The Gods Themselves

It's not that easy to create believable, vivid characters the reader can relate and sympathize with. Asimov achieves that despite the handicap that his characters are clouds of floating gas. One of his best novels.

Featured in my Top 5 Weird Science-Fiction Novels: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZMHFbNY-Co

Iniziamo col dire che il titolo è una fig.ata: è tratto da un aforisma mutuato da Schiller, che recita "Contro la stupidità neanche gli dei possono nulla". Poi si tratta
di un romanzo in cui Asimov dà libero sfogo alla propria anima di scienziato (era un chimico), riempendolo di riferimento alla chimica ed alla fisica e cercando di usare i principi chimici e fisici per farne fantascienza: un mito. Ciò detto, purtroppo le 3 parti di cui si compone il romanzo sono un po' troppo disomogenee, ed alla fine sembra di leggere 3 racconti allungati invece di un romanzo coeso. Rimane comunque l'ennesima ottima prova per un grande mestierante.

i was curious to read this book, partly because of the title, partly because is Asimov's vintage.
i have a bias against Asimov. I've read the foundation N-logy, and found it tasteless, boring in many cases, ridiculous in other cases.
but that could be translator's fault, at least partly. i read the robot stories, and could not like them. i read other novels and yet could not like his work.
so i read this book in English, knowing that i could miss some, being English not my mother tongue.
in my opinion, this book shows that Asimov can write a story without using the foundation material or the robot material.
i think this book shows the good and bad of Asimov. the prose is easy and readable, but the thread is kind of dull.
there's an entire part of the book, part 2, that takes place in the 'para-universe', that could be taken out without affecting the story (so why is there?). at the end, it looks like it's a 3 short novels put together than a whole novel. and like i said, one novel could be dropped without losing much.
being that the book is segmented, and there are different characters in each part, the development of characters is not what you would expect in a novel.
i also think that the story could lend itself to make some good point about man, energy, the exploitation of nature, but there's none. pollution disappears quickly in the book, and even the other problem is solved 'easily' once it is understood. this is Campbell's world, not a story from the 70's.