Foundation and Empire

The second installment in the Foundation series is based on two previously published novellas. The first, inspired by General Belisarius and the Byzantine Empire during the reign of Justinian, features a similar general named Bel Riose. Bel Riose sees the looming threat of the Foundation to the still-strong Galactic Empire, and nearly succeeds in reconquering it before Emperor Cleon recalls him on the verge of final victory. Inspired by Justinian's Wars and reconquest of lost Roman territories in the 6th century, Bel Riose had to be recalled and stopped to prevent a possible rival claimant to the throne.

Thus, the social laws and predictions of Hari Seldon correctly foresaw an invasion of the Empire as being thwarted by a strong emperor of a declining state wishing to retain as much control as possible. Unfortunately for us, Bel Riose is less of a compelling character than Procopius's Belisarius of the Secret History. Procopius provides us with several details of the whoring wife of Belisarius and the juicy and exaggerated personal flaws of the Byzantine general and his wife Antonina. Bel Riose, on the other hand, is just a brilliant general loyal to the idea of the Empire. Nor do we receive any detailed battle accounts of Bel Riose's ships against those of the Foundation, which is now a powerful trading state in the Periphery. 

The second and longer part of the text consists of the novella on the rise of the Mule, the great crisis not predicted by Hari Seldon. Since Seldon's theory of psychohistory did not account for a mutant individual capable of having such an outsized influence on others, the Mule disrupts Seldon's prediction of the Foundation's civil war against the oligarchic traders. The Mule, a mutant being who can manipulate the emotions of others around him, succeeds in conquering the Foundation and becoming the most powerful man in the empire. 

Here, much intrigue, some ruin porn (the remnants of the imperial capital are now inhabited by small communities of farmers) and plot twists make for more exciting reading. The revelation of the Mule's identity was well-handled and suspenseful, and the first crisis to actually constitute a real challenge to the prognostications of Seldon is a welcome change in the series. Intriguingly, the second novella also introduces a strong female character in Bayta, who not only cracks the riddle of the Mule's identity, but saves the Second Foundation from the Mule's discovery.