In large part, the action is moved along with the help of dialogue, sticking to the same methods of plot development as the previous books. We follow the characters on both sides of the hill as they make their plays and try to piece together the right clues, and it’s difficult not to become as engrossed in the task as they are. The time has finally come to actually find this mysterious entity, and the anticipation Isaac Asimov managed to build up over the course of our search for it is simply second-to-none. Nevertheless, we’ve never really known anything about it other than its propensity to stay in the shadows and its focus on psychological science. Throughout the story we’ve gone through in the previous novels, the Second Foundation was largely mentioned in passing here and there, giving us small reminders of its supposed existence. A Treasure Hunt Through the Galaxy in Second Foundation

Unexpectedly, the key to the enigma might be found with the fourteen year-old Arcadia Darrell, granddaughter of Toran and Bayta, and a direct descendant of Hober Mallow. Thus, a race begins between him and the few survivors of the First Foundation to find the last bastion of hope and knowledge which can still shorten the impending age of darkness. It’s always easy to explain the unknown by postulating a superhuman and arbitrary will.

Theoretically, they are the only ones who might be capable of standing up to him and his power, though they seem to prefer the safety of obscurity more than anything else. However, a single obstacle remains between the Mule and total success: finding and destroying the ever-elusive Second Foundation, which as far as he knows, might not even exist in the first place. None were able to stand up to his mutant powers, capable of manipulating the minds and emotions of men. The Mule has achieved virtually all of his goals, boiling down to the destruction of the Foundation and the conquest of the galaxy. Moving onward, the third novel in the series begins not too long after the second one. If you’d like to, take a look at our Foundation review, as well as our Foundation and Empire review to check out the earlier chapters. While I suppose you could make your way through this book as a standalone without being aware of the story prior to it, I would highly recommend you start with the previous entries if you aren’t familiar with them. Unlike many of its counterparts from the day, this trilogy has stood the test of time and very much holds up to today’s more stringent standards, which is especially true for the third novel, Second Foundation. The Foundation trilogy by Isaac Asimov is something you’ve undoubtedly heard of if you’ve searched for classic pioneering stories in the science-fiction genre. Isaac Asimov Concludes the Fate of his Universe

Asimov second foundation