Novel: The Robots of Dawn

The Robots of Dawn - Isaac Asimov [1983]

Just finished reading the last book of Asimov's robot series.  Well, which I thought was the last book until I did a wiki search and discovered a 4th Robot novel.  Probably one of the most well rounded of the Robot series thus far, this book featured some interesting sociopolitical viewpoints, another interesting detective case with Elijah Bailey and his robot assistant Daneel Olivaw, and even a love story or two.  The book loses points from me because of the love story part, which at some points was the only part of the story that even caught my interest - a fault due to slow pacing and tedious romantic dialogue.  Seriously, Asimov should have stuck to introducing more scientific phenomena and weaving them into the story like he usually does so well instead of bog his pace down with lengthy dialogues that were largely conversational and lacked content.  That said, it was a page-turner and I was always anxious to get to the next break in the case or flash of insight by Elijah.  I liked the twist at the end too where the well-built but "less complex" non-humanoid robot Giskard wound up being a robot with the power to manipulate human's emotions and wound up being the conspirator of the entire plan to bring Bailey to Aurora in the first place.  Good read like all Asimov - I especially like the original Foundation trilogy, first two Robot novels, The Gods Themselves, and The End of Eternity.  The later Foundation books didnt have nearly the same scope as the trilogy and focused on a consistent cast of characters on a space journey.  Fun and exciting at times, but suffered from the same pacing problem that I had with The Robots of Dawn.  [6.5/10]