Foundation’s Edge/Foundation and Earth

I actually wrapped up my rather enjoyable journey though  Asimov’s robot and empire novels a while ago. I’m including the final two novels here because they basically constitute one large continuous story. It’s almost 500 years after the establishment of First Foundation. The Mule has been rebuffed and all seems well. Then an unexpected appearance by Hari Seldon upsets the apple cart and raises some interesting questions.  A young councilman on Termius, Golan Trevize, sets off to find the Second Foundation. In turn, this leads to him seeking out the planet of humanity’s origin, Earth. I won’t say whether he finds it or not, but the second book is called Foundation and Earth, so…

Along the way Asimov uses the opportunity to revisit iconic elements of the Robot and Foundation novels as well as tying in one-off works like The End of Eternity and Nemesis. He really has fun rounding up all of his work into one corral. It was almost as if he felt that this might be his last word on the subject, which happily it wasn’t. The propitious elevator ride where a neighbor suggests he write a prequel to the Foundation novels was still waiting for him at the time he wrote these books. I remember appreciating Asimov tying bows on everything the first time I encountered it, and it was just as enjoyable this time around. Perhaps it was a little self indulgent, but why not? Asimov certainly did more than enough to earn his victory lap.