Of course, some of that shock is pretense, but, still-sixty years later, when sexually exploited fourteen-year-olds are seen with some regularity on Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, the horror of the scene is somewhat muted. When the warlord of Kalgan decides to take Arkady as his consort, she-the romantic who sees conspiracies everywhere-has no idea of his sexual intentions and everybody else is shocked beyond belief. (One must admit that 1940’s morals show through. Most of the other characters in the story are nearly as good, although Preem Palver and his wife are rather stereotypical-and yet, even so, the stereotypes are well-exploited and vivid. Characterization was never Asimov’s strongest point as a writer, but here he has succeeded brilliantly and created one of the most memorable characters in the history of science fiction. Arkady Darrell is a rarity in Asimov, a compelling and memorable character (and a female to boot). Again, Asimov hoped that he would show Seldon’s Plan firmly back on track and that this would let him end the series, and he nearly got away with it.Įverything is nearly perfect about this story, and we have to begin with the heroine. It is followed, however, by one of Asimov’s most brilliant pieces, ever. On the whole, this is a tired story by someone who didn’t really want to write it. The Second Foundationers remain shadowy voices who are never allowed to show themselves (with the exception of their spy in the Mule’s camp) until the end, which confuses the narrative further. The narrative involves a convoluted back-and-forth between the Mule’s expedition to find the Second Foundation and the Second Foundationers themselves. (His hope, however, was that by reversing the ending-the Second Foundation triumphs, the Plan is restored, and nothing interesting ever happens again-he would still be free of the series.)Īsimov’s distaste for his subject shows here.

Seldon’s plan would then be completely wrecked, and Asimov would be free of the Foundation stories. His original plan, which John Campbell talked him out of, was to have the Mule find and destroy the Second Foundation. Asimov was very, very tired of the Foundation series by this point and wanted to end it, he didn’t care how.

“ The Search by the Mule” is the weakest of the Foundation stories, bar none. Here, however, the sections are also very uneven in quality, not just in length. The book divides, like Foundation and Empire, into two very uneven sections, the first (“ The Search by the Mule”) occupying about one-third the book and the second (“ Search by the Foundation”) the remainder. My very favorite of the Foundation books.

Second Foundation by Isaac Asimov