This was a random find in Charring Cross road, a lovely old 1950s Asimov novel. I think this might be one of the best of his I've read since the Caves of Steel. The blurb appealed to me as it talked about a mad man who was predicting the end of the world. The world in question ended up being a small colony that faced a repressive colonial government as it's citizen's were being treated like second class citizen's by another world that took their valuable goods and left them with nothing. It had an interesting mystery style plot and a lot of good social commentary. It really examined the whole colonial system and racial segregation and the exploitation of native peoples in an interesting way. That said all the social problems examined were kinda tied up far too neatly with a scientific discovery that changed everything in the last chapter. It had a lot of characters but I never found myself getting lost remembering who was who. The characterisation was a little light, no one really grew or developed, but the characters were for the most part likable, even the murderer. All told I found it to be a very interesting and engaging story.
...Continua
