Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780061056383
Edition: Reprint
ISBN: 0061056383
Label: Eos
Manufacturer: Eos
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 624
Publication Date: 1998-03
Publisher: Eos
Studio: Eos
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Editorial Review:Amazon.co.uk Review:This is the first instalment of The Second Foundation Trilogy, based on Isaac Asimov's famous Foundation series. Acclaimed hard science fiction writers Gregory Benford, David Brin and Greg Bear will each produce a work for the trilogy. Benford kicks off exploring the beginnings of the Foundation itself and its creator, Hari Seldon. Seldon is working on a project to ease the inevitable collapse of the universe- spanning Empire and the Dark Ages that will ensue. But the current emperor has other plans, like appointing Seldon first minister and thus thrusting him into a world of political intrigues and assassination attempts that ultimately will bring him up against future history's greatest threat.
Average Rating:
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I'm just re-reading this book again as I've decided to spend the summer in London and re-visit the whole Foundation series. Instead of going through it quickly, as I've done with all other Foundation books, I just hate it soooooo much! I thought that my 'unfriendly' feelings towards it when I've read it the first time around were unjust, however, I can now confirm that this is one of the worst books that I've ever read!
The stories are ridiculous, extremely long, and there is so much ...
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Benford is an established author with a following of his own, but he does not shine in this weak novel. He does not seem at all at home in the Foundation context, and the parts where he seems to be writing fluently (the long passages featuring simulations of Voltaire and Joan of Arc) are unlikely to appeal to an Asimov fan. The novel is longwinded, and I found finishing it a tedious chore in the end. Benford's lack of attention to the detail of Asimov's creation (for example he misspells 'Venabili') ...
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This is not only an awful book but is also completely unfaithful to the Asimov legacy. However it is worth battling through this book to get to the final one in series.
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This is the first in a posthumous trilogy sanctioned - if not instigated - by the Asimov Estate and actually a prequel to Isaac Asimov's 'classic' Foundation trilogy, one of the landmark SF works of the mid-twentieth century.
It's good to know that three tried and tested authors (Benford, Greg Bear and David Brin) have taken on what must be a daunting challenge.
As good a writer as Asimov was, his best work was written in his early life and his later novels, which fed very much on his established ...
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In the true spirit of Asimov, Benford has taken a completely unrelated story subject and attempted to tack it onto the side of the Foundation saga. Unfortunately, unlike the real thing, I found this book very easy to put down.
Benford introduces the idea of simulated personalities (based on two historical figures) existing in a virtual universe (which of course crosses over into the real world) who then develop, escape and reproduce, a bit like a computer virus, and cause much mayhem. Though this was ...
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