Robots and Empire
{4.5/5} “There will, however, be a period of time during which the Spacers will remain stronger than Earth and its Settlers, though by a steadily diminishing margin. Eventually, the Spacers will inevitably become aware of Earthpeople as a growing danger. At that time the Spacer worlds will surely decide that Earth and the Settlers must be stopped before it is too late and it will seem to them that drastic measures will have to be taken.”
Robots and Empire by Isaac Asimov, published in 1985
When Dr. Han Fastolfe died on Aurora he gave his robots Daneel and Giskard to Gladia. He also asks her to trust Giskard. So now, when Giskard asks her to meet with Leveular Mandamus from the Robotics Institute she doesn’t want to but she agrees. It turns out that Mandamus is her descendant, and he starts asking impertinent questions about who else he’s descended from.
This is the sequel to The Robots of Dawn.
In the previous 3 books we mostly followed Lije Baley. In this one he’s been dead for a couple of centuries and we mostly follow Gladia, Daneel, and Giskard.
This one is about the relations between the Earthpeople, Settlers, and Spacers. It’s about a group of humans and/or robots acting for the betterment of all humanity — a theme that’s picked up in the Foundation novels.
The ending is startling. It makes sense to a certain extent, but it could have made more sense.
This is the last Robot novel that Asimov wrote, but there are some written by others.
One more quotation: “The work of each individual contributes to a totality and so becomes an undying part of the totality. That totality of human lives — past and present and to come — forms a tapestry that has been in existence now for many tens of thousands of years and has been growing more elaborate and, on the whole, more beautiful in all that time.”
I’ve read 19 books by Asimov — 16 novels and 3 collections.