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A review by kynan
Foundation and Earth by Isaac Asimov
TL;DR: Well, the grand finale was on par with the rest of the series, in that it was quite the disappointment. It's a whistle-stop tour of Asimov's greatest hits, but done in such a way as to paint them in the worst possible light. There's no reason to read this standalone, and barely any reason to read it as part of the Foundation series.
TL: Our companions from Foundation's Edge are back for one last repetitive and drawn out expository dialogue. Trevise has found the (disappointing) ending of Foundation's Edge weighing heavily upon his conscience and elects to journey out into the universe on a mission to find Earth, which will help him justify (or rescind) his vote for Gaia...because.
Based on this compellingly sound logic, what follows is kind of a "Greatest Hits" tour of the Baley/Olivaw and old Empire series with our secondary protagonists, Bliss and Pelorat, taking turns verbally jousting about the perceived benefits of individuality vs collective Gaian community with Trevise. When they're not repeatedly having the same argument over and over again, they're visiting planets in order to assess the sexual beauty of the female inhabitants through a rather subjective lens. At one point whilst visiting a location where female nudity was par for the course, Gollan assesses a pair of breasts this:"though shapely, were small". However it's OK for Gollan to keep ogling her because "she did not seem unripe". Unripe! This sexual theme continues with sexual intercourse being the primary solution to whatever problems arise.
Actually, that's unfair, it's purely incidental sex in most cases, but damn, why is everyone on every planet carrying on about sex now? I think Asimov, like Heinlein got a little obsessive about this, especially as he got older and I feel like both Trevise and Pelorat are authorial stand-ins to demonstrate just how much sex he's getting despite his age (kind of like how Seldon appeared, in the prequel books, to be Asimov considering/railing against his mortality).
I think that there are general points that manage to get put across for consideration: skeptical science, anti-racism (not so much anti-sexism...), the potential clash of individual freedoms with slowly failing societies, even the concept of gender (and the trouble with pronouns) makes an appearance. But the whole thing is just so clunky that I wonder if it wasn't written purely to satisfy a contract and pander to the fans by "tying up" every loose-end and, in the process, completely undermining the entire premise of the series.
Eh, I would not recommend this to anyone.
TL: Our companions from Foundation's Edge are back for one last repetitive and drawn out expository dialogue. Trevise has found the (disappointing) ending of Foundation's Edge weighing heavily upon his conscience and elects to journey out into the universe on a mission to find Earth, which will help him justify (or rescind) his vote for Gaia...because.
Based on this compellingly sound logic, what follows is kind of a "Greatest Hits" tour of the Baley/Olivaw and old Empire series with our secondary protagonists, Bliss and Pelorat, taking turns verbally jousting about the perceived benefits of individuality vs collective Gaian community with Trevise. When they're not repeatedly having the same argument over and over again, they're visiting planets in order to assess the sexual beauty of the female inhabitants through a rather subjective lens. At one point whilst visiting a location where female nudity was par for the course, Gollan assesses a pair of breasts this:"though shapely, were small". However it's OK for Gollan to keep ogling her because "she did not seem unripe". Unripe! This sexual theme continues with sexual intercourse being the primary solution to whatever problems arise.
Actually, that's unfair, it's purely incidental sex in most cases, but damn, why is everyone on every planet carrying on about sex now? I think Asimov, like Heinlein got a little obsessive about this, especially as he got older and I feel like both Trevise and Pelorat are authorial stand-ins to demonstrate just how much sex he's getting despite his age (kind of like how Seldon appeared, in the prequel books, to be Asimov considering/railing against his mortality).
I think that there are general points that manage to get put across for consideration: skeptical science, anti-racism (not so much anti-sexism...), the potential clash of individual freedoms with slowly failing societies, even the concept of gender (and the trouble with pronouns) makes an appearance. But the whole thing is just so clunky that I wonder if it wasn't written purely to satisfy a contract and pander to the fans by "tying up" every loose-end and, in the process, completely undermining the entire premise of the series.
Eh, I would not recommend this to anyone.