The Gods Themselves (Paperback)

For the most part, I don't like to read short story sci-fi. I just don't like the idea that the story can't get very developed and you can't REALLY get to know the characters. So, when I first started to realize how Gods is organized, I didn't think that it would end up being that great. However, I am glad to say that I was pleasantly surprised; all three stories are really quite good. Also, they all have many similar ideas (other than the disaster thing) that almost make them seem like one story told from three different perspectives (in a sort of socio-political way).

The first story has great characters and is sort of a setup for the rest of the book. The second story has some really interesting aliens--not just your run-of-the-mill, humanoid, Star Trek-type aliens. Actually, I would say that the aliens in this book are in the top three as far as uniqueness. The final story wraps everything up. It also has a few more good characters and some interesting ideas about life on the moon.

I gave The Gods Themselves four stars because the book is good, but not really anything to write home about. If you're in the mood for a short book, that's easy to read, and has some interesting ideas, or if you just want to read about cool aliens, then I would recommend it.

Asimov explores many possibilities in the human and alien psyche, considering how our negative impulses can push us on to greatness- great glory, or great tragedy. He investigates how the perceptions of who we are will change with time- the perceptions of others, and our self-perception. I was engrossed- I wanted to know what was going to happen next to these characters that I cared about. And what happened next, especially at the end of the units, was usually not what I expected. It is a well written novel. And therein lies the flaw.

Perhaps if the characters weren't so well portrayed, it wouldn't matter that we never get to find out what happens to them. This is written more as three separate stories, around a common theme, rather than a novel. And the three stories themselves are more slice-of-life than the traditional Western novella genre. So we begin to care a great deal about character, only to see him disappear at the end of the first unit, and only be tangentially mentioned in the third unit. Then we get a very interesting display of a completely foreign and alien psychology and anthropology, with 3 mates in one, and a complicated lifecycle- only to have a surprise at the end of the second unit, never fully explained, and the aliens never really again mentioned. And in the third unit, with a long rendition of what life is like on the moon, we focus on a character tangentially mentioned in the first unit- and in this story, there is at least some completion, albeit with unfortunate gratuitous dwelling on nudity. Each would be quite good alone, with extra material added. But I'm left feeling that this is an unfinished novel- worse, 3 unfinished novels. I'd rather have the author finish his own work, and not be made to complete the novel for him.