Little Pixie Posted February 14, 2014 Share Posted February 14, 2014 Sounds excellent Steve ( though also sounds like there`s some stuff in there I`d skip past ). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pontalba Posted February 15, 2014 Share Posted February 15, 2014 (edited) Excellent review! Haven't heard of Morgan, but he is on my radar now, for sure. Sounds very good. Added in Edit: Oddly enough when I visited Amazon, his later book, Woken Furies was one of my Gold Box deals..... Edited February 15, 2014 by pontalba Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Signor Finzione Posted February 15, 2014 Share Posted February 15, 2014 Great view of Altered Carbon, Steve - it sounds brilliant! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karsa Orlong Posted February 16, 2014 Author Share Posted February 16, 2014 Thanks guys Added in Edit: Oddly enough when I visited Amazon, his later book, Woken Furies was one of my Gold Box deals..... I think, even though it's classed as a trilogy, it's just the character that carries over from book to book, but otherwise they're standalone, so you could probably get away with reading the last one first I'll let you know in a few weeks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karsa Orlong Posted February 16, 2014 Author Share Posted February 16, 2014 # 11 Foundation by Isaac Asimov 1951 - Harper Voyager paperback - 234 pages From Amazon: Foundation marks the first of a series of tales set so far in the future that Earth is all but forgotten by humans who live throughout the galaxy. Yet all is not well with the Galactic Empire. Its vast size is crippling to it. In particular, the administrative planet, honeycombed and tunneled with offices and staff, is vulnerable to attack or breakdown. The only person willing to confront this imminent catastrophe is Hari Seldon, a psychohistorian and mathematician. Seldon can scientifically predict the future, and it doesn't look pretty: a new Dark Age is scheduled to send humanity into barbarism in 500 years. He concocts a scheme to save the knowledge of the race in an Encyclopedia Galactica. But this project will take generations to complete, and who will take up the torch after him? The first Foundation trilogy (Foundation, Foundation and Empire, Second Foundation) won a Hugo Award in 1965 for "Best All-Time Series". It's science fiction on the grand scale; one of the classics of the field. Thoughts: Isaac Asimov’s Foundation is a series of interconnected short stories which were originally published in the 1940’s, and then gathered together into novel form in the early 1950s. Set many thousands of years in the future, they tell tales of a time when humanity has spread throughout the galaxy, so far and so long ago that they have forgotten Earth even exists. But the Galactic Empire is tumbling through its final years, and a man called Harry Seldon has developed a new science that claims to predict the future of large populations over vast periods of time. He calls it ‘psychohistory’ and he has predicted the fall of the Empire, and a subsequent 30,000 years of barbarism, unless he and his Encyclopaedia Foundation can complete their task of preserving all of mankind’s history and knowledge. Using psychohistory, Seldon correctly predicts, manipulates, and accommodates the fact that he and his Foundation will be banished to the edge of the galaxy, and the uninhabited planet of Terminus, where they will begin their task. The five short stories included in this first volume cover a period of roughly two centuries, with each story being told from the point of view of a major figure in the Foundation’s story, and the so-called ‘Seldon Crises’ that they face, and which he has predicted. It’s a kicking-off point for Asimov to explore various themes from politics to religion to economics – and if that sounds a little boring, well, it isn’t, and that, I think, is down to the amazing clarity of the writing. Asimov made complex ideas so easy to follow that the book, for the most part, is a joy to read – a huge amount of fun (there’s an underlying wit to the writing that is enjoyably subtle), very thought-provoking, and somehow quite thrilling, even though there is not a single action scene during the whole book. In fact, each short story amounts to little more than various characters having various conversations, but it is through their dialogue that the stories evolve, and it’s so well done that I was swept along by it. Of course, being written the best part of 70 years ago, there is some fallout from the attitudes of the time: all of the men smoke like chimneys and drink like fish; they talk formally; they sport moustaches and play political tennis in virtually every conversation. This is all easy to overlook, even if it is unintentionally amusing these days, and gives the narrative a slightly stiff-upper-lip feel. But the one aspect it is difficult to overlook is that there is only one female character in the entire book, and she only has two minor scenes. It’s almost as if the thought of women in important and/or powerful positions was something Asimov thought the future couldn’t possibly contain. It’s somehow anachronistic, reading it now, as if his vast imagination and foresight couldn’t comprehend this most important aspect. Get back in the kitchen, basically. It’s summed up in one particular paragraph, when one (male) character describes how he is going to control a particular piece of technology: “The small household appliances go first. After half a year of this stalemate that you abhor, a woman’s atomic knife won’t work anymore. Her stove begins failing. Her washer doesn’t do a good job. The temperature-humidity control in her house dies on a hot summer day.” This annoyance aside, it’s easy to see how influential this book has been (George Lucas even nicked the capital city planet of Trantor for Coruscant in the Star Wars movies). It’s almost as if it created its own genre, the ‘socio-political’ SF novel, moving away from more pulpy aspects (the sci-fi, if you like ) and trying to do something altogether more thought-provoking. I thought it was, by and large, excellent. 8/10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kylie Posted February 16, 2014 Share Posted February 16, 2014 Way behind in your thread (geez you yak a lot!) but I'm very glad that you enjoyed Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell. I can't wait to see the adaptation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karsa Orlong Posted February 16, 2014 Author Share Posted February 16, 2014 Yeah, hopefully it'll do it justice Books I received for my birthday: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted February 16, 2014 Share Posted February 16, 2014 Great review, Steve! It's on my TBR (and I think your annoyance will be mine too). I hope you enjoy your new books, I love The Earthsea Quartet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Little Pixie Posted February 16, 2014 Share Posted February 16, 2014 Yeah, hopefully it'll do it justice Books I received for my birthday: DSC00848.JPG Ooh ! Happy Birthday Steve ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karsa Orlong Posted February 16, 2014 Author Share Posted February 16, 2014 Oh thanks, Sarah It's not today, though - I'm just a bit late in posting that pic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Little Pixie Posted February 16, 2014 Share Posted February 16, 2014 Oh thanks, Sarah It's not today, though - I'm just a bit late in posting that pic Oopsies. Happy Belated Wotsit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Signor Finzione Posted February 16, 2014 Share Posted February 16, 2014 When was your birthday? Let's pretend it's today - many happy returns! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timstar Posted February 16, 2014 Share Posted February 16, 2014 Hope you had a great birthday! I've had Asimov's Foundation series along with tonnes of his others for a while. It sounds really interesting. Enjoy your new books Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppyshake Posted February 16, 2014 Share Posted February 16, 2014 Happy Birthday for Whenever It Was Steve! Hope you had a good day Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karsa Orlong Posted February 17, 2014 Author Share Posted February 17, 2014 Thanks guys Hope you had a great birthday! I've had Asimov's Foundation series along with tonnes of his others for a while. It sounds really interesting. I managed to get the three paperbacks as a set through Amazon Marketplace for £9.50 - the cheaper option, rather than £75 for the Folio Society editions Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timstar Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 I managed to get the three paperbacks as a set through Amazon Marketplace for £9.50 - the cheaper option, rather than £75 for the Folio Society editions Good restraint! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devi Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 Happy belated birthday Steve! Love the books you got. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karsa Orlong Posted February 18, 2014 Author Share Posted February 18, 2014 Thanks Devi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karsa Orlong Posted February 18, 2014 Author Share Posted February 18, 2014 # 12 Foundation & Empire by Isaac Asimov 1952 - Harper Voyager paperback - 240 pages From Amazon: The Seldon Plan guided the First Foundation safely through two centuries of chaos as the Galactic Empire disintegrated. But Hari Seldon had no way of predicting the birth of the Mule, a mutant of uncanny power and unlimited ambition. The Mule's conquests are effortless and his subjects mind-controlled slaves. The Foundation is powerless against the supernormal force the Mule exerts. The Seldon Plan is in tatters. Two men and a woman from Terminus flee to the ruins of might Trantor in an effort to discover where the mysterious Second Foundation was established. Its help is needed desperately against the mental powers of the Mule. But the Mule, using those same astonishing powers, is also looking for the Second Foundation. Thoughts: I won't give too much detail on this one, as it's a sequel and a couple of people have said they are going to read them at some point. Foundation & Empire contains two longer stories, as opposed to the five shorter ones in the first book. Beginning soon after the end of Foundation, these two stories span the next century. I think the novella length of each gives them a bit more room to breathe, and the stories benefit from this greatly. They are still fast-paced and full of big ideas, but the characters work better. I wouldn't call them brilliant - it's more about the ideas than the people - but they seemed to me to be more natural. Plus Asimov actually included a major female character who plays a vital role in the second story, so this mostly addressed the previous book's major failing, imo, although she still seems to spend some of her time in the kitchen making sandwiches There are some intriguing developments in the idea of Seldon's Foundation and psychohistory. Although mentioned in the first book, I didn't mention it in my earlier review so as not to spoil: Seldon set up two Foundations, one at the periphery of the galaxy - the Foundation all the stories have been about so far - and a second Foundation, hidden away somewhere - nobody knows where - the mystery of which only begins to be uncovered in the latter stages of this book. Also, these stories see quite a lot more to the narrative than the talking heads of the first book. Although I wouldn't say there was action, as such, the inference is there, and there is much more in the way of descriptive storytelling. Overall, I've found these stories exciting, but in a more thoughtful way than I would have expected. These are tales where knowledge and intelligence win out over force and violence, and Asimov's writing is very clear, concise, and never confusing. At one stage, around halfway through, I was thinking it might be my first 10 of the year, but this was slightly knocked down by the fact that the big 'twist' in the second story is obvious from very early on (in fact, I couldn't believe the characters didn't figure it out sooner, it's so glaring). Fortunately there's another, far better twist in store, which I didn't see coming, but then the last five pages of the story are given over to a character explaining everything that had gone on before - a little unnecessary! Still, I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and would say it was superior to the first. I'm moving straight on to the final book of this original trilogy. 9/10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Signor Finzione Posted February 18, 2014 Share Posted February 18, 2014 Wow, they must be good if you're reading the whole series all at once! Nice review - the story does sound intriguing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karsa Orlong Posted February 18, 2014 Author Share Posted February 18, 2014 It helps that they're short - the three of these books just about make up the length of the usual novels I read Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted February 18, 2014 Share Posted February 18, 2014 Great review! You make me want to read the books! The books are pretty short indeed. Do you plan to read the prequels as well? I have them as well on my TBR, as well as the Complete Robot stories. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karsa Orlong Posted February 18, 2014 Author Share Posted February 18, 2014 I doubt very much that I'll read the other books in the series, not in a hurry anyway. Everything I've read about them says they're quite inferior to this trilogy I expect I'll get The Complete Robot at some point, though Usually reading a whole trilogy in quick succession like this works badly for me, as my interest tends to wane, I get author burn-out etc. But I've got so many series on the go, plus more that I want to read, I think I'm going to have to do it more to get through and finish some of them. So I'm planning on going straight back to Richard Morgan after this, then some more Cornwell and Dresden, then I'm going to re-read Alastair Reynolds' Revelation Space and finally get on to reading the rest of the books in that series. That's the plan at the moment, anyway! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karsa Orlong Posted February 18, 2014 Author Share Posted February 18, 2014 Just saw that the £9.50 set of the trilogy is back on Amazon Marketplace from the same seller I got mine from, if anyone's interested http://www.amazon.co.uk/Isaac-Asimov-Foundation-Trilogy-Empire/dp/B00DHJMVE4/ref=sr_1_8?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1392720907&sr=1-8&keywords=foundation+isaac+asimov Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted February 18, 2014 Share Posted February 18, 2014 Usually reading a whole trilogy in quick succession like this works badly for me, as my interest tends to wane, I get author burn-out etc. But I've got so many series on the go, plus more that I want to read, I think I'm going to have to do it more to get through and finish some of them. So I'm planning on going straight back to Richard Morgan after this, then some more Cornwell and Dresden, then I'm going to re-read Alastair Reynolds' Revelation Space and finally get on to reading the rest of the books in that series. That's the plan at the moment, anyway! x Good luck with the plan, it sounds good ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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