Purplevision

"Foundation and Chaos: The Second Foundation Trilogy (Foundation Trilogy Series)" by Greg Bear

I read the Foundation and Galactic Empire books by Isaac Asimov in middle school, like a million years ago. (At that time, I was also playing Traveller and painting miniatures if you really must know.) They were short books with big type and simple stories. Approachable yet fun. As I recall, Asimov based the books on the fall of the Roman Empire (and it seemed like he wrote them as quickly as I read them :).

Take that, Ral Partha!

A fan of Bear, Benford and Brin, I was curious about these tribute novels that elaborate/retell the Foundation story. (In fact, David Brin was my favorite author for a while but after he had children, his stories began to revolve around children, albeit alien ones - blech!) The reviews were not all positive but I decided to give one a try.

And it wasnt half bad. This book is much wordier and complex than the original Asimov books. I enjoyed the story although I felt like I was missing a lot because I do not remember the original books nor did I ever read Asimov's Robot stories. The ending however was weak and a little too convenient, like a TV show.

All in all, worth a read if you dont have something better to do.