Foundation and Earth

By: Isaac Asimov

Narrated by: Larry McKeever

Length: 18 hrs and 44 mins

Publisher's summary

The Foundation novels of Isaac Asimov are among the great masterworks of science fiction. An ingenious blend of nonstop action, daring ideas, and extensive world-building, they chronicle the struggle of a courageous group of men and women determined to shield enlightened humanity from a ceaseless threat of darkness and ultimate annihilation.

Golan Trevize, former councilman of the First Foundation, has chosen the future, and it is Gaia. A superorganism, Gaia is a holistic planet with a common consciousness so intensely united that every dewdrop, every pebble, every being, can speak for all - and feel for all. It is a realm in which privacy is not only undesirable, it is incomprehensible. But is it the right choice for the destiny of mankind? While Trevize feels it is, that is not enough. He must know.

Trevize believes the answer lies at the site of humanity’s roots: fabled Earth...if it still exists. For no one is sure where the planet of Gaia’s first settlers is to be found in the immense wilderness of the galaxy. Nor can anyone explain why no record of Earth has been preserved, no mention of it made anywhere in Gaia’s vast world-memory. It is an enigma Trevize is determined to resolve and a quest he is determined to undertake, at any cost.

Listen to all of Isaac Asimov's Foundation series, including (in chronological order):

Prelude to FoundationForward the FoundationFoundationFoundation and Empire Second FoundationFoundation's EdgeFoundation and Earth

©1986 Nightfall, Inc (P)2011 Random House Audio

Satisfying wrap up

The narration is awful at the start, gradually it improves to being bearable, but never as good as previous Foundation series narrators.

The story held my interest but does have ups and downs. This is written as a stand alone story but I wouldn't predict nearly as much enjoyment without the background of the previous books in the series.
Asimov expands on some of his ideas from previous Foundation books and introduces some new ones, most work well but I found myself often feeling there was a lot of time between books. Frequently characters would grow, and then jump back into their initial characterization for plot purposes. There are also other points where I can almost here an editor or wife making notes, not always bad but noticeable.

Mostly everything is explained in the end -or maybe I should say 'addressed' instead. There are still some BIG questions for readers of the entire series to wonder about though. I like that Asimov attempted to answer as much as possible but I was left with some very relevant questions regarding a Primary antagonist in 2 previous books, one who changed the entire story, and is seemingly just forgotten about, not a single mention.

Some plot points are a little hand wave-y, particularly at the beginning and during the peak of the main rising action before the climax, some things feel like they just happen because they need to and that's it.

It feels like Star Wars (this review was written in 2021) in that the story continues, but not really, its really more of another story, happening alongside an established over-arching plot, that has no solid idea that it's part of a series. The end is satisfying, but far from anywhere anyone would've expected it to be.

Overall, I'd recommend this to anyone with a background in the Foundation series, I would recommend this book to someone interested by the plot who doesn't want to wade through the previous books to get here; I would NOT recommend this to anyone with the slightest chance of reading the previous books in the series afterward -the series needs to be in order (not counting the prequels to Foundation).

Soothing voice - maybe too much!

Great book series. It was fun listening to it.
Nevertheless, this reader's voice is a bit deep, soothing, thus does not help to maintain focus on the storyline. One could easily fall asleep..😂
But I practiced my ears and my brain to pay attention.
I still wish the other reader read this last book, too.

Incredible insight!

The futuristic story line is exciting and incredible. The reading is terrible. Many times I thought the readers voice as a robot! This book is too good to be missed though.

love the series

struggling to finish this... love the content of the foundation series... the narrator may be better suited for read the Bible or Ben Hur or the 10 commandments. Narrators that have different inflections for reading man and female characters make audiobooks better, this is hard to listen to. it's probably just my preference, but I have fell asleep 6 times in the first 2 hours of this book.

Monotonous narration.

This narrator is far inferior to the one fir the previous books. Probably the worst narrator of any audio book I’ve ever listened to. I sped it up a little to get through it faster. Wish I just didn’t waste my time.

Robot Narrator?

This book has a lot of dialogue, and the narrator is more wooden and mechanical than a text reading app. Just terrible.

A satisfying conclusion to an excellent series

Asimov does a beautiful job concluding the series cleanly with a touch of suspense for flavor. He does exquisite work conveying conflicting views through his character and such perfect execution I have seen few places else. I can't recommend this series enough. With this volume I conclude my journey through the primary series, starting with Foundation and look forward to the prequels. My only complaint is that the voice actor (Larry McKeever) in this particular is dull and monotone when compared to the readings of the earlier by Scott Brick. I recommend speeding up to book to about 1.35x to give McKeever's voice a little more inflection.

the narrator...

Very difficult to get through because of the narrator. Story is a classic. Why use someone who is known for non fiction type stuff?

Good story bad narrator

Ironic that the story about scifi and robots is being read by one. The narrator is lifeless and honestly detracts from the story at times. Moments that are supposed to be intense, funny, sad, or happy are just killed off by his completely emotionless and flat narration.

Great story, dull performance.

1.5 stars for the performance, because occasionally he actually sounds alive. The rest of the time, he sounds like the S.A.M. speech synthesis on my ancient Commodore 64.

Incredibly sad, because the story is great, even if it drags a bit in places.