Nemesis (Hardcover)

by Isaac Asimov (Author)
Key Phrases: hyper assistance, superluminal flight, hyperspatial flight, Solar System, Neighbor Star, Crile Fisher (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
When Eugenia Insigna of the Settlement Rotor, an independent space station, discovers an unknown red dwarf star two light years from Earth, she names it Nemesis. Led by Dr. Janus Pitt, Rotor and its population travel to the star to build a new, morally pure society. Insigna's daughter Marlene, who can read body language like a telepath, learns that Nemesis is moving dangerously close to Earth's solar system. After trying to communicate her knowledge, Marlene discovers that a conspiracy is suppressing it. Told alternately from two points of view, Marlene's and (in a different time frame) her father's, the book is repetitive, talky and unengaging. Asimov is at his best when his characters discuss science and their schemes for saving Earth's people from destruction by Nemesis.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
A man's search for a daughter he has never known, a young girl's affinity for the mysterious planet around which her space station home revolves, and a space colony commissioner's desire to isolate his renegade community form the delicate framework upon which rests Earth's future. Although the prolific Asimov's forte lies in his dedication to hard science as the basis for his stories, his latest novel features an intriguing mix of believable heroes and villains, a pair of convergent plots, and a nicely foreshadowed conclusion. Highly recommended.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 364 pages
• Publisher: Doubleday; 1st edition (September 24, 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385247923
• ISBN-13: 978-0385247924
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (47 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,439,744 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Nemesis is Brilliant, December 22, 1999

By	Dan (Vermont) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Nemesis (Paperback)

Nemesis is often looked down upon in the world of science-fiction, and fans, as you can tell by the other reviews posted here, find it to be rather weak. And so it was only with reluctance that I picked up a copy of Nemesis, and again it was only with reluctance that I began to read. I had come expecting trash and the worst of Asimov but what I got was a surprise, a rather pleasant one actually. Despite what you may hear, Nemesis is great. It features many artistically crafted characters and a fine blend of science and adventure. If you've heard that Nemesis was no good, just take my advice, don't believe it.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good Story, Poor Ending, November 2, 2000

By	Scott Merritt (Golden, CO United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Nemesis (Paperback)

Having Read much of the Foundation Series as well as what I feel is Asimov's most inspired work "I, Robot", I recently picked up a copy of Nemesis. At once, I found Nemesis to be very suspenseful, and I found the character development to be quite creative, though a little predictable at times. The book built more and more intensely towards a climax which sadly never came. It seemed to me that the Asimov must have been under a very tight deadline to finish this book because at the most interesting point, the entire story line simply dissolved in a matter of 4 or 5 pages with nearly nothing resolved. Needless to say, I found this work to be a little disappointing

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Planetary Chauvinism..., September 8, 2004

By	Vincent Lee "vlee71" (Urbana, IL United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Nemesis (Paperback)

Out of the many concepts explored in science fiction, from space exploration, to the colonization of other worlds, to new earths, and terraforming, I find that the concept that seems to have fallen by the wayside the most is that of the settlement of space through artificial habitats. Issac Asimov once commented that a sort of "planetary chauvinism" existed while commenting on all the efforts and speculations spent on searching for another planet like earth, both in science and in science fiction. In Nemesis Asimov tackles these concepts as well as a range of other issues.

Taking a break from the two (or one) universes that have made Asimov's name a staple in science fiction, that of the Foundation and the Robots/Spacers universe, Asimov has created a brand new world where humanity has settled the stars in space habitats that is as fascinating and deep as his others. In the two or so centuries following the twentieth, overpopulation has resulted in the mass migration of humanity to artifially created habitats located throughout the solar system. These habitats are not your usual modular space stations. they are like those envisioned by the likes of Gerard K. O'neil et. al. They are massive vessels with vast swaths of land, lakes, blue skies, curving horizons and artificial gravity. Through self selection, these communities have become thousands of little islands in the sky. Their citizens have developed a curious love/hate relationship with the earth, the origin of humanity. On one hand they hold their habitats and lifestyles to be superior to Earth, yet on the other hand, they hold an irrational reverence and psychological link with the Earth, perhaps as a reaction to the isolation imposed by life in the habitats from the rest of humanity.

The story revolves around a colony, Rotor which declares its intent to be free of the earth's dominion and mysteriously dissappears one day. The rest of humanity does not realize that Rotor and its citizens have resolved to isolate themselved from the rest of humanity by moving the colony to a near by star, a previously undiscovered star only 2 light years from Earth called Nemesis. However, this ominous name may have far more meaning and deadly consequences than its namer could have realized, for Nemesis is on a collision course with the Solar system. This knowledge is kept secret from the citizens of Rotor, and only a young Rotorian girl knows this deadly secret. This girl now holds the fate of both Earth and Rotor in her hands. But she is far more than what she appears to be, for she has strange empathic abilities. However, she is not the only one with strange mysteries. When she is drawn for some unknown reason to the planet around which Rotor now orbits in the Nemesis star system, she must uncover its strange nature which could potentially be the salvation of both Earth and Rotor.

Nemesis is an great work not only for its unique concepts, but also for Asimov's characters. Characterization and dialogue have always been Asimov's weak points, however it was an aspect that was always continously improving through the years. As one of Asimov's late works, Nemesis contains a vibrant cast of interesting characters and good dialogue. There's still the tendency for characters to go into science textbook recitations for paragraphs at a time, but that's trademark Asimov.

What really makes Nemesis work though, are the concepts and issues Asimov explores. As with the Foundation and Robot novels, there is much more here than just a story about a big space station, or a mystery, or an adventure. Asimov uses his habitats to reflect on the nature of human society and the formation of communities. The habitats as "Islands in the sky" are used to discuss the propensity for humans to self select in the formation of communites, especially regarding their racial and ideological makeup. There are implications here that comment on real life things including racism, and the effects of gated suburban communities. Rotor is itself a standin for the numerous attempts throughout history, from the Pilgrim's Mass. to William Penn's Quaker Pennsylvania, at social experimentation by establishing ideologically motivated "cities on a hill" in splendid isolation from the rest of the world.

On the whole, while not as great as Asimov's most well known works, Nemesis is a nevertheless a good story in its own right, and one that one would expect from an author of Asimov's calibur.