Foundation and Empire: Isaac Asimov’s Dying Empire and the Rise of the Mule
Guided by its founding father, the psychohistorian Hari Seldon, and armed with science and technology, the Foundation has survived the greed and barbarism of its warlike neighbouring planets. Now intelligence and courage may not be enough. The Empire, still the most powerful force in the Galaxy, is even more dangerous in its death throes. Worse still, a mysterious figure called the Mule has appeared, with powers beyond anything humanly conceivable.
Author: Isaac Asimov (1920–1992)
Title: Foundation and Empire (1952)
Format: English Kindle edition (Spectra)
Series: Second book of the original Foundation trilogy
Amazon: www.amazon.es/dp/B000FC1PWK (ASIN B000FC1PWK)
The Foundation Against the Empire
In the first half of the book, the Foundation comes into conflict with the decadent, decrepit First Empire. In this struggle for power amid the chaos of the stars, humanity stands on the threshold of a new, enlightened age that could just as easily be swept away by the old forces of barbarism.
Who, or What, Is the Mule?
The second half introduces the Mule, the character most readers remember from the trilogy. Who, or what, is he? And how can humanity defend itself against this seemingly invincible avatar of annihilation? For the first time, something happens that Seldon’s mathematics did not foresee, and the reassuring sense that history is on the Foundation’s side begins to crumble.
The General
The first half, originally published as "Dead Hand", follows Bel Riose, a young and brilliant Imperial general who sees the Foundation as a threat and a chance for glory. Riose is honourable, capable and well supplied, and for a while it seems that the Empire, even in decline, can crush the small Foundation. Two Foundation men, the trader Lathan Devers and the patrician Ducem Barr from a planet the Empire once brutalised, try to stop him. The resolution is pure Asimov: Riose is undone not by a hero but by the logic of history, since a weak emperor cannot afford a strong general, and a strong emperor would not allow one.
Bayta, Toran and the Clown
The second half, "The Mule", has some of the trilogy’s best characters. Bayta Darell, intelligent and steady, is the first strong female protagonist in the series, and with her husband Toran she sets off across a galaxy in turmoil. They are joined by Magnifico Giganticus, a frightened, gangly clown who plays a strange musical instrument called the Visi-Sonor, and by the psychologist Ebling Mis, who becomes obsessed with finding the legendary Second Foundation before the Mule does.
When the Plan Fails
The most startling moment comes when the Foundation gathers in the Time Vault to hear Seldon’s recorded message at a moment of crisis, and the hologram discusses a crisis that is not the one actually happening. Psychohistory works on large masses of people; it cannot predict a single individual with extraordinary powers. That idea, that one mutant can derail the mathematics of history, gives the book its tension and opens the way to the final volume.
Reading Tip
Avoid spoilers if you can: the Mule’s identity is one of the great reveals in science fiction, and Asimov plays fair with the clues. Read the book straight after Foundation, since it assumes you know Terminus, the traders and the Seldon Plan.
Why Read It
Full of suspense, relentless action and bold speculation, Foundation and Empire is the story of humanity’s endless struggle against a darkness that always threatens to overwhelm the light. Isaac Asimov’s Foundation novels are probably the most famous saga in all of science fiction, and this is the volume where the saga really takes off. Read Foundation first; the Mule’s story continues in Second Foundation.
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