FOUNDATION AND EMPIRE
The second novel in Isaac Asimov's classic science-fiction masterpiece, the Foundation series
THE EPIC SAGA THAT INSPIRED THE APPLE TV+ SERIES FOUNDATION
Led by its founding father, the psychohistorian Hari Seldon, and utilizing science and technology, the Foundation survived the greed and barbarism of its neighboring warrior-planets. Now cleverness and courage may not be enough. For the Empire--the mightiest force in the Galaxy--is even more dangerous in its death throes. Even worse, a mysterious entity called the Mule has appeared with powers beyond anything humanly conceivable. Who--or what--is the Mule? And how is humanity to defend itself against this invulnerable avatar of annihilation? Filled with nail-biting suspense, nonstop action, and cutting-edge speculation, Foundation and Empire is the story of humanity's perpetual struggle against the darkness that forever threatens to overwhelm the light--and of how the courage of even a determined few can make all the difference in the universe.
THE EPIC SAGA THAT INSPIRED THE APPLE TV+ SERIES FOUNDATION
Led by its founding father, the psychohistorian Hari Seldon, and utilizing science and technology, the Foundation survived the greed and barbarism of its neighboring warrior-planets. Now cleverness and courage may not be enough. For the Empire--the mightiest force in the Galaxy--is even more dangerous in its death throes. Even worse, a mysterious entity called the Mule has appeared with powers beyond anything humanly conceivable. Who--or what--is the Mule? And how is humanity to defend itself against this invulnerable avatar of annihilation? Filled with nail-biting suspense, nonstop action, and cutting-edge speculation, Foundation and Empire is the story of humanity's perpetual struggle against the darkness that forever threatens to overwhelm the light--and of how the courage of even a determined few can make all the difference in the universe.
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Community Reviews
3.5/5 . While not as good as the first book it still was very solid. The biggest major change for me was that we only follow two times of the of the thousand year war instead of the multiple time skips in the first that made the growth of the foundation more interesting in my eyes. I did enjoy the first part of this book with the foundation clashes with the empire and showing how the empire could have never succeed and why it failed in the first place. In addition the eventual corruption of the foundation from greedy people was a good look at the things changed for the foundation over the years.. However the second part of the book was not as good and went on for too long. There was an obvious twist with the Mule that didn't feel like a good payoff. For me I needed more depth of characters if we were going to spend so much page time with them. In the first book I excused weak character since we were examine the changes in society over and we spent less time with the main protagonist of each section.
I will read the third book and see If it reverts back tot he original format which I hope it does.
I will read the third book and see If it reverts back tot he original format which I hope it does.
Rare is the sequel worthy of its predecessor, yet Asimov more than clears that bar here. While it follows a similar structure to Foundation, the second book in the trilogy is flips some key motifs on their head, like turning the Foundation from the scrappy underdog to the bloated, corrupt, and stagnant regime it once escaped from.
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