. Robots of Dawn, #3 in the series, is so much like The Naked Sun, #2 in the series, I thought that I might have picked the wrong book, all over again. C'mon Asimov...what are you trying to say? The characters on this planet are so similar to the characters on the previous planet; one of
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them is even the same person. It insulted my senses. OK, this book has a lot of sex discussion in it. Perhaps, that's the author's intent...where is Earth headed? And, there's a twist at the end that's intriguing. Those things saved this book from death by 1 star.
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LibraryThing member weakley
A more modern novel that keeps the 50's classic feel of the first two books. Great twist at the end that sets us up for the Foundation series.
LibraryThing member kaulsu
I see why I loved the book when I first read it: it explored our culture from the outside and drew us along as it, in turn, explored an outside culture. In fact, without meaning to do so, I think Asimov gave me a beginner's lesson in both sociology and logic.

But looking at this book as a purely
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"mystery" genre, it is fairly tedious. I'm not sure how I would have felt if I began with this series. Instead, I began with the [Foundation Trilogy] and was hooked forever after. So much so that I can face a little tedium in my decision to retread Asimov's Robot/Foundation oeuvre.
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LibraryThing member sgsmitty
A very good read. Typical Asimov, I love the set up for typing things together with Foundation. This was a audio book for me.
LibraryThing member LisaMaria_C
Asimov is known as a prolific author--but not particularly in terms of adult science fiction novels. Really, less than a couple of dozen--and he's best known for his Foundation and Robot novels. There was almost three decades between the first three Foundation books and Foundation's Edge. There he
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linked those two universes, Robot and Foundation. I read Foundation's Edge before this book written a few years later, and found myself liking this one quite a bit more.

The reason is Elijah Baley and R. Daneel Olivaw and their partnership. Asimov is known more for his mind-expanding ideas and world-building than prose or characterizations. I can often remember the basic premise and pay off of his various novels--but rarely the characters, particularly by name. I finished reading Foundation's Edge only days ago, and already I'd have to go find the book to list the names of the central characters. That's not the case here--both characters have a voice, a certain depth and appeal that means they stayed with me--as did this novel even decades after a first read. Elijah Baley as an Earthman, a police detective with both brilliance and vulnerabilities trying hard to overcome fears and prejudice. Olivaw is a "humaniform" robot from a "Spacer" world where, unlike Earth, robots are common. He reminds me quite a bit of Data of Star Trek's Next Generation and was no doubt one of his literary ancestors. No doubt it helps this is the third outing with these two--I'd recommend reading The Caves of Steel and The Naked Sun first. And as a late novel Asimov obviously had a lot of fun dropping in references to earlier novels and stories--something that for a fan like me was quite fun--and more than fun Asimov makes you think about what it means to be human. And I quite like the mix of mystery and science fiction.
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LibraryThing member IAmAndyPieters
This is Elijah Baley's third murder mystery. This time he must solve the mystery of the humanoid robot Jander. Elijah is helped once more by R. Daneel and by another robot, R Giskard. Together they must investigate the murder in order to clear the good name of Dr. Fastolfe. With the fate of Earth
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and the galaxy hanging in the balance, the stakes have never been higher for Elijah.
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LibraryThing member empress8411
As the third in Asimov's Robot Series, this one is just as good as the previous. Baley once again faces seemingly insurmountable odds to solve a problem. At stake: Not only his reputation, his job, his life - but the fate of all humans on Earth. I enjoyed journeying to a new planet with Baley,
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seeing a new society through his eyes. As with the other novels, the mystery is balanced with Baley's growth as a person, as a human, as an Earthman. I'm eager to see where Asimov takes Baley next.
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LibraryThing member delta351
There are a lot of interesting concepts in this book, esp regarding the use of robots. Some issues include robot vs human exploration of space, as companions, and varying levels of artificial intelligence. Asimov crafts a brilliant society on Aurora, and the contrast w the other Spacer planets and
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Earth are insightful as to where we are headed as a planet.
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LibraryThing member Kurt.Rocourt
This is the one book where I figured out what was going on before I got to the end. It revealed itself but wasn't made obvious until the last chapter. It's tied too much to the Foundation novels so the finale becomes easy to see. That is if you've read the Foundation novels first. Its a good story,
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though slower than other books I've read from Asimov. I still think it's better than other books I've read but my picking up on the culprit takes Aaron little something off this book for me.
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LibraryThing member readafew
Excellent job by Asimov. It was a whodunit that kept me guessing almost to the page it was explained. Asimov seems to enjoy taking parts of our society and basing a whole society on it, and showing the foibles of to narrow a view.

Extremes are dangerous and should not be followed by a society at
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large. Instead it should use them as posts to guide down the middle.
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LibraryThing member ASBiskey
This is a great detective story. When entwined with the workings of robots and Earth vs. Spacer culture, it is exceptional. I really enjoyed the process of progression. There where some adult topics and situations that where more descriptive than necessary, but the detective work of Elijah Baley of
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Earth overshadows the lowest points. I enjoyed this book a great deal.
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LibraryThing member brakketh
Another enjoyable read from the Robots series. Though it is a new planet it continues to contain Asimov's belief in progress through technology and the American Dream.

Awards

Hugo Award (Nominee — Novel — 1984)

Language

Barcode

9126
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