Foundation and Empire

The beginning was a bit boring, but it definitely turned around once the Mule stepped onto the playing field!

The first book showed us how uncannily accurate Hari Seldon psycho-historic predictions (calculations?) of human development are, and this one shows an example when an unpredicted variable enters the equation.

I absolutely loved Bayta! Considering these were the sexist 1950s, and the horrendous gender norms permeated even the pages of this book (Bayta would cook for the men, some character was surprised of her “striding among them [the men] like an equal”), she was still a fantastic female character. She had an active role, took part in discussions with men, made important choices.

I look forward to the last book of the trilogy and I might even read the later sequels, too, although I keep hearing they aren't as good as the first three books.