Forward the Foundation

De: Isaac Asimov

Narrado por: Larry McKeever

Here, from a grand master of science fiction, is the long-awaited final novel of the greatest science-fiction series ever told. Completed just before his death, Forward the Foundation is the crowning achievement of a great writer’s life, a stirring testament to the creative genius of Isaac Asimov.

As Hari Seldon struggles to perfect his revolutionary theory of psychohistory and ensure a place for humanity among the stars, the great Galactic Empire totters on the brink of apocalyptic collapse. Caught in the maelstrom are Seldon and all he holds dear, pawns in the struggle for dominance. Whoever can control Seldon will control psychohistory - and with it the future of the galaxy.

Among those seeking to turn psychohistory into the greatest weapon known to man are a populist political demagogue, the weak-willed Emperor Cleon I, and a ruthless militaristic general. In his last act of service to humankind, Hari Seldon must somehow save his life’s work from their grasp as he searches for its true heirs - a search that begins with his own granddaughter and the dream of a new Foundation.

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

©1993 Nightfall, Inc (P)2011 Random House Audio

Needs to be Re-Narrated

Would you be willing to try another one of Larry McKeever’s performances?

Mr. McKeever's performance hurts this series for those who have never heard it before or read any of the books. Not only does his monotone narration make listening to this story almost unbearable, McKeever's pronunciation of some of the main character's names was so bad that at first I thought some new characters were being introduced.

horrible narrator

Would you consider the audio edition of Forward the Foundation to be better than the print version?

No

What did you like best about this story?

Everything

How did the narrator detract from the book?

He was so horrible that I had to force myself to listen. The only thing that kept me going was knowing that after I was done with this book, I wouldn't have to listen to him until somewhere near the last book.

Any additional comments?

I do not understand why publishers use different narrators in a series. Maybe because they couldn't get who they wanted for all of them?? I have never before written a review where I talked about how bad the narrator was - but this guy is so bad, that I almost considered just reading the book. But, I listen to books so that I can do other things at the same time, as I am sure most of us do, so it just wasn't an option.

Can't stand the reader.

What didn’t you like about Larry McKeever’s performance?

There is no performance, It's like he was a text to speech program. He would be fine for a technical journal but not for a novel. I sped up the reading (on an iPod) and this actually made it better because the pauses between words had a smaller impact and reading felt more fluid even with the distorted tone.

Any additional comments?

I'm not sure I can finish the book as it is. I hope they release a new reading of this novel with Scott Brick. He did a great job on the previous Foundation novels.

Narrator makes me want to go back to print.

What made the experience of listening to Forward the Foundation the most enjoyable?

Not listening to Larry McKeever. I really believe it is a computer voice and Larry is not a real person.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Rach.... really like his development.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Larry McKeever?

anyone!

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Asimov continues to astonish.

Any additional comments?

None

Listen at 3x

The audio is terribly slow so be sure to listen to it sped up. The good thing is the sped up version doesn't sound like chipmunks.

Forward the Foundation

The novel suffers the fate of many prequels - sections of the plot are forced or contrived to fit with the canon established in the earlier written stories. The original Foundation trilogy is a sci-fi Masterpiece. The prequels and sequels are "filler", and, in my view, do not add much to the story. Still, I rated the novel 3/5 because, hey, it's Asimov - the Legend in sci-fi.

I wanted to love it

I second everyone's comments about the robot sounding reader. The story was dry. Not as engaging as I had hoped. I am going to continue the series and will update this review if I feel this book was unnecessary.

pace of reading is really really slow

pace of reading is really really slow
I was rereading and the story is great like I remember, however Asimov very much suffers from #menwritingwomen

Narration is not great

While I am familiar with this story in print, I was disappointed with the narration of it in this version. The delivery seems better matched to a teacher reading to small children, where enunciation is more important than the feeling of the story. Not as good as other audiobooks.

Great series, terrible narrator on 2 of 7 books.

Love the series, despite the absolute terrible decision by the publisher to have a different narrator read this book (book 2 of foundation series) as well as book 7 of the series. Not only is it completely jarring to have a completely different reader for 2 of 7 books, Mr. McKeever literally sounds like a robot or software reading a book, makes no effort whatsoever to differentiate his voices among the characters, which makes it hard very often to follow who is talking in a conversation, and worst of all completely changes how he pronounces some of the key character names in the book from the way Scott Brick pronounced them before him. It’s infuriating. Save yourself the heartache and just read this book and book 7 (the other Foundation book read by McKeever) instead of suffering through his performance.