Foundation And Empire

January 29, 2009

Isaac Asimov - Foundation And Empire

Foundation And Empire picks up from the story told in the first Foundation, with the Foundation kicking galaxy periphery ass, and the remains of the old Empire crumbling slowly. This book happens in two distinct parts.

The first half of the book is a narrative about the war between the old Empire and the Foundation. It flows the same sort of way the first book does, though the narrative is more detailed, taking in roughly half the book rather than the 25 to 30 pages that Foundation used in each of its stories. It may not surprise you to find out that due to the inevitable course of psycho-history as predicted by the great Hari Seldon, the Foundation won the war. I guess the slight twist was that this victory was despite the utter failures of the two protagonists, which was rather amusing.

At this point, I was a little wary of starting the second half of the book. The premise of reading more stories where anything a character does has no effect on the eventual outcome was starting to wear a little thin.

The second part of the book takes an about-face with a new mysterious individual that is not accounted for in the Seldon plan: The Mule. It follows a newly married couple, Bayta and Torin, as they harbor The Mule’s runaway clown through the realm of the Foundation. Bayta and Torin witness all of the catastrophes of the war, including the fall of the Foundation’s home planet, the fall of Torin’s home planet, and the eventual spread of The Mule’s influence all the way to the center of the galaxy, Trantor. Bayta and Torin realize that in order to save the galaxy, they must contact the only group they think capable of stopping The Mule: The Second Foundation.

This second tale is a lot more riveting than the first. For the first time you see people reacting out of emotional motivations rather than blind ambition, and it is a nice change. I saw the big reveal at the end of the book coming from a long way off, but it was satisfying when it came. My favorite character, Bayta, was multi-dimensional and a strong woman.

Overall, I would absolutely recommend this book to others. I am looking forward to the next book, Second Foundation

Shannon Patterson, filed under Reviews | No Comments