"Caves Of Steel" by Isaac Asimov; 6/10

This is one I have to struggle just a little to remember in detail, but the details are in my head someplace.

It was good, though not great, but important to fans of genre for being (as far as I know) the first instance of a science fiction novel with the plot structure of a mystery/detective novel.  Asimov apparently welded them together after being challenged (ie begin told "it would never work") by his publisher, the "thinker," author, editor, and publisher John W. Campbell.

"Caves Of Steel" is set in a futuristic Earth which has been altered by all kinds of technologies and pressures (robots, food production, overpopulation, domes to keep out pollution, etc), but follows your standard hardboiled detective along an untwisting onion plot with decided sci-fi flavors.  The novel would be a 7 if only it had ended better, but the conclusion was less than satisfactory.  The characters were great, though the dialog was slightly awkward in nevertheless-endearing Asimovy way.  He does love catchphrases.

This is solid Golden Era fare, and though I don't find it earth-shattering now, it was a big deal in its time.  "Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?" in particular surely owes it a small debt of gratitude.  If you like Asimov, you'll definitely enjoy this book, and probably follow its characters into the sequels, as I will do someday.

Asimov is easily my favorite of the "Big Three" writers (Heinlein, Clarke, Asimov) who wrote many of the first popular science fiction and popularized the genre in the fifties.  Asimov's plots are just as imaginative, but his narration and style, though not necessary literary, just feel better to me than the others. I have no idea why Bradbury doesn't make that group, though you've seen how I feel about him, and I'd say at his best he is better than these three, but he is so often not at his best.  Asimov is consistently original, thought-provoking, and entertaining, and I can't say that about his contemporaries, at least in my limited experience.  I suppose my real SF bread and butter authors are guys writing in the '60s anyways.