Play Book Tag discussion

After being thwarted at the last moment in his first search, the Mule is determined to find the mysterious Second Foundation and destroy them once and for all.

This was an incredibly satisfying conclusion to the original Foundation trilogy. You spend the whole novel wondering where the Second Foundation is, with several different locations becoming possibilities. By the end I was grasping at straws and really had no idea. The plot is so cleverly plotted out, across all three books, that when the location of the Second Foundation is finally revealed, complete with a summary of the several hints dropped along the way, it’s obvious. One of the reasons I never considered the actual location a real possibility is because of something Hari Seldon (a foundational character from the first book) said in the very beginning. When this comment is considered with a certain kind of logic, it sends you in the totally wrong direction, instead of straight up revealing the location - a trap that both the characters and the reader fall into. Genius!

This book also rated higher than the first two for me (4 stars) both because I felt the plot was more engaging and gripping, and because it spans a shorter amount of time, so you get to know the characters better. Asimov’s characters are not incredibly fleshed out - which isn’t the purpose of a science fiction novel of this scope - but he does manage to convey a lot about them in just a few sentences.

I can definitely see why this is considered one of the OGs of science-fiction. Well worth the read.

*Note* If you’re going to watch the Foundation show on Apple TV, just know that it takes some significant departures from the books. You can watch seasons 1 and 2 before reading, but I would recommend reading all three books before watching season 3.