Stars, Like Dust: A Photo Guide to Everyday Words and Phrases in English Paperback – 31 October 2023

This is a 2009 edition of a novel that was originally published in 1951. This edition is a well-made paperback, published in America by Tom Doherty Associates. Very good to have it available on Amazon India.According to the internal, fictional, chronology, “The Stars, Like Dust” forms the first book of the three-book Empire series by the great American sci-fi writer, Isaac Asimov. In the empire series, mankind has spread over multiple planets around the Galaxy. There are various kingdoms across the Galaxy and a Galactic Empire is slowly taking shape. (An empire in which the events of Asimov’s seven-volume Foundation series subsequently take place.)Like any sci-fi written by Asimov, the novel is entertaining and enjoyable. But it is not Asimov’s best work. In fact, Asimov himself thought it to be his worst work. I think there is just one cringeworthy bit in there that makes it bad; the rest of it is fantastic as usual.Biron Farrill, a student studying in a university on Earth, is the son of the king of the planet Widemos (where a king are called “rancher”). One day Farrill hears that his father has been murdered, probably by the despotic rulers of a planet called Tyrann, …

The Stars, Like Dustby Isaac AsimovGenre: Space opera, thriller, romanceAudience: Teenage and aboveRating: 4 stars out of 5ReviewThis is the third book in The Galactic Empire series. Each book in the series is independent of the rest and can be read as a standalone novel.The book describes the efforts of a resistance movement to overthrow a dictatorship that rules part of the galaxy. The action starts on Earth, but Earth plays a negligible role, subsequently.Positives of the book are the skillful writing and the action; these drive the plot, keeping the reader engaged. The plot is itself reasonably clever; there are periodic pauses where different characters in the book summarize the plot, their analysis, and their predictions. These very short interludes appear brilliantly constructed.Negatives of the book are few. The reflective reader will realize that the brilliant analyses that periodically appear, and that drive the behavior of the characters, are actually quite superficial and represent only one among many possibilities. The behavior of the characters in the plot is melodramatic. The romance is clumsy. The science is itself iffy by present day standards. However, authors are given a certain license when they write, and so if these are ignored, as they certainly can be, the book is worth reading for the schoolboy adventure that it is.The book contains a McGuffin that appears at the start of the book and is revealed on the last page. It is so absurd that either Asimov was being very silly or very cynical. It might be a good idea to not read that last page.

I had purchased a few Asimov books which were printed and distributed by Bantam Spectra and the quality was very poor. This one however and the others in its series, .i.e The Currents of Space & Pebble in the Sky are printed by somebody else and the books are very good. A bit on the higher side as far as price is concerned, considering they are just about 230 pages or so, but worth it, since it's Asimov and the stories are eternal.

Incomparable. Timeless Asimov!

Great read.