This is the second novel in Asimov's Galactic Empire Trilogy, published in the early 1950s. This is set before the Galactic Empire ruled by Trantor comes into being, though it has expanded rapidly over the previous half millennium and rules half the Galaxy at the time of this novel, with its overall supremacy seeming inevitable to most. The story concerns the Squires of Sark, who rule and exploit the nearby planet of Florina, which is the Galaxy's only source of a valuable and multi-use substance called kyrt. But cosmic disaster is, or may be, about to strike Florina and only one man holds the secret of it, though his mind has been broken and he is a pawn between the factions vying for control on Sark and in the wider galaxy. This trilogy is generally considered to be among the weaker of Asimov's SF works, but I thought this story was stronger as a political thriller than The Stars, Like Dust. ( )

Very classic, engaging sci-fi reflection on racism, domination and the Cold War. The clearly written during a specific moment in history, it didn't feel dated, perhaps because the underlying social conflicts are sadly still so much in force today. ( )

Hoewel dit niet het beste boek is van Asimov, is dit nog steeds een heel mooi boek om te lezen. Het snijdt thema's aan als slavernij, maar ook kapitalisme en trouw zijn aan je afkomst. Dus, hoewel niet de beste Asimov, toch een aanrader. ( )

Relato corto y entretenido, aunque su resolución me parece bastante floja. ( )

Abel said, “What is Florina to you?”
Junz hesitated. He said, “I feel a kinship.”
“But you are a Libairian. Or at least that is my impression.”
“I am, but there lies the kinship. We are both extremes in a Galaxy of the average.”
“Extremes? I don’t understand.”
Junz said, “In skin pigmentation. They are unusually pale. We are unusually dark. It means something. It binds us together. It gives us something in common. It seems to me our ancestors must have had long histories of being different, even of being excluded from the social majority. We are unfortunate whites and darks, brothers in being different.”

So some things have changed, but humanity is still up to its usual tricks, including shooting the messenger. The planet Florina is going to be destroyed, but when Rik brings the news he’s reduced to a vegetable by a psychic probe and dumps on the very planet with a time limit. Will he recover his memories in time to save everyone? This might sound a bit silly, but this is actually a very good novel with a serious intent.

It’s about pressions of various kinds: oppression, repression. Florina is a conquered world, run on a feudal system with the natives reduced to serfdom. A situation closely analogous to England after the Norman invasion, though I don’t think Asimov has this particularly in mind. Other references put one in mind of the plantation economy of the southern US states or of political oppression generally.

Either way, the Sarkites are repressing the Florinians in a variety of nasty ways, not least by suppressing education. Ultimately it’s their ignorance that keeps them in check. This is reflected in Rik’s condition. His knowledge has been suppressed. I suppose the point being that ignorance leads to to destruction. This is essentially a political thriller written like a mystery. The reader’s knowledge is also suppressed so your awareness of the plot plays out backwards.

The novel has a number of flaws, but I think most can be winked at because there’s so much here that works. The most glaring is that it’s too short. This is not something I often say, but it could do with an extra hundred pages. I suppose sf was limited to about 200 pages at the time because of printing costs and Asimov does an excellent job of getting the essentials into such a short space. It’s efficient and economical and very well constructed. There are just some things that could do with being fleshed out for artistic reasons. ( )