Title: Foundation’s Edge
Author: Isaac Asimov
Type: Fiction
Page Count/Review Word Count: 432
Rating: 3.5/5
I have this weird thing going on with the Foundation series where every time I pick up a new book in the series, I find it pretty difficult to get into. There’s always a period for the first 100 pages or so where I’m not really feeling it, and then the action starts to pick up. I guess that part of that is because I’ve read them in a weird order, and part of it is because a lot of the books can work like standalones, which means that it takes a while for them to establish their own narrative.
This one was much of a muchness with the others, and I can’t help feeling as though it’s not really the series for me. It’s not that I don’t like it, it’s just that I think Asimov is much stronger with short stories than he is with longer form fiction.
What is cool, though, is that this book continues the interstellar epic and shows us a little more of what happens to the two foundations that we know about by this point. Obviously, I don’t want to say too much about all of that though, because if I did then I’d spoil not only this book but also all of the ones that came before it.
So what we get here Is another instalment in an impressive series in which we see a whole heap of further character development and more plot than you can shake a stick at. In fact, it’s really the plot work that shines here, even though Asimov is usually pretty good at that kind of stuff. It’s not that character work is missing here, it’s just that it takes a back seat when compared to all of the stuff about the Foundation and the political intrigue that comes along with that.
As for whether I’d recommend this one, I mean it really depends whether you’ve read and enjoyed the other books. I definitely wouldn’t suggest starting out with this one, so it’s more a case that if you’ve read the other Foundation books and now you’ve reached this one, you might as well. I’m just still not convinced that I’d recommend the Foundation series in general, especially when Asimov has so many other awesome books out there for you to choose from.
So yeah, that’s what I’ve got for you about Foundation’s Edge. It’s just all right, you know? And for Asimov, that’s not great, a letdown.
