Rating: 
Summary: It Didn't Suck
Review: This is the best of the three in the series. Brin does a nice job of writing a book that is recognizably Asimov. There are various heroic characters, some interesting themes, and a good story.Brin in particular hits the detail that always nagged me. Asimov's original Foundation series starts out as a collection of heroic stories in which humans, put in the right situation, find reserves in themselves to triumph. But by the end, Asimov seems to have retreated to a facist picture -- humans can't triump without the Second Foundation editing their memories and goals, or even Gaia eliminating their lower tendencies. Brin sets up that tension well. Daneel speaks for guidance, Trema and that ship guy speak for independance, and we're left pretty eager for a new series, stating about year 500, about the interaction between Gaia and the two Foundations. Still, there are parts of the series that bug me. Daneel's final justification for his milennia of manipulation and the origin of "chaos" is too pat. While chaos and the robots are themes that link the three books together, a lot of the themes from the first book seem like something out of another series. Every time the chimpanzees or Joan and Voltaire show up, it's like a guest cross-over from another book. "Look Fonz, it's Laverne and Shirley!"
Rating: 
Summary: Kind of liked that Maserd guy though.
Review: Dont't get me wrong. I like to have things wrapped up at the end of a story. Especially a good story. But this is ridiculous! We are left with practically nothing to fantasize about at the end of this trilogy. Killer B's is an apt moniker for these guys. They ended up killing any mystery left in this story. Not only are we to swallow this Gaia bit as being the end-all and be-all for the new Galaxy, we are forced into a mind-set about the extra-galactics as evil, without even finding out too much about them. Daneel is reduced to a monotonous pedagogue arousing very little sympathy. That is quite a different picture of Daneel than I recall from the earlier books where he seemed more human at times than robot (therein lies the rub). I know it is hard to walk the line between wanting to wrap things up and actually insulting your reader, but in my opinion, somewhere the line got crossed. I would have bought all 3 books no matter what as many sci fi readers of a certain age most certainly did. However, in this instance, my final verdict is that things should have been left well enough alone, talent of the B's notwithstanding.
Rating:
Summary: The Annotated Asimovian Apogee
Review: If you're looking for the definitive Cliff's Notes version of Asimov's Foundation universe, Brin has come up with it here. This felt like more of a tributary novel than an expansion of ideas on Asmiov's Roman empire, 20,000 years hence. Brin bought in historical cameo references way back to Susan Calvin (and a surprise reference even before Calvin), but seemed to project the future based on knowledge he already had from reading Asimov's stories that hadn't chronologically occured yet. The storyline of Foundation's Triumph was solid, but the overall plotline was a little shaky due to references to events that really hadn't taken place yet. Brin got the raw end of the series, but he seemed to quite a good job with an aging Hari Seldon. Many of the Robot/Foundation links were finally explained, and the reasons were rather convincing. But fear not - Brin left enough mysteries to whet the conversational appetite of anyone who has read the entirety of the series. I agree with an earlier Gentle Reader about Daneel. His overall role in the Foundation universe seems quite difficult to believe, when you lay it all out on a table. Nonetheless, I always felt a certain anticipation when friend Daneel would again come into a chapter, and I appreciated the visit. Good job, Brin, on an impossible task of following the Good Doctor in his own universe. Mr. Brin, would you and your colleages care to delve into the second 500 years of the Foundation?
Rating:
Summary: Tough act to follow
Review: I'm more of a fan of mainstream fiction, like Stones from the River or The Triumph and the Glory, but Asimov's Foundations trilogy books were early favorites of mine when I was in school, so I read with interest Brin's assigned sequel, Foundation's Triumph. Following is Isaac Asimov's footsteps must have scared the daylights out of Brin, but I think he has done a good job. Foundation's Triumph is well-plotted, presents a theme consistent with Asimov's legacy, and fulfilled most of my expectations for it.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Ending to an Average Series
Review: Brin is able to take Bear's and Benford's first two books and construct a believable climax. I personally enjoyed Brin's inclusion of the Gaia/Galaxaia idea, and I am looking forward to more books centered around the Foundation.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting Ending
Review: I've read the other reviews given by others who have read this book, and frankly I believe that some are being quite unfair to the author. Some seem to have not realized the point of the title. The book is called "Foundation's Triumph", because the Foundation did triumph. Hari Seldon's "Bet" with Daneel is the proof that galaxia did not absorb the Foundation. Hari's statement that he believed Galaxia would lose out and that there would be a need for his "Encyclopedia Galactica" in a thousand years is proven by reading the publishing date of the 116th Edition of the Encyclopedia, 1020 F.E., many years after the Foundation should have been absorbed by Galaxia!
Rating: 
Summary: Foundation's Fluke
Review: The Second Foundation Trilogy is a total disgrace to Asimov. It offers nothing new and builds on the ridiculous Gaia concept, which I think is full of new-age pretensions and stubborn ambitions to be perfect. Brin tries desperately to redeem this shameful trilogy but turns it into an allegory about Communism and democracy, stuff that's so cliched already in sci-fi literature, and turns abstractions like chaos into a virulent disease, which I think is totally preposterous. Don't waste your time with this, read the original trilogy again. Giving it one star is being over-generous.
Rating:
Summary: Fills in the blanks!
Review: This book was well written, and if I didn't already know better, I would have thought it written by the GrandMaster Himself! It answered quite a few questions that I'd lingering about ever since I began reading the Foundation series about 25 years ago. Of course, true to Asimov's nature, it does leave a few dangling items for future connections to be made so perhaps we can expect more in the future. Once I picked up this book, I couldn't put it down...
Rating:
Summary: WHY?????
Review: Why did these three authors bother to write a trilogy that doesn't really expand the Foundation tale????? Asimov already covered the life of Hari Seldon in the prequels Prelude to Foundation and Forward the Foundation. What more is there to say? RATHER than waste time pre-Foundation, I wish the three Bs had continued the story past Foundation and Earth. How will humanity be combined with the new idea of Gaia? How will they create Galaxia? What happens to the rest of the Foundation timeline past 500 FE to 1000 FE? Does the Foundation succeed in creating a new Second Galactic Empire? These are the idea I want answered, not more uninteresting stories about Hari Seldon.
Rating:
Summary: Brin writes a good novel and brings closure to Foundation
Review: "Foundation" was clearly episodic fiction written for Campbell. "Foundation and Empire", by his own admission, Asimov's attempt to make an end to a project he was tired of. "Second Foundation" brings the trilogy to closure while showcasing Asimov's concept of a whole story written to support a single idea, in this case the 'opposite ends of the galaxy'. "Caves of Steel" is simultaneously, social commentary on the expanding metropolis of the day and Asimov' first foray into 'Murder Mystery'. Daneel is so clearly the Dr. Watson to Lije Bailey's Holmes. Fortunately for posterity, Dr. A had sufficient prestige to refuse to finish the trilogy. The two themes were NEVER meant to portray a single universe. Asimov never did that in his writing. 40 years later, the fans demanded closure. Asimov torturously connects the two themes. It takes several books and no one, especially the Good Doctor is pleased with the premise. But alas no one even living legends lives forever. Enter the 3 B's. Brin's work is clearly the best of the three. Why? because he alone has captured the spirit of Isaac. It reads well. I found it hard to put down. It wraps up all the loose ends. The female characters are no better developed than Isaac would have done and it all stands as a support for the very Asimov like ending , the reference to the 'Encyclopedia Galactica'.
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