Foundation's Fear

Rating:
Summary: A good addition to the series ... with some reservations.
Review: I really wanted to like this and, for the most part I did. The plotting (as opposed to the plot) was not the best, in my opinion. There are two sub-plots going on in the story: that of the normal Foundation-Seldon storyline, and that of a series of simulations running to help Hari Seldon figure out what he is missing from his grand theory. The stories do weave together (and how they do so is pretty clever) but sometimes the descriptions of the "cyberworld" get a little tiresome as you work through the grammatical contortions and turns of phrase. (Perhaps readers who enjoy what used to be called "cyberpunk" will like these parts more than I did.) What I did like is that there was a more mathematical treatment of the whole idea of psychohistory as well as narrative explaining some of the concepts - something Asimov never really did because his emphasis was different.

However, this book was mainly just a vehicle to show a bunch of different, sometimes-related ideas and concepts around what is a pretty minimal story for the most part. Having said that, however, I did enjoy the book overall as a continuation of the Foundation saga and the idea that it does fill in some gaps from the original series of novels. The most important thing to realize (which is obvious but sometimes only in retrospect) is that Benford's idea is to tell a story within the Foundation universe but not in the same manner that you might be used to if you have read all the other Foundation novels. I can honestly say this: everything does start making more sense at the end.

Also for those who feel this is a continuation of "Foundation and Earth," you should realize that it is not. Personally I would almost like to see some stories that continue the series where Asimov left off, with the potential race of super aliens among us. Perhaps the next time around.

I gave three stars simply because while I love the Foundation series, the writing style in this one was just not to my liking and there was a little too much divergence early on (even though it made sense later).

Rating:
Summary: Foundation's Queer (Offspring)
Review: I rate this 0 stars, one star is too high. AVOID THIS BOOK AT ALL COSTS!! IF YOU READ THIS, YOU WILL GO BLIND...GUARANTEED!! This is among the Top 10 worst science fiction novels I have ever read.

It rambles. There is no plot. It should not even be associated with the great Asimov's books. Mr. Benford should be ashamed of himself for submitting this trash. What publisher was stupid enough to consider this printable?

Rating:
Summary: A good book, but not so good as a Foundation one...
Review: When I found out that the so much awaited "second trilogy" was not going to be a sequel to "Foundation and Earth", I felt a little disappointed, to say the least. However, since this trilogy was intended to be a Foundation series, I could not even try to resist... now, I wish I could have... What Asimov did with his awarded Foundation series was only surpassed by the form in which he "completed" it, not only by writing a few pieces more to fill the gaps, but also by linking some dozen or so of his previous works into an exceptionally coherent galactic story that spans more than twenty millennia. He did that in a way that I cannot help but feel the presence of Daneel Olivaw in the background of his original trilogy, even if at the time he wrote it, he did not intend to link it with his robot series. I made this prelude to my review, for I wanted to sustain it, something that would not seem to be that necessary, on the light of the other reviews this book had by now.

This book is a decent work in the field of science fiction, and I liked very much whole parts of the plot, including the not-so-well appreciated incursion of the sims; in fact, I think that it was such a waste to include them in this novel, since they would have been good protagonists of his own story. The author does not follow Asimov's style, which is, in fact, a very good point, since Isaac himself changed throughout the years, including the science stuff. Asimov himself would have been at the very least tempted to include wormholes in his universe, since he liked to update his writing with current science understanding; furthermore, whenever some of his older stories went republished, he apologized (at the prologues) for his outdated science.

In spite of this, as it has been already pointed by others, this novel could not be considered as an acceptable Foundation book. First at all, the book lacks plenty in continuity affairs, specially with respect to the so-much-remembered earth and to the inclusion of robot-like characters, which were (in Asimov's universe) banned from the public view millennia before the story began, in so manifestly a manner, that people would laugh at Mycogenians for just believe in the existence of such automatons. Even worse was the inconsistency between the original characters and the ones portrayed in this piece: I felt utterly uncomfortable at that fiery Yugo, that openly robotical Dors, that judicious Cleon, that non-so-minimalist Daneel, and that daring Hari Seldon (I half-expected a paragraph in which he would unexpectedly appear in front some Lamurkians saying: "I'm Seldon, Hari Seldon").

Given the aforementioned comments, my advice is not to read the book if you have read Asimov's Foundation series yet, for it would be a dreadful experience; however, if you have not read them (or if you are able to take this book as a standalone one), get this book and you may like it.

Rating:
Summary: I stopped at the mid-point
Review: I began the book primarily because of the Foundation aspect (as did most other readers). I was hoping for a story picking up where "Foundation & Earth" left off. No such luck. I was very disappointed to find that the new trilogy was going to "fill in the gaps" of a time period already covered by Asimov in the last two official Foundation novels ("Prelude" and "Forward").

The first hundred pages kept me pretty interested but eventually my eyes started to glaze. I slogged on till the mid-point, but after a few days I realized I had no desire to return to the book. That's when I decided to quit.

I would have forced myself if I weren't already disappointed with the premise, but I read nothing here to indicate that this particular experiment will provide any indispensible lore to the Foundation universe.

I have not read any other Benford novels, so I can't comment on whether this novel was a reflection of his usual work.

Rating:
Summary: Nothing Asimov Here
Review: A huge disappointment in the Asimov Foundation Universe for Foundation fans everywhere. As an avid fan of nearly all of Asimov's works and reading nearly every non-fiction book by Isaac, I was thoroughly frustrated in just trying to finish the book. We find ourselves in a universe that vaguely resembles Asimov's. The characters we grew to admire in the originals are drastically changed. Most notably: Hari Seldon - who was a legend in all other books that suddenly betrays the reader by becoming a lost and scared soul running from misfotune rather than fighting with a master plan to perservere. New unwanted additions of alien beings and robots run rampant (the "TikToks") without the 3 laws as well as some software MEME types and other alien life forms that Asimov would have never EVER included; Asimov's universal rules were broken. It's difficult to expect anyone to come close to Asimov in his own writting, but making him turn in his grave is something entirely different. If it had been a book alone, without using the Asimov name, it would have only been mediocre at best. Claiming to be set in an Asimov universe is ridiculous. This is a book to skip without affecting the others in this series.

Rating:
Summary: Help For Insomniacs
Review: Normally, I do a lot of my reading on the train (BART for those of you familiar with San Francisco), getting to and from work. An engrossing book keeps me awake and I read it relatively quickly. "Foundation's Fear", especially the first half of it, set a recond for putting me to sleep. There were days in when I only managed to read a couple of pages. A paragraph or two and I'd be out, even before the train started moving. As others here have pointed out, there is a lot of boring dialogue and description and much of it focuses around the Voltaire and Joan of Arc artificial entities. Hundreds of pages of philosophical noodling and descriptions of imaginary scenes conjured up in cyberspace become numbing.

Then there's psycohistory! Asimov used it as a vehicle to further his plot, he didn't try to flesh it out in detail. Benford does, and it just doesn't work on that level. If elaborate statistical analysis worked that well think what it could do to major sports. He also indulges in long-winded detailing of psychohistory's graphical output. This also goes on and on. And there's the imperial government, which is autocratic, but also seems to be subject to democratic constraints at the same time.

Benford discusses in the "Afterward" all the considerations involved in extending Asimov's Foundadtion series, and there were many. To his credit, he didn't try to imitate Asimov's style and he introduced technologies not used in the original books. And some parts of the book are faster-paced and more entertaining. I thought the section on "Panucopia" was the best, but there were other good scenes.

This book has it good points and its bad ones. It's two hundred pages too long and there are inconsistencies that are already well-documented by others. On the whole it isn't very satisfying. Those wanting to do the full sequence should be prepared to plod through, others probably should bypass this one altogether.

Rating:
Summary: Trashing the Foundation
Review: BAD! BAD! BAD! I am forced to wonder if the last few reviewers have actually read the origional series. Having read them and listened to them on tape numerous times I was excited when I discovered they were to be continued. Well then I discovered they are not continued. It is a book with the word "Foundation" in the title but that seems to be the only connection. Asimov gave us a Seldon who used a martial arts technique called "Twister" here we have a Hari Seldon who almost swings from chandiliers (and does from trees). One wonders just when he had time to work on the "Seldon Plan". What are wormholes doing in space? They weren't in Asimov's universe and so should not be in this book. Voltair and Joan of Arc? No! This book is not a Foundation book it is a hastily crafted piece of junk. Have I made myself clear enough? If not...if you loved Asimov pass this one by even if it setting on a bin of books to be recycled. It is a pity that trees died so that it could live.

Rating:
Summary: A Spectacular Failure
Review: The original Foundation series by Asimov got off to a rocky start but finally evolved into a rather nice series with a grand sweep -- one where the character's personalities managed to shine through despite the confines of rigid psychohistory. This new Foundation series, by Benford, Brin and Bear starts off on shaky ground of its own with Benford's horrible first book, which places an onerous burden on the following two writers to clean up in his wake (which they do, eventually). But where Asimov's first Foundation novel was a little arid and amateurish at times, Benford's book is downright irritating. Gone are subtle characterizations of Asimov. Instead we get meme entities, wormholes, questionable social theory, unnecessary physics, and perhaps the most pretentious, irritating plot device ever invented -- the Joan of Arc and Voltaire interludes, which take up significant portions of this book and should be avoided at all cost. Never mind whether or not Benford creates a Foundation consistent with prior novels (he doesn't) or if he lays out his prose in a proper Asimovian manner (again, he doesn't, but technically he may actually be somewhat better than Asimov), the real question is if Benford has managed to add something to this series or take it in new directions. For that matter, Benford could have made Seldon into a raving psychopath as long as he managed to create a decent novel in the process, but instead we just get a bad book. There are several inexplicable segments where entire conversations are repeated verbatim from earlier sections; nearly every character begins their sentences with "Um" to the point it becomes maddening (someone should count the number of times that word appears throughout the novel and fine Benford accordingly); long passages in the novel get bogged down by long-winded theorizing and scientific jargon ... the list goes on and on, much like the book. Benford fails spectacularly on all fronts with this ill-conceived novel; kudos to Brin and Bear for salvaging as much as they could from this mess.

Rating:
Summary: An "almost" complete disappointment
Review: Don't get me wrong, this could be a good scifi novel, but it is a very bad foundation novel. The reason I bought this was not just because it's science fiction. I bought it because it was a foundation novel. And I am completely disappointed.

Forget about foundation for a min... If u r writing a novel that uses characters from another novel, don't you think you should take care to make sure that the characters act the same way in both novels? I don't care about numbers and calendars, but the characters make the novel! The characters in this novel are most certainly not the same as those in other foundation novels, even if they have the SAME NAME!! Let me give u a few examples... I have read all of Asimov's foundation, empire and robot novels.... I will try to use that knowledge to make my point.....

1. First major complaint: Two subsidiary characters with very little use to the story except for one discovery (and the nonsensical "pans") use up almost quarter of the book. That's 100 pages too many!!!!

2. Second major complaint: The stuff that happens to those 2 subsidiary characters is BORING!!! By reducing all the useless stuff about them, the book's size would have been decreased to a considerable extent. Is that why they were given so much space???

3. Third major complaint: The Hari Seldon who had trouble climbing up a platform as a professor (Forward the Foundation) now crawls through ventilation shafts, jumps through elevator shafts and acts like some kind of jackie chan!!!! I did not buy an Action series for god's sake!! Hari Seldon is THE main character of foundation series! Do not play with him. At the least PLEASE DON'T CHANGE HIM FROM AN OLD MAN TO A YOUNG ACROBAT. At that time he WAS an old man.

4. The aristocratic and proud Cleon I of Forward the Foundation, ever ready to execute people who act against him, has no resemblance to the helpless man of Foundation's fear who it seems cannot make a move without getting worried about what one of his subjects might do about it!!!!!!!!!! It's impossible for me to believe that Cleon cannot have his way, not because Seldon stops him, but because he is worried what one his subjects might do. He is too impulsive.

5. Democracy????? Council?????? Anybody who has read forward the foundation, must remember that in the reign of Cleon I there was no such thing as democracy [Namarti snickered. " In twenty thousand years, democracy has never been used for very long without falling apart"] - from forward the foundation!!!! AND this is very important. Without this one of the major premises for the story will vanish!!

6. How did the robot explorers make it safe for humanity to colonize, when they were not used by the people for colonization?? Remember Robots and Empire????

U get the idea.....

The author mentions that he did not want to mimic Asimov's style. That is exactly as it should be. But, the style he chose is completely wrong for this foundation novel.

So, according to me, the author has completely misrepresented almost every major character that came from an Asimov novel and used a style not suited for this novel!!!! This is a normal scifi novel masquerading as a foundation novel.

But I do think the idea that was setout in this novel about aliens is very interesting and exciting. That's the silver lining in this dark thundercloud!!! I hope it won't rain on the other books. I hope the alien idea will be worked out in a more believable (foundation) fashion in the next two books.

Rating:
Summary: What a shame...
Review: As indicated by most other reviewers, this novel is, at best, a mediocre introduction to the rest of the new Foundation series. The novel did little to offer additional insight into Asimov's universe, and, in many ways, deviated from that which had already been established. Even when attempting the look at the work independently, "outside" of the Foundation universe, I found that Benford seemed to spend much of his time trying to pack as much scientific jargon as possible into the text. Even as an avid reader of science fiction, I found myself (unwittingly) skipping over whole paragraphs (or pages!) of text, and having to force myself to go back and re-read the often boring, long-winded prose of the author.

While I wouldn't say "skip it," as the second novel in the trilogy- and the third, from what I've read so far- is quite enjoyable, I'd definitely forewarn readers that they've got some HEAVY, often excruciatingly boring reading to do in order to introduce themselves to the new series.