Nightfall (Bantam Spectra Book) (Mass Market Paperback)

~ (Author), (Author)
Key Phrases: abort switch, green neckerchief, six suns, Saro City, Apostles of Flame, Kalgash Two (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This collaboration by two masters of the genre expands on Asimov's classic short story first published in 1941. Kalgash is a planet with six suns, a world where darkness is unnatural. Scientists realize that an eclipse--an event that occurs only every 2049 years--is imminent, and that a society completely unfamiliar with darkness will be plunged into madness and chaos. The novel traces events leading to this discovery, and the fates of the main characters immediately following the apocalypse. While the premise is convincing in the context of a short story, this longer version brings up too many unresolved questions. The original tale was tightly written, succinct and stunning, but the novelization seems flabby and drawn-out--the reader recognizes the significance and consequences of the impending events long before the characters do. An abrupt and simplistic ending further mars a hallowed SF tale. 100,000 first printing.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From School Library Journal

YA-- Because of its six suns, the planet Kalgash is bathed in perpetual sunlight. However, once every 2,049 years all six suns are eclipsed, plunging the planet into total darkness and causing widespread madness that results in the civilization's complete destruction, thus allowing the cycle to begin again. Night fall , expanded from Asimov's 1941 award-winning short story, lets readers experience the cataclysmic event through the eyes and biases of a newspaperman, an astronomer, an archaeologist, a psychologist, and a religious fanatic. This novel improves upon the original through the use of better developed characters and an expanded, more textured story that results in an absorbing, richer tale.
- John Lawson, Fairfax County Public Library, Fairfax,
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 339 pages
• Publisher: Spectra; First Thus edition (August 1, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553290991
• ISBN-13: 978-0553290998
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (76 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #217,059 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not as good as the short story, but still worth a read., April 4, 2001

By	David Rasquinha (Arlington, VA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book expands the original short story "Nightfall" written by Asimov many years ago. Just about every science fiction aficionado agrees that the original story, based on an Emerson quotation, is one of the classics of the genre. The basic premise is a superb leap of the imagination. Picture a planet which is part of a six-sun system. The respective orbits of the planet and the six suns are so defined, that one or more of the suns is always in the sky over any part of the planet. As a result, the people of the planet have only the faintest conception of what the absence of light i.e. darkness can be. With no dark night sky, they have no idea of other stars in the universe (forget radio astronomy as an inconvenient abstraction!). As far as they know, they are the masters of the universe. Now picture an unexpected total eclipse, at a time when only one sun is in the sky: a strange and frightening darkness covers the land, and the night sky now reveals millions of stars looking down on the stunned populace. How does a society deal with so drastic a blow to its fundamental picture of itself? In sheer imagination, in boldness, in vision, this story has few equals. The skillful blending of a religious doomsday cult and its interweave with a psychologist and baffled yet striving physical scientists brings out the roles of superstition and rationalism in society. I still remember the awe that gripped me when I first read this story more than a decade ago. This collaborative book builds upon the story and introduces some interesting ideas. The use of archaeology to derive the cyclical history of the plant is both imaginative and educative. The longer book format also allows the author to develop the characters more fully than in the short story. The weakness of the book however is the ending; to be fair, the cataclysmic end portrayed in the short story cannot possibly be improved upon. All the book does is stretch out the period of rebirth, adding interesting human vignettes along the way. I withhold one star for this reason. Do not miss this book, but do try to read the short story of the same name that started it all.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A short story should a short story remain., March 24, 1999

By	David Sidwell (River Heights, UT USA) - See all my reviews

A noted classic in science fiction, "Nightfall" by Asimov (the short story first printed in 1941) is a gripping, detailed look at a planet and the nightmare of an eclipse every 2049 years. Silverberg and Asimov (and I'm not sure of the collaborative process here), have taken this story and expanded it. What was once the tale of a planet becomes the tale of several individuals on a planet. The shift in focus does not work well. What was once a skillful examination of a society becomes an almost soap opera of characters without clear focus. The two characters that become the protagonists in the second half of the book are certainly interesting, but their personalities change and the reader is left to wonder why these two characters have been singled out to study. And they are not studied. After nightfall comes, the book is simply drudgery: repetitive, predictable, and with no new light shed on this society. The book essentially shifts from a skillful probe into human nature (okay, on a different planet) into an adventure story whose point has been muddied. If you have not read the short story, you need to. Instantly. This book has been watered down, the focus has been lost, and the purposes of its existence are unclear.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "Nightfall" illuminates the frailties of the human condition, June 9, 2001

By	phimseto (Chestnut Hill, MA United States) - See all my reviews

On a distant planet, a world illuminated by multiple suns basks peacefully in continuous, nurturing light. The society is human, and the technology is similar to our own circa. 1950. When the novel begins, a new funhouse ride opens that promises a trip through a straight, level tunnel in complete darkness. Elsewhere, an archeologist makes a disturbing discovery, and a physicist runs some calculations he knows to be right, but should not be. Although the setting is alien, the characters of this world are human and their many trials and tribulations purposely mirror our own. For all its fantastic elements and unique storyline, "Nightfall" is a study of the modern human condition, with insights very much meant for the Earthborn reader.

At one point, a psychologist asks a colleague if he sleeps with a "godlight" (their equivilent of a mere night light) in the bedroom. The colleague replies "of course", and when the psychologist asks him to turn it off or remove the "godlight", it is an alien and unfathomable idea. "Nightfall" is about the fragility of the human mind, its stubborness toward accepting change, and its inability to overcome monumental change in the face of a sudden epoch thrust upon mankind's collective psyche. The novel touches upon many aspects of this, with moments of scientic and religious backlash reminiscent of Galileo, and deeper delvings into the human mind and how, even in an enlightened age, the most primitive instincts can compel the strongest actions and reactions.

Although the third act of the novel is not as tightly written, "Nightfall" remains an engrossing work of science fiction by one of the great masters of the genre, Isaac Asimov, in turn ably assisted by notable contemporary Robert Silverberg. Recommended for all science fiction fans and for any curious readers with a background/interest in psychology or sociology.