Foundation and Earth
by Isaac Asimov
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Book Reviews of Foundation and Earth
Book Review: Dialog quality of Wheel of Time.
Summary: 1 Stars
This book reminded me a lot of my experience reading the Wheel of Time books. The dialog is so tedious and repetitive that I found myself hating the characters and skipping any dialog that was obviously going to be a repeat of past discussions in the book. Remember hair pulling and dress straightening in the Wheel of Time books? There are plenty of similar irritating repetitive discussions in this book.
The first 3 books of the series are fantastic. The 4th (Foundations Edge) is decent and worth reading. This book should be avoided at all costs. Don't read it. It diminishes the events in the previous books and just made me angry.
SPOILER ALERT:
The strangest thing is that the first books in the series were supposed to have been written from a successful 2nd empire after the 1000 years was over. I fail to understand how that could be the case if Gaia was really the endpoint.
For my own happiness I think I'll just pretend that the 2nd foundation was successful, Daneel's brain froze up well before he could succeed at his idiotic plan, all robots in the universe were destroyed by humans for being hopelessly stupid, and that Gaia ended up dying when its star suddenly went nova.
Gaia wouldn't notice it happening because its mode of life caused it to be too uninquisitive. With a whole planet working together you'd think they'd be at the forefront of scientific inquiry instead of being well behind the first foundation!
Book Review: Very good finale
Summary: 4 Stars
'Ol Isaac concludes the weaving together of his outstanding "Foundation" series with his Galactic Empire and Robot novels. Golan Trevize, continuing from FOUNDATION'S EDGE, undertakes a mission to finally discover the "mythical" planet Earth, and to learn its secret. Accompanying him are fellow Foundationer Janov Pelorat and Bliss of Gaia. If you're a fan of all the above-mentioned series, your suspense will be keen as Trevize and co. narrow down the search. What was Earth's ultimate fate? We know it became radioactive (seen in ROBOTS AND EMPIRE, and touched on in various Galactic Empire novels), but did it recover? Are people still living there?
Along the way, the trio discover several of the ancient "Spacer" worlds (the basis for many of the Robot novels), and on one of them, Solaria, they take with them a "girl" who has developed (like all the few remaining Solarians) remarkable powers. What may be a "let down" to many FOUNDATION fans is that Seldon's plan is clearly shown to be intertwined -- nay, guided -- by probably the most powerful robot of all, now an ancient, worn down figure. It's touched on that there will soon be a joining of robot and human, in the form of the little Solarian girl.
Trevize doesn't "resolve" the dispute of Galaxia vs. Individuality (continued from EDGE); however, the novel ends with him pondering what humans will ultimately become, with his gaze firmly on the little Solarian "girl."
Book Review: A 300 page story padded with 200 pages of filler
Summary: 2 Stars
A forward to this book written by Asimov himself makes reference to his publisher's wish that he write additional foundation novels, and implies that their incessant demands eventually overcame his own reluctance to do so. Almost as if he's saying to the reader, "Hey, don't blame me for this steaming pile. They made me do it."
If I had Asimov's resume, I'd be reluctant to put my name on this book as well.
As the title implies, Foundation and Earth is about the protagonists' continued search for the world of origin. Unfortunately, unlike Foundation's Edge, the journey itself is not long enough to fill the requisite 500 pages, so we're subjected to endless interludes of casual conversation between protagonists which are completely irrelevant to character or story progression. A simple question will launch a character into a tedious three-page monologue that reads more like an essay than dialogue.
As other reviewers have said, the primary purpose of these later books was to tie each of Asimov's sci-fi series together into one universe. This works alright for the robots, but does more harm than good to the legacy of The Foundation.
If you've read the original Foundation novels, It's likely that no negative review will dissuade you from reading this one. Therefore, I commiserate with you in advance.
Book Review: Good, not great, entry in Asimov's Foundation Series
Summary: 3 Stars
Isaac Asimov's FOUNDATION AND EARTH is the fifth or sixth book (depending on how you count) in the Foundation series.
The book itself is so-so. Not his best, but even at half-throttle he still runs circles around most other sci-fi scribblers. There's very little about the novel that would appeal to anyone not already a fan, but if you've spent any time in Dr. A's richly imagined galaxy, FOUNDATION AND EARTH does a nice job of bringing elements of both the Foundation and Robot novels to a satisfying resolution. With room for more sequels of course, that sadly The Grandmaster is no longer around to write... though I'm sure someone will (if they haven't already!).
The thing that impresses me most about Asimov (other than his incomprehensibly prolific output of some 300+ books) is how he crafted a massive, intricate, interconnected fictional universe. This is fairly common in the sci-fi/fantasy genre: Tolkein, Frank Herbert, Arthur Clarke, even George Lucas (heavily influenced by Asimov), to name a few. But I've found Asimov's work in particular to be filled with isolated little gems to marvel at even if you don't know the whole--an enormous tapestry that can be enjoyed as sweeping panorama or in focussed detail. As much, or as little, as you want is there for the taking.
Book Review: The other side of the coin
Summary: 4 Stars
This novel doesn't work very well as a standalone; you have to be familiar with the Trilogy, not only in terms of plot, but to get the proper emotional impact, because is the moodiest of all Asimov's novels.
Trevize is looking for Earth, so he is examining the oldest planets in the galaxy. Most of them have been positively presented in other novels; here we see them in decay, in different ways. Baleyworld/Comporellon was once mankind's newest world and a promise for the future; now it's the oldest inhabited world, lost in the past, and obsessed with wondering what went wrong. Aurora, a utopian world, has not only lost its human population but its ecology has gone feral. The Solarians have gone from being eccentric to basically turning inhuman, etc.
In Foundation you kept hearing about the decline of the Empire, but it was mostly a matter of plot. Here you FEEL the decline.
Things on shipboard aren't much better. Bliss and Trevize spend the first half of the novel arguing over ideology, and the last half arguing over Fallom; only their shared love and respect for Pelorat holds them together.
It's almost as if Asimov sensed death approaching and let the story reflect the loss of zest and life.