Foundation and Empire by Isaac Asimov

This second novel is not, in a sense, a novel at all, just like it’s predecessor. It is a compilation of a serialised succession of short stories telling a story, and Sotho question of where one Foundation novel ends and another begins is a little arbitrator. Yet there is a certain coherence to this instalment, as the expansion of the Foundation runs up against the remnants of the Galactic Empire.

There are two segments. The first pits the Foundation against the decaying rump empire and is very much Gibbon with spaceships, cleverly using the fact that any emperor will be suspicious of the loyalty of any successful general.

We then more on to the Mule. The ideas here are magnificent- the Seldon Plan being led astray due to a mutant who can control minds, and hints as to the Second Foundation. Yet the oppressive gender roles as depicted mainly via the character of Bayta, and the silly dialogue of the “clown” Magnifico, are a little embarrassing.

None of that means that the ideas here, or the central concept, are anything other than extraordinary. The flaws of prose and characterisation cannot undermine this novel’s greatness.