| By the Year of the Galactic Era 827, thousands of planets belong to the Imperial Empire. Earth is a mere way station, heavily contaminated by radioactivity and able to sustain only 20 million lives. When humans reach the age of 60, they are euthanized to make way for the next generation. Most members of the Empire look down on Earthlings, regarding them as a backward race, but archaeologist Bel Arvardan, a native of Baronn in the Sirius system, is convinced that most humanoid life in the universe may have originated on Earth, and he mounts an expedition to search for antiquities. He'll have difficulty getting permission from Imperial authorities, however, because humans have rebelled three times in the past two centuries, and the government wants no further incitements to trouble. Arvardan's trail will cross that of Joseph Schwartz, a 62-year-old retired tailor who inexplicably zips from 20th-century Chicago because of a radiation accident into this distant future and is operated on by physicist Affret Shekt to increase his mental powers by many factors. This was Asimov's first science fiction novel, published in 1950. | ||
|
Plot & Themes FANTASY or SCIENCE FICTION? - science fiction story Time Travel: - largely forwards/future Tech./$$$/Info hunt Yes Stealing/recovering/destroying Time Travel story? Yes Descript. of chases or violence - 10 % planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 40 % Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 20 % Descript. of society, phenomena (tech), places - 30 % Main Character Identity: - Male Profession/status: Age: - 40's-50's Main Adversary Identity: - Male Age: - 40's-50's Profession/status: Eccentric: Yes How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - an above average amount How sensitive is this character? Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters Setting Terrain Earth setting: - distant future Takes place on Earth? Yes Writing Style Accounts of torture and death? - moderately detailed references to deaths scientific jargon? (SF only) - some scientific explanation How much dialogue? - significantly more descript than dialog |
||