Skip to content

The Caves of Steel

The Caves of Steel

ClassicsCrime
Pages
271
Published
1953
Language
English

Synopsis

In a future New York City where the line between human and android is blurred, Detective Elijah Baley is tasked with solving the murder of a Spacer. Paired with an android partner, Baley must overcome his deep-seated distrust to work with R. Daneel Olivaw. Their investigation forces them to confront the rising tensions between humans and robots, and the city's struggle with overpopulation.

Prose complexity
7/10

Collected in

Book cover of The Robot Novels
The Robot Novels

Vibe

Thought-ProvokingTenseAtmosphericIntellectual
RivalsForced Proximity

Genres

Classics Crime Hard Sci-Fi Mystery Science Fiction

About the author

I
Isaac Asimov

Asimov was born sometime between October 4, 1919 and January 2, 1920 in Petrovichi in Smolensk Oblast, RSFSR (now Russia), the son of a Jewish family of millers. Although his exact date of birth is uncertain, Asimov himself celebrated it on January 2. His family emigrated to Brooklyn, New York and opened a candy store when he was three years old. He taught himself to read at the age of five. He began reading the science fiction pulp magazines that his family's store carried. Around the age of...

Characters

Elijah BaleyProtagonist
R. Daneel OlivawSupporting
Julius EnderbySupporting

New York's Police Commissioner, a college friend of Elijah Baley and his direct superior at the start of the murder investigation.

Han FastolfeSupporting

A Spacer roboticist from Aurora who advocates for closer cooperation between Earth and the Spacer worlds, and who designed R. Daneel Olivaw.

All characters in The Caves of Steel

Frequently asked questions

  • When was The Caves of Steel first published?

    It was serialized in Galaxy Science Fiction magazine from October to December 1953, then published as a Doubleday hardcover novel on February 4, 1954.

  • Is The Caves of Steel part of a series?

    Yes. It is the first novel in Isaac Asimov's Robot series, introducing detective Elijah Baley and the humanoid robot R. Daneel Olivaw. It is followed by The Naked Sun.

Read all 5 reviews