Foundation and Empire

The book started off a bit slow but the ending was amazing! I also understand what others meant when they said they could see the grander history of the Foundation play out in the background of the shorter stories; this was something I didn't really see in the first book, but the longer stories worked well for me here.

La segunda entrega tiene cosas que me han gustado más y que echaba en falta en la primera. Tiene una cierta continuidad en el tiempo, a diferencia de ‘Fundación' donde los saltos temporales eran algo habitual y obligaban a volver a familiarizarse con personajes y lugares nuevos cada cierto tiempo. Aquí los principales son siempre los mismos con lo cual, aunque cambie el contexto y aparezcan personajes nuevos momentáneamente, vuelves a ellos. Hay unos auténticos protagonistas. En este sentido, me ha gustado más, ya que se siente como una novela completa en vez de un conjunto de historias cortas (aunque para ser justos, tengo entendido que así fue pensada Fundación). He de reconocer que si bien el misterio acerca de la identidad de El Mulo era algo predecible, la forma en que se revela me ha sorprendido ligeramente. Es decir, la aparición de cierto personaje por primera vez, me permitió lanzar mi apuesta rápidamente. Sin embargo, con la sucesión de los eventos, iba descartando esa idea por momentos. Incluso cerca del final, llegué a descartarla del todo. Pero los dos últimos capítulos me agradaron realmente por la forma en que todo sale a la luz. Algo que sigue sin gustarme es la baja presencia de personajes femeninos, y que siendo Bayta casi la única de relevancia, esta caiga en el tópico de mujer cándida, cuidadora y totalmente dependiente de su esposo. Solo en algunos momentos se vislumbra algo de carácter genuino y autonomía. Como con el anterior libro, se nota que es una historia de su época en este sentido.

Si a Fundación le di 3 estrellas sobre 5, a este le daria 3,5. Pero Goodreads no permite dar pedias puntuaciones, así que se queda en 3.

This is the second book in the Foundation series and like the first book, the beginning is dry. After The Mule story line starts the book becomes very enjoyable. I'm all already to start the next book, [b:Second Foundation 29580 Second Foundation (Foundation, #3) Isaac Asimov http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1168033540s/29580.jpg 64823]. Although this book was published in 1952 original, the Foundation series continues to be one of the greatest science fiction series of all time.

It's weird. I think this is a “better” novel than the first, though it is not as “interesting” or impactful as the original Foundation novel, hence the lower rating. I appreciate how Asimov, in this book breaks the formula of his previous book a bit. It doesn't cover as much time, it's not as many small stories, but a few larger chunks of narrative. So rather than feeling like a short story collection, it feels more like a proper novel.

In this book, we continue the history of the Foundation–the eponymous organization created in the first book as a haven for human knowledge in anticipation of the Galactic Empire's imminent collapse.

The first book saw the Foundation come out victorious over several enemies due to the careful planning of the mathematician-prophet Hari Seldon, who anticipated a series of what became known as “Seldon Crises” based on the natural profession of nations. In this book–again, following historical precedence–we see what happens after the Foundation becomes the de facto Empire, having conquered those competing interests in volume 1 to find themselves now looking very much like Empire they hated.

We see another few Seldon Crises and how the Foundation and its leader navigate them according to Seldon Providence. How these stories play out are always fun and fascinating with interesting twists and reveals along the way.

But the real meat of the book follows the introduction of a person who could not have been factored into Seldon's original formulae that anticipated humanity's history. And so, “the plan” get thrown off course. Or does it? Previous entries maintained a sense that all that was happening was according to the “plan”. But not here. For the first time in the series, our humans encounter real and genuine uncertainty, and a fascinating exploration of free will and providence.

These are heady ideas, told in beautiful prose, even if a little opaque sometimes. I do feel like–to a greater degree than in the first book–each story takes quite a while before you get your bearings. I can appreciate Asimov's “show, don't tell” commitment and dropping us in res media, but he really just starts each story off without us having much of a clue of the who/what/when of the story and trusting us to figure it out.

Again, I respect it. And I admittedly could have been a slower, more attentive reader to have a better sense. But still, as an experience, I regularly lost track of names, events, and plot lines and just barrelled on through trusting I'd get back on track eventually. And I did. But it could be a frustrating process.

Asimov's “Foundation and Empire” is a worthy follow-up to the original. It changes and switches the formula enough that it is fresh, and it slows down the pace so we can sit with some characters for quite a bit of time, and even has more action. I look forward to the installments to come.

It's really rare that I like a second book more than the first, but I found Foundation and Empire much more gripping than Foundation itself. Probably, it has to do with the fact that I get two longer stories instead of 5 short ones. I had more more time to attach myself to characters. I loved Riose as a villain in the first chapter and Bayta as a hero in the second. Part of what kept me from adoring the first book was a lack of any real woman character. I understand that books are a piece of the time they are written in, and I wouldn't have held it against Asimov for not including any, but the presence of Bayta really shows how well he mapped out the evolution of human society. The Mule is a powerful force too, and the ending is pushing me right into the third book.

A pretty solid follow-up to the first in the series. I thought the middle part of the book was a bit slow and unengaging and I found myself putting it down a lot because I just was not interested in what was going on. However, it built up to a much more interesting twist and I enjoyed the setup for future books.

I enjoyed this novel a lot more than Foundation, though I concede that it was necessary set-up. I will say, however, The General was kind of disappointing, and would have maybe done better as an inclusion in book one. The Mule was fantastic, however. The character work was his best, the concept of the Mule being the only disruption to the Foundation was very interesting, and the twist caught me completely off-guard and was well-earned.

So Asimov is supposed to be the best science fiction author out there. I have never read anything by him other than this and the previous book in the series. They are solid, but not especially noteworthy. I guess I like my sci fi focused more on something else. I will have to read the third in the series to be sure.