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3.94 AVERAGE
3.94 AVERAGE
adventurous
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Somewhat enjoyable, not what was expected, but also kinda fucked up and paints Seldon very badly! (Also some concerns about how the author is about women ๐)
I have mixed feelings on this book.
On one hand it felt like one complete novel and wasn't broken up into parts which usually break the flow, like his earlier Foundation novels did.
On the other hand, despite it being complete like that, it also felt somewhat directionless.
Part of me is really enjoying how Asimov is fusing and bridging the gap between the history of his Robots series and Foundation, but part of me is also worriedbecause it feels like Asimov has turned Daneel into some god-like being and is bordering on a Deus Ex Machina situation.
It feels likeDaneel has his hands in everyone's cookie jar. He knows everyone, he manipulates everyone, he keeps swooping in at the last minute to save the day. He has god-like mental abilities compounded with over 20,000 years of experience of human behaviors and time to hone his mentalic abilities, that humans are indeed like puppets to him. He really is a god among men, and he repeatedly in this book (and from what we know from his other three series) has his hands in everyone's cookie jars and maneuvering people and situations to make the least harm to humanity possible.
This sort of shit takes away a lot of character's agency and I really don't like it.
While I really really loved seeing Daneel again, I figured out around the 60% mark that Hummin was actually Demerzal, but I didn't guess he was also Daneel Olivaw until Seldon and Dors said they believed Hummin was responsible for what happened in Wye, then I put two and two together and suspected mentalic influences in play and then I thought of all the connections Hummin had, how persuasive he was to everyone and how Seldon trusted him so easily straight from the beginning. And then I remembered from Foundation and Earth that it was said Daneel helped in the creation of Psychohistory.
So, that aside, I actually really enjoyed the book.
It felt very reminiscent of Foundation's Edge and Foundation and Earth, it was very much an adventure of exploration, Seldon and Dors were exploring all the different Trantorian cultures, the colloquialisms, the offshoots of humanity and even exploring their own selves, all in the name of discovering Psychohistory. While Foundation's Edge and Foundation and Earth explored the galaxy and earth's past, this book explored the world of Trantor, it's decay, and humans themself. This explored the cultures within, and the previous two books explored the cultures outward of Trantor.
While there was a lot of plot contrivances, deus-ex-machina-like moments and a somewhat non existent plot that was filled with repeated moments (such as Seldon appearing to be dumb as fuck and complaining that Psychohistory is not practical blah blah blah), it was still well crafted and enjoyable and it was a good experience. Also, again, the fucking names are SO BAD and cringe ๐คฎ๐
HOWEVER!....however.....this book portrayed Hari Seldon very VERY badly. How is it even one bit believable that Seldon come up with Psychohistory when the man doesn't even know anything about history? How did he even come across it? What was he originally working on? Did he one day say "I wonder if you can mathematically predict human civilisation with maths? ๐ค", if that was the case, anyone with a brain cell would presume to study history, the fact he didn't, tells me he came across this by accident, but then...HOW? These are the sort of things I expected the book to AT LEAST touch on, I wanted to see how one man became the legend, became someone practically worshipped by people for centuries and centuries and how he became the legendary Hari Seldon. Instead, this story ended up recycling a lot of the plots Asimov has done before where he has a man of importance on the run while trying to figure something out and each location adds to his understanding and he figures it out in the end.
And, yes, you guess it, ANOTHER FORCED ROMANCE WITH TWO PEOPLE FROM COMPLETELY DIFFERENT WORLDS! I will say at least this romance was a more realistic length of time, compared to the usual 2 chapter length romance, ending in "I Love You".And that ending? Dors is a robot? What? I mean yeah once it was revealed and I thought back it made more sense, but again it just felt like another recycled plot, except it was recycled FROM THE SAME BOOK, we literally just went from "Surpise I'm Daneel and a robot" to "btw Hari I'm also a robot".
Also jesus christ, what the fuck? Hari figured out Dors was a robot and then asked about whether she kissed guys or had sex before, it was revealed she only did it because she could not hurt the humans and so let it happen (which is fucked up) but then she reveals she's never felt love and Seldon said he didn't care, he still wanted her. He even implied it would make him feel really good if she asked him to kiss her, like as if she actually wanted him and felt for him, and he also reinforced her having to ease him by literally saying he wouldn't work on Psychohistory unless she was with him. She LITERALLY had no choice but to kiss him and presumably have sex with him later and marry him, if she doesn't be his woman, he won't work on Psychohistory and therefore humanity will be harmed and the zeroth law will be broken.
Whether he knew it or not, he manipulated Dors into being with him, and it's disgusting and really makes me feel sick, which is NOT what I wanted to feel about the legendary Hari Seldon.
What the fuck was Asimov thinking?
And, a side note about the author and his portrayal of women:
I am quite troubled by Asimov himself, this ending, withDors being a robot and Hari doing what he did .
If we look back on all his other books; Robots, Galactic Empire and Foundation, almost in all of those books when there is a romance centred around a main character, the woman is almost always treated as a tool and only there to be the romance or to be used to enact sexual things or romantic fantasies. I think the only time Asimov portrayed a woman well and love in itself well, was in the second book (or was it the third? ๐ค) with the couple that had Magnifico with themand the wife figured out he was the Mule in the end. She was an intelligent, empathetic, complex character and her romantic connection to her husband was present and felt real but wasn't the sole focus of her character and actually took a backseat and she had an actual role in the story and was in fact the most important character.
That one example aside, I think Asimov himself might have some serious issues with women, or at least how he writes them, but it is somewhat concerning.
I have mixed feelings on this book.
On one hand it felt like one complete novel and wasn't broken up into parts which usually break the flow, like his earlier Foundation novels did.
On the other hand, despite it being complete like that, it also felt somewhat directionless.
Part of me is really enjoying how Asimov is fusing and bridging the gap between the history of his Robots series and Foundation, but part of me is also worried
It feels like
This sort of shit takes away a lot of character's agency and I really don't like it.
So, that aside, I actually really enjoyed the book.
It felt very reminiscent of Foundation's Edge and Foundation and Earth, it was very much an adventure of exploration, Seldon and Dors were exploring all the different Trantorian cultures, the colloquialisms, the offshoots of humanity and even exploring their own selves, all in the name of discovering Psychohistory. While Foundation's Edge and Foundation and Earth explored the galaxy and earth's past, this book explored the world of Trantor, it's decay, and humans themself. This explored the cultures within, and the previous two books explored the cultures outward of Trantor.
While there was a lot of plot contrivances, deus-ex-machina-like moments and a somewhat non existent plot that was filled with repeated moments (such as Seldon appearing to be dumb as fuck and complaining that Psychohistory is not practical blah blah blah), it was still well crafted and enjoyable and it was a good experience. Also, again, the fucking names are SO BAD and cringe ๐คฎ๐
HOWEVER!....however.....this book portrayed Hari Seldon very VERY badly. How is it even one bit believable that Seldon come up with Psychohistory when the man doesn't even know anything about history? How did he even come across it? What was he originally working on? Did he one day say "I wonder if you can mathematically predict human civilisation with maths? ๐ค", if that was the case, anyone with a brain cell would presume to study history, the fact he didn't, tells me he came across this by accident, but then...HOW? These are the sort of things I expected the book to AT LEAST touch on, I wanted to see how one man became the legend, became someone practically worshipped by people for centuries and centuries and how he became the legendary Hari Seldon. Instead, this story ended up recycling a lot of the plots Asimov has done before where he has a man of importance on the run while trying to figure something out and each location adds to his understanding and he figures it out in the end.
And, yes, you guess it, ANOTHER FORCED ROMANCE WITH TWO PEOPLE FROM COMPLETELY DIFFERENT WORLDS! I will say at least this romance was a more realistic length of time, compared to the usual 2 chapter length romance, ending in "I Love You".
Whether he knew it or not, he manipulated Dors into being with him, and it's disgusting and really makes me feel sick, which is NOT what I wanted to feel about the legendary Hari Seldon.
What the fuck was Asimov thinking?
And, a side note about the author and his portrayal of women:
I am quite troubled by Asimov himself, this ending, with
If we look back on all his other books; Robots, Galactic Empire and Foundation, almost in all of those books when there is a romance centred around a main character, the woman is almost always treated as a tool and only there to be the romance or to be used to enact sexual things or romantic fantasies. I think the only time Asimov portrayed a woman well and love in itself well, was in the second book (or was it the third? ๐ค) with the couple that had Magnifico with them
That one example aside, I think Asimov himself might have some serious issues with women, or at least how he writes them, but it is somewhat concerning.
It was like reading a book from his Robots series, but set in the Foundation universe. Lots of traveling between places and solving mysterious. A fun read but a fair bit slower, for the first half. Love that Daneel shows up. I missed him, and to see him having survived 20,000 years is wonderful.
Nadie como el seรฑor Asimov para hacer plot-twists.
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This really doesn't work as a "prequel" in that it's much better read after the main trilogy, if you've enjoyed it and want to know more. I like the focus on setting over plot, which IMO always suited Asimov's writing better
adventurous
challenging
informative
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
The story and themes were good, but there was more fat than on the earlier Foundation stories. It drags on a bit with Seldon being intentionally daft for plot purposes to try and stretch out suspense.
funny
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated