Prelude to Foundation in Building a SciFi/Fantasy Library

Sep 04, 2010 Kevin J. Rogers rated it liked it

Every once in a while an author is forced, whether by their publisher or their public, to write an unnecessary book. I think this is one of those cases, and Asimov nearly admits as much in his Author's Note; as he explains, he returned to the Foundation Series in 1982 (after a 25-year hiatus) because he was basically pressured to. Not that Prelude to Foundation is in any way a bad book--actually, it's pretty good, and were one to be completely unaware of the other Foundation books it would be, o Every once in a while an author is forced, whether by their publisher or their public, to write an unnecessary book. I think this is one of those cases, and Asimov nearly admits as much in his Author's Note; as he explains, he returned to the Foundation Series in 1982 (after a 25-year hiatus) because he was basically pressured to. Not that Prelude to Foundation is in any way a bad book--actually, it's pretty good, and were one to be completely unaware of the other Foundation books it would be, on the whole, quite an intriguing read. But one of the great strengths of the original series was its way of bringing the reader along as part of the adventure, and that sense of journey is not at all in the forefront in this novel, even though travel is a big part of the story. Moreover, this book seems to be intended to fill in some of the blanks readers of the original first Foundation may have had after reading that seminal novel, but it was those very blanks which were part of the fun. And that is why I consider this book "unnecessary": there was no reason to issue an explication of the back story, since the story as originally conceived was exciting enough beginning where it began. As Hemingway so often pointed out, the stuff you leave out ends up getting in anyway, if you write it well enough. Asimov wrote the original Foundation Series well enough indeed, and could have left it well enough alone.

All that being said, there are some great aspects to this book, especially the twists at the end. For someone unfamiliar with the original Foundation series this would be a great introduction, although I do still think that knowing some of the facts in this story would serve to diminish some of the excitement and the mystery of the later (though written much earlier) books. Given that Asimov manages to weave some pretty profound sociological and historical insight into his work, making that complaint a relatively minor one; the payoff is so great in his work that any criticism that he gives too much away here is, admittedly, quibbling. Plus his writing is just plain fun. For fans of classic scifi, one simply cannot go wrong with the master. ...more

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