Foundation and Empire by Isaac Asimov

Foundation and Empire, published in 1952, is another book I read in Isaac Asimov’s Foundation series. One of the things that is impressive about this series is that Asimov starting writing it when he was only twenty-one. Given some of the complex, intelligent ideas in these books, I am amazed that a 21-year-old could come up with them. On the negative side, his youth obviously hurt his characters. In Foundation and Empire we actually have a prominent female character, but she is almost just as one-dimensional as the males. Though I must say that I found the characters to be a lot more varied than in the series’ first novel.

Foundation and Empire is two stories lumped into the same book. In the first story, the Foundation must face the conquest-hungry Imperial General Bel Riose. The Empire is dwindling, but still holds much power. Bel Riose brings the Imperial might to bear in a full attack on the Foundation holdings. This attack represents the first Seldon crisis in the book.

The second story is more interesting. The back of the book reads: “But not even Hari Seldon could have predicted the birth of the extraordinary creature called the Mule – a mutant intelligence with a power greaters than a dozen battle fleets… a power that can turn the strongest-willed human into an obediant slave.” The book ends on something of a cliffhanger, with a desperate search for the second Foundation underway.

Two books into the series, I feel obligated to read the whole thing. The lack of deep characters and complex personal interactions make the books quite “low stress”. The idea of this 1000-year plan mapped out by the dead psychohistorian Hari Seldon is an engaging one. While I don’t find myself being too emotionally involved, I am intrigued and intellectually stimulated. The books have been light, quick reads so far and I intend to continue consuming this classic sci-fi.