Title: The Stars, Like Dust (Galactic Empire #1)

Author: Isaac Asimov

Publisher: 1952

Genre: Science Fiction

Pages: 243

Rating: 2/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Perpetual

His name was Biron Farrill and he was a student at the University of Earth. A native of one of the helpless Nebular Kingdoms, he saw his home world conquered and controlled by the planet Tyrann—a ruthless, barbaric Empire that was building a dynasty of cruelty and domination among the stars.

Farrill’s own father had been executed for trying to resist the Tyrann dictatorship and now someone was trying to kill Biron. But why?

His only hope for survival lay in fleeing Earth and joining the rebellion that was rumored to be forming somewhere in the Kingdoms. But once he cast his lot with the freedom fighters, he would find himself guarding against treachery on every side and facing the most difficult choice of all: to betray either the woman he loved or the revolution that was the last hope for the future.

Woof! J warned me that I would not like this one, that I would be very disappointed by the connector novel, and I completely was. This was a convoluted mess of plot and characters with very little interesting discussions or questions. I was very confused about who was who for the first half of the book (and I don’t usually have that problem). Asimov shoved so many new people, new worlds, new factions, and new groups into this very slim book and it didn’t really work. But I made it through and J promises me that this is the low point of the entire Asimov Foundation collection.

Galactic Empire:

• #1 The Stars, Like Dust

• #2 The Currents of Space

• #3 Pebble in the Sky

Next up on the TBR pile: