I liked Trevize in Foundation's Edge and we see more to his character here, which is great. We also see more of that fun planet Gaia. I found the arguments between Bliss and Trevize particularly amusing and what was interesting was that Trevize won just about all of them. Give me the Seldon Plan anyday.

The search for Earth took up some much of the book, but when we finally get there it's almost anti-climatic (though any readers of Robots and Empire will know what they find long before the characters do). Fortunately Asimov doesn't allow us to dwell on that by springing the top surprise of the novel on us (which I won't say because I don't want to tip any readers off beforehand).

In the process he clarifies and adds to his histories and weaves the Robot, Empire, and Foundation sagas even closer together. What more can one ask in a novel, especially from Asimov?

Oh, and I heard about the error, but I didn't see anything that seemed wrong. If anybody knows what it is, the curiousity is killing me and I don't have the patience (or the time) to reread the book more carefully. E-mail if you know!


One of the foundations of the Foundation Series   January 13, 2002
 17 out of 17 found this review helpful

This is the last book (chronologically) in the Foundation Series, and with Prelude to Foundation, the earliest, the Foundation Series has two excellent bookends, or, perhaps, "foundations", to keep it in place.

F&E is a continuation of Foundation's Edge, and is the story of Trevize, Pelorat and Bliss/Gaia's quest to find Earth, in an attempt to determine why Trevize's choice for the future of mankind is the right one.

The book deviates substantially from the rest of the series, but generally in a positive way. Whereas Asimov has a habit of making his primary characters out of cardboard, presumably to avoid the people getting in the way of the ideas he wants to express, F&E fleshes out the characters with a certain amount of personality. Whereas the rest of the Foundation Series tends to concentrate on worlds which, after a while, all appear similar, the worlds of F&E are different, frightening, and yet serve Asimov's agendas well. F&E also ties together the Robot series universe with that of the Foundation series far more substantially than the other books in the Foundation Series attempted to, portraying the futures of the Spacer worlds that Robot fans will be familiar with.

I'm guessing that the differences are ultimately why this has gotten a lower average review than the others in the series - it's not classic Foundation Series material, and any one expecting a collecton of stories involving a renegade Foundation leader visiting various rebelling worlds and outwitting the dimwitted monarchs that rule over them with some sort of smartarsed politics is going to be sorely disappointed. Hari Seldon makes no appearance. I don't recall even seeing the term "Seldon Crisis" in this book.

If you genuinely want more of the same, you'll probably be disappointed by this book. If you've never read any of the series before, it's probably best to start at the beginning with the equally excellent Prelude to Foundation (or even the Robot series.) But if you're excited by Asimov's ability to paint new worlds, to visualise the future directions for humanity, you cannot afford to miss this. Foundation and Earth is the best yet.


The series comes full-circle   April 27, 2002
 16 out of 17 found this review helpful

As the last chronological addition to the Foundation series before he died, Isaac Asimov gave SF readers a gem. The story begins immediately after the ending of Foundation's Edge, when Golan Trevize decided the fate of humanity that all should eventually form a single superorganism called Galaxia, enlarging the present superorganism called Gaia. The main characters are Trevize; Bliss, a part of Gaia; and Pelorat, a scholar. The drive of the story is a continuation of the previous book, in that Trevize seeks Earth, mainly to determine why all records of it have been expunged. Additionally, Trevize is allowing his previous decision to hinge upon the end result of their odyssey across the Milky Way - if he wants, he can reverse his choice and Galaxia will NOT go forward, and humans will remain the independent interactors we are today.

There are few clues remaining to direct them, and they first visit a planet the readers saw in Robots and Empire, though it was under a different name. The path of the three is constantly accompanied by debates between Trevize and Bliss about the nature of life and whether a superorganism is the best option. Based on the obstacles and encounters they meet, the end decision is relatively predictable.

In this novel, we see two of the spacer worlds, one which was the first, Aurora, and one which was the last, Soloria. First stop among the spacer worlds is Aurora, which gives a grim picture of what happens to a terraformed planet once the humans have gone extinct. Their trip to Solaria solves a riddle from R&E as to what happened to the Solarians. Again, not the most pleasant evolution of an advanced society. The implications of this visit really affect Trevize's decision. Their next stop is a nearly completely dead world, but one that gives them a clue to Earth.

After a brief stop at Alpha Centauri, they finally locate the home system of humanity, but Earth is as readers of the series would expect from R&E and from the Empire series: Earth is a completely uninhabitable radioactive wasteland. The actual endpoint of their voyage is a nice surprise, in my opinion, but not nearly so much as who we meet at the end, a dear old friend. This meeting wraps up many issues, and Trevize makes his final decision regarding the fate of mankind.

This book is excellent, though not quite a "Foundation" book in my opinion, as we never really deal with that government, save in very tertiary ways. Like most of Asimov's novels, the story is the main thing, but there is some good character development. And if you couldn't guess from the rest of this review, it was really nice to re-visit so many once-familiar places and to meet some old friends. I hope you enjoy it, too.


The Best Beginning and Ending for Asimov's Foundation   December 4, 1999
 11 out of 18 found this review helpful

This is one of Asimov's best works. If I had not read this one, I probably would have never read anymore of his books. After reading Foundation and Earth I went back and read everything I could of his foundation and robot series. The ending was not quite finished, but I believe he attended to finish it with another book. If you really want to start reading Asimov, you should try this one first, you will love it. If you cannot find it try "The Caves of Steel". You will want to read more of Asimov's science fiction.