Isaac Asimov - The End of Eternity

The control that we have over our destiny and fate is something that has always been a concern of humans. Philosophers and writers have expended thousands of pages exploring the extent that we are able to determine our destiny. In Isaac Asimov’s The End of Eternity we have an excellent work that explores this theme of free will and destiny. Asimov writes a tale that at its heart is about how what we chose determines what our reality is, and who should have control over our destiny, this is delivered in an fascinating plot that revolves around the paradoxes of time travel.

The writing for the most part is clear and engaging, and whilst he never fully develops the characters beyond the one dimensional images we get a glimpse at, the strength of the philosophically dense plot is sufficient to maintain interest in the story. Asimov allows the complexity of the narrative to unfold out in an unexpected series of revelations concerning the nature of Eternity and reality. The crux of the book is the organisation called Eternity, a group of time-travellors who observe the course of history and intervene in its path in order to improve the end result in a utilitarian manner and reduce the suffering in the universe as a whole, however manipulating the past through the myriad of cause and effect relationships is a complex procedure and in the end has serious repercussions for humanity and its future existence.

The central tension in the book is that between the desires of the individual and the desires of the organisation. Harlan a product of the system, who is indoctrinated in the dogma of the group starts to struggle to reconcile his allegiance to Eternity when it starts to conflict with his own personal desires. This conflict arises when he meets a female from the outside called Noys, and the dispassionate Harlan finds himself victim to the phenomena of love, when Harlan discovers Noys existence is in threat, he then starts to violate the code of practice to save Noys and his love.

The narration throughout is tight and controlled with Asimov laying out the parameters of the problem with sufficient clues to guide but withholding enough to keep the fascination of the reader. We are guided through the story via the eyes of Harlan, who seems to driven without sufficient motive to be believable. Likewise his companion Noys is presented as a non-entity and never fully developed yet turns out to be crucial to the plot, making it difficult for the final revelation to have the potency it needs. Whilst the weak characters, the precision and depth in the analysis and exploration of the philosophical issues of time travel more then makes up for this. The End of Eternity is a thought provoking work, with a powerful enough idea to drive home its point that in the end each of us our masters of our own destiny.