Isaac Asimov: Foundation and Earth

Hi

Foundation and Earth is the last novel in the Foundation Series by Isaac Asimov.
I got my copy from Bol and it has 499 pages.
You can find my reviews on all Foundation novels here.

                                *  SPOILERS  *

Foundation and Earth was a disappointing book.

It’s very easy to read because there’s not much going on.
The plot is lazy, boring and very poorly executed. Nothing happens. As in, nothing at all. I could sum up what happens in a few sentences.
They are searching for Earth because for some reason or other they think it will justify the decision Trevize made in the previous book. That doesn’t make sense, does it?
There’s a lot of talking. A whole lot of very repetitive, boring talking.

The characters lack depth; they have a few definable traits and that’s all there is to them. I liked spending so much time with them compared to other characters in the series we see for only a few chapters but they still lack depth. They go on and on about the same things and it really aggravated me.

And what’s with the sex scenes and the breasts in this book? There’s too much mentioning of breasts and very weird, awkward sex scenes especially when compared to his previous books in the series. I don’t really understand why.

I really missed the Seldon Plan in this book. It’s not really part of the plot and I don’t understand why because that was the whole point of the series. Or so I thought at least.
Silly me, apparently.

The only thing that I liked about the book was the search for Earth itself. Learning about the other planets, the people on them and getting closer to our own planet.

And the ending isn’t bad either. It didn’t surprise me but it was a good ending to the series.

I’m not sure why I continued with the series. There wasn’t one book I really loved. They were enjoyable and entertaining. Nothing more.

2 STARS

Happy reading!
Helena

Isaac Asimov: Foundation’s Edge

Hi everyone

I finished the penultimate book in the Foundation Series by Isaac Asimov.
This one has 452 pages and I got it from Bol.
Foundation’s Edge won the Hugo Award and the Locus Award and it was nominated for the Nebula Award.

This book was very different from the ones before.
Foundation’s Edge relies more on dialogue, discussions and endless explanations than the other books. There’s still a lot happening and it’s even quite suspenseful at times but the explanations really bored me. It seems like Asimov wanted to clarify everything that has happened since the very first step of humankind up till now. And some of his characters go on and on till you feel your mind wandering off while reading. The technical descriptions in particular were boring.

The plot wasn’t surprising in my opinion but it was good. Having a third group was a bit much though. I liked it in the end, but when I found out I felt a bit annoyed at how easy and predictable it would become.
It’s written so effortlessly and smoothly that it reads as fast as a train.
The world building is better too and the telepathic society and Gaia especially were great.
The characters were much the same; not really fleshed out but enjoyable nonetheless.

Nothing special but quite enjoyable.

3 STARS

Happy reading!
Helena

Isaac Asimov: Second Foundation

Hi everyone

Second Foundation is Isaac Asimov’s next part in The Foundation Series.
You can find all my reviews on the books in the series here.
I got my copy from Bol and it has 279 pages.

Second Foundation was very captivating and I liked it a lot more than the previous one; Foundation and Empire.

The characters were great. I loved Arcadia, she was so funny, sassy and smart.
The part about Han Pritcher was very interesting. He knows he’s being mind controlled but he can’t help it. And that’s absolutely frightening to be honest. Just imagine knowing that.

The story is better too. There is a lot going on, it’s exciting, very original and there are a few twists I didn’t see coming.
There is one rather important thing I did not understand while reading and that’s the role of The Second Foundation. When did they become the villains? Did I just miss that in a previous book? I can’t remember them being the ‘evil’ ones before.

Asimov’s writing is very easy and fast to read. It’s a small book but a lot happens. I like books that have a more in-depth storyline and characters that are fully fleshed out, but this is real escapism and I enjoyed it.

3 STARS

Happy reading!
Helena

Isaac Asimov: Foundation and Empire

Hi everyone

Foundation and Empire is the next book in the Foundation Series by Isaac Asimov.
You can find my reviews on the previous novels here.
This book has 282 pages and I got it from Bol.com.

“Led by its founding father, the great psychohistorian Hari Seldon, and taking advantage of its superior science and technology, the Foundation has survived the greed and barbarism of its neighboring warrior-planets. Yet now it must face the Empire—still the mightiest force in the Galaxy even in its death throes. When an ambitious general determined to restore the Empire’s glory turns the vast Imperial fleet toward the Foundation, the only hope for the small planet of scholars and scientists lies in the prophecies of Hari Seldon.
But not even Hari Seldon could have predicted the birth of the extraordinary creature called The Mule—a mutant intelligence with a power greater than a dozen battle fleets… a power that can turn the strongest-willed human into an obedient slave.”

I am really enjoying the series. . It’s quite different from the books I’m used to because I’m just starting out with SF and this is kind of a nice, gentle way to dip my toes into the water.

It’s fast and thrilling without a boring moment in the whole novel. The Mule is a very intriguing character and I wish Asimov made more of a point of his characterization. 
His interesting ideas and the plot are amazing and they make the books worth reading.
But I do not love it; I find it to be rather superficial and almost light-hearted. Aside from that, there’s not much character development or world-building. His writing is full of clichés and bad dialogue.

It’s a relaxing read, and that’s about what I expect from this series by now.

3 STARS

Happy reading.
Helena

Time to relax.

Isaac Asimov: Forward the Foundation

Hi

Forward the Foundation is the second prelude in the Foundation Series.
This book explains a lot about the events in Foundation so I’m glad I didn’t wait too long to read it.
I got it from Bol.com and it has 435 pages.
This book is the last one Asimov ever wrote even though it fits into the series and not at the end.

Forward the Foundation is a very fast paced novel and I enjoyed it a lot.

It is a bit too convenient at times and it lacks depth and character development but it is a very entertaining and suspenseful read.
Some unexpected events occur and I must say I felt saddened by a few of these.
Asimov uses vivid language, humor, suspense and he weaves it all into this amazing series. It’s always clear and simple and never deep or introspective (it doesn’t need to be in my opinion).

All in all, I liked the novel as an easy and fun sci-fi read but nothing more.

Happy reading.
Helena

Homemade oatmeal raisin cookies and a book. 
Life can be good.

Isaac Asimov: Prelude to Foundation

Hi

Prelude to Foundation is the first prelude in the Foundation Series even though Isaac Asimov wrote it after Foundation.
I got this book from Bol and it has 493 pages.

 “It is 12,020 G.E. and Emperor Cleon I sits uneasily on the Imperial throne of Trantor. Here in the great multidomed capital of the Galactic Empire, forty billion people have created a civilization of unimaginable technological and cultural complexity. Yet Cleon knows there are those who'd see him fall, those whom he'd destroy if only he could read the future.
Hari Seldon has come to Trantor to deliver his paper on psychohistory, his remarkable theory of prediction. Little does the young Outworld mathematician know that he has already sealed his fate and the fate of humanity. For Hari possesses the prophetic power that makes him the most wanted man in the Empire... the man who holds the key to the future -- an apocalyptic power to be known forever after as the Foundation.”

                * SPOILERS *

I enjoyed this novel very much.

I loved the history in the novel. As it is set in our far, far future, we are the past of the novel. And it’s fun to read about Hari’s search for the foundation of The Empire.
I also liked the idea of the inevitable return of everything that already has happened before.
Decay is a slow process and it isn’t noticed as such until it has been going on for quite some time. There’s never a specific date it started.
The different societies are truly magnificent and imaginative. I always love that in SFF. I love the daily life, the details and the cultures.

The prose is easy to read and not really beautiful or of high quality. But it is thrilling and engaging so it definitely works.
The story is fast-paced, full of action and very exciting.
But the characters are rather shallow.

The amount of worlds is a bit over the top; 25 million worlds is mind-boggling and hard to grasp for the reader. Also, for being so far in the future, not much has changed.

The twist at the end was partly expected and partly a real twist so I liked that too. And it was a great idea to have a robot live through all the millennia. The decay of The Empire becomes very realistic that way because if someone should know about it, it’s this robot. 

The Aurora and Earth side story is amazing and very interesting. I liked this a lot because it makes it real, it makes it a possibility for us. It’s intriguing too because there are no records of this part of their history. That certainly must have a dark reason.

I enjoyed it a lot and I would definitely recommend this to you.

Happy reading!
Helena

A bit of reading in between cleaning the new house and packing everything we own.

Isaac Asimov: Foundation

Hi

This is my review of Isaac Asimov’s Foundation. This book is made up as a cycle of five interrelated short stories. And these are part of the series called the Foundation Series.
my book has 296 pages and I got it from The Book Depository.

“For twelve thousand years the Galactic Empire has ruled supreme. Now it is dying. But only Hari Seldon, creator of the revolutionary science of psychohistory, can see into the future -- to a dark age of ignorance, barbarism, and warfare that will last thirty thousand years. To preserve knowledge and save mankind, Seldon gathers the best minds in the Empire -- both scientists and scholars -- and brings them to a bleak planet at the edge of the Galaxy to serve as a beacon of hope for a future generations. He calls his sanctuary the Foundation.

But soon the fledgling Foundation finds itself at the mercy of corrupt warlords rising in the wake of the receding Empire. Mankind's last best hope is faced with an agonizing choice: submit to the barbarians and be overrun -- or fight them and be destroyed.”

I think I would have enjoyed this more if I had read the two novels before this one. Some readers and critics see Foundation as the first novel in the series; others think this is the third novel.

So I’ll order Prelude to Foundation and Forward the Foundation and see how I’ll like it then before going on with it.

This is a very enjoyable, easy and entertaining read.
It seems full of action and adventure, but it all happens out of view and that makes it rather boring at times. But not overly dull because it stays entertaining throughout.
It’s very well written with understandable prose and an easy to follow structure.
Very political in its setup but those are some of the more interesting parts.

"Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent." This can be seen as the major theme throughout every story. And by means of manipulation and lies each protagonist succeeds in getting what he (always a man) wants.

The characters aren’t that well drawn out. I would have loved to get to know them better. But that’s partly due to the original setup of the separate short stories I think.
A writer has to show the story instead of telling it. In this case, Asimov relies too much on dialogue and instead of showing us what happens he glosses over it.
And the whole world is too much ‘today’ even though it is set in the far future. It’s in space, but other than that there aren’t that many differences between our world, here and now and these future worlds. And I find that a bit hard to believe.

In my opinion this is a very enjoyable read, but it does have its flaws.
I definitely feel like I would need to reread this after the two preludes if I want to continue the series.

Happy reading.

Helena

Time to enjoy these two!