"Everything I've done, I've done for you Sira." He pulled his hands through his white locks. The moon intensified every strand. "You wanted him dead, I erased him from history. You wanted them silenced, I cut out their tongues and stitched their mouths. I'm tired of living up to your expectations."

Tears puddled on her jumper. "I didn't ask for any of this Jareth."

He vanished in a sparkle of lights. Sira frenzied around, yanking her neck like it were her enemy. As magic tricks went, this was the best she'd ever seen. 

Silence swept across the meadow. Everything was still. Sira's panic eased and she rational thoughts filtered back into her mind. Then in a blaze of sparkles Jareth re-appeared next to her, closer than before. His chest thrust into her face forcing her to step back. He looked down and sniffed her hair. A smile curved his lips. Sira stood still, fear robbed her of movement. 

Jareth raised a gloved finger to her mouth. "I don't move the stars lightly Sira."

"I didn't ask you to move anything!" Breathes stuttered her response.

Anger tore across his face. He exploded into flames, scaling from his feet to his head. Sira raised an arm for protection. The flames crackled and climbed into the night sky. Then, as if doused by gallons of water, they died away. 

No remnants of the blaze lingered. The grass was as lush as before, and the air as pure as ever. Sira peered around meadow, the moonlight cast everything in a milky tint.

"I wished they would all shut up!" A voice blared from the darkness that edged the meadow. "I wished they would all shut up!" The words repeated over and over again. Sira recognised the voice, it was hers.

"You see? I was doing your bidding!" Jareth's voice boomed as the recording faded away.

Sira spun every which way, desperate for something her eyes could register. "I didn't mean it. It was..."

"Death wouldn't be enough for him." Sira's voice again bleated from the darkness. The words were different but the volume and circulating menace remained.

"Stop it!" She cried. "Stop it!"

Everything stopped and he flashed back in front of her. His eyes raged, but he held a smile. "I have been patient with you, I really have." He went to stroke her hair but she flinched.

"I didn't want this!" She barked.

He added some teeth to his smile and hand combed his hair. "It's always about you isn't it? Always about poor little Sira. What about what others want?"

She wiped her face with her sleeve. Streaks of red coloured her eyes.

He pointed to the sky. "Watch." Like an orchestral conductor, his hands frenzied to and fro. Slowly, the stars began to move. Constellations that had burned in the night sky for generations became a muddle. Sira's mouth gapped open. The stars swirled and moved like shuffled dominos. 

"That's me!" Horror wobbled her voice as she recognised the formations. "What are you doing?"

"It is us Sira. Forget this life. Just let me rule you, and I will be your slave!" Jareth's eyes never left his work.

A King and Queen sat on top of a thrown surrounded by servants.

"No... no." Sira shook her head.

Jareth dropped his hands and the constellation of stars fell away and returned to their former patterns. 

"If you really don't want this. If you really don't want forever. I will give you thirteen hours to reach my castle in the heart of the Goblin City. If you do that, I will reset everything. It will be as if we never met." 

The meadow melted into a desert. The trees wilted to the ground. The grass scuttled away like disturbed mice and yellow sand sprouted. The night sky rolled away and the beating Sun hung high. Sira jumped and yelped as the terrain beneath her morphed. Jareth plucked a sand timer from thin air and presented it to Sira.

"When the timer is finished, your thirteen hours will be over." Jareth pointed to a castle in the distance. It crested a steep hill and was surrounded by what looked like a maze. "I forgot to mention, my castle is at the centre of that Labyrinth."

Sira used her hands to umbrella the sun from her face. "It doesn't look far."

"It's further than you think." Jareth turned away. "Time is short." As the words left him a gust of wind kicked past and he faded like his body was sand. "You could forget it all and join me Sira. It's only forever, it's not long at all." His voice rode away on the wind.

The Caves of Steel was first published as a serial from October to December 1953. It followed Asimov's love for robotic science fiction. It also incorporated the detective genre in an attempt by Asimov to prove that science fiction could be applied to any genre. 

The story is set 3000 years in the future where Earth is critically overpopulated. Surrounding planets have been populated by humans, but they are now known as 'Spacers.' 'Spacers' no longer see themselves as Earthlings and thus tensions between Earth and the surrounding colonies are high. 

The Spacer worlds are far less populated and use highly advanced robots as part of their day to day lives. Earth is the complete opposite. 

The story begins with a Spacer death being committed on Earth. The death could potentially start an interplanetary war. Elijah Baley is handed the task of finding the killer and handing him/her over to the Spacers ASAP. Not trusting the humans, the Spacers send R. Daneel, a sophisticated Spacer robot, to help. 

Below are my thoughts on the story.

WHAT I LIKED: 

The relationship between Elijah and R. Daneel oozed intrigue. It always felt as if the two were bonding. However, with frequent accusations flying around and the anti-robot environment the depth of their friendship was always questioned. This uncertainty worked well and kept an edgy atmosphere running through the story. 

The twists and turns are well timed and developed. The suspense was frequently raised and forced page turning. The narrative was steered in different directions, all believable but none predictable. The last act arrived with the killer still at large, but reader interest in his identity at an acute high.

The mixture of science fiction and crime/mystery/thriller was fun. Asimov wanted to create sci-fi work that could fit into any genre and with The Caves of Steel he succeeded. The futuristic setting was brought to life beautifully and was easy to picture. The dynamics between humans and robots was explicit, and added depth to Asimov's world. This added depth created a dimension to the guessing of the murderer. Predictions were laced with the understanding of Asimov's world. Highlighting how immersive Asimov's story telling is.

WHAT I DISLIKED: 

The narration is very straight edged and to the point. At times it lacked the colour and humour of say a Robert Heinlein story. 

WHAT IS THIS SIMILAR TO?:

This is archetypal Asimov. Science fiction cock-tailed with another genre and bold story telling. Very 50s hard science writing, but it's more fun than the work's of Arthur C Clarke and less preachy than Robert Heinlein's ventures.




WOULD I RECOMMEND?: 

This book was very fun. It's full of suspense and interesting events designed to have readers turning the page. It's the first story in Asimov's robot series and a fantastic way to kick of a series. Definitely worth the read!

"I look better when I'm not in my work overalls." He added a smile to his declaration to lubricate his conceit.

"It's a shame I'll never see you in anything else." She batted back his smile with an inviting grin of her own.

"Well it doesn't have to be that way."

"Oh no?"

A man barged past them, his stomach nearly knocking her into the next street.

"Hey! Watch where you're going. Are you alright?" He walked toward her offering her a hand but she declined it. 

"It's okay. We're standing on the steps of the busiest bank in the country and it's almost opening time." She checked her watched. "We're lucky we're not splattered everywhere." 

He smiled, not at her comment but at the dimples that formed when she stopped talking. She smiled back and re-adjusted her trench coat. It was summer, the sun was preparing to make this day one of the hottest on record, but no one batted an eyelid at her fashion choice. She looked too good for negativity.

"So when can I show you me, not in overalls?"

"In a different lifetime honey." She blew him a kiss, and turned up the stairs toward the bank.

"But I thought we..." The words escaped him. Partly because of the rejection but mainly because she pulled a loaded semi-automatic uzi from her coat.

Her heels clicked against the floor as she climbed the stairs and waltzed into the bank. The sound of bullets mixed with screams escaped from the revolving entrance.

If this was Hollywood he would have stormed into the bank. Somehow saved the day and began a two hour adventure breaking Hollywood records in the process. Setting up a financially successful sequel that was less well received by the critics. 

Not being Hollywood his legs stiffened and his heart beat quicker than a drummer showing off his repertoire. Each bullet and every scream tightened his muscles until there was silence.

Ernest Cline had an impossible act to follow after writing 'Ready Player One'. He could have written a sequel or an entire new story. He chose the latter and threw in some quirks that made 'RPO' such a hit. He named this new story 'Armada' and released it in 2015. 

"This must be it." He said.

"The old bat was right!" She removed her cap, dragged her hands through her dirty hair and flopped to the ground.

He grabbed one of the artefacts out of the box and analysed it. After a few rotations he realised he didn't know what he was looking for. He returned it to the box and checked the others. "They all look the same."

"Let me see." She pushed him out of the way, tore into the box and burrowed around. "What is this junk?" She tipped the box upside down.

"What the hell are you doing?" He tried grabbing the box from her, but she pushed him back. Showing no signs of her smaller frame.

The artefacts fell to the floor, nothing broke. She turned to him with an 'i told you so' smile. Turning back to the pieces, she sieved through them, "This can't be what the witch was talking about? They're just lumps of rubbish." She tossed one of the artefacts over her shoulder in disgust.

The boy rushed behind her to make sure the piece wasn't damaged. He picked it up and examined it. "You idiot! We don't even know what these... Oh my god!" She turned to face him.

The artefact glowed a fluorescent purple. "I think you broke it." He pulled it to his face and stared at it. From purple it flashed green and then tripled in temperature. "Ah!" The tips of his fingers seared and he dropped it.

"What are you doing?" She said. The artefact hit the floor. It quickly returned to purple. The boy waved his hands about, but his fingers still stung. In need of stronger measures he clustered his fingers together and blew on them.

As he emptied his lungs, his body froze. From heel to head he couldn't move. The artefact turned red and pulsed from dark to light.

Not realising the boy had frozen, the girl crept toward the pulsing object. Half a metre away she crouched down. She looked at it closely, "Hey stop messing around and look at this," she moved to within touching distance of the artefact when she froze too.

The artefact rose from the ground and hovered in the air. The girl let out a stifled moan, her fear was clear. The artefact swayed towards her face and stopped. If she had control of her eyelids she would have shut them tightly.

Marks and lines appeared across the artefact. They stayed for a second and then changed direction and twisted into something else. The red cooled to a pink glow and then the marks and lines stopped moving.

A voice oozed from the artefact. "Are you sure?"

Shock silenced the girls moans and groans.

"This is it. This is your story. It all begins here." Said the voice.

A blue light beamed from the artefact and shone first on the girl and then the boy. The moment the light touched them they vanished.