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Synopsis: The Foundation has survived attacks by barbarian kingdoms and expanded her sphere of influence throughout the Periphery. But now the Galactic Empire, decadent but still powerful, is taking an interest in reconquering the Periphery and Terminus as well.
Led by an able, young general, the Empire will find out what happens when a living will meets the dead hand of Hari Seldon.
WARNING! The comments contain spoilers to the previous book in the series Foundation proceed at your own risk :)
Comments: Like Foundation, this book suffers from the pulpishness of Asimov's earlier works. Likewise, in the end it doesn't matter much, though it may annoy the reader.
This book also contains what originally were stories for Astounding. Only two this time. One dealing with the Galactic Empire and the other with The Mule, an unforeseen factor , a wrinkle, in the Psychohistorical equations that guide the Foundation.
I hesitate to say more about The Mule because doing so would give away the result of the confrontation with the Empire. When I read this book, I found that it didn't matter how sure I or the characters were that the Foiundation's victory was inevitable, I still didn't see a way out at all! That is the genius and the charm of the Good Doctor's writing: he pulls the Foundation out of the frying pan in a way that, looking back on it, seems both logical and inevitable.
Of course there are drawbacks to this. If the outcome was inevitable by Psychohistorical necessity, as Onum Barr puts it from the beginning, then what merit is there to any action the heroes might take? The second story mannages to answer that question very neatly. I won't say here what the answer is, lest I spoil your reading. But I'll say that the answer sets a pattern for furhter heroes of the Foundation to follow that never breaks down in the rest of the series.
The second story in the book, The Mule, also contains one of the first strong female characters in Asimov's writing, Bayta Darrel (Susan Calvin in the robot stories is the other one, but I'm not sure which one came first). This is important because Asimov's early stories often lacked female characters at all, let along strong ones. But since The Mule and until his last works, strong women take permanent residence in the Good Doctor's pantheon of characters.
Here's a small spoiler, skip this paragraph if you don't want to read it! Trantor appears twice in this book. The descriptions of it are pale indeed when compared to those in Prelude To Foundation and Forward the Foundation. Some elements are even contradictory. Yet the contrast between the depictions of Trantor within this book are very powerful. Not in their form, but rather in their substance.
Spoilers are over. Read on!
The Second story has a large problem: too many characters. Some keep showing up after it's really pointless to do so. Take this with a sigh, please. Asimov was in his 20s when he wrote the Foundation series, after all. Still learning his craft. Also, and I'm not sure of this since it's been years since I last read F&E, I think the nature of the Second Foundation is too easily taken for granted, that is to say, there is never an explicit mention of where the Darell's and Ebling Miss got their information, at least I can't remember one.
Such flaws sometimes prove more interesting than annoying, as they reveal Asimov's progress through time. Certainly they take nothing away from the core of Foudation and Empire, not where it really matters.
Assuming ghe edition you read contains a table of contents, skip it if you're too sensitive about spoilers. Some of the chapter titles may give information away ahead of time.
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