Robots and Empire (1985)
Robots and Empire is a 1985 fiction book written by Isaac Asimov.
Two centuries after Elijah Baley's death, the balance between the long-lived Spacers and the crowded, short-lived Settlers of Earth has grown dangerous. Gladia, the Solarian woman Baley once knew, is drawn out of her quiet Auroran life when a descendant of his arrives from the Settler worlds with a request she cannot refuse. Meanwhile Kelden Amadiro nurses an old defeat and schemes toward Earth's ruin. Two robots, R. Daneel Olivaw and R. Giskard Reventlov, travel with Gladia across contested worlds, bound by their laws yet meeting choices those laws never anticipated.
Quick answers
What is Robots and Empire about?
Two centuries after Elijah Baley's death, the balance between the long-lived Spacers and the crowded, short-lived Settlers of Earth has grown dangerous. Gladia, the Solarian woman Baley once knew, is drawn out of her quiet Auroran life when a descendant of his arrives from the Settler worlds with a request she cannot refuse. Meanwhile Kelden Amadiro nurses an old defeat and schemes toward Earth's ruin. Two robots, R. Daneel Olivaw and R. Giskard Reventlov, travel with Gladia across contested worlds, bound by their laws yet meeting choices those laws never anticipated.
When was Robots and Empire published?
Robots and Empire was published in 1985.
Who made Robots and Empire?
Robots and Empire was written by Isaac Asimov.
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Robots and Empire in our writing
- Companion guide: Foundation: The Complete Guide to Isaac Asimov's Galactic Empire
A few thoughts on Robots and Empire
Readers taken by the slow tilt from Spacer decadence toward humanity's next era should watch Foundation, adapted from Asimov's own future history, and Dune, where fading aristocracies and long games decide a galaxy. Mass Effect turns the same sweep into play, letting you broker fragile peace among species across a crumbling galactic order.
Protectors bound by a code that the situation keeps testing
Daneel and Giskard escort Gladia across contested worlds in Robots and Empire, each bound by the Three Laws even when the situation in front of them is nothing the Laws were written to handle. Mass Effect 2, Portal 2, BioShock and Batman: Arkham Asylum all put a protector, human or artificial, inside a fixed code of conduct and then test exactly where that code starts to strain.
A wealthy, long-lived elite and the resentful underclass beneath them
Robots and Empire is built on the widening gap between the long-lived, privileged Spacers and Earth's crowded, short-lived Settlers, a divide Amadiro is quietly working to exploit. Dune, Foundation, The Marrow Thieves and Shatter Me all study what happens when a comfortable ruling class and a resentful underclass share one system, and how easily that gap turns into a weapon.
An old guardian who returns to a world that has moved past their code
Robots and Empire picks up two centuries after Elijah Baley's death, with Gladia and two robots who remember him pulled back into business that started long before the book begins. The Dark Knight Returns, 20th Century Boys, Phoenix and Galaxy Express 999 all follow figures who persist across decades or centuries, watching the world change around them while old loyalties and old enemies resurface.