In the first part of this book, we had some space exploration. It was atmospheric and gave us a glimpse at the technologically advanced universe with space travel. More of a modern sci-fi storyline as we follow Gaal, a country boy who travels through space into a large city for the first time. We get a taste of the world-building with planets and the different socioeconomic structures and learn more about the political history and destiny of the Galatic Empire. We get a taste of Psychohistory, which at times, made me giddy. This first part gave me strong Star Wars vibes, which made me excited to read this one.

Now, enter parts two, three, and so on, and I feel like that first part was kind of a bait and switch because the rest of the book is nothing like that. If you don’t manage your expectations, you’ll likely end up hating this one. After part one, we don’t get much exploration nor character development, and the story progresses on with more high-level politics and religious talk around the Foundation and Galatic Empire.

I did find it quite boring at times during the initial switch, but I was still very much invested in the inevitability of where this was going, and that want to know kept me going. Once you consider that dimensional characters or a fun, exciting storyline are not the forefronts here, it’s still possible to get through this one. That said, by the end, I was extremely bored and over it.

I’m not sure I’d call this book enjoyable, but it’s worth reading. I don’t know if I’ll ever read the next, but we shall see. I hope the show is more entertaining than this.