You open a science fiction book and you find
yourself reading a classic crime novel, with the style of Sherlock Holmes (with
a citation in the text) or with the characters of Agatha Christie. Someone was
killed in a distant planet and Detective Baley by talking with the suspects,
observing and with simple deductions gets to discover the culprit and then to
expose him in the final meeting.
What has
science fiction do with it? Not much. It’s just a setting out of the ordinary,
completely invented by the author and therefore it gives him complete freedom
of action.
He invents a planet where people live so far
away from each other so as not to tolerate the presence of others. Nothing
remains of the crime when the detective arrives from Earth so it helps to
develop a plot of reasoning and deduction, without evidence, that in a sci-fi
future should reveal such a case in a moment.
But we
are in 1957, when Asimov wrote this novel, without the advanced techniques of
forensic criminology that exist now, so it was good that the author did not try
to use some sci-fi tool, which over time would make the whole story unrealistic
(if not laughable). Instead in this way, even after more than 50 the story
continues to be quite credible, except for some details.
The way
it is told, however, betrays their age, along with the theme of the robot
(which nowadays is no longer seen as a particular field of future development,
except for entertainment) with its strict laws, and almost makes it a novel for
teenagers.
The only
exception is the sociological theme, which is inserted in the middle of the
novel and which is definitely of a certain depth, at least in theory. It is a
bit less like this when you consider the reason why this matter is bothered,
that is the comparison between an Earth of the future, where agoraphobic humans
live constantly separated from the outside and surrounded by a crowd of other
humans, and the planet Solaria, where humans have immense spaces at their
disposal and are never seen in person.
What I
appreciated is the effort of the author’s imagination and you can glimpse how
much he is amused to imagine these so unreal and unattainable realities. But
the beauty of science fiction is this: the entertainment of the writer that is
transmitted to the reader, with all the arguments arising from it, without
necessarily having to pull out some lessons applicable to actual reality.
Because it’s fiction and it’s nice that it is so.
on Amazon.com.
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