Well...I only paid a buck fifty for it, and it was 33 years old, so it's not exactly a surprise that this book disintegrated as I read it. But it's still a bit of a shame, isn't it? On the other hand, I am certain I'll never read this book again, so I guess I'm not really out anything.
Because?
Well, mostly because I am moving on, moving on--but not because it's getting phony. Because I have a lot of books left to read, and not that many years left to read them in. But to tell you the truth...this book was more than a bit of a disappointment for me. I am loathe to spoil anything, but I must just say this: The final chapters of this book actually undermine the entire Foundation series. They also link it up to another Asimov series, so that's nice, but really...why would Asimov blow up the series that is considered by many (most?) science fiction readers to be his finest achievement? (1966 Best All-Time Series Hugo Award: Foundation series by Isaac Asimov.)
Well. Let's just say that it made the "final" book in The Foundation Series (quotation marks courtesy of the fact that later on Asimov wrote two prequels and three other guys wrote another trilogy that fit in between those Asimov prequels and Foundation, so it's final in some senses, but not in others) more than a bit of a letdown. Unfortunately, if you want to read the series, you really have to read this book, as skipping it would just leave everything set up in Foundation's Edge dangling from that edge. So basically you're screwed either way, but maybe knowing that there's going to be some bad shit at the end will help to soften the blow and allow you to enjoy it more than I did?
This is my dream.
As for me...I'm still going to read Foundation's Friends, which is a collection of stories and essays written as a paean to Asimov's great series. I'll admit that I'm not expecting much, but hey, who knows... maybe I'll be surprised.
No comments:
Post a Comment