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A review by eoghann
Foundation's Fear by Gregory Benford
3.0
I approached this book with considerable trepidation. I'm a big fan of Asimov's original Foundation Trilogy but was not overly impressed by his later additions to the series like Foundation's Edge where he attempted to tie the Foundation stories in with his robot stories.
So, knowing that this book took place prior to the setting up of the Foundations, that it featured robots and that it was written not by Asimov (for obvious reasons) but by Gregory Benford, who's books I had never read…..
I was, however, pleasantly surprised. This didn't strike me as a great original story, nor is it an Asimov Foundation book. What it is though is an entertaining story set in the Foundation universe and using familiar characters.
The story itself concerns the events in Hari Seldon's life just prior to his becoming First Minister. Specifically, his continuing development of psychohistory (which appears to be at a fairly advanced stage at this point) and the political machinations he becomes embroiled as he is drawn into politics
Various secondary strands pad out the book and the importance of some of them may not become completely clear until I have read the other two books in this trilogy.
Particularly intriguing to me was the initial appearance of the "sims" Voltaire and Joan, who engage in a most dramatic public debate. However, the rest of their plot arc was rather dull and the tie in with the main story seemed unconvincing.
Benford has a much more wordy writing style than Asimov and we get far more of what characters are thinking. We also get a fair amount of repetition. I'm not sure whether this is down to bad editing or was done because Benford thought the reader might have forgotten certain theories mentioned 100 pages earlier.
Purists may be upset by certain liberties that Benford has taken. For example the introduction of modern computers and cyberspace. The most glaring update must be replacing hyperspace ships with travel via wormholes.
To me getting upset about this sort of thing is rather missing the point. Asimov wrote roughly according to the science of the time and did update the Foundation universe himself in later stories. Not only that but as Benford notes in the afterword, Asimov was not terribly consistent about many aspects of the Foundation universe anyway.
This book does what it sets out to do, namely setup a trilogy of books which will try to answer some of the open questions about the Foundation universe. Already I am curious about just how the two Foundations get set up and exactly what role the robots play in this.
There are hints that the Robots "overseeing" isn't perhaps as snowy white and pure as one might have thought.
So, knowing that this book took place prior to the setting up of the Foundations, that it featured robots and that it was written not by Asimov (for obvious reasons) but by Gregory Benford, who's books I had never read…..
I was, however, pleasantly surprised. This didn't strike me as a great original story, nor is it an Asimov Foundation book. What it is though is an entertaining story set in the Foundation universe and using familiar characters.
The story itself concerns the events in Hari Seldon's life just prior to his becoming First Minister. Specifically, his continuing development of psychohistory (which appears to be at a fairly advanced stage at this point) and the political machinations he becomes embroiled as he is drawn into politics
Various secondary strands pad out the book and the importance of some of them may not become completely clear until I have read the other two books in this trilogy.
Particularly intriguing to me was the initial appearance of the "sims" Voltaire and Joan, who engage in a most dramatic public debate. However, the rest of their plot arc was rather dull and the tie in with the main story seemed unconvincing.
Benford has a much more wordy writing style than Asimov and we get far more of what characters are thinking. We also get a fair amount of repetition. I'm not sure whether this is down to bad editing or was done because Benford thought the reader might have forgotten certain theories mentioned 100 pages earlier.
Purists may be upset by certain liberties that Benford has taken. For example the introduction of modern computers and cyberspace. The most glaring update must be replacing hyperspace ships with travel via wormholes.
To me getting upset about this sort of thing is rather missing the point. Asimov wrote roughly according to the science of the time and did update the Foundation universe himself in later stories. Not only that but as Benford notes in the afterword, Asimov was not terribly consistent about many aspects of the Foundation universe anyway.
This book does what it sets out to do, namely setup a trilogy of books which will try to answer some of the open questions about the Foundation universe. Already I am curious about just how the two Foundations get set up and exactly what role the robots play in this.
There are hints that the Robots "overseeing" isn't perhaps as snowy white and pure as one might have thought.