A review by rhganci
Second Foundation by Isaac Asimov

3.0

Dang—he got me again. Not so much that the Second Foundation was on Trantor (I figured it was close), but that Preen Palver was the First Speaker. And once again, my first reaction was “I gotta read these books again and catch all this hidden junk.” Because the realization, though less intense, was similar in its execution to the revelation of the Mule. The resolution of the plot was rather flat and uninteresting, but the idea behind it was cool—I guess it was just a conflict of execution vs. exhibit. I really liked the idea of the Second Foundation doing what it had to do to get the Seldon Plan back on line, because of the problems that the Mule caused, but the space battles passed quickly and there were no characters, aside from Arkady and Preem that really captured me this time. Callia was okay, and the Admiral was maybe a little more than a filler, but the cast really paled in comparison to the Mule, Bayta and Torin. Are we to assume that the Foundation goes on its merry way through the next six hundred years and become the Second Empire without a hitch? Maybe—there are four more books, after all. But I find Asimov’s style a little tiresome, almost that he doesn’t trust the plot to make its own assertions. He overexplains things, and I find his world a bit hard to immerse myself in. But the idea behind the story is great, and I’m sure that at some point in the future—even if it is the distant future, after rereading Foundation—I’ll take a look at his other offerings. I feel a sense of accomplishment, having read the holy grail of science fiction trilogies, and even though it didn’t live up to the hype, I’m glad to have read it. I see it in every book I read.