Book Series Review - The Foundation: Science Fiction at Its Greatest?

Photo by DWEEBED

The Foundation series could be considered the greatest science fiction series of all time. It is quite popular among science-fiction enthusiasts and has served as an influence for multiple other novels. It even beat the incredibly popular Lord of the Rings series for the Hugo Award for “Best All-Time Series” in 1966. Also, that was before the series was even close to being finished!

Overview

The Foundation series, written by Issac Asimov and published from 1942 to 1993, is in my opinion one of the greatest fictional works ever created. It follows the story of the Foundation, what is at first a remote colony on the edge of the galaxy. Its goal: to avert the 30,000 year dark age which would occur after the fall of the Galactic Empire, predicted by pychohistorist Hari Seldon.

The Galactic Empire had stood the test of time for 12,000 years and controlled the entire Milky Way Galaxy. However Hari Seldon, the creator of phychohistory, a branch of science which predicted the future, realized that the empire was quickly coming to its end. It was simply just too large and its capital Trantor was too unstable politically. Using his new science, Seldon perceived that the fall of it would be followed by 30,000 years of barbarianism.

To combat this catastrophe, Seldon developed the Seldon Plan. It called for a colony consisting of his followers to be set up on the planet Terminus, located in the remote edges of the galaxy. Its mission would be to preserve mankind’s knowledge, which Seldon predicted would shorten the dark age to just 1,000 years.

At the same time though, Seldon also founded a secret Second Foundation. This group was founded on planet ________ (no spoilers!) and consisted of only phychohistorians, whose goal it was to make sure that the First Foundation didn't unknowingly divert from the Seldon Plan.

During the course of the First Foundation, every now and then the people would face a “Seldon Crisis”. Predicted by phychohistory to be overcome, these trials marked important times in the history of the Foundation.

However, Seldon’s Plan couldn’t account for everything. Phychohistory was based upon populations of people, not individuals. Therefore, there were major threats not predicted by Hari Seldon, which derailed the Seldon Plan and took both foundations by surprise...

The Foundation Series consists of 7 main novels (in chronological order):

• Prelude to Foundation
• Forward the Foundation
• Foundation
• Foundation and Empire
• Second Foundation
• Foundation’s Edge
• Foundation and Earth

with many of Asimov’s short stories and novels written by other authors after Asimov died taking place in the same universe.

Foundation was written first, and tells of the founding of the Foundation and its first few trials. The next four novels tell the future of the Foundation up until 499 years after its founding (what happened during the remain 501?). Prelude to Foundation and Forward the Foundation were written last and talk about Seldon’s earlier life and how he came to develop phychohistory.

My Opinion

In my opinion, the Foundation series is excellent. It is very well imagined and thought-out, is captivating and interesting, has many little tidbits of humor, and is just generally very well written.

The Foundation series is incredibly well imagined. The ideas in it are really creative and well thought out, especially for being 70 years old. The series doesn't feel dated at all.

The series is also surprisingly captivating. The first book is approximately 280 pages long, but you won't be able to skip a sentence. When Asimov was rereading the first three novels after a 30 year break in order to write the fourth, he realized, "I couldn't help but notice that I was turning the pages eagerly, and that I was upset when I finished the book, and that I wanted more, but I was the author, for goodness' sake."

Asimov's writing style is also very humorous. Whether you're reading the series for the first or for the 8 millionth time, there is absolutely no way that you won't smile.

The one downside to the Foundation is that when writing the later books, namely Prelude to Foundation and Forward the Foundation, Asimov "lost it". These books aren't that good and don't stand up to the legacy of the first four books.

There is also a BBC radio adaption of the original trilogy (Foundation, Foundation and Empire, and Second Foundation), as well as a television series in the making. In August 2018, it was announced that Apple had ordered the making of the first 10 episodes.

In conclusion, the Foundation is a fantastic series and is a sci-fi classic. I highly recommend that you either borrow the series from your town library or buy it, as soon as you finish reading this review.


Thanks for reading this post and if you have any questions or comments about the Foundation series, please comment below. Additionally, I will not be making a blog post next week (and possibly the week after as well), as I will be taking a winter break.