This collaboration by two masters of the genre expands on Asimov's classic short story first published in 1941. Kalgash is a planet with six suns, a world where darkness is unnatural. Scientists realize that an eclipse--an event that occurs only every 2049 years--is imminent, and that a society completely unfamiliar with darkness will be plunged into madness and chaos. The novel traces events leading to this discovery, and the fates of the main characters immediately following the apocalypse. While the premise is convincing in the context of a short story, this longer version brings up too many unresolved questions. The original tale was tightly written, succinct and stunning, but the novelization seems flabby and drawn-out--the reader recognizes the significance and consequences of the impending events long before the characters do. An abrupt and simplistic ending further mars a hallowed SF tale. 100,000 first printing. (Nov.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Asimov's long story ""Nightfall"" (1941), written when he was just 21, concerns the inhabitants of a planet with six suns. Periodically, only one sun of the six hangs in the sky, sad, every two thousand years, this is blotted out by an eclipse. Darkness falls, the stars come out; the inhabitants, who have never known darkness and have never seen the stars, go mad and destroy their civilization. It is Asimov's best known and most popular story, and one of the most famous in all science fiction. Here, then, 49 years later, for reasons best known to the authors, is the novel version. The story's essentially the same, notwithstanding the changed details and added aftermath. Hump psychologist Sheerin 501 (but what are the numbers for?) discovers how easily the people of planet Kalgash are driven mad by darkness. Eager astronomer Beenay 25 deduces the existence of an unseen planet and predicts that it will cause an eclipse. Ice maiden archeologist Siferra 89 confirms that civilization crashes and burns every 2,049 years. Skeptical journalist Theremon 762 scoffs at the whole idea of darkness and stars and the fall of civilization. Mysterious Folimun 66 of the fanatical Apostles of Flame warns everyone to repent--though he possesses curiously precise knowledge of the catastrophe to come. The eclipse duly occurs, the stars come out, Kalgash goes mad, and civilization falls in flames. Those that survive and recover their sanity--Beenay, Siferra, Theremon--realize that the oddly calm, decidedly pragmatic Folimun (all along, he's actually been trying to help) represents the only hope for civilization's rebirth. Pleasant. Bound to have curiosity appeal. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Science and religion form an uneasy and fractious alliance on the planet Kalgash when a group of astronomers and a cult of religious fanatics predict the inevitable coming of darkness to a world that has never known night. Based on Asimov's short story ``Nightfall,'' this joint venture by two of sf's most revered veterans focuses less on characterization than on the exploration of the human psyche's ability to cope with the imminent destruction of civilization. Recommended. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

YA-- Because of its six suns, the planet Kalgash is bathed in perpetual sunlight. However, once every 2,049 years all six suns are eclipsed, plunging the planet into total darkness and causing widespread madness that results in the civilization's complete destruction, thus allowing the cycle to begin again. Night fall , expanded from Asimov's 1941 award-winning short story, lets readers experience the cataclysmic event through the eyes and biases of a newspaperman, an astronomer, an archaeologist, a psychologist, and a religious fanatic. This novel improves upon the original through the use of better developed characters and an expanded, more textured story that results in an absorbing, richer tale.-- John Lawson, Fairfax County Public Library, Fairfax, VA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.