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A review by sbenzell
The End of Eternity by Isaac Asimov
3.0
What is more fundamentally important: freedom or happiness? Is there some aspect of human flourishing that cannot be fully captured in the concept of utility? For an economist, both the conviction that problem of human happiness and suffering can be approached mathematically and the knowledge that such analyses must always be incomplete must coexist uneasily in the mind. When speaking to these themes, which is returned to more famously in the Foundation series, The End of Eternity is at its best.
The best moment of the novel is towards the end, when the protagonist makes a decision that will determine the fate of the Universe. Asimov is truly at his best when laying out these choices, though the decision here I think is slightly inferior to the one presented in Foundation and Earth
The discussion of time travel in this novel, while competent, didn't inspire me much. Time travel is a very hard concept to get right. Approach it from a too facile direction, and you get contradictions and plot holes up the wazoo. Approach it from a more complex direction, and you can confuse or bore your audience with technicalities. This book strikes a pretty good balance, with few plotholes (although some definitely seem to exist - the book seems pretty inconsistent about how changes in real time effect people in eternity; maybe there is a distinction between changes made before or after eternity's establishment? If so it is not addressed) and yet is seldom boring.
A good but not great book solidly in the tradition of Asimov's other best works, it also shares many of his other works' flaws. Female characters are scarce and in general interpersonal relationships and personalities are sketched rather than fully developed.
The best moment of the novel is towards the end, when the protagonist makes a decision that will determine the fate of the Universe. Asimov is truly at his best when laying out these choices, though the decision here I think is slightly inferior to the one presented in Foundation and Earth
The discussion of time travel in this novel, while competent, didn't inspire me much. Time travel is a very hard concept to get right. Approach it from a too facile direction, and you get contradictions and plot holes up the wazoo. Approach it from a more complex direction, and you can confuse or bore your audience with technicalities. This book strikes a pretty good balance, with few plotholes (although some definitely seem to exist - the book seems pretty inconsistent about how changes in real time effect people in eternity; maybe there is a distinction between changes made before or after eternity's establishment? If so it is not addressed) and yet is seldom boring.
A good but not great book solidly in the tradition of Asimov's other best works, it also shares many of his other works' flaws. Female characters are scarce and in general interpersonal relationships and personalities are sketched rather than fully developed.