Foundation and Earth
£2.95
Really not worth it, even if you have read the others... - ... but its probably too late to stop you now if you need the closure. I think you will find that the story is hinging upon your ability to second guess the ending, which the book diligently plods along towards. Altogether like a Sunday morning hangover more than a drunken saturday night. Better to stick to the original trilogy, and if you have finished that, go look at Arthur C Clarke or Frank Herbert.
A (very flawed) masterpece - Asimov obviously intended to write a second trilogy in the Foundation series, and the end of this book contains the best passages, where the story so far is atmospherically summed up, and we look ahead to possible dark developments due to the new character who has been introduced. So that part of the book is fine. The rest, I m afraid, is pretty poor. Firstly, there seems no reason for the constant and irritating sniping between Bliss and Trevize, and secondly, the plot is self-indulgently languid, peppered with allusions that Asimov fans will pick up, but still nothing more than an over-long travelogue. Asimov, rather uncharacteristically, shoves some sex in, but even that seems to sit uneasily in the mix. I do re-read parts of this book, but I will never read it all the way through again.
Foundation and Earth - Written after the original trilogy and foundation s edge but before prelude and forward the foundation this novel gives us the conclusion to the foundation series. In foundation s edge the ever mystic foundation and second foundation were reduced to triviality by newcomers on the planet Gaia who have had a superior grip on things all along. For me this somewhat spoils the mystique of the first three books, however in foundation and earth this storyline is used quite effectively to strengthen the link with the robot series as the search for earth continues. Readers of the original series may be disappointed in the lack of twist and turns in the plot as this book only really concerns itself with one storyline which plods rather lethargically to its conclusion. You almost get the feeling someone is behind asimov with a cattle prod trying to get as many words out him as possible for what is essentially a short story forced out into a novel. Nevertheless it is asimov and as such there is no predictability and while no two characters are really that different from one another there s a great intellectual weight behind the dialogue and narrative.
Great Ideas But Too Much Filler - Asimov s Mysteries was the first book I read, over 30 years ago now. I grew up on Asimov and he will always be my favourite SF author. That being said, when I first bought Foundation And Earth, I was very disappointed. This week, I re-read it to see if my opinion had changed in a decade.The thing is, there are some great ideas here and some Asimov magic up there with anything in the original Foundation trilogy. The encounters with the feral dogs and with Bander are classic Asimov - tightly written and flowing.On the other hand, there are pages of repetitious argument between Trevize, Pelorat and Bliss, none of which advances the narrative. Nor does it bring any new insights to Gaia / Isolates. It truly feels like Asimov is padding out the book. It s certainly not as gripping as Foundation s Edge. BUT if you re an Asimov fan as I am, this book is an essential read. And when the trio meet the final new character it did bring a lump to my throat. The way Asimov weaves together his stories into the one timeline is a joy.
If You Like Foundation... - I love stories of vogages amongst the stars, and I ve loved the Foundation Trilogy since 1976. Had this not been a Foundation novel I doubt that I could have kept up my interest. I found the relationship between the lead characters to be unbelievable and the pages are peppered with some truly awful dialog.Did they find Earth? I didn t care by the end. The only Foundation book (I ve read them all, including Benford and Bear) which I never went back to.