Asimov's Robots - Empire - Foundation Reading Order

[Pilusmagnus]

Sorry for starting all these topics but I'm currently planning on my long-term readings, so I would like to ask you about the Asimov series, which I heard are all part of the same universe.

Foundation is, with Dune, one of the only science fiction series I actually want to read (not that I don't like SF, I just don't like reading it in general). But I heard multiple things on the reading order. I found the chronological order list here: http://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/2335/what-order-should-asimovs-foundation-series-be-read-in and I also heard that:

- Isaac Asimov recommends reading everything in chronological order, not publication order.

- Apparently there are big spoilers in Foundation for the Robots series.

- There are some things in Prelude to Foundation that kinda ruin some of the revelations in Foundation, and therefore it should be read last.

- Most people recommend always starting with the Foundation original trilogy.

And I personnally hate when the end of a story is not at the end. Like, I can go back and forth in chronology, but when the end comes, I want to read it last. I don't want to read the ending and then go back to something that happened before. (I would have kids watch The Hobbit before The Lord of the Rings)

So the reading order I'm considering is this one:

* The Robots Series

* The Empire Series

* The Foundation Series

* If I really like all the psycho-history stuff, then I'll read the Foundation prequels, or skip them.

* The last two Foundation books.

 

And I have questions with that:

- Is my reading order fine?

- Are all the Robots texts indispensable? Can I skip the short stories and must I read all four Robots novels?

- What can I expect in the Empire series? What elements does it bring to the overall universe?

- Is there any other countraindication of a certain reading order? Do you get spoilers for something if you read another thing first?

 

Thank you for your answers.

[Jo498]

I can't answer your question precisely without reading up on the internet I do not have time for. But my "complete robot" pbck contains only shorter stories that have nothing to do with foundation. My vague recollection is that the link between Robot and Foundation is R. Olivar (or how this is spelled) and this might spoil a few stories a little but they hardly depend on that.

Not remembering which of the "foundation" books I read, I recall them as a mixed bunch between good and rather trite.

I would postpone foundation and read the robot (mostly shortish) stories because almost all are fairly entertaining although varying a lot in depth and the novels Caves of Steel and Naked Sun (their order is somewhat important), not sure if they are counted among "robot". To my recollection both many short stories as well as the two novels I mentioned are better than the average foundation book

[felice]

1 hour ago, Pilusmagnus said:

And I have questions with that:
- Is my reading order fine?
- Are all the Robots texts indispensable? Can I skip the short stories and must I read all four Robots novels?
- What can I expect in the Empire series? What elements does it bring to the overall universe?

Yep, that's fine. You can skip the short stories but shouldn't because they're good. You do need to read all four Robot novels; as far as I can recall, the Empire series is pretty much irrelevant, though if you enjoy his other earlier works you may as well read those too. The latter-written books are quite different in style.

[sologdin]

empire books are a bit detached from the rest.  the first empire book is skewed from the end of robots & empire.  it has some setting detail to fill the gap between the robot stories and the foundation stories, though it's not obvious what happened to transform the setting of the robot books into the setting of the empire books.  stars like dust does indicate the inchoate conflict between liberals and feudalists.  currents of space continues this. pebble in the sky concerns the question of earth itself assimilating to the empire.  the overall portrait makes one feel a certain way about the galactic empire that is not obvious in reading only the foundation books.  i got that as subsequent disillusionment--not sure if the effect would've been better to read them in chronological order.  (i read the foundation books in order first, and then tracked down the robot books in order, and then the empire books in order.)

oh--maybe also read end of eternity.

[unJon]

I read same way as Solo. I must also say that if you truly are only going to read two SF series, the second one should be the Culture series by Banks, not Asimov. 

[drawkcabi]

17 hours ago, Pilusmagnus said:

And I have questions with that:

- Is my reading order fine?

- Are all the Robots texts indispensable? Can I skip the short stories and must I read all four Robots novels?

- What can I expect in the Empire series? What elements does it bring to the overall universe?

- Is there any other countraindication of a certain reading order? Do you get spoilers for something if you read another thing first?

 

Thank you for your answers.

That's pretty much the order I read them and that was fine. Except I read "Prelude to Foundation" before I read any of them. That was definitely not the book to start with. After reading the entire series and going back to read Prelude I got quite a bit more out of it. It would probably be even better reading the Foundation books before reading Prelude.

I agree with Felice, the Robot short stories are some of the most enjoyable parts of it all. If you want to really get the meta plot of the books the Robots and Foundation books should all be read.

The Empire books are not that important. Almost stand alone stories within the series to give some shape to the series during the empire years. I found them enjoyable to read.

The hardest part I had with these books was the second half of "Foundation and Empire". I breezed through Foundation and the first half of Foundation and Empire enjoying them immensely, then I got to the second half and felt like I was in a long slog and it was an effort to get through it. That was just me though.

[TheRevanchist]

I agree that the best order is the chronological one. So,

1) Robots (I, Robot and the four Robot novels)

2) 3 Empire novels (they are quite bad though)

3) 2 Foundation prequels (better than the original trilogy IMO)

4) The Foundation trilogy

5) Foundation sequels (haven't read them)

Robots were by far my favorites. I, Robot is a must, as a good a shorty stories book as it can be.

 

[Lily Valley]

I'm going to disagree and say read Foundation first.  The second and third Foundation books are fine, but the first Foundation book is a masterpiece.  The robot short stories are also very good.  The robot novels are pulp detective stories. They're fun.  The prequels are ok and the sequels are fine too.  The prequels and sequels can be read with the robot novels as one sequence.  

The best of Asimov's universe is in Foundation.

Edit:  Foundation and Empire was embarrassing.

[Wilbur]

As others have mentioned, I would also recommend reading the R. Daneel Olivaw and Elijah Baley stories, some of the Robot short stories and Robot novels, first.  The following include what I consider to be his best stuff:

The Caves of Steel

The Naked Sun

I would also recommend Pebble in the Sky as a first-to-read book, as well as the original 1951 book, Foundation.

His Wendell Urth stories are nice, sort of a watered-down take on Jack Vance's Miro Hetzel, Galactic Effectuator, or his Magnus Ridolph, Interstellar Troubelshooter.

1. "The Singing Bell" (1954)
2. "The Talking Stone" (1955)
3. "What's in a Name?" (1956)
4. "The Dying Night" (1956)
5. "Pâté de Foie Gras" (1956)
6. "The Dust of Death" (1957)
7. "A Loint of Paw" (1957)
8. "I'm in Marsport Without Hilda" (1957)
9. "Marooned off Vesta" (1939)
10. "Anniversary" (1959, a Multivac story and a sequel to "Marooned off Vesta")
11. "Obituary" (1959)
12. "Star Light" (1962)
13. "The Key" (1966)
14. "The Billiard Ball" (1967)

Now some will be offended by the following opinion, but Asimov wrote some books that have limited appeal or literary worth in his latter years, and that includes the later Foundation series books and Empire stuff written in the 80s and 90s.  You might be better off reading other authors (Ian M. Banks, or Peter F. Hamilton, maybe) if your time and appetite are finite.  Asimov's later books are strained and even dull, and you can almost feel an old man struggling to come to grips with the mores of the 1970s. They are a sad come-down after his earlier work, much like Robert Heinlein's second half of work.  Use your time more wisely and read the good stuff and then move on.

Also: AUDIO BOOKS!  If you have an option to listen to audio books, it can greatly expand your ability to enjoy science fiction while on long flights, in the gym, on your bike, while hiking, etc. etc.  Use your local library's Overdrive collection extensively, and request inter-library loan of other audio books.  Join an online e-library, etc.