Last month you may recall that I reviewed Isaac Asmiov's first novel, Pebble in the Sky, which was part of the Galactic Empire series. Now here's where it gets interesting because even though he wrote this one first it wasn't actually the first book of the series...it actually started with The Currents of Space which coincidentally is what I'll be reviewing today. (Do I know how to prologue a post or what, guys?) So far, I'd say that there is absolutely no need to read these in any particular order as there are no character crossovers and in fact only cursory mention of Earth at all (which is where 99.9% of the action took place in Pebble in the Sky). In this story, we are introduced to Rik (not his real name), Valona (peasant mill worker), Townman (title not name), Junz (cool cat), Abel (mover and shaker), and the Great Squires of Sark (I'll let the book describe these). This book's main focus is on classism especially on the world of Florina where the major commodity is kyrt (super fancy clothing is made from it). There's intrigue, rebellion, derring-do, and space yachts. Asimov is the king of sci-fi for a reason, ya'll. I was swept away on a gentle cloud of otherworldliness. The last book of the series is proving difficult to obtain but hopefully I'll have my hands (actually ears) on it soonish. XD However, if you're looking for a fun read and/or want to continue the Galactic Empire series then you'd be accomplishing both objectives by reading The Currents of Space.

I wanted to like "The Currents of Space." I tried to like it. I really did. I had just come off Asimov's "The End of Eternity" with nothing but glowing praises for it. Eager to explore further in the man's universe, I gleefully plucked this off the shelf in the library and dove into it hoping to strike gold a second time. Unfortunately, this mine proved a barren dud, unless you are into the kind of treasure that's long on metaphor and conjecture and short on actual storytelling. It could not hold my attention long enough to really get into it, and I kept getting get beaten over the head with its own perceived sense of self-importance.

The Prologue opens high above the planet Florina, where an unnamed government scientist has come to warn the ruling class of the planet's oncoming demise. Unfortunately, the chief export of the planet is the sole source of wealth for this ruling class, so of course the scientist must be silenced. From there the story begins and centers around Rik, an apparent Florinian slave with only fragments of the memory of his former life who, with the help of his boss and his self appointed care-taker, sets off on a quest to find out who he is and what his purpose for being on Florina originally was (take a wild guess who he was in his former life). For a book that labels itself as a "mystery in space," the crime is about as blatantly obvious as any cold opening of "Columbo." From the get go, you see the crime in progress, you already know who the victim is and who the perpetrator is and why it happened, and now the rest of the story is spent waiting for them to figure the mystery out "before it's too late." Sadly, while we are sitting around waiting for the main characters to hit upon a clue, we are subjected to space bureaucracy. What, oh what shall we do about Florina? How shall it affect trade. Can our chief export be supplanted on another planet? How can we maintain power if our export can be mass produced? What of the people we keep in captivity. What shall become of them? Will they rise up against us, or simply ask to live among us? Blah blah blah.

The chief problem with the novel is that Asimov couldn't decide whether he wanted to write a science fiction story or an allegory about the socio-economic ramifications of the abolition of slavery in the American South during the Civil War. So, he tried to do both. This would be more excusable, if either part could stand upon its own merits. Unfortunately, the allegory suffers by being too vague to fully realize until after the book is over, and the story (being a rehash of the same boring old Man- Goes- On- Quest- To- Challenge- And- Undo -The- System) suffers from being hampered by the aforementioned allegory. In its defense, there are some elements of good to be found here. When Asimov does decide to tell the story part (despite the plot having been done to death) he does it with panache and the narrative moves with fluidity. When he decides to focus on the characters, they have a voice and each carries a unique personality. Sadly, despite these glimmers of hope, I could not recommend "The Currents of Space" as a decent novel, either for fans of Asimov or anyone looking to break into him.

I enjoyed this book for the mystery and because I liked watching Rik muddle and struggle through. Even though simple country Lona didn’t understand much of what Rik was trying to remember, she stuck with him throughout. The class differences between the Florina workers and the Sark nobility threw in some added tension between the characters of the story.

I actually didn’t realize this was Book 2 of the Galactic Series until I started writing up the review. This book reads fine as a stand alone space mystery. (Though I am excited to have this simple excuse to dig up the other two Isaac Asimov books in the series.)

Kevin T. Collins did a great job with men’s and women’s voices, with provincial country accents, and imperial demands, even throwing in dialect accents. I enjoyed his crisp and clear pronunciation and the pacing.

The book is basically a spy thriller set in space, but Asimov works a little civil rights commentary into it as well.

So he's lost his memory, but he's sure there's some terribly important thing he knew that he just has to tell people. And as his mind starts coming back, he finds that the black hats are chasing him and want to make sure they can shut his mouth permanently before he...

I know. It's been done so many times that I'm sure you lost count years ago. I certainly have. But here's one detail I really liked. The aforementioned black hats are close behind him, he's in this deserted park, and he runs into this guy. He whips out his blaster, kills him, swaps clothes, then quickly vaporises the remains.

So he escapes, fully recovers his memories, gets the message to the right place and saves the world. And then someone says, remember the guy you killed in the park when you were on the run?

Um, yes, he says uneasily.

Well, they continue, he was on his way to meet his wife. They first met at that exact spot, and every year they met there again on their anniversary. But now he won't be meeting her any more.

Even though the end justifies the means a million times over, he's absolutely stricken by the realisation of what he's done and spends the rest of his life trying to make amends. Austin Powers did this idea too in a comic version, but Asimov was first and I thought his treatment was at least as good.