First Published: 1953

Rating: Excellent.

"Lije Baley had just reached his desk when he became aware of R. Sammy watching him expectantly."

I love the way Isaac Asimov wrote. He was a biochemist and one of the masters of science fiction, but he didn't talk down to his readers or bore them with pages of technical jargon. He just wrote and let the science fall into place, shifting the focus of his stories to society and humanity. In his novel The Caves of Steel, he took things one step further, creating a science fiction novel with a sociological focus but a whodunit plot.

Lije Baley is a detective on a future Earth where, in order to save space and resources on the overpopulated planet, people live in vast underground complexes and are given privileges--like private bathrooms or the ability to eat in their own apartment--based on their classification. The people, Lije in particular, hate the robots that are slowly starting to displace humans who are doing menial tasks.

Naturally, Lije is incredibly annoyed when the police commissioner assigns him a startlingly human-looking robot so the pair can investigate the murder of the robot's maker, who is a resident of the nearby Spacetown. Spacers, who immigrated to Earth from other planets, are about as despised as robots, being richer and much more reliant on artificial technology than the Earth dwellers. Nonetheless, Lije has to work with his robot partner--R. Daneel Olivaw--in order to solve the murder and keep the peace between the two societies. 

The Caves of Steel is just plain nifty. The contrast and friction between Lije and Daneel as the former tries to work successfully with the latter is particularly fascinating to read; Asimov's juxtaposition of a human with a robot offers insight into what it means to be human--and what to make of something that is definitely not human.

Both characters are very realistic, especially Lije, who reacts perfectly to his situation. I love that Asimov let his human character be human--Lije make some colossal mistakes as he delves into the murder case, and it's refreshing to watch the hero screw up when it counts.

And the society that Asimov creates is fascinating. It doesn't seem unlikely, or far off in the future, that Earth will be so overcrowded that people will live in what amounts to giant dormitories, sharing common bathrooms and eating in giant cafeterias with limited amounts of food and gaining (or losing) privileges based on their jobs, genetics, and IQs.

The Caves of Steel is the first of three novels Asimov wrote about Lije and Daneel--the other two being The Naked Sun and The Robots of Dawn. I haven't read them yet, but I hear that they're better than this novel--and considering how good The Caves of Steel is, that's saying something.

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