Prelude to Foundation by Isaac Asimov
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Now that I’ve read the previous books in the chronology of this universe, this book made more sense to me. It also seemed much more structured and paced than I experienced it the first time I read it (perhaps I read it very quickly before?).

I liked the surprise reveal at the end (even though I remembered it from the previous read and so was not surprised). I watched for clues as I read that led up to that reveal, and I really did not see many. So, that is interesting.

The plot itself was interesting. There were times that Hari Seldon reminded me a lot of Elijah Bailey (except Hari doesn’t shout Jehosephat all the time), which is also interesting.

I also liked the play with Earth and Aurora – I had not remembered that part from my earlier reading.

Dors wasn’t as fleshed out as a character as I would have liked, but I think that is partially due to the extra surprise twist at the end (which, conversely, had lots of clues in the book).

The way that Asimov handled the mind teases of the solution to psychohistory were different than he’d done with Elijah Bailey (although somewhat similar). There were more of them and he hung lanterns more prominently on them. I thought it was more realistic this way.

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