Why I read the book: I found it online on a list of time-travel novels.

What the book was about: Andrew Harlan was an Administrator of Eternity, a group that exists outside of time and makes adjustments to human history to keep disasters from happening. He meets a girl named Noys, and immediately falls in love with her, although he’s not supposed to have affairs. He takes her into Eternity and plots for a way to keep her with him.

He discovers that he plays a major role in the creation of Eternity, so he thinks he’s invincible. But when Noys is suddenly taken away from him, he vows revenge. He disrupts the past where Eternity was created. His boss, however, convinces him that he made a mistake. Andrew agrees to go back in time to repair things, as long as he can take Noys along. His boss agrees.

They go back, but on the way, Andrew realizes that Noys is really a human from the distant future who has been manipulating him. He decides to kill her, but she convinces him that the reason she was picked to come back was because she fell in love with him while watching alternate realities. Together, they make the changes that destroy Eternity and stay together in the past, with history unraveling without manipulation by anyone.

What I liked about the book: Amazingly-well written in that I could almost follow what was going on even though Asimov was talking about complex time-travel equations that don’t even exist. The basic plot was also interesting.

What I didn’t like about the book: The characters were somewhat plastic. Asimov has a way of making women into things. And he always has to get his evolutionary outlook into his books.

Recommendation: I gave it a 7 because I found it original.