Book: Foundation Review - part 1

I have started reading the Foundation series by Isaac Asimov. I am currently half way into the fifth book of the series “Second Foundation”. I feel like it is a good point to pause and reflect on the series so far.

The books have been very interesting to read, and I have consumed the first four in two weeks.

Of course, the story is exceptional. Everything feels real, organic and logical. The descriptions of characters and places are most usually short, and thus more space is left for them to expand and develop through actions and scenes.

I could not stop finding stuff that have been probably inspired and produced via these stories, like Warhammer40K & Star Wars. But, the Foundation series has kept the atmosphere it creates for itself.

The atmosphere of the million-world Galactic Empire, where each world or group of worlds plays a role, where communication between the worlds is possible, and so is transportation. Still, some worlds are more disconnected than others, some are too far away, too small, too insignificant to play a big part. And there are also the other type of worlds- the big ones, the populated ones, the rich ones, etc. Everything seems like how it should be.

I feel like Isaac Asimov had a good vision of what he wanted to create, and made a lot of predictions/scientific dreams to create this universe of his, but he has also put into this universe tons of ideas from our era. Sometimes those ideas feel a bit out of place, but the story goes on including them, so it balances out.

I like the mysticism of the first book. I could foresee the one/two plot twists that came at the end, but still it was exciting to read every page of it. The descriptions of Trantor and its areas, the different societies, the characters are all great and draw you in and in. I like the whole idea that none even believes anymore that humans originated from one planet, or that robots existed. It feels a bit out of touch to assume that scientists have stopped working on AI, but I accepted it.

Seldon’s years of creating Psychohistory lack against the other 3 books that I have read so far. The ten year gaps disappointed me, and my imagination was not serviced.

However, the stories after the fall of the Galactic Empire have been amazing! The setup of the Foundation and the “Seldon Crisis” - that was imaginative and fun to read. The Traders, the kingdoms, the atomic devices and microdevices, all are nice additions to the universe, and they progress the story in their own way.

And may I say here that currently I have paused reading after the Mule’s final(?) chapter. The whole part of the mutant/evolved humans peaked my interest from when it appeared in the books. I did not know the Foundation series had that kind of stuff in it! I speed read the books after that first hint, just to get to the Second Foundation’s story. And so far it, too, has been great!

I have not been very descriptive of the books, but I definitely recommend them - so far - to Science Fiction fans. I still have two and a half books to read, though! Back to it!