This book was amazing. It was far better than the first book. Every criticism I had about the first book was completely resolved in this one.

I was not expecting to return to Elijah Baley and Daneel Olivaw. I really enjoyed their characters in the first book but I honestly believed the first book was just a setup for the world itself and not part of a larger narrative featuring these two characters.

The world building was excellent. Asimov crafted an incredible story with intricate detail woven into it to really make you feel the world of Solaria.
I love the plot, it was really interesting to follow. There was a lot of complexities with the world and how different it was to ours. I really loved seeing how the lack of human connection was portrayed. Baley's character in this book was engaging in every scene and it was very satisfying hearing Baley's thoughts and how he observed the world around him and his piecing things together and trying to understand how the culture was so different, and yet no Solarian realised that he was taking everything in and forming all sorts of reasonings.

I was a bit disappointed at first that the book didn't feature Daneel as much as the first book, but after finishing it, I believe it was the right choice as it let Baley shine more. In the first book, Daneel was often used as a plot device to introduce us to the world and future culture of Earth. This time however, Asimov chose to show us the world of Solaria through Bailey's eyes only. And it really made you feel like you were on Solaria. The planets unusual culture and norms could shock and confuse us just as much as it did Baley, and we came to understand why such cultures existed, the same times Baley did. 

At the 95% mark we were shown who the killer was. At first I was confused and told myself that this couldn't possibly be the killer, that his confession was due to duress of human contact, which in fact proved that he was not physically capable of committing the first murder. And then when we got to the very end of the book and it was revealed that he was indeed the mastermind of the two murders but his aversion to human touch, connection and presence prevented him from physically carrying out the first murder, so he manipulated the man's wife into doing, and she done so under such terrible stress and blacked it out.

I am very much looking forward to the next book!