While the story itself has only minor flaws, and does contain a very clever ending, none of the magic which pervaded many of Asimov's earlier works is present in these long pages. Instead, Nemesis is long, drawn-out, and filled with soapy conversations. He seems to be trying to follow a modern trend rather than doing what he's best at—hard, focused story-telling with as little meandering as possible. Unfortunately, Nemesis meanders a lot.

The plot itself is complex and, to Asimov's credit, challenging in moral terms. We expect nothing less from Asimov, and at least his ability to conjure creative, ambiguous situations remains sound. A renegade space colony named Rotor, free from the over-populated and corrupt confines of the Earth government, has discovered that Earth will cross path with a star named Nemesis in the distant future. However, the humans on Earth are unaware of this impending disaster. Should the Rotorian humans warn the Earthlings and therefore surrender their own independence, or should they just let Earth handle its own problems and potentially allow the deaths of billions? The idea is thought-provoking, yet Asimov's execution of it—which include a family subplot dealing with such pleasantries as divorce and child-mother-boyfriend feuding—is slow and uninspiring.

I like Asimov because of his ability to carry a story solely through meaningful dialogue rather than action and still make it suspenseful. Here, though, I wish he had taken a different route. The story of Nemesis demands a more urgent pacing, a sense of desperation that is utterly lacking. We get, instead, conversational melodrama and an overly preachy way of approaching the moral ambiguities that Asimov so cleverly designed.

Worst of all, however, are his characters—specifically the main character, Marlene. I had some initial trouble pinpointing exactly what makes her so excruciating, but eventually I reached a conclusion. She's a strong-headed and independent teenager with the ability to tell exactly when someone is lying or telling the truth. She's also incredibly arrogant and self-proclaimed. This isn't good; but what's worse is that Asimov obviously thinks she's a great character, and that's why he has the rest of the cast respecting her, worrying over her safety as she tells them not to worry, feeling guilty when they become angry with her. It's enough to induce vomit, that a character like Marlene is perceived so unrealistically by everyone else. She is, to Asimov's credit, well-defined and unique—I only wish he had made her more likeable. It might have helped the novel considerably.

Overall, Asimov has written many, many more books. It is advisable to skip over this one and grab some of his better work while they're still on the shelf.

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