Foundation and Empire by Isaac Asimov

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Foundation and Empire

Isaac Asimov

June 1, 1952 / 320 pages / Fiction

Although small and seemingly helpless, the Foundation had managed to survive against the greed of its neighboring warlords. But could it stand against the mighty power of the Empire, who had created a mutant man with the strength of a dozen battlefleets...?

From the Paperback edition.

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The second book of the Foundation series is not as strong as the first, though bit more cohesive overall. The characters come off as shallow and a little old-fashioned and seem to be driven by the plot. The few surprises were guessable but not terribly obvious, which is a good thing, and the overall story has a bit of Empire Strikes Back vibe to it...roller-coaster-ish with a satisfactory but unsettling ending.

Grade: B– / senzanom / Nov 24, 2014

The first half (the Foundation's war with the Empire) drags a bit, but it's worth it for the second half. The mule's one of the best characters in science fiction

Grade: A– / jakerawdin / Sep 3, 2013

(Cross-posted to my sci-fi blog, Android Dreamer.) Having now read three of Isaac Asimov's and been thoroughly disappointed by two of them, I feel comfortable in saying that in my opinion Asimov is a writer of great ideas and worlds with rather poor actual execution. Foundation and Empire is a terribly boring novel. The series as a whole is high concept, with one of the more memorable characters of the medium in Hari Seldon, but I feel as though the first book is really all that is necessary.

Grade: D / BeardedHeckler / Aug 30, 2015

It's better than Foundation and if it was as a whole as good as the second part (The Mule), it would have probably merited five stars. What kept coming at me as I went on reading was this relentlessly nagging thought (or picture rather) of George Lucas sleeping a great deal of time with Foundation books under his pillow. Really, I mean, there are timid influences and there are blatant, wholesale takeaways. I've been rather unaware till now that it's the latter case with Star Wars. From the who

Grade: B / hungrytales / Apr 16, 2018