This book feels like it was written in the form of a classic whodunnit mystery. There are a bunch of twists and double-twists at the end… in a way that I ultimately found more annoying than satisfying. The First Foundation is supposed be made of advanced scientists, whereas the Second Foundation is supposed to be made of advanced psychologists. So the book is a lot of reverse-psychology, reverse-reverse-psychology, etc., and so on ad nauseam. Some parts were enrapturing, but for the most part… I wasn’t a fan.

The writing in this book was also a lot more…conspicuous than it was in the previous books. In Foundation and Foundation and Empire, the writing was straightforward, timeless, and pulled you into the story. In this book, though, the writing choices were all very in your face… flamboyant adjectives, distracting sentence phrasing, etc. It felt like he was trying to be esoteric and I didn’t like it.

Will still be reading the rest of this series! But I hope it gets back on track.