Pretty generic, but with a strong start

So I read this book as I read all the Robots series and read up to Foundation's Edge and realised this series and The End of Eternity were connected with those two series in this big interconnected galactic history.

This book starts in a great way, it was intriguing and captivating. It drew me in, we were swept in with Biron into this conspiracy mystery concerning a possible rebellion and political schemes. Not exactly original but still intriguing (although given the year this book was written, perhaps it was original enough back then in sci-fi literature 🤔).

I was very much enjoying the book up until a specific point, when Biron gets on a Tyrranian ship with Gilbert and Artemesia. From that point on, I witnessed the the speediest executed forced romance subplot. In the space of a couple of short chapters, Asimov had Biron and Artemesia saying I love you, having ridiculous arguments fueled by stubbornness and breaking up and her trying to get with someone else, all while much larger concerns were present. And then we're led to believe Biron planned some of that and deliberately pushed her to the Autarch to see if his theory of the Autarch's treachery was so. And after he explained it to her, she went back to him with no problems at all even though he used her like a pawn. Yet, they argued all the time before that point and we so petty and stubborn towards eachother over the smallest things just like children. Yet, she easily forgives something like this. It is inconsistent and lazy. This all happened so quickly, they met, don't like eachother but there's a slight attraction, then they kiss, then say I love you, then break up ("part of plan") then get back together, then married. This all happened in the space of days within the book. Absolutely ridiculous. It's like watching a soap opera on TV and people say I Love You after 2 dates and happily ever after. Absolutely ridiculous 😂

That ridiculous romance subplot did retract from the quality of the book immensely for me, I think Asimov should have stuck to what he knows and is good at: Science Fiction, not Romance.
So much time and effort was put on a forced romance that there should have been more focus on the world building and characters.

The twist at the end was okayish, felt like it has been done many times before by this author.
Onto book 2 now, hopefully it's much better.