The End of Eternity

by Isaac Asimov, Apostol András (Translator)

Andrew Harlan is an Eternal, a man whose job it is to range through past and present Centuries, monitoring and, where necessary, altering Time's myriad cause-and-effect relationships. But when Harlan meets and falls for a non-Eternal woman, he seeks to use the awesome powers and techniques of the Eternals to twist time for his own purposes, so that he and his love can survive together.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Time Travel, Classics, Audiobook, Science Fiction Fantasy, Novels

192 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1955

About the author

Works of prolific Russian-American writer Isaac Asimov include popular explanations of scientific principles, The Foundation Trilogy (1951-1953), and other volumes of fiction.

Isaac Asimov, a professor of biochemistry, wrote as a highly successful author, best known for his books.

Asimov, professor, generally considered of all time, edited more than five hundred books and ninety thousand letters and postcards. He published in nine of the ten major categories of the Dewey decimal classification but lacked only an entry in the category of philosophy (100).

People widely considered Asimov, a master of the genre alongside Robert Anson Heinlein and Arthur Charles Clarke as the "big three" during his lifetime. He later tied Galactic Empire and the Robot into the same universe as his most famous series to create a unified "future history" for his stories much like those that Heinlein pioneered and Cordwainer Smith and Poul Anderson previously produced. He penned "Nightfall," voted in 1964 as the best short story of all time; many persons still honor this title. He also produced well mysteries, fantasy, and a great quantity of nonfiction. Asimov used Paul French, the pen name, for the Lucky Starr, series of juvenile novels.

Most books of Asimov in a historical way go as far back to a time with possible question or concept at its simplest stage. He often provides and mentions well nationalities, birth, and death dates for persons and etymologies and pronunciation guides for technical terms. Guide to Science, the tripartite set Understanding Physics, and Chronology of Science and Discovery exemplify these books.

Asimov, a long-time member, reluctantly served as vice president of Mensa international and described some members of that organization as "brain-proud and aggressive about their IQs." He took more pleasure as president of the humanist association. The asteroid 5020 Asimov, the magazine Asimov's Science Fiction, an elementary school in Brooklyn in New York, and two different awards honor his name.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_As...

Reviews

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've always felt that Isaac Asimov writes brilliant science fiction with boring characters. I love a good time travel story, mostly to see what this author's take on the usual time travel paradoxes will be. Anyone who writes about agents changing history has to explain how they deal with things like the Grandfather Paradox, meeting earlier or later versions of yourself, and so on. There are a handful of well-known ways to deal with these issues (alternate timelines, a deterministic universe, special laws of temporal physics, etc.) and Asimov is rather inventive in using several of them at once.

Although The End of Eternity is brilliant in its construction of a civilization of time travelers and all the history and technology that goes into their society and the way they meddle with time, his protagonists are basically a bunch of whiny geeks who've never kissed a girl and act like highly-educated chimpanzees fighting for the highest branch in the treehouse. Asimov's vision of a civilization that spans millions of years and thousands of realities doesn't include a single one where women become scientists and engineers and might join the Eternals' boys' club. The entire plot hinges on not one but two high-ranking Eternals who decide they are willing to throw all of reality into danger for the chance to get laid. I know Asimov was a nerd and he wrote this in the 1950s, but he still could have done better. It's like the idea of women as anything but sex objects to be coveted or to seduce men off the path of Righteous Scientific Objectivity just never occurred to him. So naturally when a girl shows up (the only female character in the entire book), she must spell T-R-O-U-B-L-E, and in this case, the end of Eternity.

I enjoyed the story, but Asimov has never been my favorite among the Grand Old Masters of science fiction; there is something just a little too cold and calculating in all of his stories. For the ideas and the plot twists, this is a fun book with a great premise, but don't expect Asimov to wow you with his nuanced grasp of human relationships. His characters are wire dummies to hang a story on.

[Pam Gonçalves]

3.5

[°°°·.°·..·°¯°·._.· ʜᴇʟᴇɴ Ροζουλί Εωσφόρος ·._.·°¯°·.·° .·°°° ★·.·´¯`·.·★ Ⓥⓔⓡⓝⓤⓢ Ⓟⓞⓡⓣⓘⓣⓞⓡ Ⓐⓡⓒⓐⓝⓤⓢ Ταμετούρο Αμ · Rating 5 out of 5]

ΤΕΛΟΣ ΤΗΣ ΑΙΩΝΙΟΤΗΤΑΣ ΑΡΧΗ ΤΟΥ ΑΠΕΙΡΟΥ.

Μυθιστορηματική γαλαξιακή παραδοξολογία του "χρόνου" που σε συγκλονίζει.

Η επιτομή της επιστημονικής εξωφρενικής έμπνευσης,
η αιωνιότητα με τις απαραίτητες αλλαγές πραγματικότητας,
οι "Αιώνιοι",που πράττουν με εγωιστική τεχνητή νοημοσύνη και αλλάζουν την ιστορία του γαλαξία με απρόσμενες συνέπειες.

Το καλύτερο βιβλίο επιστημονικής φαντασίας που έχω διαβάσει ως τώρα!!

Ποτέ δεν ήμουν οπαδός της τετράγωνης λογικής,των μαθηματικών,της χρονικής μηχανικής και των εξισώσεων μηχανικού πεδίου που οδηγούν σε τοποχρονικές συγκινήσεις....(μόνο που τα γράφω πληγώνω τα αισθήματα μου).

Παρόλα αυτά,ο τεράστιος Ισαάκ Ασίμωφ είχε θεϊκή επίδραση στο αναγνωστικό μου πεδίο.
Με συγκλόνισε με τις τόσο ελκυστικά αληθοφανείς επιστημονικές ιδέες. Με γοήτευσε.

Σαν να μου χάρισε για κάποια βράδια που κάναμε παρέα μια εξελιγμένη τεχνητή νοημοσύνη για να καταφέρω να παρακολουθήσω την αρχιτεκτονική του αφήγηση για το τέλος της αιωνιότητας.

Με ξενάγησε απο αιώνα σε αιώνα ανεβοκατεβαίνοντας εκατομμύρια χρόνια μπρος-πίσω με απίστευτη εγκεφαλική δόμηση κατανόησης και γυρίσματα πλοκής και φαντασίας.
Γνώρισα οικείους και αληθινούς χαρακτήρες ηρώων με πάθη και λάθη παρά την επιστημονική τους κατάρτιση.
Εμαθα για τον προγραμματισμό άνωχρονικών και κατωχρονικών εγκλημάτων με μικρομονάδες υπολογισμού απο τον Κομπιούταπλεξ της Αιωνιότητας.

Και σαν ένα όνειρο που κρατάει παραπάνω απο ότι χρειάζεται,πέρασα με αρκετή φρίκη και δυσπιστία σε αναλυση συναισθηματικής δομής,δράση,αντίδραση,
παρατήρηση,σκέψη και συγκίνηση,απο τον Πρωτόγονο Άνθρωπο του 21ου αιώνα στους ανώτερους ανθρώπους του ανωχρόνου των Κρυμμένων Αιώνων.

Μη φανταστείτε πως στους Κρυμμένους Αιώνες ζουν αόρατα
υπέρπλάσματα.
Οι άνθρωποι που ελέγχουν το περιβάλλον τους δεν εξελίσσονται.
Στους Κρυμμένους Αιώνες ( δεν ξέρω ποιοι ειναι, κρύβονται καλά)
ζουν κανονικοί άνθρωποι,HOMO SAPIENS.

Και κάπως έτσι,με απλή τετράγωνη μαθηματική λογική,(ανατρίχιασα).
ο μετανάστης με τις φαβορίτες και τον κοκκάλινο σκελετό γίνεται χωρίς Δεύτερη σκέψη, η Πρώτη μου Αγάπη και Παντοτινή στην κατηγορία ΕΦ.
Κάπως έτσι,σαν την αρχή του απείρου....


Καλή ανάγνωση!!
Άπειρους ασπασμούς!!

[Bradley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just had to do a little retro SF catch-up, grabbing those old classics by big-name SF authors that I haven't yet had the pleasure to read, and this one kept cropping up as one of the best of the best by Asimov.

You know, OTHER than Foundation and the Robot novels. Of which, a few are sub-par. We'll ignore all of these for now and focus on this standalone.

About time travel in a kettle, kinda like Wells' time machine, only let's make a society of men, only men, living outside of time a-la Time Lords and have our MC be a pre-Doctor kind of character who's ACTUALLY willing to fall in love with a girl and is willing to DESTROY this little bubble of Eternity for her sake.

You know, because a society of nothing but men will obviously think with nothing more than the spout of their kettles.

And don't get me started on this 50's assumption that only men can do the work, but because even Asimov recognized all that and turned her into a femme fatale and made the girls more badass than the boys. So we learn. LATER. :) So let's move on from there.

This is basically Doctor Who on steroids and less buddy-buddy unique eras and a hardcore dive into escaping a whole society of time travelers who meddle with the past to erase the really bad stuff, fixing whole timelines on massive scales over vast time periods... ALL FOR THE SAKE OF TIPPING HIS TEAKETTLE.

Oh, and he decides it's okay to destroy all the Time Lords. Ahem. Sorry. Eternals.

What could have been a relatively average and not bad at all novel right HERE is then given the full Asimov twist and he turns it into a full adventure with deeper and deeper intrigue, reversals, surprises, reveals, and mystery. Not bad, Asimov. And then he even goes for the short-story twist at the end and makes us re-evaluate EVERYTHING that has happened before in a new light.

NOT BAD AT ALL.

So if you can get over the naming conventions and the cardboard cutout characters and the whole psychosexual mess, I can ABSOLUTELY PROMISE YOU that there's a very fine and fun novel in here. :) Worthy of anything we've got today and somewhat more ambitious, even with the length, than most of the same.

I'm very glad to have read this. :)

[Велислав Върбанов · Rating 5 out of 5]

С огромно удоволствие си препрочетох една от най-великите книги на Айзък Азимов! Отново съм възхитен от гениалната „Краят на вечността“, чрез която той умело описва проблемите, до които биха могли да доведат откриването на начин за пътуване във времето и съответно постоянното извършване на промени в реалностите на множество столетия... Постигането на Вечността, от която учени да поправят всички човешки грешки във всички епохи е една примамливо идилична визия за бъдещето, обаче се оказва, че има сериозни недостатъци и всъщност жестоко спира развитието на човечеството. Историята на техника Харлан, който е въвлечен в сложна и опасна мисия във Вечността, съдържа изключително силни морални поуки и вълнуващи обрати...





„Харлан особено се възхищаваше от един поетичен откъс, в който се казваше, че нищо, излязло изпод перото на човека, не може да се унищожи. А след това му бе трудно, потресаващо трудно да върне мислите си към Вечността и към един свят, където Реалността бе нещо подвижно и мимолетно, нещо, което хора като него можеха да държат в ръцете си и да му придават по-добра форма, когато пожелаят.“


„По някаква необяснима причина епохите на космическите полети пораждаха особено силна привързаност към себе си. Това бе нещо, което трябваше да се изследва и щеше да бъде направено, ако не беше хроничното нежелание на Вечността да обръща поглед навътре към себе си.“


„Всяка система, която подобно на Вечността позволява на шепа хора да решават бъдещето на цялото човечество, неизбежно води дотам, че безопасността и посредствеността започват да се считат за най-висше благо; в една такава Реалност звездите са недостижими.“

[Azumi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Me he propuesto este año empezar, timidamente, con lecturas de ciencia ficción y pensé ¿por qué no empezar con uno de los grandes? Así que elegí a Asimov y su fin de la eternidad



Al principio pensaba que me iba a perder entre tanta explicación y palabra técnica pero enseguida me enganchó la historia, y como siempre me pasa con novelas cuya temática tiene que ver con los viajes en el tiempo, me entró la paranoia y ya no puede dejar de pensar en las paradojas temporales, y en este libro hay muchas: en la eternidad no se para de viajar y cambiar el pasado, pero al final todo queda explicado y los cabos muy bien atados.

Los personajes son pocos, los justos y todos ellos muy bien definidos y lo mejor para mí el final: redondo, sobresaliente :)

[Manny · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you haven't read Asimov's SF classic, it's one of those time-travel stories where you can change the past. The people with the time machines are a shadowy, infinitely powerful organisation called the Eternals. They flit around in time, changing things "for the good of humanity". Except that, as I'm sure you already guessed, it isn't quite clear after a while that humanity is benefiting from all this attention. The agents who are responsible for making the changes are called Technicians, and they pride themselves on always finding the very simplest way to effect the change. They don't start a war if it's enough just to assassinate one key person; they don't assassinate him if it's enough just to organise a traffic accident so that he misses a meeting; and they don't organise the traffic accident if it's enough just to put his address book in a different pocket, so that he makes the critical phone call twenty minutes too late. In a word, they're minimalists.

I was talking about this book the other day with an American friend who'd also read it. If the premise of the story really were true, we wondered what evidence you could find to suggest that Eternals had been at work. We couldn't help thinking that the 2000 Butterfly Ballot was suspicious. Not least the name - perhaps some Technician had been unable to resist the joke, and planted a larger clue than he really was supposed to?

__________________________________

After posting this review and that for The Naked Sun , I did some more googling on the background to Eternity. Among other things, I discovered that Asimov claimed he got the original idea when he saw an ad in an early 30s newspaper, showing a picture that looked rather like a mushroom cloud. Well, he thought to himself, no one in 1930 knew what a mushroom cloud looked like. Maybe it's a message from a stranded time-traveller? And, from that beginning, he constructed the rest of the novel.

I liked it, but I was dubious about the reliability of the method. Time travel probably won't be invented very soon - it sounds like extremely advanced technology. If you really did want to send a message into the distant future, you'd want something far more permanent and noticeable than an obscure ad. Something, in fact, that would have a decent chance of surviving for thousands of years, in unchanged form, and which would be as prominent as possible. The ideal thing would be an immortal work of art.

And then it struck me: in a different thread, we'd been talking about Shakespeare's mysterious Sonnet XVIII. Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I submit to your august consideration the hypothesis that this is a message from a time-traveller who crashed their machine in the early 17th century. To start off with, the poem explicitly says that its central purpose is to be remembered for ever. It's so beautiful, and every word is so perfectly chosen, that it has a decent chance of surviving unchanged for thousands of years - maybe, even until people get around to inventing time travel?

If you want to turn this into a short story, please credit me somewhere :)

[Tadiana ✩Night Owl☽ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Final review, first posted on Fantasy Literature:

Re-reading a favorite book from your teenage years is always a risky endeavor. I’ve been dismayed by how often my youthful memories are tarnished by a re-read, and I end up wondering if my taste as a young adult was all in my mouth.



But I couldn’t resist trying The End of Eternity (1955) by Isaac Asimov again, partly because I remembered liking it so well as a teenager, but my memories of it were so extremely hazy (for the longest time, until a Google search saved me, I couldn’t even remember the title of the book, it was just “that really cool Asimov time-traveling book” in my head). So I bought a used copy, got a few chuckles out of the 1970s sci-fi cover and how short novels used to be (192 pages here), and settled down to read.

Andrew Harlan is one of the so-called Eternals, men (almost invariably men) who have been pulled into kind of a bubble called “Eternity” that exists outside of normal time. Eternity, and a time-traveling machine called the “Kettle” that acts as a type of elevator through the years of the Earth’s existence, give them the ability to easily travel backwards and forwards in time. Eternals can change the past, present and future, which they frequently do when they think that society is taking a turn that leads to an undesirable outcome. Strangely, however, the Kettle is inexplicably blocked from stopping anywhere during the 70,000th to the 150,000th centuries, and afterwards lies only emptiness: Earth and its inhabitants are gone.

Love and marriage aren’t permitted for Eternals, other than brief sexual liaisons that are required to go through authorized channels. But Andrew, despite his best efforts to avoid it, manages to fall into a relationship, and then love, with a woman, Nöyes Lambert, who has been temporarily brought into Eternity. Soon he finds himself in the middle of not only his own small personal rebellion, but also a series of events that may affect Eternity and change the entire history of the Earth.

I’m vastly relieved to report that The End of Eternity has held up quite well over the decades. It’s certainly dated, and for a while I thought I was going to have some fairly serious issues with the secondary role of women in this novel, but that all actually resolved itself quite well in the end (though to explain why would spoil the tale).

The End of Eternity has the retro charm of 1950s science fiction, but with more depth than most sci-fi novels from that age. It has its weaknesses: Asimov’s scientific theory and technology for time travel are a little wild and woolly, female characters are non-existent other than Nöyes, and all of the characters except (to some extent) Andrew and Nöyes are strictly one-dimensional. If you can roll with it, however, it’s a fun and interesting ride, with a few twists and turns that definitely make the story memorable.

Initial review: I've been asking myself for ages, what was that time travel story of Isaac Asimov's that I loved when I was a teenager? and the question suddenly became more urgent after an interesting discussion I was having with some GR friends about time travel novels we've liked (see the thread to Joe Valdez's review of The Time Traveler's Wife). And it occurred to me to Google "Isaac Asimov time travel," duh, and there it was.

So the four stars here are based purely on my love for this book ages ago, and unfortunately I've found that my teenage taste in books is not always a reliable indicator of literary quality, so don't blame me if you read this and think it's a dud. I'd like to read it again, but I just checked and my local library doesn't have it on their shelves (maybe ILL? Will have to see sometime) so it'll probably be a while before I re-read this. But Uncle Isaac was a big reason for my teenage love for science fiction, which has lasted for my entire life. Just for that, he gets as many stars as I care to dish out. No apologies.

[Mª Carmen · Rating 4 out of 5]

4,5 ⭐️

Relectura de mi novela preferida de Asimov, por delante de los nueve relatos de "Yo robot", de "Bóvedas de acero" y de la trilogía de "La Fundación". Dentro de la Ciencia Ficción, los viajes en el tiempo son mi debilidad y este clásico es de los buenos.

Mis impresiones.

Estamos ante un clásico de la Ciencia Ficción de fama más que merecida. En esta ocasión, Asimov explora la idea de una organización, la Eternidad, que, tras haberse hecho posibles los viajes temporales, permaneciera fuera del tiempo normal y pudiera alterar la realidad de todos y cada uno de los siglos que existen a partir de su establecimiento. ¿Qué clase de "realidad" resultaría de las continuas intervenciones de una organización semejante? ¿Cuál sería el precio a pagar?

A partir de esas premisas, la novela se construye a modo de thriller. El ritmo es adecuado y al no ser muy extensa entra en harina desde el comienzo. Me ha gustado la manera en que Asimov hila la trama, con un comienzo in media res, que suscita la curiosidad de saber cómo y por qué se ha llegado hasta allí. Es un libro en el que hay que prestar atención a los detalles, todas las conversaciones tienen su razón de ser y aportan piezas necesarias.

Resulta fascinante el cómo concibe Asimov que sería una organización semejante, disfuncional por definición, en la que "la normalidad de sus comportamientos" es lo más preocupante de todo.

Sobre los personajes, el mejor desarrollado es Andrew Harlan, el protagonista, el resto no aparecen de forma continua, lo que no quita para que lo que reflejan en sus apariciones tenga mucha miga. El sociólogo Kantor, los programadores y los miembros del Consejo no tienen desperdicio. He echado de menos un mayor desarrollo de Noys, la figura femenina, pero la novela se publicó en 1955 y Asimov, nacido en 1920, es producto de su época.

Me ha gustado mucho el último capítulo. Esa conversación entre Noys y Harlan merece pasar a la historia.

"¿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?"

En conclusión. Un clásico de la Ciencia Ficción que merece esta calificación. La premisa de los viajes en el tiempo podrá gustarnos más o menos, pero más allá de ello, es un imperdible para cualquier lector que guste del género.

[Esti Santos · Rating 4 out of 5]

He caído totalmente rendida ante la mente prodigiosa de Isaac Asimov. Qué imaginación tan desbordante e inteligente, a la vez que nada descabellada. Es impresionante que escribiera esto en 1955.
Es una novela corta, pero densa y enrevesada, que he disfrutado más cuando he llegado hacia la mitad. Es una lectura exigente.
Estamos ante humanos "eternos" que manejan los hilos de las sociedades, a lo largo de miles de siglos, alterando las realidades por otras más convenientes. Viajan a través del tiempo a otra realidad, la observan y deciden si es necesario llevar a cabo un cambio, para eliminar hechos o avances que no interesa que se produzcan, en base a las consecuencias que podrían tener en tiempos posteriores.
Dentro de esta organización se encuentra el técnico Andrew Harlan. A sus 32 años ha empezado a sentir el vacio y la soledad de su vida en la Eternidad. Cuando conoce a Noys Lambert, su percepción de la organización cambia, empieza a desconfiar y a actuar por si mismo, en contra de normas muy estrictas.
Lo único que le importa es Noys y eso es precisamente lo que provoca que todo se descontrole y le conduzca a descubrimientos insospechados.
No he visto venir el final, ni me lo imaginaba. Me ha parecido una genialidad. 👌⭐️

[sologdin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nutshell: antisocial nerd, responsible for historical amendments to spacetime continuum, dicks it up for everyone in order to lose virginity.

Eternity is an interdimensional NGO, set up in the 27th century (32), initially to carry on intertemporal trade (43), which trade was promoted as its primary purpose. Its true primary task is to "prevent catastrophe from striking mankind" and "to breed out of Reality any factors that might lead to such knowledge" of its biotemporal management of human history (43-44).

We see that the main component of biotemporal management is actually wealth management for each century: "The Sociologists had an equation for the phenomenon" of uneven wealth distribution (45). Biotemporal managers allowed aristocracies to form, so long as they "did not entirely forget their responsibilities while enjoying their privileges" (46). Analogues to marxism here to the extent that the managers viewed the aristocracy as a ruling entity, "a class, not as individuals" (38). Generally, the point is to protect the species from destroying itself in nuclear war, but there's talk in the NGO of abolishing space travel, which always turns out to be a disaster.

Some odd gender politics: no women in the NGO, for the bizarre reason that removing females from the spacetime continuum actually has a more deleterious effect than removing males (something to do with the birthrate). Plenty of commentary, express and implied, on freedom & determinism. Strikes me that determinism is the default position when the premise of the story is that changes initiated by the managers at one point alter later effects. That said, some characters believe in "temporal inertia" (169), and that effects from changes return to a hypothetical baseline after a nunber of centuries, rather than creating further diremptions.

Anyway, lotsa paradoxes, including the central paradox of the novel (or, rather, of the Setting, rather than the Story): how is it that changes to history do not effect the NGO when the NGO interacts with and draws from history?

Nifty link toward the end to the Robot/Empire/Foundation setting: safe to say that the denouement is the condition of possibility for that narrative.

Recommended for those who stumble upon temporal field theory without being aware of its mathematical justification, persons for whom human appetites carry a quivery repulsion, and readers who associate the mushroom cloud with the system by which private capital was invested in business.

[BJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved Isaac Asimov as a kid. Devoured the Foundation and Robot novels—both the snappy 50s originals and the sprawling 80s additions. (I knew there was an Empire series, too, but it wasn’t at Barnes and Noble and it wasn’t in the library. I guess I wasn’t savvy enough as a 12 year old to track it down…) So I’m sort of surprised that this is my first Asimov since age 13 or so. I’ve come back to Clarke and Bradbury (my other golden age favorites), but for some reason never to Asimov.

I guess the first thing I’ll say is, he didn’t come by his reputation for nothing! This is one seriously entertaining book. Twist after twist after twist. It’s surprisingly head-spinning for having been written 70 years ago. I can’t even imagine how thrilling it must have been in 1955!

The book falters a bit on characterization (characterization? what characterization? you ask...). At first, I thought it stumbled even worse on sex and gender. But my thoughts on that belong behind a spoiler tag…

At first, I thought the gender dynamics were absolutely atrocious. Horny-teenage-boy scifi at its worst. But as the story develops, it reads more and more as a critique, even a satire, of the hyper-competent, hyper-masculine bureaucracies of mid-century science fiction. And of all the twists, the most delicious twist of all is that, at the very end, we learn that Noÿs, the novel’s sole woman—femme fatale, object of desire—is, in fact, literally a more evolved being from the far future. She’s been pulling the strings the entire time, manipulating every single man in the story. That reveal doesn’t exactly make her an actual human being—you know, a real character. But, well, our “hero” Harlan isn’t exactly a shining example of characterization, either.

I can’t quite bring myself to give this five stars. But I sort of suspect that, considered in its original context, it deserves six.

[Krell75 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Romanzo auto conclusivo di Asimov dove il viaggiare nel Tempo diviene protagonista con trovate eccezionali e un incedere incalzante che porta il lettore a terminare il racconto con il cardiopalma.

Diverso dai soliti romanzi dello scrittore per un maggiore ritmo nella narrazione e nella cura e sviluppo dei personaggi.

Un contorno distopico in cui si sviluppa il tema della scelta e della libertà. Forse uno dei migliori romanzi del grande Asimov.

[Hazal Çamur · Rating 4 out of 5]

Öncelikle şunu söylemeliyim ki, Yosun Erdemli'nin ortaya koyduğu çeviri muazzam. Eserin ilk baskısını alıp adeta baştan çevirmiş ve okurken beni hayretlere düşüren işlere imza atmış. Özellikle bazı cümlelerde uzun uzun nasıl böyle başarılı aktarabildiğini düşündüm. Ellerine sağlık.

Gelelim Asimov'a. Ondan dilimizde bir şeyler okumayalı uzun zaman olmuştu. Nihayet sahaflarda koşmak yerine, baskısı taze taze çıkmış bir eserine kavuştuk.

Asimov, tam da ondan beklendiği şekilde bir esere imza atmış. Özellikle Harlan karakteri çok tipik bir Asimov karakteri. Onun benzerlerini ustanın pek çok eserinde gördüm/gördük. Replikleri, cümleleri kuruşundaki takındığı tavır bunun bir yansıtması.

Sonsuzluk, insanın zamanlara müdahalesi, müdahale etme hakkını kendinde bulması ve daha iyi daha kötü arasındaki ince çizgi üzerine sarsıcı bir roman. Ama bu romanın en sarsıcı yanıysa Vakıf'a o umulmadık andaki bağlanışı. Kitabı kapattığımda tüylerim diken diken olmuştu. Bana keyifli bir okuma sunan bu eserin hiçbir yeri o Vakıf'a umulmadık bağlantıdaki etkisini geçemez.

Sonsuzluk insanlığın en büyük hayali. Asimov da bunun üzerinden ustalığına yakışan, ustalık işi bir kült esere imza atmış. Okuyunuz.

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

Time Travel!

I am a huge fan of time travel, particularly when it's done well. And, should I expect anything less in the hands of Asimov? Long before we learned how to harness the pathways of time and to make the proper adjustments to each time reality, Asimov bequeathed to us this incredible novel that postulates a world where there me travel exists in a corridor known as Eternity and the Eternals, who live in this narrow corridor, travel tens of thousands of years in something like Wonka's giant glass elevators. They call them kettles. But, Asimov doesn't stop there with time travel tourism. In Eternity, the Eternals curate time. They analyze alternate realities and prevent great calamities like cancer or atomic war. A little adjustment now and then never hurt anybody.

But what if one of the Eternals meets a mere mortal in a time existence and falls for her many charms? Not hard to do because like the bunch of eggheads the science fiction boys were, there was always a "no girls allowed" sign out. And how does he protect this young lass from time adjustments that just might wink her out of existence? Where can he hide her? How does he escape notice with this time crime?

This is a brilliant wonderful book that only gets better the deeper you dive into it with all the time traps, time dilemmas, and paradoxical circles you can think up.

[César Bustíos · Rating 5 out of 5]

"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:

[Md. Al Fidah · Rating 5 out of 5]

আমার ইংরেজি বই পড়ার হাতে খড়ি হলো আইজ্যাক আসিমভের রোবটস অ্যান্ড এম্পায়ার পড়ে। আর ইবুক পড়ার হাতে খড়ি হলো এই এন্ড অভ ইটারনিটি দিয়ে। বইটার সম্পর্কে প্রথম জানতে পারি মুহাম্মদ জাফর ইকবালের ছেলেমানুষি বইটিতে। সেখানে কোন একটা গল্পের এক চরিত্রের মুখে উচ্চারিত হয় - 'আইজ্যাক আসিমভ। দারূন লেখেন না? উনার এন্ড অফ ইটার্নিটি পড়েছিস?' (এরকমই কিছু একটা) আমি তখন মাথা নাড়িয়ে জানাই না পড়িনি।
আর আমি সিদ্ধান্ত নিই-না, পড়তে হবে।
এরপর সারা নিউমার্কেট ঘুরে বইটি পাইনি। আমার মনে আছে, থার্ড ইয়ারে ডেডিডসন কেনার কথা বলে আম্মুর কাছ থেকে টাকা নিয়েছিলাম। সেই টাকা নিয়ে বই না কিনে এই বই কেনার জন্য খুঁজতাম। তখন ২০০৮ সাল, ইংরেজী বই-এর এত দোকানও চিনতাম না। সেই ডেভিডসন আজও কেনা হয়নি, সেই বই ও কপালে জোটেনি।
আসলে বইটি নিয়ে আমার উচ্ছ্বাস মাত্রাতিরিক্ত। জানি না কেন, কিন্তু আজিমভের কোন বই এর কথা মনে আসলে প্রথমে এটা, এরপর নেমেসিস আর তারপর ফাউন্ডেশনের কথা মনে হয়। কাহিনি সংক্ষেপ পড়ে রোমান্টিক মনে হতে পারে, কিন্তু আসলে এই রোমান্টিক অ্যাংগেলটাও কাহিনির প্রয়োজনে, কাহিনি এই রোমান্টিক অ্যাংগেলের প্রয়োজনে না।
সায়েন্স ফিকশন পড়ুয়া মাত্রই জানেন, টাইম ট্রাভেল আর বাটার ফ্লাই ইফেক্ট - এই দুটো কত মজার আর আজিব এক ব্যাপার। মুহাম্মদ জাফর ইকবালের বই পড়েছেন আর - আমি যদি অতীতে গিয়ে আমার পূর্বপুরুষকে মেরে ফেলি তাহলে কীভাবে জন্মাব ? এই প্রশ্নের সাথে পরিচিত না, এমন কোন বই পড়ুয়া আছেন বলে মনে হয় না। টাইম ট্রাভেল প্যারাডক্সের আদিতম প্রশ্ন।
আর বাটার ফ্লাই ইফেক্ট বলতে বোঝায় - আপনি অতীতে যত ক্ষুদ্র পরিবর্তনই আনেন না কেন, আপনার ভবিষ্যতে অনেক বড় ধরনের পরিবর্তন আসবে। দ্য এন্ড অফ ইটার্নিটি বইটিতে অসাধারণভাবে এই দুই ইফেক্টই লেখক ব্যবহার করেছেন। সিম্পলি মাইন্ড ব্লোয়িং। প্যারাডক্সের উপর প্যারাডক্স, তার উপর আরেকটা প্যারাডক্স। আর শেষ টুইষ্টটা কী বলব, পাগলাটে। পুরা পাগলাটে।
অসাধারণ একটা সায়েন্স ফিকশন। ফাউন্ডেশনই বলেন, ওডিসি সিরিজই বলেন - আমার সায়েন্স ফিকশনের প্রতি প্রেম এই বইয়ের কারণেই।

[Metodi Markov · Rating 4 out of 5]

Краят на Вечността е в началото на любовта. И на още нещо епично…

Аз лично не обичам много хронофантастиката, но майсторството на Азимов е безспорно и този негов роман ми допадна. Малко мудно тръгна, но завършекът му ме удовлетвори.

Моята оценка - 3,5*.

[Giannis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Οι επιστημονικές γνώσεις του Ασίμωφ συνδυάζονται εκπληκτικά με την αστείρευτη φαντασία του, σε ένα μαγικό ταξίδι στο χρόνο! Έχω ερωτευτεί αυτό τον άνθρωπο! Αυτό ήταν το 6ο βιβλίο του που διαβάζω από τα μέσα Νοέμβρη...

[Mümin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kitap bir noktadan sonra o denli sürükleyiciydi ki, yüz sayfasını karanlıkta, otobüsün küçük televizyonunun ışığıyla okudum. Muazzam bir hayal gücü.

[Ray · Rating 5 out of 5]

In many ways, an absolute masterpiece of classic science fiction. Asimov's best stand-alone novel, which is kind of by default due to his other great work Foundation being a series and most of his other science fiction works to be short stories. (And yes, I know The End of Eternity in an indirect way does connect to Foundation.)

The time travel mechanics are mind-boggling in all the best ways. The concept of Eternity which manipulates time century by century, erasing entire realities by constantly making slight edits, is certainly fascinating. Even over sixty years later, the book mainly holds up extremely well and few contemporary works could compare to these brilliant concepts.

However, in a more social and literary sense, there is unfortunately a lot to criticize. Although the book imagines far off centuries thousands upon thousands of years in the future, it just can't get over the sexism of the 1950s era in which it was written. The main character, in a bit of a cliche, questions everything after he falls in love with a woman who will be erased if he doesn't fight the power in Eternity.

This specifically exposes the central problem of the narrative: how shocking it is for this imagined council of time lords to have any women around. Why is that? There are some throwaway lines about how female Eternals are rare because women are so important to the timelines they're from that they can't be taken out, and also the love interest character does turn out to be more important and powerful in the end. But come on, the real reason Eternity is such a sausage fest is because Asimov just couldn't get over the idea that only men can be super-scientists. And that just don't age well.

I'll still give this a full 5 star review because it is a classic and is a product of its time--even if as a time travel story the author could have tried harder to craft some more open-minded futurism.

[Wind · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bilimkurgu seven herkes bu kitaba bayılacağını düşünüyorum.Beklenmedik olaylar, yok artık dedirten süprizler, tamam artık her şey ortaya çıktı kitap durağanlaştı diye düşünürken yazarın seni ters köşeye düşürmesi, sahiden usta işi.

Tolkien, K. Le Guin gibi yazarların kitaplarını okurken bir ustanın eserini okuduğunu hisseder ya insan işte bu kitap da aynı öyle Asimov gerçek bir dahi ve bunu okuyucusuna hissettiriyor..

Kitap mükemmel bir kurguya sahip ayrıca hikayede aşk, kişisel ihtiraslar ve bunların yanı sıra zaman yolculuğu gibi temaların işlenmesi kitabı zenginleştiriyor.Okurken hiç sıkılmadım ve çok kısa bir sürede bitirdim..

Asimov'un okuduğum okuduğum ilk kitabıydı ama son olmayacağına eminim.

[Diana Stoyanova · Rating 5 out of 5]

„Пред нас е земята, но не вечният и единствен дом на човечеството, а само отправната точка на едно безкрайно приключение.“

Не мога да намеря точните думи, за да споделя впечатленията си от " Краят на вечността" на Айзък Азимов. Това е не просто златна научно-фантастична класика, това е проявление на гениален ум, широко-скроено съзнание и голямо сърце. Тази книга не те хваща за гърлото, тя направо те обръща с главата надолу. Има изключително иновативни идеи, навързани по много увлекателен начин.
" Краят на вечността" рисува интересни физически закономерности и определя специално място за силата любовта, която може да счупи всички принципи във Вселената, да премине всички времеви ограничения и дистанции.
Харлан има привилегията да се движи по времевите линии и да прави корекции на Реалностите, но също така носи и отговорностите за това.  Той има възможност да редактира грешките на другите, променяйки тяхното минало, и точно това в един момент започва да  го изкушава много. Изправен е пред дилема дали да наруши принципите, да пристъпи своята професионална етика, да излезе извън рамките на пространствено--хронологическата конструкция и да стане създател на своя собствена версия на реалността или да остави събитията да следват своя естествен ход. Сблъскваме се с различен поглед и интерпретация върху понятията за добро и зло.
Историята се движи между настояще, бъдеще и минало, показвайки ни различни картини и перспективи.
Харлан се отличава със страхотни качества и безпристрастност. Трябва да е обективен и да взема решения, лишени от емоции. И той определено е много добър в това, което прави. Докато не се появява човек, който да провокира неговите емоции до такава степен, че да започне да мисли повече със сърцето, отколкото с разума си.

"Краят на вечността" е страхотна книга, в която няма граници за фантазията на Азимов
Идеите му далеч надхвърлят дори представите на съвремието.
Авторът се фокусира върху копнежа на човечеството да контролира реалността и съответно последствията, до които може да доведе всяка една намеса. Цялата книга те кара едновременно да ликуваш, да мислиш, да си представяш, да анализираш, да си задаваш отново и отново въпросът " ами ако..."
Историята провокира много емоции в мен, разтърси ме, разчувства ме, разплака ме( да, странно, но факт, който не ми се случва често). Не мога да определя защо точно, но въздействието ѝ върху мен беше ясно осезаемо...може би защото идеите в нея се напаснаха толкова синхронично с моите собствени, може би защото открих нещо близко до мен, или може би, защото просто не исках цялото това преживяване да свършва...  Толкова много ми хареса, че се сдобих и с новото, и старото издание, и направих прочит и от едното, и от другото. И двата превода са много добри, а по- долу ще споделя любим откъс и от двете издания.

Краят на вечността всъщност отваря вратата към началото на безкрайността.
Тази книга се нарежда сред моите най- любими книги и определено е сред тези, които имам намерение да прочета отново. Случайно попаднах на нея и неочаквано за мен се оказа едно от най- добрите ми попадения за тази година, да не кажа и най- доброто. С тази книга Азимов заема специално място в сърцето ми и може би ще се окаже началото на една голяма читателска любов. <3

„Не можеш да задържиш мига дори във Вечността.“

Цялата книга е своеобразен полет на въображението до неподозирани висоти, но финалът просто е покъртително- феноменален. И това е едно от нещата, които ще запазя на специално място в съзнанието си:

"— Като спестява на човечеството нещастията на Реалността — продължи Нойс, — Вечността ги лишава и от сладостта на победите. Човечеството може успешно да се издигне до забележителни върхове само ако се преборва с големите изпитания по пътя си. Точно от опасността и тревожната несигурност се ражда силата, която тласка хората към нови и нови, все по-високи завоевания. Можеш ли ти да разбереш това? Можеш ли да осъзнаеш, че като отстранява провалите и нещастията, които обкръжават хората, Вечността не им дава възможност да намерят свои изстрадани и именно затова по-добри решения; истински решения, които се вземат при покоряване на трудностите, а не при заобикалянето им."
( из издание на книгоиздателство „Георги Бакалов“, Варна, 1981; превод Невена Златарева-Чичкова)

"Премахвайки катастрофите и  нещастията от Реалността - продължи Нойс, - Вечността зачерква и триумфите. Именно когато се подлага на големи изпитания, човечеството достига до огромни висоти.
От опасностите и тревожната несигурност идва силата, която го движи към нови, по-благородни завоевания. Можеш ли ти да разбереш
това? Можеш ли да проумееш, че предотвратявайки клопките и страданията, които спъват човека, Вечността не му позволява да извърви своя собствен горчив път към по-добрите решения, към истинските решения, които се раждат при преодоляване на трудностите, а не чрез избягването им. "
( из издание на Пергамент Прес от 2016г, превод  Станимир Йотов и Елена Кодинова)

[Ms. Smartarse · Rating 2 out of 5]

Originally published as The End of Eternity.

In a world where time travel was discovered, a select group of men (The Eternals) control humanity's fate from "out of time", set on enhancing its overall happiness.

Andrew Harlan is an outstanding Eternal technician, whose job is to implement the reality changes that higher-ranked analysts have come up with to tweak historical events. Rather low on Eternity's totem pole, Harlan is nevertheless content with his role as the best technician of all, happy to uphold their monk-like lifestyle in the interest of the greater good. An unexpected encounter with a woman upsets him so much, that he resorts to several rash actions, endangering the Eternity's very cornerstones.



The idea itself is of course very interesting, and it definitely made me ponder the pros and cons of a controlled evolution of the human race. It is, after all, said that hindsight is 20/20. So who better than people with unfettered access to hundreds of thousands of millennia to analyse and fix all of humanity's mishaps? At least until someone points out the flip side of things...

So much for the theory, but when it came to executing acting everything out with characters, things spiraled out of control. On the one hand, it felt like Asimov put so much effort into building the scientific basis for the Eternity, that he didn't have enough energy left for character development.



Harlan is often at his most palatable when holding lengthy lectures on various in universe-specific scientific terms. Even his interest in Primitive Timeline, discouraged among Eternals, doesn't show a more likeable part of him, as he's always grumbling about being criticized for it. As a matter of fact, he's always suspecting people of either looking down on him, wanting to trick him, or needing to be reported.

I'm guessing that somewhere along the line we were meant to empathize with him as he desperately tries to hide his romance from his superiors, yet I kept rooting for the Eternals to discover everything. His initial misogyny didn't help either, as it was hard for me to understand why he actually fell in love. I mean, he was clearly in lust with Noÿs from the get go, but his change of tune was apparently caused by getting roofied...? I knew Asimov's romantic subplots were cringe-worthy at best, but this is just incomprehensible.
Then again, perhaps it's a problem with the translation...

Score: 2.4/5 stars

If you're like me and only want to know why there are no aliens in the Foundation Universe save yourself some time and skip to the last two chapters.
Great concept, terrible character development and storytelling.

[Roberto · Rating 4 out of 5]

Da qui all'eternità

Dunque, vediamo.

Supponiamo di poter prevedere (o sapere) in anticipo un dato evento che può causare un danno all'umanità (ok, il termine umanità è generico e molto anni sessanta, ma consentitemelo).

Supponiamo anche di essere così bravi e dotati di tecnologia così raffinata da poter determinare quale piccola variazione possiamo fare in anticipo (e con quanto anticipo) per evitare che quel dato evento accada. Figo, diremmo.

Ok, è probabile che quella "piccola variazione" possa lasciare sul campo qualche morto teorico (più che morto dovremmo dire qualcuno che sarebbe dovuto nascere ma che a causa della nostra variazione non è mai nato). Ma poco male, cosa non si fa per l'Umanità.

Ecco, dicevo: figo.

La complicazione inizia quando cominciamo a capire che queste previsioni e queste piccole variazioni qualcuno le dovrebbe fare. Qualcuno esperto. Qualcuno che sapesse valutare bene gli impatti di queste "piccole variazioni" di cui parlavo.

Perché complicazione? Perché chi avesse la capacità di fare queste cose avrebbe più "potere" degli altri individui. Perché inevitabilmente questo potere dividerebbe il mondo in esseri controllori e controllati. Perché lo sviluppo del mondo si basa, come insegna Darwin, sugli errori evolutivi, sugli errori, che queste piccole variazioni eviterebbero. Perché questo controllo e questa omogeneizzazione della vita sarebbe basata sulla moderazione e la sicurezza, che vedrebbe prevalere la mediocrità. In altre parole l'ottenimento dell'Eternità si pagherebbe in termini di autonomia e sviluppo degli individui.
Un po' meno figo, direi.

Questo romanzo di Asimov analizza, con una scrittura tersa, fredda e distaccata, i limiti di questa ipotesi di Eternità. E lo fa in modo semplice e fruibile anche a chi non è esattamente appassionato di fantascienza, visto che inserisce discorsi filosofici in una storia a strati, leggibili separatamente o nel loro insieme. C'è una storia di amore, ci sono le tensioni sociali (che si possono leggere anche contestualizzandole nella nostra epoca), ci sono le lotte di potere nelle classi dominanti, c'è la ricerca scientifica.

Il risultato è un libro fruibile, scorrevole, divertente, insolito, attuale, che fa pure riflettere. Cosa volere di più?

[Andrei(Drusca) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Desi nu am o relatie prea buna cu autori clasici de S.F. cartea chiar mi-a placut desi a avut portiuni care nu mi-au placut(sau nu le-am inteles eu ). I really liked the book

[Tom Quinn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Check this: it's the trolley problem with time travel! Pencils ready? Eyes on your own work, please.

1) If you could throw a switch to save five strangers by squashing one, would you do it? (FYI, most people say yes)

2) If the one to squash was your own grandmother, would you still do it? (Think it through!)

3) What if it the squashee was your one true love? (Seeming like 1 > 5 somehow? What changed?)

4) What if (for some reason, don't overcomplicate things) what if saving your one true love meant sacrificing a million or two strangers? (Show your work.)

And finally 5) What if you could save your one true love by way of temporal distortion and it meant undoing the potential lives of 50 billion (with a B) future people? (Be honest!)


EXTRA CREDIT: The Bootstrap Paradox features prominently in this story. Which object (or person) serves the most significant "bootstrapping" role? Why?

~

Great sci-fi tackles thorny philosophical challenges with the trappings of technology, and this one asks a real corker:

As cold, indifferent logic brings us the means to learn more about what seems at times a cold, indifferent universe, where does humble Humankind factor in? In essence, what is it that makes us human? And how much is that worth?

2.5 stars. Undoubtedly a product of its time and demonstrating all the social sensitivity of a brick, the uptight 1950s presentation leaves much to be desired. Yet time travel stories are inherently cool so if you feel up to ignoring a heaping helping of "gee whiz, how's a man supposed to think with a curvy dame hanging around?"-brand misogyny, you'll see why this one's something of an icon within the genre. I still like Asimov's short stories much more than his novels, but this one's brief enough that it's over before his overwrought style wears thin.

[Marcos GM · Rating 4 out of 5]

Una novela con un concepto muy interesante, como es que una organización llamada Eternidad se dedique a contemplar la historia de la humanidad a lo largo de los siglos y realice modificaciones para evitar graves conflictos o eventos que alteren negativamente el futuro.

El protagonista no me acaba de gustar mucho, creo que tiene un caracter demasiado influenciado por el año en que está escrito a pesar de ser alguien que, literalmente, vive fuera del tiempo. Pero puedo llegar a comprender por que hace las cosas que hace (lo que no quiere decir que lo comparta)
Tiene varios giros muy buenos, o eso me parecen a mí el giro de quien es realmente Mallansohn lo medio acerté, el saber como son los humanos de los siglos ocultos me ha parecido bastante razonable, y el giro final de Noys no me lo esperaba, este ha sido el que menos me ha gustado porque parece sacado de la manga sin más y un final que me gusta y me parece valiente.

Me habría gustado ver más del funcionamiento interno de la Eternidad, así como algo más de desarrollo de las diferentes eras que se conocen de primera mano, aunque reconozco que no es algo prioritario en la obra y funciona igual de bien.

[Nandakishore Mridula · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a unique one for Asimov, and not connected to his usual fictional universe. Ironically, this is his first book I tried to read, in Malayalam translation, no less! But either the translation was bad, or the story was untranslatable, or I was too young for it... I dropped it after a few pages. I am glad I did, because I could read the original afresh.

This story is about a group called Eternals who travel outside of linear time, stepping in when required within the time-stream to make things "better for humanity". Well, it all ends up rather like America making the world safe for democracy.

I don't remember much other than the main character almost meeting himself as he enters the time-stream from different points. For some reason, this is considered a disaster. I don't know why. If I get chance, I would like to go forward and meet my older self, just to know how I made out.

[Beatriz · Rating 3 out of 5]

El planteamiento del libro es realmente alucinante y de una originalidad increíble. Muy bien hilvanados todos los acontecimientos de principio a fin, con un desenlace genial, aunque un poco previsible. De muy fácil lectura y comprensión a pesar de los tecnicismos.

Sin embargo, no puedo darle una puntuación tan alta como merece la historia porque realmente odié al personaje principal, Andrew Harlan. Un tipo anodino, inseguro, irritable, contradictorio en su accionar, pesimista y egoísta, que cayó como un tonto en cada una de las manipulaciones de las que fue objeto (a pesar de su “inteligencia”).

Por otra parte, los sentimientos que en él se supone que justifican saltarse todas las reglas de la Eternidad, están tan mal descritos y carentes de emoción que, al final, no los justifican.