Customer Reviews

Mirage: Isaac Asimov's Robot Mystery

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

 

 

When a prolific and profitable author like Isaac Asimov dies, his publishers do not believe that his death ought to mark the end of the publishing gravy train. After Asimov's death, his Foundation and Robot universes were novelized again by several writers, most notably David Brin, Gregory Benford, Roger MacBride Allen, and now most recently with Mark Tiedemann with MIRAGE. It is not overly difficult to duplicate the style of Asimov; it is his substance that remains elusive. Tiedemann writes of the robotic future of earth that had not yet morphed into a galactic empire. This empire is staunchly anti-robotic, with much opposition coming from decadent Spacer worlds that require robots to maintain their own self-loathing existences. On earth, a number of humans and Spacers are assassinated by unknown assailants, throwing into jeopardy a major treaty between earth and the Spacer worlds. The problem with Tiedemann is that his characters speak with the Asimovian twang but lack its inner emotional resonance. Tiedemann seems unclear as to who his protagonist should be. Instead he divides center stage between Special Agent Mia Daventri and roboticist Derec Avery, neither of whom is sufficiently interesting to involve the reader. Nowhere in MIRAGE does Tiedemann cause the reader to care about an increasingly volatile symbiotic relationship between man and robot. Roger MacBride Allen was far more successfull in his trilogy of Asimov inspired robot novels. If the reader wants to get further involved in a post Asimovian universe of conflict between man and robot, then this reader has little choice but to hope that writers like Tiedemann learn their craft well enough to make him care about how humans interact with both altered humans and robots. The real test of any novel lies in its ability to cause the reader to think of it long after he closes the flyleaf. Sadly, MIRAGE failed to deliver.

The Asimov universe has been respectfully added to since his untimely death - first there were the Robot City novels, then came the new Robot novels by Allen and then the Second Foundation Trilogy. And now this, a new Robot novel. In truth, while there have been some dissappointments, most of the new novels set in Asimov's universe have been fairly good. As is this offering.

In Mirage, the author does a very good job capturing the sense of mystery Asimov used in his own novels. He also shows a good grasp of Asimov's ideas and universe.

What is surprising to me is the fact that no history is mentioned about the main characters who spent 6 novels together in the Robot City chronicles. Nor is any indication given as to when this story fits into the Asimov timeline - while the reader can certainly guess, the author could have thrown the reader some sort of lifeline from the original Asimov books to let us know what else was going on.

At any rate, its an interesting read. Very nice to see that the spirit of Asimov is well remembered and appreciated.

Mirage is a great hommage to the golden days of SF but with a modern sensibility. Fast-moving plot and faithful to Asimov's three laws. The writing is fresh and the characters feel modern. Tiedemann delivers a great read.

a new robot mystery that respects Asimov's three laws of robotics and then succeeds as sf...Tiedemann fulfills his short works' appeal with this amazing first full-length effort

This book was an enjoyable, engrossing read. Derek and Ariel fit the story nearly perfectly, esp. for anyone who has read the Robot City novels. That the author does not explicitly refer to their history permits the characters some added depth (you sense they have grown since Robot City).

The role of Bogard was handled with great aplomb; Better, in fact, than in the original Robot City novels. The descriptions of its weird behavior were not overbearing, and lent a "Day the Earth Stood Still" flavor to some scenes.

One thing bothers me. The plot does not sufficiently plant enough emotional investment in Aurora's leadership role (ostensibly respectful and just compared with pre-Fastolfe/Bailey Aurora) to reward the reader with much impact at the end when Solaria's role is brought into focus. The shift in interstellar policy should have a similar feel to the climaxes in Robots and Empire, or Foundation and Earth; One of the things I like so much about Asimov stories is the feel of historical import on a scale that challenges me.

Mark W. Tiedemann's Mirage is a fairly complex SF novel. Corporate and political conspiracy behind the slaughter of diplomats for the advancement of some hidden agenda.

There are some pretty good dialoque and ideas floating around. I especially enjoyed the ones like : "The Church of organic Sapiens extended the belief into the religious, claiming that the true nature of humankind was pretechnological, that Eden had contained no machines."

However to really follow in the footsteps of master Asimov the historical import into this setting should have been easier to follow. What is the context of this corporate and political conspiracy. Where are we headed ? What did this mean to galactic history ? The shift in interstellar policy should have had a similar feel to the climaxes in the original stories. But I don't think they have - or if so, I didn't get it ?

The Asimov universe has been respectfully added to since Asimovs death - Compare Mirage with e.g. the Second Foundation Trilogy, especially the novel by Hugo and Nebula award winner David Brin. I simply think Mirage falls short. David Brin adds to the universe, explains and pushes us forward. Here the grand scale of things isn't as pinned out, Are we waiting for enlightment in a coming novel ? I don't know. But I do know that Asimov balanced complexity with a simplicity that I somehow miss here. Parts of the plot is a bit to ambiguous for my taste. Still it has its good spells also.

I'm a die hard fan of Asimov's, and really love his robot novels.

This book is interesting, but fails to reach Asimovian heights. The characters are not very compelling, and they all have the same behavior. They lack the caracterization given by Asimov to spacers and terrans. Also, the mystery investigation is too long, and it loses interest from time to time.

The ending is ambiguous, it let me wondering some things, which will hopefully be cleared in the next 2 mysteries.

It is however, a good read, and has good moments. Most of it's flaws como from a comparison to Asimov's work. It is a good piece of sci-fi in it's own right.

Purists will argue that once an author has died then his output has finished. Others will argue that there's no compelling reason not play in someone else's imaginary universe if there are good new stories to be told. Certainly there's a thriving market for new Sherlock Holmes stories. I myself don't mind a continuation novel or pastiche if it's well written and captures the flavour of the original.

This book fails on both counts for me. Ultimately this is just a mystery with robots in it. Without Asimov's name to spruik it I doubt most of us would bother picking it up. Tiedemann is not a bad author but this is dry, technical stuff for the most part. His characters aren't badly drawn and there's some mildly interesting discussion of new aspects of the Three Laws but there's long, dense passages of technobabble that simply beg to be skimmed.

Some will like the dense, convoluted conspiracy, I found it tedious.

Bottom line is I'm not inspired to read the other two books in the series, which about sums up my indifference to this one.

I gave up the ROBOTS series when I was younger, because I felt the material had gotten stale. Same old philosophies were being re-hashed. But after two or three passes, I picked MIRAGE and CHIMERA up at my bookstore.

I couldn't have been more pleased! Not only were the setting and characters tangible, but the presentation of the technology was both believable and imaginative!

If you are (or were) a fan of Asimovs ROBOT series, these two books will re-ignite the passion.

Buy these books!!

I read Mark Tiedemann's COMPASS REACH and was blown away by his ability to do terrific characterization in the context of a full-blown space adventure. I was almost disappointed to discover that he had written books in someone else's universe, but I gave MIRAGE a shot and I'm glad I did! All his strengths are here, breathing life into what I'd come to see as a dry, been-there-done-that franchise. Proves that a good idea can always be done a bit better if a good writer is given a chance to reimagine the whole thing.

MIRAGE is an espionage thriller that toys with a frankenstein idea. When the climax comes, teh possibility of a really cliche ending is avoided by following logic--like Asimov would have done!--and sticking to the possibilities in the characters themselves.

Great characters (he even made Derec Avery and Ariel Burgess more interesting!) and a great plot, with impressive speculation to boot. What more can you want from a science fiction novel?

Tiedemann's "original" novels are better, but MIRAGE turned out to be a really good introduction to a fine writer. FIVE STARS!