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beeah's review against another edition
informative
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.5
any_direction's review against another edition
3.0
3.5
Foundation was a book that was on my “I’ll get to it eventually” list, but nothing like a film adaptation to get you to read something. The Foundation show was incredible, but my free apple trial ran out before season 2 was released, and I still wanted more. I liked the show so much that I’ve had to reevaluate my opinions on stories set in space. Anyway, I remembered that I could get my Foundation fulfillment via the books and finally picked them up.
This book is a classic, and it is not written in a classic way. It is almost entirely dialogue. There is more dialogue in this book than there is some play scripts. Which confirms my beliefs that no, your fantasy novel does not need to be 1000 pages and yes, dialogue can lead to effective world-building. It also suggests that you can get away with very little description and still have effective world building. I feel like writing communities get really caught up in rules on how to write things, and this book proves that you can write successfully without following any of the rules. As someone who leans heavily on dialogue, this book felt validating.
The story itself had some interesting things. There’s this constant battle between the characters knowing that the path has been laid out for them, but not knowing what the path is. There are questions about how religion and legends become so and some underdog vibes.
The TV show does this thing where it changes the race and gender of many characters. The show is not about race or gender but oh man does that make a difference in how I perceived the characters. Maybe this is some sign of my internalized biases, but the characters in this book are high and mighty. Everyone is confident in themselves and in their plans despite looming more powerful forces on the horizon. It was fun for one segment, but then it kind of keeps repeating. Mallow in the final part being insufferable, so much so that the other characters point it out. These men are painted a bit as underdogs, or at least part of underdog groups, but this doesn’t bare out as all their plans work perfectly.
There are three (I think) women in novel. Two are obstinate wives, one is a servant with no dialogue. Obnoxious, but not unexpected.
My critiques of this book are similar to my critiques of Dune. Something that makes this book more tolerable is the short length. It’s hard to think of this book as a chosen one narrative (though it is) when you have a new chosen one every time you jump a generation. Each chosen man, at the end of his segment acknowledges that they are leaving problems for the next generation. Most notably the person with the foresight is long dead by part two. The society is democratic, and thus this feels more like parallels can be made to modern day politics. The commodities of necessary are energy sources, which again feels more substantive than Dune’s spice. Read this book if you loved Dune because the similarities are there. Read this book if you hated Dune, because it proves that you can do the stuff Dune is trying to do better.
Overall, this was a mediocre but painless read. I still don’t have an Apple TV subscription, so I guess I’m going to go read the sequel.
Foundation was a book that was on my “I’ll get to it eventually” list, but nothing like a film adaptation to get you to read something. The Foundation show was incredible, but my free apple trial ran out before season 2 was released, and I still wanted more. I liked the show so much that I’ve had to reevaluate my opinions on stories set in space. Anyway, I remembered that I could get my Foundation fulfillment via the books and finally picked them up.
This book is a classic, and it is not written in a classic way. It is almost entirely dialogue. There is more dialogue in this book than there is some play scripts. Which confirms my beliefs that no, your fantasy novel does not need to be 1000 pages and yes, dialogue can lead to effective world-building. It also suggests that you can get away with very little description and still have effective world building. I feel like writing communities get really caught up in rules on how to write things, and this book proves that you can write successfully without following any of the rules. As someone who leans heavily on dialogue, this book felt validating.
The story itself had some interesting things. There’s this constant battle between the characters knowing that the path has been laid out for them, but not knowing what the path is. There are questions about how religion and legends become so and some underdog vibes.
The TV show does this thing where it changes the race and gender of many characters. The show is not about race or gender but oh man does that make a difference in how I perceived the characters. Maybe this is some sign of my internalized biases, but the characters in this book are high and mighty. Everyone is confident in themselves and in their plans despite looming more powerful forces on the horizon. It was fun for one segment, but then it kind of keeps repeating. Mallow in the final part being insufferable, so much so that the other characters point it out. These men are painted a bit as underdogs, or at least part of underdog groups, but this doesn’t bare out as all their plans work perfectly.
There are three (I think) women in novel. Two are obstinate wives, one is a servant with no dialogue. Obnoxious, but not unexpected.
My critiques of this book are similar to my critiques of Dune. Something that makes this book more tolerable is the short length. It’s hard to think of this book as a chosen one narrative (though it is) when you have a new chosen one every time you jump a generation. Each chosen man, at the end of his segment acknowledges that they are leaving problems for the next generation. Most notably the person with the foresight is long dead by part two. The society is democratic, and thus this feels more like parallels can be made to modern day politics. The commodities of necessary are energy sources, which again feels more substantive than Dune’s spice. Read this book if you loved Dune because the similarities are there. Read this book if you hated Dune, because it proves that you can do the stuff Dune is trying to do better.
Overall, this was a mediocre but painless read. I still don’t have an Apple TV subscription, so I guess I’m going to go read the sequel.
nahanni's review against another edition
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.25
northeastbookfan's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
4.5
books_with_kaumudi's review against another edition
4.0
Foundation is science fiction novel by Issac Asimov. It is the first book in the original "Foundation Trilogy" It is placed in the galactic empire, which has thrived for ages and a renowned scientist - Mr Hari Sheldon has predicted based on the norms of "psychohistory" that the end of galactic empire. Psychohistory predicts the behaviour of masses based on statistical analysis and therefore, Hari Sheldon has founded two different foundations to document the advancements of the empire at the opposite end of the galaxy so that once the empire falls, these foundations can restrict the ages of barbarism that can follow the destruction of the empire. The book then follows the events that occur at the Foundation that is placed at the edge of the galaxy on a planet named Terminus.
I really liked the story. Though the book has been written way before I came into being, it still reads very easy and pacing is great. There were points when I didn't realize that a good chunk of time has passed between the last scene and the current one, but once I got the hang of it following the timelines was a piece of cake. The characters were nicely done and the plot was very captivating. I could hardly put the book down. I practically loved everything about this book - the story, the characters, the universe, traveling through the space. The story is simple, good and engaging. There are tons of characters but the story never gets confusing or way too complex and therefore it is just a sweet simple read.
I really liked the story. Though the book has been written way before I came into being, it still reads very easy and pacing is great. There were points when I didn't realize that a good chunk of time has passed between the last scene and the current one, but once I got the hang of it following the timelines was a piece of cake. The characters were nicely done and the plot was very captivating. I could hardly put the book down. I practically loved everything about this book - the story, the characters, the universe, traveling through the space. The story is simple, good and engaging. There are tons of characters but the story never gets confusing or way too complex and therefore it is just a sweet simple read.
shermanberry's review against another edition
1.0
I know that I’m committing science fiction heresy when I write this but I couldn’t wait for this book to be over.
I will concede that it needs to be remembered that it was written in 1953 so some of the jarring narrative is best viewed through that lens e.g. all of the characters being male with the exception of a token wife and lighting up a cigar every 5 minutes for no apparent reason.
There was little character development. As soon as you started to work out characters that part ended and the story moved on a few decades.
The idea of psychohistory was good and the ability to predict the future by looking at crowd psychology and society as a whole. Free will vs fate etc. Explored much better in Dune with Paul’s prescience in my opinion.
Sorry to die hard fans. I didn’t enjoy this at all. Couldn’t wait to finish it. It’s redeeming feature? It was short.
And best ever science fiction series?? Do me a favour. I guess you could argue that I can’t judge a series having only read one book. Fair but there is no way I’m reading any other Foundation novels. Life’s too short.
I will concede that it needs to be remembered that it was written in 1953 so some of the jarring narrative is best viewed through that lens e.g. all of the characters being male with the exception of a token wife and lighting up a cigar every 5 minutes for no apparent reason.
There was little character development. As soon as you started to work out characters that part ended and the story moved on a few decades.
The idea of psychohistory was good and the ability to predict the future by looking at crowd psychology and society as a whole. Free will vs fate etc. Explored much better in Dune with Paul’s prescience in my opinion.
Sorry to die hard fans. I didn’t enjoy this at all. Couldn’t wait to finish it. It’s redeeming feature? It was short.
And best ever science fiction series?? Do me a favour. I guess you could argue that I can’t judge a series having only read one book. Fair but there is no way I’m reading any other Foundation novels. Life’s too short.
gildius's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
amanda_doty's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Category | Weight % | Rating 0-10
PLOT | 2 |
originality | 0.3 | 8
pacing | 0.1 | 6
structure | 0.1 | 3
conflict | 0.5 | 8
CHARACTER | 1 |
depth | 0.25 | 1
development | 0.25 | 0
diversity | 0.3 | 0
believability | 0.2 | 5
SETTING | 2 |
world-buliding | 0.4 | 9
atmosphere | 0.3 | 5
originality | 0.2 | 9
impact | 0.1 | 5
CRAFT | 1 |
prose | 0.35 | 8
dialogue | 0.25 | 7
show vs tell | 0.4 | 6
STYLE | 1 |
voice | 0.3 | 5
tone | 0.3 | 5
impact | 0.4 | 5
RESONANCE | 1 |
impact | 0.5 | 2
connection | 0.5 | 2
THEME | 2 |
central message | 0.4 | 6
subtlety | 0.2 | 3
universality | 0.4 | 9
PLOT | 2 |
originality | 0.3 | 8
pacing | 0.1 | 6
structure | 0.1 | 3
conflict | 0.5 | 8
CHARACTER | 1 |
depth | 0.25 | 1
development | 0.25 | 0
diversity | 0.3 | 0
believability | 0.2 | 5
SETTING | 2 |
world-buliding | 0.4 | 9
atmosphere | 0.3 | 5
originality | 0.2 | 9
impact | 0.1 | 5
CRAFT | 1 |
prose | 0.35 | 8
dialogue | 0.25 | 7
show vs tell | 0.4 | 6
STYLE | 1 |
voice | 0.3 | 5
tone | 0.3 | 5
impact | 0.4 | 5
RESONANCE | 1 |
impact | 0.5 | 2
connection | 0.5 | 2
THEME | 2 |
central message | 0.4 | 6
subtlety | 0.2 | 3
universality | 0.4 | 9
_dani's review against another edition
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0