Rating: 
Summary: One Last "Triumphant" Adventure
Review: I have to admit that two years ago when I heard about the "Killer B" Trilogy, I was both eager with anticipation and filled with trepidation. The three authors, Benford, Bear, and Brin are good writers, but could they capture the Asimov Foundation theme that has entranced me since I first read the original trilogy almost 35 years ago? The trepidation was justified in the Foundation's Fear, the first book of the new trilogy. The Joan and Voltaire sims constant dialog was tedious at best. I wish Mr. Benford had come up with something different. In Mr. Bear's Foundation and Chaos, I was overjoyed with the demise (sort of) of the d..n things. The second book was considerably better, I enjoyed it and thought it captured Harry Seldon very well. David Brin's Foundation's Truimph is a Triumph itself. I couldn't put it down. This is clearly the best of the three, with a well-crafted conclusion--the Asimov theme was clear throughout. I also appreciated the effort that went to tie other older works (Stars Like Dust, etc.) in to this story. Worth the read--good job David Brin!
Rating: 
Summary: Superb ending marred by a muddled plot
Review: I'm a big Brin fan, but even he couldn't quite save this one. The first two books in this series were supremely uninspired, and in some places it looked like Brin was also just plodding along. He threw out dozens of ideas, but never bought them together - they just sat out there. The biggest, and worst, examples were the Joan of Arc and Voltaire sims. They were a bad idea in the first book, and they added nothing here, despite repeated appearances. The ending, on the other hand, is absolutely classic Brin. I found his "solution" to the rather boring Galaxia idea to be inspiring, well presented, and generally fun. It was also very clear that this idea was beyond Daneel Olivaw's comprehension. Very nicely done, and almost worth the time to read the rest of the book.
Rating: 
Summary: The final eposide in a trilogy is supposed to be the best...
Review: Unlike Gregory Benford and Greg Bear, David Brin didn't hold up his part of the deal. In the first two chapters of this ambitious trilogy, we learn more about the great Hari Seldon then ever before. His relationship with robots and mentalics, his brilliant, yet conservative nature, always the center of other peoples (and robots) battles. Unfortunately, Brin didn't bring closure to this series, he prolonged it. He left the door wide open for a fourth novel, almost as if the publisher decided that a trilogy wasn't enough. Well, it damaged the original concept, although not completely. It is still a fine read. It's just that an exciting opportunity was presented that would have made for a spectacular ending. Instead, he pulled back from the cliff and wrote an extraordinarlily 'realistic' and conservative ending, leaving many loose ends. He even mentions in his notes at the end that he has great ideas for a future story. What a ripoff. The potential for a great ending was there and he dropped the ball. I'm very disappointed, especially since the first two novels were excellent. I'm a skeptic though. Most of the book was well-written. I would be interested to know whether the editor/publisher had anything to do with making it too 'final' of an ending. That would truly be a shame.
Rating:
Summary: WOW!
Review: Best of the Second Trilogy without question. I was disappointed with the first two because I didn't really think that they made any advances in what we already knew. This was especially true about Gregory Benford's book. This book however, answers many of the questions that Isaac Asimov didn't answer. I got the impression from Isaac's hints though that if he had answered them, this is how he would have done it. A must read for any Asimov/Foundation/Futuristic Sci-Fi fan. Well worth the proce of admission.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best in the series!
Review: I couldn't put this book down. It answers so many of the questions Asimov left unresolved and creates new ones to answer. Some parts I had to read over to understand but I've always enjoyed books that made me think. This book raises some interesting issues that the reader gets to judge for themselves. I especially enjoyed the ending since it offers an alternative to the options offered in the end of Foundation's Edge. Some people were disappointed with what it did to the Seldon Plan so I hope the end of Foundation's Triumph will make up for that. I highly recommend this book and the other Foundation and Second Foundation books, and hope someday there'll be a Third Foundation Trilogy. Because the series has always shown that humans can do a lot if they put their minds to it.
Rating:
Summary: A STUNNING CONCLUSION TO ASIMOV'S SAGA
Review: It was pure delight to read the manuscript of this novel. With much of the action set in the deep past, with covering the last months of Hari Seldon's life and with a visionary glimpse of the future of the Foundations and Galaxia this book finally gives explanations to all the questions even Asimov shied from answering. Run and grab it!!!
Rating:
Summary: A triumphant entry in Asimov's ENCYCLOPEDIA GALACTICA Saga!
Review: It was an absolute pleasure to read the manuscript of this book. The action of the novel's present (the last months of Hari Seldon's life), the hints at events of the deep past and a visionary forecasting of the future of the Foundations and Galaxia finally give us all the missing clues to the questions even Asimov shied from answering. This is really the missing link we have been waiting for! Run and grab it as fast as you can! Attila Torkos
Rating:
Summary: One Last "Triumphant" Adventure
Review: I have to admit that two years ago when I heard about the "Killer B" Trilogy, I was both eager with anticipation and filled with trepidation. The three authors, Benford, Bear, and Brin are good writers, but could they capture the Asimov Foundation theme that has entranced me since I first read the original trilogy almost 35 years ago? The trepidation was justified in the Foundation's Fear, the first book of the new trilogy. The Joan and Voltaire sims constant dialog was tedious at best. I wish Mr. Benford had come up with something different. In Mr. Bear's Foundation and Chaos, I was overjoyed with the demise (sort of) of the d..n things. The second book was considerably better, I enjoyed it and thought it captured Harry Seldon very well. David Brin's Foundation's Truimph is a Triumph itself. I couldn't put it down. This is clearly the best of the three, with a well-crafted conclusion--the Asimov theme was clear throughout. I also appreciated the effort that went to tie other older works (Stars Like Dust, etc.) in to this story. Worth the read--good job David Brin!
Rating: 
Summary: Bizarro
Review: This book is the most boring and bizarre of the 3. If I hadn't read the other 2 I would've just stop reading this one. Several times I just wanted to hurl it across the room never to be picked up again. I should've because nothing happens requiring anyone to read it.
Brin just repeatedly re-hashes everything I already knew from Asimov's books, and then turned eveything around so that Daneel and Hari (and, to a lesser extent, Wanda), once the good guys, are now megalomaniacs. If that's not enough to turn anyone off, how about this: Dors falls in lust with another robot. And these are just a couple of examples of the nonsense in this book. I've never read Brin before, and I certainly never will again.
This book couldn't be further from Asimov's Foundation in every way except for the use of Foundation in the title.
Rating:
Summary: A good wrap to a good project.
Review: I think Brin, Bear, and Benford did a very good job on these books (the second foundation trilogy). They took these ideas from Asimov and agreed to not take literary license with them but to merely bring them to life in the way Asimov would have if he had lived to write them. I think that Brin actually might even be a better writer per se than Asimov, but it was Asimov's storyline, not the way Brin wrote it that made it a great book. It answers many questions that Asimov never got around to answering but I think always meant to at some point because they were in the notes that the three B's used to write this series. Great job!
| 
