The End of Eternity
Ratings125
Average rating4.2
Andrew Harlan is a 'Eternal', effectively a time traveling policeman. When history takes a bad turn the Eternals work out when the best intervention would be to prevent it. Harlan was one of those who go back in time and effect a minor change to avert disaster.
He's a totally unlikable character, but the book is filled with Asimov's cardboard cutout characters who are all totally without charisma. The plot and plot development are the thing here. Couple that with some cool tech, considering the book was written in the 1950s, and an increasing element of philosophizing about time travel, and it gets its stars.
The alternate time zone of the Eternals is filled with men only. Harlan meets a woman, the only one in the whole book, they make love, he is infatuated, he moves to get her out of her time zone and into his world. Things don't go as planned. The middle of the book is taken up with 'everything that can go wrong does go wrong' and their whole existence is threatened. With his supervisor they cobble together a plan to save everything. There is a longish episodic crisis that issues in a final showdown as Harlan is forced into a drastic decision
The book has all the 1950s expectations that men run the world, women get in the way if they venture into the man's world, and their only purpose is for men to get laid. Male interactions are purely functional and the characters here spend more time being suspicious of each other than working together. The only person with character is the sole female, Noÿs.
3.5/5
I might just not like classic sci-fi.
Most of the book it was 2.5 -3 stars but the ending was amazing.
Excellent short read. Asimov's theory of reality shifts would explain many of the strange “glitch in the matrix” and “Mandela Effect” phenomena we experience today. It elegantly conveys complex problems and poses thought provoking questions while still managing to make sense. Plenty of aha! moments, despite its fictional nature!! Definitely worth a read!
Issac Asimov is a complete genius! The man has made an amazing universe that twists and turns within itself.
This is a criminally underrated book!
Aunque en general fue una lectura entretenida, no ha sido tan buena como esperaba. El inicio se me hizo algo aburrido y cierto lío de faldas que hay como a la mitad todavía peor. Sin embargo cuándo empieza la ciencia ficción dura (hay muy poca para mí gusto) mejora bastante. El final ha estado muy bueno.
It's a really interesting concept of “Time” and the morality surrounding the subject. I loved the story, though it ended too abruptly for me, after raising a lot more questions.
A masterpiece from Asimov.
SPOILER
I loved how he managed to fit this time travel adventure in his stablished universe.
I liked the Time travel stuff, loops and some clever ways of telling whether the protagonists were doing the right thing. But that was like the last 1/4 of the book, the rest was a little tedious and the (typical for the time) causal misogyny was irritating. I'm a fan of Asimov but this wasn't his best work.
One of my favorite Asimov stories so far! This one stretches the concept of time a step farther by creating eternals - effectively time police. Coupled with the idea that these eternals come different times of 10s of thousands of years, means that anyone in this role gives up their reality. But what happens when you fall in love with someone in time, when you know that time changes?
One of my favorite Asimov stories so far! This one stretches the concept of time a step farther by creating eternals - effectively time police. Coupled with the idea that these eternals come different times of 10s of thousands of years, means that anyone in this role gives up their reality. But what happens when you fall in love with someone in time, when you know that time changes?
The writing is worse than Nightfall, the science fiction more heavy. The way the ideas of the book are exposed just don't feel like a novel, it doesn't make for an engrossing reading.
The first chapter is a complete mess, you can get a sense of that right from the first few paragraphs. If you can read past that, this book may be for you.
I stopped because I couldn't get past the underdevelopment of inter character relations. At one point x gives orders to y, then y obey. Next y gives order to x, x is like WFT and reminds y of his place. Which is...?
1:45/8:12 22%
Pros: clever plotting, hard SF/
Cons: protagonist is not particularly likable and is surprisingly naive and narcissistic/
Andrew Harlan is an Eternal, those who live outside time, Observe and create Reality Changes which positively affect the greatest number of people throughout history. Only two periods are unaffected by them - the prehistoric age, before time travel was invented, and the far FAR flung future. /
Harlan's skill as an Observer in the 482nd attracts the attention of Computer Twissell, who arranges for him to become a Technician (someone who actually performs the change) and teach his hobby of primitive history to a student./
On an assignment back to the 482nd, he meets the beautiful, non-Eternal, Noys Lambent, who changes his life. He breaks numerous laws to rescue her from the proposed change to her era and makes plans to request her removal from time so they can stay together. /
Naturally, things don't go as smoothly as he hoped they would./
For some reason I always think of Asimov as a writer who's concerned more with science and plot than character. While the science is sound (even to mentioning how time travel can work with the movement of the Earth around the sun), and the plot is clever, character development isn't neglected. /
Harlan begins the book as a self-absorbed resident. He works hard and resents how the others who work towards the changes they all make in history shun him as one of those who actually performs the changes. Meeting Noys changes him. He initially becomes more narcissistic and paranoid, then slowly learns to smile and enjoy his time with her./
The question of why she's interested in him is satisfactorily answered by the end of the book when the plot within a plot is revealed. And by this time, as a reader, I'd warmed to him./
While I am happy to see this title brought back into print, I was annoyed to find that the publisher's cover copy was misleading in terms of the book's plot. Asimov told a fantastic story, just not quite the one the publisher lead me to expect./
If you're not a hard SF fan, don't despair. He includes enough science to understand the plot but doesn't bog down the story with pages of explanation.
“Solo haciendo frente a las grandes pruebas puede la Humanidad elevarse a nuevas y mayores alturas. Del peligro y de la aventura han salido siempre las fuerzas que han llevado al Hombre a nuevas y más grandes conquistas. ¿No lo entiendes? ¿No comprendes que al impedir las miserias y fracasos que torturan al Hombre, la Eternidad no le deja encontrar sus propias soluciones, difíciles pero provechosas, las soluciones verdaderas que se obtienen al vencer las dificultades, no al evitarlas?”
Uno de mis favoritos de todos los tiempos y, probablemente, una de las novelas sobre viajes en el tiempo mejor contadas. Paradojas, misterio, thriller, que giran en torno al amor entre Harlan y Noys. Un amor que finalmente trascendió el Tiempo y el Espacio.
Asimov no dejó cabos sueltos. El fin de la Eternidad sugiere una realidad en la que los viajes espaciales son posibles y cuyo resultado es nada menos que el Imperio Galáctico. ¿Les suena? Aunque realmente nunca se confirmó, es probable que “El fin de la Eternidad” tenga relación con la saga de la Fundación. En “Los límites de la Fundación” se menciona a la Eternidad. Aunque existan algunas discrepancias, puede que existan en el mismo universo. ¡Genio de genios!
Arte conceptual de Uğur Ergüden:
Il mio primo Asimov, e, lo ammetto, se sono tutti cosi sono stato un ENORME idiota ad iniziare a leggerlo solo ora!
Storia bellissima, con degli splendidi spunti e trama avvincente.
Mi chiedo che si possa chiedere di più ad un libro di fantascienza!
Incredibile, davvero incredibile.
3.5 stars, Metaphorosis Reviews
Summary
Andrew Harlan is an Eternal - one of the technicians who keep humanity's progress on the right track across the millenia, but who must live separate from the rest of humanity. Only, Harlan has fallen in love with a non-Eternal woman, and now he's prepared to break all of Eternity's rules.
Review
I'm very familiar with Isaac Asimov's work. I've read all or most of his fiction at least once. Yet when my spouse asked me about this book, I didn't recall it at all, except a vague memory of a book with Eternity in the title that I didn't care for at all. I'm still not sure this was it, though looking back at some older covers, I think it may have been.
The End of Eternity gets off to a pretty rocky start, for an Asimov book. The context isn't entirely clear, and it's relatively hard to engage with the protagonist. It's also a book written in 1955, and women get pretty short shrift, though there's some handwaving to explain it.
It takes the book at least a quarter of its short length to settle in and get going. Even then, the protagonist's motivation is explained in dribs and drabs. When it is, there's a fair amount of ‘having' a woman involved (1950s, again). I admit that I'm not a fan of time travel stories, but Asimov's version does enough to paper over the inevitable cracks.
It's only really in the book's last 20 pages or so that it really takes off. That portion, at least, is Asimov-worthy and interesting. About 65% of the rest, though, is only average, and the beginning 25% isn't great. A fairly easy read with a good ending, but not Asimov's best.