Foundation and Empire - Isaac Asimov

   1951; 255 pages.  Book 2 (out of 7) in the “Foundation” series.  New Author? : No.  Genres: Classic Science Fiction; Colonization Sci-Fi.  Overall Rating: 7*/10.

 

    It’s all happening according to plan, just like Hari Seldon said it would.  The Galactic Empire is now a shadow of its universe-encompassing past, and the Foundation, originally a bunch of exiled thinkers, is on the upswing.

 

    General Bel Riose of the Galactic Empire and military governor of Siwenna faces an important decision: Fight or Flight.  If Seldon’s “psychohistory” calculations hold true—and so far they always have—to fight the Foundation will surely end in disaster for the Empire.

 

    By the same token, for Bayta and Toran, supporters of the Foundation, the chances of success are much greater.  True, as individuals, they could die in combat.  Seldon’s predictions apply to galactic powers, not to the individuals thereof.  Still, it’s nice to be confident you’d be on the winning side.

 

    But what if something new arises, something which the psychohistory calculations could not have factored in?  Something that could finally cause an error in Hari Seldon’s perfect predicting record?

 

    Oh, come on.  What are the odds of that happening?

 

What’s To Like...

    Foundation and Empire was published in 1952, but it’s actually a combination of two novellas which first appeared in a magazine called Astounding Science Fiction way back in 1945.  Most sci-fi authors had only one way of getting published back then: write episodic tales short enough to be sold to some sci-fi magazine publisher.  This needs to be kept in mind when reading any Science Fiction work from prior to the 1960s.

 

    The two parts of Foundation and Empire are set in the same areas of the Galaxy, but at different time periods, and with different sets of characters.  The first part, The General, focuses on the aforementioned Bel Riose and his Foundation opponents, and is roughly one-third of the book.  The second part is titled The Mule, and focuses on an upstart stranger who is does not ally himself with either The Galactic Empire or The Foundation, much to the annoyance of both.

 

    Isaac Asimov comes up with lots of fascinating places for our adventurers to visit.  Seven worlds are featured, the most interesting being “Trantor”, the former home planet of the Galactic Empire, now reduced to desolation and replaced by a nearby orb called “Neotrantor”.  Asimov invents some nifty gadgets as well, including a “Time Vault” which allows Hari Seldon to speak from beyond the grave, and a “Visi-Sonor”, which—well, to give details would be a spoiler.  Let’s just say I need to get me one of those.

 

    The main “mystery” in Foundation and Empire, for both the reader and most of the characters, is discovering the whereabouts and the identity of The Mule.  The book’s ending resolves this adequately via an exciting plot twist which I had considered previously, then discarded.  Things close at a logical point, but I wouldn’t consider this to be a standalone story.  The resolution of the conflict between The Foundation and The Empire is not resolved, nor is the role that The Mule will play in it.  I presume this is addressed in Book 3, Second Foundation, which fortunately sits on my TBR shelf.

 

Ratings…
    Amazon:  4.5/5 based on 13,400 ratings and 493 reviews.

    Goodreads: 4.22/5 based on 217,316 ratings and 5,846 reviews

 

Excerpts...

    Mayor Indbur—successively the third of that name—was the grandson of the first Indbur, who had been brutal and capable; and who had exhibited the first quality in spectacular fashion by his manner of seizing power, and the latter by the skill with which he put an end to the last farcical remnants of free election and the even greater skill with which he maintained a relatively peaceful rule.

    Mayor Indbur was also the son of the second Indbur, who was the first Mayor of the Foundation to succeed to his post by right of birth—and who was only half his father, for he was merely brutal.

    So Mayor Indbur was the third of the name and the second to succeed by right of birth, and he was the least of the three, for he was neither brutal nor capable—but merely an excellent bookkeeper born wrong.  (pg. 119)

 

    “We came right through the war-zone to get here—on purpose.  We traveled about a light-minute or so, in neutral, right past Horleggor—”

    “Horleggor?” broke in a long-legged native, who was playing host to that particular gathering.  “That’s where the Mule got the guts beat out of him last week, wasn’t it?”

    “Where’d you hear that the Mule got the guts beat out of him?” demanded the pilot, loftily.

    “Foundation radio.”

    “Yeah?  Well, the Mule’s got Horleggor.  We almost ran into a convoy of his ships, and that’s where they were coming from.  It isn’t a gut-beating when you stay where you fought, and the gut-beater leaves in a hurry.”  (pg. 162)

 

“So far there’s been more drinking than thinking, and more wooing than doing.”  (pg. 169)

    There is zero cussing in Foundation and Empire which was the norm for science fiction written in the 1940s.  When situations arise where profanity is called for, Asimov comes up with some innovative euphemisms, such as “unprintable” (as in “my unprintable eye”) and “Bescuppered” (as in “Bescuppered if I know”).

 

    There are no “adult situations” as well, but keep in mind, in the 1940s, there were no adult situations in books of any genre.

 

    My big problem with Foundation and Empire is the storytelling style.  There are almost zero firsthand thrills-&-spills to read about.  It’s not a matter of “telling vs. showing”, it’s a matter of “action versus talking about it”.  Even when epic space battles occur, the reader only finds out about it when somebody later relays the news to somebody else.

 

    Still, this is the way sci-fi was written eighty years ago.  I was aware of that when I started reading this series.  For me, Foundation and Empire was an entertaining read, but mostly as a benchmark for appreciating just how far the Science Fiction genre has evolved since then.

 

    7 Stars.  One last thing.  On page 68, the subject of "Transmutation of Elements" comes up.  Specifically, a process for turning Iridium into Iron is discussed.  It would be great if this were even theoretically feasible, but it isn’t.  Trust me, I'm a chemist.