by Patrick Ogle
Prelude to Foundation and Forward the Foundation by Isaac Asimov are the sixth and seventh books in the Foundation series. They are also the final books.
Looking back at these two I confess I might fail a test about what happened in a specific book as they do bleed together in both fact and in my head but maybe a little more in my head. Essentially the first of the two books is about the origin of "psychohistory," which is the lynchpin of the entire series.
These are the first of the books to really deal with Hari Seldon as a character. He is basically a ghost throughout the other books (or, rather a recorded hologram). Those who've only watched the TV show may be surprised by this but the tv show sort of samples the books like a picky eater rummaging through a buffet. This is merciful because a faithful adaptation of these books would be extremely difficult to follow given the original book was written in disconnected segments. The time span in the first couple of books may be hundreds of years so main characters disappear and new ones appear. This isn't true of the last four books but they were written differently.
Prelude to Foundation is the more engaging of the two books as Seldon travels around the world of Trantor with the help of a mysterious "journalist." It isn't terribly hard to figure out he isn't a journalist so I'm just going to say that, even though it is a "spoiler." This character, who appears in the earlier volumes and is pivotal in the tv show (although there is a gender change), is Eto Demerzel. Parts of the volume seem to contradict parts of the earlier (or in the timeline here LATER) books but it doesn't go too far off the edge. As I read this book I didn't feel as if it necessarily cheapened or wildly contradicted the over arching plot explored in the first five books.
This isn't the same in the final book.
It has Seldon becoming the first minister of the empire and confidant of the emperor. This doesn't make a great deal of sense. The book also really harps on how democracy doesn't work but also manages to point out that imperial rule also doesn't work. There is a sourness through most of the book. It seems like a book by a tired old man. Large portions are about Seldon dealing with bureaucracy. Yes, that is generally about as scintillating to read as it sounds. The ending also seems abrupt, as if Asimov thought ; "oh I have enough pages, I will wrap it up." I actually wish I hadn't read it. It adds very little to the series and just isn't particularly interesting. Where I barrelled through the other books and couldn't put them down I trudged through this one. There were moments where it made me want to keep reading....then, not so much.
Frankly, after finishing Forward the Foundation I wished I hadn't read Prelude to Foundation either. If you READ Prelude you sort of have to read Forward. I felt like Foundation and Earth made a better ending point than either of these. Yes, I realize that criticizing Asimov is regarded by some as sacrilege but the man literally wrote hundreds of books. No one is perfect.
Prelude to Foundation and Forward the Foundation by Isaac Asimov are the sixth and seventh books in the Foundation series. They are also the final books.
Looking back at these two I confess I might fail a test about what happened in a specific book as they do bleed together in both fact and in my head but maybe a little more in my head. Essentially the first of the two books is about the origin of "psychohistory," which is the lynchpin of the entire series.
These are the first of the books to really deal with Hari Seldon as a character. He is basically a ghost throughout the other books (or, rather a recorded hologram). Those who've only watched the TV show may be surprised by this but the tv show sort of samples the books like a picky eater rummaging through a buffet. This is merciful because a faithful adaptation of these books would be extremely difficult to follow given the original book was written in disconnected segments. The time span in the first couple of books may be hundreds of years so main characters disappear and new ones appear. This isn't true of the last four books but they were written differently.
Prelude to Foundation is the more engaging of the two books as Seldon travels around the world of Trantor with the help of a mysterious "journalist." It isn't terribly hard to figure out he isn't a journalist so I'm just going to say that, even though it is a "spoiler." This character, who appears in the earlier volumes and is pivotal in the tv show (although there is a gender change), is Eto Demerzel. Parts of the volume seem to contradict parts of the earlier (or in the timeline here LATER) books but it doesn't go too far off the edge. As I read this book I didn't feel as if it necessarily cheapened or wildly contradicted the over arching plot explored in the first five books.
This isn't the same in the final book.
It has Seldon becoming the first minister of the empire and confidant of the emperor. This doesn't make a great deal of sense. The book also really harps on how democracy doesn't work but also manages to point out that imperial rule also doesn't work. There is a sourness through most of the book. It seems like a book by a tired old man. Large portions are about Seldon dealing with bureaucracy. Yes, that is generally about as scintillating to read as it sounds. The ending also seems abrupt, as if Asimov thought ; "oh I have enough pages, I will wrap it up." I actually wish I hadn't read it. It adds very little to the series and just isn't particularly interesting. Where I barrelled through the other books and couldn't put them down I trudged through this one. There were moments where it made me want to keep reading....then, not so much.
Frankly, after finishing Forward the Foundation I wished I hadn't read Prelude to Foundation either. If you READ Prelude you sort of have to read Forward. I felt like Foundation and Earth made a better ending point than either of these. Yes, I realize that criticizing Asimov is regarded by some as sacrilege but the man literally wrote hundreds of books. No one is perfect.
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