Customer Reviews

Chimera: Isaac Asimov's Robot Mystery (Robot Mysteries)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Tiedemann recently resurfaced with this, his second attempt at new robot mysteries. And again, he's done an impressive job.

Asimov's original robot novels were generally straightforward. While not predictable by any stretch of the imagination, the mysteries themselves were fairly simple. Tiedemann has taken Asimov's "universe" but made the mysteries more complex and expanded the scope of the setting to fully explain political situations, alliances, development of society in settler and spacer worlds...many of the things Asimov himself never fully developed. This all amounts to a fairly complex mystery novel set in Asimov's vision of the future.

The novel is not without problems. One criticism I had of Tiedemann's first novel still holds true - two of the main characters have an extensive past together yet Tiedemann makes no mention of this fact. Some of the ideas in Chimera also come across as a bit far-fetched in the context of the setting that Asimov established.

All-in-all, Chimera is an entertaining read. If you're a fan of Asimov's original robot novels, its definitely worth picking up. If you've not had exposure to the originals, however, start with them.

I wasn't sure whether I was going to give this book 2 stars or 3. It is really somewhere in between. I thought I'd give it a 3 because it held my interest, enough so I finished it in a few days. Missing orphans, murdered stowaways, creepy cyborgs, greedy corpocrats.... it's pretty suspenseful.

On the other hand, this book has a LOT of problems. Let's start with the fact that the only resemblance to Asimov in these books is the existence of Earth, Spacers, Settlers and positronic robots. However, Tiedemann's Spacers have absolutely NO resemblance to Asimov's. Put a Solarian in a room full of Earthers and he's not a real Solarian. Asimov's universe has no room for a man born on Earth to Solarian parents. If you have read Asimov, you'll see what I mean. Oh, and as for the time line... this novel takes place sometime in the future after Elijah Baley. Um, sorry about the spoiler, for those who haven't read Asimov's Robots and Empire...but didn't Earth start to have a serious "radioactivity" problem at this time? This fact isn't mentioned at all in Tiedemann's novels.

Another problem is pacing. This author just doesn't write the scenes I want to see. I want to know what is happening in the minds of Settlers, baleys (illegal settlers) and Earthers. If Aurorans are suddenly friendly with Earth, I want to know how that happened. I want a sense of history, psychology, evolving culture and humanity... all the things Asimov dealt with. I definitely don't want to read pages of rundowns about which corporate head invested in which companies and who bought out whom. This isn't a science fiction novel, it's a script for a banal police procedural on Fox TV!

Then there is the problem of characterization. As in "None". Coren Lanra is the main character and he is little more than a name on which to hang the word "undercover cop". Derec and Ariel also appear in this novel, and they too are as characterless as the robots they love. After reading all the Robot City novels, I've had about enough of Derec and Ariel. What's with endlessly recycling characters? Can't anyone create new ones?

Finally, I suspected that this book would not have a satisfying ending, and indeed it did not. Loose ends were left untied, and I still don't really know why those baleys were murdered. A bad ending is a pretty serious sin. OK I just bumped it back to a "2 stars". (If you want to read a series that is worthy of the name "Asimov" on the cover...try Roger McBride Allen's 'Caliban' series.)

Sometimes sticking too close to the way something was originally done is a good way to damage a new piece of work. Tiedemann doesn't seem to make that mistake in Chimera. Instead, as in Mirage, he updates the basic material, bringing it more in line with contemporary information about nanotech and AI. He takes what Asimov did and makes it his own.

More than that, though, he's done a thoroughly excellent job of creating fully-fleshed, believable characters, real people with real problems. He places them in a fast-paced thriller plot that flows logically and answers questions both about the action of the story and the larger issues nesting within the Robot universe Asimov created. Rather than do a straight imitation of Asimov's style, he has written his own kind of narrative, matched to the content of his storyline.

The creation of Bogard in Mirage was a masterful twist on the 3-Law scenario. Tiedemann continues to play with the limitations and implicit possibilities in Asimov's original structure in this book.

The Caves of Steel in Chimera are both creepier and more plausible, the psychologies of the various habitues matched against each other in elegant dialogues and plot twists (as in one character's surprise visit to a Spacer party in the open air!). Tiedemann displays a deft hand at depicting the inner realm of the human condition, a trait he displays much more fully in his own original novels.

More! More!

I really can't read this book. The text does not flow like Asimov's books. It reads like something else. It is a littlke too fast paced, with too little dialogue and I think there is not enough reflection on the background and the possibilities.

The basic premise has got something wrong with it. It's not tied in too well to other things.If Asimov would use any of these ideas,he would offer some explanation. Asimov also, by the way,often had some short third person narration interspersed in

his books and this is totally missing.

Robert Silverberg expanded a few Isaac Asimov stories into books and he did it in keeping with Asimov's style. Robert Tiedemann is no Robert Silverberg. If Asimov had been alive, I don't thinmk he would have approved of this, except if he decided not to care

I give it two stars because at least this is a try. Also, I only have this book,not its predecessor.

I am a life-long fan of Asimov's work, especially his "Robot Series". So how could someone like myself resist a title promising "The New Isaac Asimov's Robot Mystery?" Unfortunately I will still be looking for the "heir to Asimov" because Tiedemann does not fit the role. I know that it is unrealistic to expect any author to write in same story book style as Asimov. What characterized Asimov was his stories written with such absolute clarity, logic, wit and always ending with unanticipated twist in the plot.

Unfortunately with "Chimera" there is none of this. Perhaps because this story is based on previous works Tiedemann feels that character development is not a priority but what the reader is left with is a multitude of one dimensional figures. Furthermore, the storyline is difficult to follow because of the "hap-hazard" style of writing where often the reader is suddenly transported into a different vignette where the characters are already in mid- conversation (somewhat of an exaggeration).

In the end I suppose there can only be one "Grandmaster of SF" but it would be nice to have an heir that comes close... still looking.

Asimov was open to exploration of his laws of robotics by third parties and this new mystery is a vivid example of Asimov's enduring legacy! Tiedemann's second robot effort shows real maturity