The second sequel to the Foundation trilogy. Having prevented war between the First and Second Foundations, the heroes quest to find the legendary birthplace of humanity; the mythical planet Earth. Works nicely as a trip through Asimov's earlier worlds seen thousands of years in the future. ( )

I really like how Asimov wraps up the extended Foundation series. Specifically, I'd previously complained while reading Pebble in the Sky that it was hard to believe that everyone simply forgets that they originated on Earth -- this book and Foundation's Edge go a long way to resolving that annoyance for me. Its also good to find out what happened to Aurora and Solaria finally -- especially given the Solaria mystery has been bothering me since Robots and Empire.

Speaking just about this book so a moment, I do find the use of sex as a plot development method quite odd. There are three examples that bother me -- when Bliss is slipped through interstellar customs with the explanation that she's just a whore and therefore not important enough to make an issue of; the second is when Trevize basically shags his way out of an awkward situation, despite the other protagonist being quite hostile initially; and finally where he bonks someone on a rural world. I find all three of those incidents a little out of place with the rest of the book, and in fact the rest of the series. Other authors use those kinds of plot elements, but they seem out of place in Asimov's work.

Overall, I loved this book and it was a good conclusion to the series.

http://www.stillhq.com/book/Isaac_Asi... ( )

Late in his career, and apparently running out of ideas, Asimov returned to his greatest works and decided to expand them, and eventually merge them. The less than impressive results are the collection of Foundation sequels and prequels. Foundation and Earth seems to want to tie as many of Asimov's books into the Foundation sequence as possible.

Following on after the events in Foundation's Edge, Trevize, Palorat and Bliss all decide to find Earth. They stumble about, eventually figuring out which planets were the "Spacer" planets (from The Caves of Steel, The Naked Sun, and The Robots of Dawn) and land on several, including Solaria. On Solaria they find out that the inhabitants have seemingly redefined humanity so as to circumvent the Laws of Robotics - anyone who isn't a Solarian isn't human and can be harmed or even killed by a robot. They escape, and take with them an immature (and thus not yet "human" by Solarian standard) child named Fallon.

Using clues found in a Spacer database, they find a terraformed planet around Alpha Centauri, and then finally, Earth itself. Earth is a lifeless rock, but they land on the moon and find R. Daneel Olivaw waiting for them.

And this is what makes the book, and pretty much all of the subsequent Foundation books mediocre at best. Apparently, Olivaw is responsible for all human history since The Caves of Steel. Citing the Zeroeth Law Olivaw has been working to benefit humanity for millennia, causing the settlement on Alpha, the development of psychohistory, the establishment of the Foundation, the settlement of Gaia, and pretty much everything else beneficial that happened in any of the Foundation books.

While I can accept that the development of Galaxia (as repugnant as the concept of a hive-mind version of humanity seems to me) might be seen by some as desirable, the introduction of a god-like shepherd of humanity in the form of a nigh-immortal robot (not completely immortal, in the climax of this novel, Olivaw binds his brain with Fallon's because his own brain is dying after millennia). Introducing the robots as a benevolent, almost omniscient force to the story, to me, robs the books of a lot of their impact. Instead of humanity struggling to survive a galactic disaster, we have humanity manipulated by a small collection of well-meaning dictators. Plunking Olivaw into the later books was, in my opinion, a huge mistake, and one that makes this, and the subsequent prequels featuring him, average books, at best. ( )

An almost perfect close to an excellent series... I just wish Asimov hadn't left things hanging the way they were without providing follow-up. Maybe one day another author will provide the next stage of the Galaxia development. ( )

Written after the Foundation trilogy, it falls immediately after them in sequence. ( )