Foundation and Empire by Isaac Asimov

Summary

In this first sequel to Foundation, we follow the history of Hari Seldon’s successors on the planet Terminus  -the inhabitants of the first Foundation. By now, the original encyclopedists are long gone, and the Foundation is steadily involved in consolidating and uniting the fragmented worlds left in the wake of the failing galactic empire. Thanks to the machinations of charismatic leaders in the past – Salvor Haldin and Hober Mallow among others – the Foundation has averted three major crises that threatened its existence, and occupies a comfortable niche in space with far-reaching economic ties, considerable military strength and a flourishing base for research in the physical sciences. But now, about three hundred years after its conception, the Foundation faces its two greatest challenges yet – first, an attack from the remnants of the galactic empire, a failing giant that is still strong, and second, the rise of the Mule, a mutant, a genetic accident unforetold in Seldon’s plans, who decides to unite the galaxy seven centuries before Seldon’s predicted hour.

Review – Flaws in the Plan

When I finished the first book in this series and picked this one up, I was slightly worried that the story will rapidly get formulaic. I mean, there were about eight  hundred years more to go in the thousand year interim foretold in the Seldon plan, and I expected the rest of the books to detail the presentation of one Seldon crisis after another, with different ‘heroes’ moving in to play their miniscule roles in history, while grandfather Seldon smiles on in a place separated in time, holding(metaphorically) a small brown notebook detailing every major event in the foreseeable future. Predeterminism at its worst. I would have finished the series even if this had turned out to be true – Asimov’s political insights are fascinating – but I would certainly  have been disappointed. Instead, I found myself surprised and delighted by the head-on tackling of the main problem with the whole psychohistoric planning concept – viz how do you provide for the chance catastrophe that must arise in a long enough time scale, even if you have all the powers of probabilistic modelling in  your hands?

The novel is divided neatly into two halves – the first of which deals with the eponymous battle between the Foundation and the erstwhile Galactic Empire. Unlike the Seldon crises in the first book, this is a crisis that resolves itself without the exercise of considerable brainpower or strategic maneuvering on the part of one or two key individuals, further establishing the inevitability of the Seldon plan. And this false sense of security is blasted apart and turned in on itself in the second half of the book, which deals with the ascension of the Mule. The Mule, a mutant with unbelievable powers, is a genetic accident, an enigma, and has an agenda completely untempered by any desire to prudently wait centuries for an empire to form itself. The Mule seizes power ruthlessly, caring nothing for the distractions and rewards that bait normal men, and attacks the Foundation at its core. And the Foundation, by now, is turning into a stagnant reservoir of technical knowledge, with hereditary figureheads replacing the democratically elected leaders, with internal strife rising  on all sides, and with the Seldon plan being regarded with a trust approaching superstition as a ticket to invincibility . The only hope for the Foundation lies in finding and contacting the mysterious Second Foundation, established by Seldon at the same time as the first, which is believed to contain psychohistorians and psychologists, whose science has been perfected to an art, and whose task is to safeguard the Seldon Plan against exigencies such as the Mule.

Magnifico and Bayta Darell on Trantor

In spite of a slightly lacklustre first half, I really enjoyed Foundation and Empire. Its strength lies in the unpredictability of the second half, and the author’s willingness to challenge the conventions he himself laid down. We also get some more details about the way of life in the days of the empire – always welcome. At the time of writing this review, I have just finished the third book in the series – Second Foundation, and am still recovering from the revelations thereof. I recommend this book and the series to every fan of the science fiction genre.

And just for fun – here is a sketch of Magnifico, the clown with Bayta Darell during their last days on Trantor.