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I don't have enough experience of spy novels to know if this is, in fact, "one of the greatest spy novels of all time". It's good, and an enjoyable read. Full of plots and counter-plots.

The good thing about these novels is that they're not especially long. This one clocks in at around 240 pages, which makes it easily digestible and nothing drags on. le Carré's writing is good; he seems (to me) to reserve the right amount of space to talk about anything, knowing when to elaborate and build metaphors, and when to throw something else into sudden and sharp focus.

Anyway... Looking Glass War next!

@ben_hr in case you're interested, I consider the end of Children of Dune (book 3) as a good off-ramp, if you're considering whether to commit to all six originals or not.

Either that or just commit to reading all six. That's good too 😉

I should have anticipated this really, given that this was a novel set in Asimov's Robot universe; it's more of a murder mystery (with robots) rather than a Robot story. That being said, it still plays with themes of ballooning populations, limited resources, fear of superior technology that could replace you, and interplanetary civilisation; which are all very Asimovian themes, and definitely make me keen to see where he takes this series in the next book. So I guess I'll need to get that next book now.

It's always a little weird and off-putting, but mostly funny, reading a story set in the future but with language from the past.

A great collection of Asimov's short stories. And his prefaces to each story are quite interesting insights to his writing and thought processes.