Take a photo of a barcode or cover
sambora 's review for:
Foundation Trilogy
by Isaac Asimov
This is a great edition of a superb collection of stories that have aged amazingly well.
Everyone knows Asimov, even if they haven't read his books themselves. Prior to reading this I knew of his influence. I knew of the connected universe themes of his stories (Foundation, Robot and Empire). I knew they were originally published, segmented, in magazine format back in the 40s and 50s.
What I DIDN'T know was how much I would enjoy them.
They really hold up.
That being said, I shan't lie; it is VERY clear they were published in pieces. Key bits of information are repeated in each section, albeit in different and interesting ways and by different characters and intermediatries, BUT when the stories are read as a whole piece it feels like Asimov thought any reader of his would be a simpleton. However, I DO understand that for people joining the magazine series late that these repetitions would be crucial, but as a review for this collection as a reader in 2019, I wanted to make it clear that it is indeed present. Not jarring, but it's there.
The trilogy this edition contains; 'Foundation', 'Foundation and Empire' and 'Second Foundation', generally improve in quality as they go on. But that isn't to say that the early writings aren't good. And of course this is just my opinion. That being that the SETTING is best described in book one.
The PLOT and STRUCTURE are at their most balanced during book two.
The WRITING is strongest and the CHARACTERS are the most well-rounded in book three.
Another thing that I really appreciated were the twists and reveals. I have read a lot of science fiction at this point. Classic, modern and a bunch in-between. But this Foundation Trilogy kept me guessing and surprised me a number of times. It was really very engaging.
You may notice when reading this that most of the story is told through conversations. Normally just between two people, although not exclusively. There aren't many big fight scenes or space opera type battles happening in real time. We often hearing of these things happening after the fact and often from a second or third hand source. To clarify; this may sound like it isn't exciting, and normally I would agree, but Asimov managed to make the conversations about these things as engrossing and fun to read as the events themselves. This technique really made me feel like just another tiny human in a massive galaxy, which I believe is one of the staples of good science fiction.
And this is certainly that.
"The man who had no name other than the Mule, and no title other than First Citizen looked out through the one-way transparency of the wall to the light and lofty city on the horizon.
In the darkening twilight, the stars were emerging, and not one but owed allegiance to him."
The 'Everyman's Library Edition' also comes with a great introduction by Michael Dirda (a book critic for the Washington Post) and a cool 'Chronology' section, putting events in Asimov's life on a timeline alongside Historical Events and other notable Literary works published at the same time. I really enjoyed seeing this.
In summation: the Foundation Trilogy is fantastic. I really enjoyed my time reading it. It's unlike anything of the genre I have read before, but it is clear to see how it has influenced others since. The format is slightly dated, but not to such a degree to justify passing up the opportunity to read it if you haven't already.
Everyone knows Asimov, even if they haven't read his books themselves. Prior to reading this I knew of his influence. I knew of the connected universe themes of his stories (Foundation, Robot and Empire). I knew they were originally published, segmented, in magazine format back in the 40s and 50s.
What I DIDN'T know was how much I would enjoy them.
They really hold up.
That being said, I shan't lie; it is VERY clear they were published in pieces. Key bits of information are repeated in each section, albeit in different and interesting ways and by different characters and intermediatries, BUT when the stories are read as a whole piece it feels like Asimov thought any reader of his would be a simpleton. However, I DO understand that for people joining the magazine series late that these repetitions would be crucial, but as a review for this collection as a reader in 2019, I wanted to make it clear that it is indeed present. Not jarring, but it's there.
The trilogy this edition contains; 'Foundation', 'Foundation and Empire' and 'Second Foundation', generally improve in quality as they go on. But that isn't to say that the early writings aren't good. And of course this is just my opinion. That being that the SETTING is best described in book one.
The PLOT and STRUCTURE are at their most balanced during book two.
The WRITING is strongest and the CHARACTERS are the most well-rounded in book three.
Another thing that I really appreciated were the twists and reveals. I have read a lot of science fiction at this point. Classic, modern and a bunch in-between. But this Foundation Trilogy kept me guessing and surprised me a number of times. It was really very engaging.
You may notice when reading this that most of the story is told through conversations. Normally just between two people, although not exclusively. There aren't many big fight scenes or space opera type battles happening in real time. We often hearing of these things happening after the fact and often from a second or third hand source. To clarify; this may sound like it isn't exciting, and normally I would agree, but Asimov managed to make the conversations about these things as engrossing and fun to read as the events themselves. This technique really made me feel like just another tiny human in a massive galaxy, which I believe is one of the staples of good science fiction.
And this is certainly that.
"The man who had no name other than the Mule, and no title other than First Citizen looked out through the one-way transparency of the wall to the light and lofty city on the horizon.
In the darkening twilight, the stars were emerging, and not one but owed allegiance to him."
The 'Everyman's Library Edition' also comes with a great introduction by Michael Dirda (a book critic for the Washington Post) and a cool 'Chronology' section, putting events in Asimov's life on a timeline alongside Historical Events and other notable Literary works published at the same time. I really enjoyed seeing this.
In summation: the Foundation Trilogy is fantastic. I really enjoyed my time reading it. It's unlike anything of the genre I have read before, but it is clear to see how it has influenced others since. The format is slightly dated, but not to such a degree to justify passing up the opportunity to read it if you haven't already.