The sixth book in the extended Foundation series by Isaac Asimov started off in an exciting way. A radiation bomb is placed in the dorm room of a famous Rancher’s son, Biron Farril, while the young man is locked inside. It was a gripping thrill ride that hooked me right away. Like all of Asimov’s books, though, the story eventually slinked back into a dialogue-driven narrative where one’s attention can easily get lost.
Admittedly, I read this book out of the order that Asimov himself provided in his “Introduction” to Prelude to Foundation. In that list of books, he places Currents of Space before The Stars Like Dust, though according to Asimov’s Future History—a meticulous collection of all his stories in chronological order!—Stars is set in A.D. 4850, while Currents is set in A.D. 11129. That’s quite a difference!
For that reason, I’ve swapped the books in my review plan and am publishing this one first. This is good for me, because I really didn’t enjoy Currents of Space at all, and the longer I can delay it the better!
In this book, Biron Farril discovers that his father was assassinated for knowing a bit too much about a Tyranni plot to take over the galaxy. He flees the area and, along with a pretty girl named Artemesia and her uncle Gillbret, they search for a document that’s supposed to hold the secret to the Tyranni’s defeat—an ancient document from Earth (perhaps on Earth?) that might be familiar to you, the reader.
This bit about Earth actually provided me with one more clue about what the whole Foundation plot might be about—that perhaps all these intervening eras in the series record the expanse of humanity away from her roots (or her, achem, “foundation”), only to discover that Earth must still play a pivotal role in humanity’s future. Again, I’ve never looked into it. I’m letting these books come as they do, but that’s my new guess. I just don’t know why there was such a heavy emphasis on robots in the earlier books, which now is non-existent.
The Stars Like Dust lacks any robot presence, which makes me wonder why Asimov included those books in his Foundation series at all. Why begin with The Complete Robot? My only guess is that he wanted to carry his readers as far back as he could go into his future history—that is, all the way back to 1995.
This book was interesting enough with its mystery and intrigue. I’m not desperate to keep reading, but I am pretty much halfway through the adventure already, so why not? At least no future books will be as bad as The Currents of Space….right?
©2024 E.T.
Read More from Isaac Asimov:
- The Extended Foundation Series:
1. The Complete Robot (1982) [A.D. 1995]
2. The Caves of Steel (1954) [A.D. 3421]
3. The Naked Sun (1957) [A.D. 3422]
4. The Robots of Dawn (1983) [A.D. 3424]
5. Robots and Empire (1985) [A.D. 3630]
6. The Stars Like Dust (1951) [A.D. 4850]
7. The Currents of Space (1952) [A.D. 11129]
8. Pebble in the Sky (1955) [A.D. 12411 or 827 G.E.]
9. Prelude to Foundation (1988) [12020 G.E.]
10. Forward the Foundation (1993) [12038 G.E.]
11. Foundation (1951) [12067 G.E.]
12. Foundation and Empire (1952) [13800 G.E.]
13. Second Foundation (1953) [13850 G.E.]
14. Foundation’s Edge (1982) [14200 G.E. or 498 F.E.]
15. Foundation and Earth (1986) [14200 G.E. or 498 F.E.] - Short Story Collections:
I, Robot (1950)
Buy Jupiter (1975)
Gold (1995)
Eight Stories from the Rest of the Robots (1964) - Other Novels:
Fantastic Voyage (1966)