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Foundation's Triumph
Hari Seldon's last adventure
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Foundation's Triumph
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By David Brin
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HarperPrism
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$25.00
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Hardcover, May 1999
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ISBN 0-06-105241-8
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Review by Curt Wohleber
 am finished," Hari Seldon said at the end of Greg Bear's Foundation
and Chaos. The great mathematician, old and infirm, had completed his life's work and the destiny of the human race lay in the hands of his
appointed successors. But Hari Seldon isn't quite finished yet, as David
Brin (author of The Postman and the Uplift series) reveals in
Foundation's Triumph, the closing volume of The Second Foundation Trilogy.
Seldon's mathematics of "psychohistory" has forecast the inevitable collapse
of the mighty Galactic Empire. His equations also hold the key to rebuilding civilization in the aftermath, through an organization called the
Foundation, which will serve as the nucleus of a new empire.
Everything is well in hand, but there are a few nagging holes in the
equations, including the mystery of the "chaos worlds," planets that undergo stunning technological and artistic renaissances only to collapse into violence and anarchy. Seldon despairs of ever solving the riddle until an amateur scientist named Horis Antic unearths vital clues in the most
unlikely of places.
And so Seldon embarks on one last adventure. What starts out as a quiet,
though illegal, survey of interstellar gas currents turns into an epic
struggle over the future of humanity as Seldon contends with Imperial
agents, a teenage stowaway, rebels from one of the "chaos worlds," and rival factions of the secret race of positronic robots who have warred amongst themselves for thousands of years over how to best serve the human race.
The best laid plans of robots and men...
When Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) began the Foundation series almost 60 years ago, he didn't have a blueprint of future history (unlike Robert A.
Heinlein...or Hari Seldon). When he began writing new Foundation novels in the 1980s, Asimov made things even more complicated by merging the
Foundation series with his previously unrelated Robot series of stories
and novels.
In the Second Foundation Trilogy, Gregory Benford, Greg Bear and now David Brin have conducted a lively exploration of the logical and ethical
implications of Asimov's sprawling future history. In his elaborate coda to
the trilogy, Brin braids together plot strands from three early and relatively obscure Asimov novels set before the Foundation series, and a strange sort of order emerges from the improvised chaos.
Brin also ties up nearly six decades of loose ends while playing out fresh
line for other writers to take up in future Foundation stories. The saga is
far from over, but Foundation's Triumph offers more closure than any previous volume of the series. Readers new to the series may find themselves a little bewildered by this volume, but Brin does about as well as can be reasonably expected in bringing the audience up to speed without bogging down the narrative.
The dialogue-heavy climax veers perilously close to self-parody, but then
there is a satisfying and clever finale amidst the ruins of the radioactive
Earth, where Seldon confronts his erstwhile robotic mentor, Daneel. At the
end of his lifelong battle with chaos, Seldon realizes that the relentless
order Daneel has sought can be just as deadly. From the orderly Foundation, however, a new, wonderful kind of chaos may emerge.
I've never been a huge David Brin fan, but with Foundation's Triumph he has made an impressive, thought-provoking addition to Isaac Asimov's formidable legacy.
-- Curt
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Singer from the Sea
Haven Colony survives while its neighbors sicken and die. But at what price?
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Singer from the Sea
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By Sheri S. Tepper
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Avon Eos
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$24.00/$35.00 Canada
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Hardcover, April 1999
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ISBN 0-380-97480-0
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Review by A.M. Dellamonica
 enevieve of Haven is a well-brought-up noblewoman--she knows better than to speak her mind, she is well-trained in managing dinner parties, she understands court intrigue, and she is seemingly obedient to her father. Hidden behind her placid exterior, however, is a second Genevieve, brilliant and rebellious, who breaks the taboo against singing and reads forbidden magazines. Schooled by her mother in outlawed rituals, Genevieve is guided by visions and sworn to fulfill a destiny whose nature she does not understand.
Singer from the Sea begins when Genevieve is summoned from her boarding school to the court of the Lord Paramount. The heir to the throne, Prince Yugh Delganor, is interested in making her his fourth wife. Genevieve's father is keen to further the match, which will increase his own influence. Unfortunately, Genevieve is already strongly attracted to Colonel Aufors Leys, her father's assistant and a soldier of common birth.
As if her romantic difficulties weren't trouble enough, Genevieve has barely arrived at court when she becomes aware of a conspiracy that threatens her very survival. Yugh and the other noblemen seem incredibly ancient, perhaps centuries old, while noblewomen of any kind are in extremely short supply. Most of the noblewomen die either of fever or of complications arising from childbirth, but as Genevieve investigates she finds a curtain of silence drawn around the deaths. Her father, mindful of his own advancement, is no help; she must constantly be aware of off-world listening devices that might alert others to her curiosity, and her allies are few. As events draw her near a betrothal with Yugh, vision after vision warns Genevieve of deadly danger.
With all of Haven's traditions stacked against her, Genevieve must somehow uncover the mystery in time to save herself.
High fantasy in a high-tech universe
Singer from the Sea is an amazing tapestry. A romance, mystery, and coming-of-age novel all at once, it combines high-tech SF with the tone of high fantasy. On most of Haven, technology is illegal. The noblemen keep useful devices to themselves, bugging the court and stockpiling military technology in case of rebellion. This adds a level of menace to the conspiracy that affects the noblewomen--if they flee on horseback, they will be pursued by gravsleds. The tech elements are nicely balanced with the fantasy-influenced voice and imagery.
Tepper is a powerful storyteller, and the plot unfolds in a manner guaranteed to keep readers guessing to the end. The revelation of Genevieve's true nature is intriguing and well foreshadowed. Even so, there are a lot of pulled punches. What is happening on Haven is awful, but readers are held at arm's length, prevented from fully experiencing the horror. The same goes for Genevieve's romance with Aufors. And though the plotting is meticulous, the character motivations are often murky.
Singer from the Sea is also stringently political. Readers who disagree with eco-feminist principles may dislike this book, as will those who prefer that authors keep politics in the background of their work. Tepper's message is not subtle, and her book offers nothing in the way of moral complexity. The women in Singer from the Sea are oppressed but ethically pure; the men are either evil buffoons or well-intentioned but effeminate. Wisdom and knowledge are embodied in feminine nature, and Genevieve's empathic link to her homeworld is the source of her strength.
This black-and-white viewpoint makes it hard to enjoy Singer from the Sea, which may in the end wind up preaching to the converted and nobody else.
This book disappointed me. The romance fizzles halfway through, the mystery underwhelms, and the political rhetoric is far from new. Even so, I cared enough about what happened to Genevieve to keep reading.
-- A.M.
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