Second Foundation (Isaac Asimov)
I am currently re-reading the Foundation series. The notes on the other books are found below, the links will be updated as I go through the books:
- Prelude to Foundation
- Forward the Foundation
- Foundation ← START HERE
- Foundation and Empire
- Second Foundation
- Foundation’s edge
- Foundation and Earth
Second foundation. The last of the Foundation trilogy.
In a way, it’s taking the best elements of the first Foundation book while also addressing some of the main points I didn’t like in the second one.
So, a good story in space with a background of manipulation, check. A single story arc in the book, check. Paper-thin haracters (especiallty women), sadly, still check.
Twenty years later, I still remembered the final revelation which is actually only a minor plot element. The way the different characters interact, both with themselves but also with the Second Foundation, just sensing the void and trying to determine its shape and presence without touching it in fear it might badly react.
Once again, as much as I enjoyed reading it, the book barely stuck with me beyond the few elements I shared above.
One finalt thing: I didn’t remember that the final chapter was closing the story so much. Some authors prefer to keep the ending open, in case they choose to come back to it later. But I get the feeling that the final chapter of Second Foundation was meant to be the final of the complete series.
Which is both true and false in a way as Asimov only came back to the Foundation 30 years later (with both prequel and sequel books). But it is still known today as the Foundation Trilogy