The second book in Asimov's classic SF series. Foundation, having conquered its closest neighbors, now comes face-to-face with the remnants of the dying Galactic Empire, still powerful enough to cause trouble. In the second half, an unpredictable element, the Mule, is introduced.

This part of the series is already a lot worse than the first one. Asimov has gone into his typical 2-4-people-on-the-run plots, and this time they don't work even to the extent that they normally do, since there is nothing from the chasers' point of view. The writing style and characterization are Asimov's usual low quality, maybe even below his normal level.

Psychohistory becomes more of a joke here. The resolution of the first part, the battle against the Empire, is really weak, storytelling-wise. And the second part, of course, is Asimov's normal poking a hole in his grand idea, but the Mule is really ridiculously powerful.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Passed on to be mailed to MiuM.

Thank you for the book. I have read some Asimov's short stories, and also "The End of Eternity", but I haven't read the Foundation novels.

I read the first of these Foundation books some years ago. I was somewhat disappointed then, as I found the story had not aged that well. In my 21st century point of view it was a bit dull, naive and characters were flat. Still, I like the idea behind the story.

Anyway, I need to face the facts. The first book did not tempt me to read the rest of the trilogy and if I didin't read it in all these years I probably won't read it at all. The first scifi story that I have not finished. I let it go.

The book was released at a local bc meet-up and was taken by Solaria.

I took the book and I will release it at Finncon in July.

The book will be released onto the BC table in Finncon at the university of Turku. Happy reading!

2018.finncon.org