In the realm of science fiction, Isaac Asimov’s stories have always been my woobie. This rings especially true for his Robot and Foundation series. For me, they’re a literary panic room where I can escape the stress storms and never-ending deadlines of the day-to-day ruckus into a much simpler time where the ambient happy is always turned way up. Yes…yes…before you say it, I'll acknowledge your gripes about Asimov and even concede to some of them. Asimov wasn't as skilled a wordsmith as, say, Jack Vance, but, in fairness, how many people were. He wasn’t as brilliantly thought-provoking as Arthur C. Clarke, and rarely, if ever, used his writing to address important social issues as the likes of Heinlein, Silverberg and Ellison did. Fine…granted…and SO what? Asimov tales are just rousing good yarns told with an infectious; Star Trek optimism that fills you up with the belief that humanity is destined for bigger, brighter and better things. His stories are warm, cozy, familiar and fun. They’re comfort food; a shot of optimism for the soul, like mom’s chicken soup. Therefore, as this is my own biased, subjective review, I shall give a hall pass to the grandmaster regarding his tendency towards clunky dialogue, his often unornamented, transparent characters and his occasional deus ex machina plot conveniences. They exist and this acknowledgement is as close to criticism of these stories as I intend to come. PLOT SUMMARY: Written in 1988, a quarter century after the original Foundation Trilogy, this long-awaited prelude to the classic series covers a critical period in the evolution of psychohistory. Beginning soon after Hari Seldon’s moment of eureka, when he first envisions the future-chaperoning science as nothing more than a curious philosophical impracticality, to the momentous events that lead to Hari’s realization that psychohistory has the potential to be developed as a practical, effective tool against the Galactic Empire’s pending collapse. Taking place entirely on Empire’s capital, Trantor, the story covers what is known as “the Flight,” during which Seldon is forced into hiding from Eto Demerzel, the Emperor’s Chief of Staff, who wants Hari’s new science to be employed for the political benefit of Emperor Cleon I. While on the run, Hari travels across the massive planet, with its population of more than 40Billion, and interacts with various cultures. These interactions slowly work to remove the “can’t do” fog from Hari’s perception of psychohistory. Oh….and there’s also a chubby-raising tie-in to Asimov’s robot novels that does a great deal to smooth out some of the earlier inconsistencies between the two series and lays the foundation (no pun) for a merging of the two series that had begun in Robots and Empire. THOUGHTS:Uh…It’s goodIt’s fun…It’s comforting…Flaws aside, the Foundation Trilogy was the first science fiction story I ever read and it began my love affair with the genre that continues to this day. Thus, these stories will always hold a special place for me and I don't believe I'll ever discontinue to view them fondly.And with good reason, I think.Asimov was a master at the big idea. He was an artist who painted stories on a ginormous canvas, depicting mega events and larger than life characters. The mind-bogglingly large, galaxy spanning empire he created for the Foundation series was the prototype for all of the vast galactic civilizations that came after.He thought big, he wrote big, he entertained big. Yeah, I’ll take that. Now...I did have one fanboy gripe about this installment and it stems from my frustrated desire to learn, finally, from Asimov the nuts and bolts of psych-historical analysis. Logically, I grant that any such explanation had no chance of meeting my expectations and that Asimov, being as astute as he was, correctly decided not to provide revelations about the inner workings of the science. By maintaining the mystery, he avoided any taint upon the majesty of the idea. Still, I was a tad bummed by the lack in this area.Oh well, I enjoyed myself and I loved that the story filled in gaps in both the Foundation series and the Robot novels. Worth a read, it will make you smile.4.0 stars. Highly Recommended. Nominee: Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel.
This is the beginning prequel to the Foundation series by Isaac Asimov and takes place first chronologically. It was written in 1988 about 45 years after Foundation and the content is very different. I feel like this book could be made into a fantastic movie with all of the action, interesting places, and great character development. In contrast, Foundation written in 1944 is relatively dry and a little more work to read but still an amazing book. I feel like Prelude was well-written in a few ways that are superior to other Asimov books. He wrote about 300 books between Foundation and Prelude and he seems to have really improved his writing. I feel like the characters in Prelude are very well developed and they seem to be alive from the reader's perspective. I got attached to the characters in Prelude whereas the characters in Foundation seem more like historical figures. The same characters in Prelude continue through the next book Forward the Foundation and the two books together really establish a personal connection with the characters. These two books are double the length of each of the original Foundation books which develops the storyline. In fact the length of the prequel books almost as long as the entire original Foundation series. But despite being long books they are hard to put down. It's good that Asimov wrote these prequel books because they tell the story of the development of Psychohistory which is the basis of the Foundation series. In the later books Psychohistory is treated as a "black box" without much explanation of how it works and how it was created. When I first read Foundation I thought the idea of using historical data to predict the future was kind of silly. But Prelude and Forward give some interesting details about how it works that makes it seem kind of plausible. I also like how this book uses modern technical words and concepts that date from 1988 instead of 1944. It causes a slight issue with continuity but the technology like "holo-vision" described in Prelude seems more plausible for the distant future. Although the future described in Foundation was very innovative for 1944 when there wasn't even any TV yet. Prelude starts at the point in time where the idea was first suggested by Hari Seldon which allows the reader to see its full history. Also, the Foundation series is based on the work of Hari Seldon but he is not really much of a character in the original books which take place after his lifetime. But the prequel books have Hari Seldon as the main character and it makes sense to start the series during his lifetime. Another great thing about this book is all of the mystery between the characters and the difficult challenges they face. It's hard to tell what the people interacting with Seldon are really thinking and who's side they are on. Books with lots of surprises keep the reader interested. The problems they have and the solutions they come up with are fascinating and would make the book a great basis for a movie. The movie would need special effects though because the descriptions of a planet with 40 billion people in an empire with 25 million planets containing nearly a quintillion people 30000 years in the future boggle the imagination.
What do You think about Prelude To Foundation (1994)?
Some day I'm going to read the novels of Asimov's future history in story order...1 The End of Eternity (stand-alone) 19552 I, Robot (short stories) 19503 The Caves of Steel (Robot) 19544 The Naked Sunt(Robot) 19575 The Robots of Dawn (Robot) 19836 Robots and Empire (Robot) 19857 The Stars, Like Dust (Empire) 19518 The Currents of Spacet(Empire) 19529 Pebble In The Sky (Empire) 195010 Prelude to Foundation (Foundation Prequel) 198811 Forward the Foundation (Foundation Prequel) 199112 Foundation (Foundation) 195113 Foundation and Empire (Foundation) 195214 Second Foundation (Foundation) 195315 Foundation's Edge (Foundation Sequel) 198216 Foundation and Eartht)Foundation Sequel) 1986Meanwhile though, I've already read the robot, empire, and foundation books, so am aware enough to understand the place of this novel as a bridge between the three originally unrelated sub-series. I'm not sure what it would be like to read this as a stand-alone, although I suspect interest would be limited. As it is, I felt the story was overly drawn out, as Hari and Dors move from district to district on Trantor. By the end, I had long figured out who Hummin really was and other things that I will not mention here to avoid spoilers for others. But it is always fun to watch Asimov unravel the clues he has built up through the duration of the novel and the series.
—Tomislav
I felt that this was written just to explain and fill in gaps in the Foundation world. I read all the others over ten years ago, and only recently read this 'prelude'. I feel that in some ways it has changed my visualizations of some of the other characters. The younger Hari Seldon turned out to be completely different to how I had previously imagined him.Some of the plot in this book is too drawn out, I almost felt myself 'speed reading' at times (sorry). I personally did not feel drawn to the characters as much as those in the original trilogy, especially the little 'street kid' with his cringe-worthy slang talk. I did enjoy the insights into the earlier human cultures, religions and society. I liked the way the book managed to lead up to 'the trial' quite seemlessly. I almost felt that I was reading 'Foundation' near the end of the book.In summary... Enjoyable, and informative... A good prequel, considering how many decades it was writen after the original. Although it lacked the 'golden' feel of the trilogy, prelude should still be read; but after the others in the series.
—Bill Wellham
I did the unthinkable when it comes to reading the Foundation series and started with Prelude (I recently also finished Forward the Foundation and have started reading Foundation). I read the book slowly during my commute, and I found myself getting progressively more annoyed with how quickly I got to and from work. I felt like the book went 0-60 in no time as it immediately set a brisk pace that it would follow for the rest of the book. I found that the flight of Hari Seldon was both exciting and full of intrigue. I enjoyed reading about the dystopian societies of Mycogen and Dahl through Hari Seldon's fairly unbiased and observant PoV. The twists towards the end were exciting and while I partly expected one of them, it still didn't take away from the "oh my goodness" nature of the moment.A small drawback: I felt like the Seldon character (the protagonist) lacked personality. Given that he was the narrator, I appreciated the mostly objective recounting of events through the clear lens of Seldon's mind, but somehow he seemed a little too bland and it was difficult for me to "root for" or develop affection for the character. That's just a personal quibble though, and I would still wholeheartedly recommend this book.As far as starting the series with Prelude is concerned, only time will tell if I end up feeling robbed by the time I finish the original series. I will be sure to come back and update my review with respect to this issue once I am done with the series.
—Maanasa Kona
