This can’t compare to the original Foundation trilogy in my mind, having been written years later. An entirely new power enters into the scene, one that seems to out-Second-Foundation the Second Foundation – to guard Seldon’s plan even more tightly than the Speakers of the Second Foundation themselves. What are their real intentions? And who the heck are they anyway? Golan Trevize sets out from the Foundation to figure out the location of Earth, which he thinks might be home to the Second Foundation, but soon discovers the subtle machinations of this third power that seems to be guiding him, and the prime movers of the various powers, to a strange sort of confrontation.

The characters are their usual intelligent selves, although none of them – as I find usual in Asimov’s books – are really sympathetic characters that you find yourself drawn to. The plotting was good, as usual, though we start to see signs of Asimov writing in other parts of his universe. Right now I haven’t read much of his other books (apart from I, Robot) so I’m kinda resenting the intrusion! But I guess I’d be glad for it if I’d read his other series as well.

I can hardly believe Asimov wrote this book 32 years after he wrote The Foundation Trilogy. This fourth book in the series follows Golan Trevize, a young councilman from Terminus, on a journey to find Earth, which, he hopes, will lead him to the Second Foundation. Instead, he finds Gaia, Asimov’s fascinating and thought-provoking concept of a self-contained world with a super-consciousness. This book is brilliant, as Asmiov is wont to be, and captivating, and makes me want to do nothing but read Asimov books for as long as there are Asimov books unread.