The novel begins roughly 8 years after the conclusion of Prelude to Foundation. Seldon has returned to Streeling University to work on his theory of psychohistory and has the backing of the First Minister Demerzel and the emperor Cleon I. Seldon has also recruited Yugo Amaryl, the young 'heatsinker' he met in the Dahl sector, to help him with his research. Most of the first story revolves around a political conspiracy aimed at overthrowing the emperor. Seldon is able to outwit the political dissidents and prevent any serious harm from being done. At the conclusion of the story, Demerzel steps down as First Minister and is replaced by Seldon at the emperor's request. Demerzel is not heard from again in the book.

The second story details Seldon's tenure as Cleon's First Minister. The psychohistory project has grown in scope and has drawn in many more participants. Progress continues to come slowly though to the frustration of the emperor. Once again, the Empire is threatened by the same political dissidents from the first story. Seldon's own son, Raych, becomes involved in an assasination attempt on Seldon against his own will. An undercover security agent is able to save Seldon's life, but ironically the Emperor ends being assasinated by a disgruntled gardener.

After Cleon's death, the government is taken over by a military junta. Seldon returns to Streeling University with Raych and his wife, Dors, to continue his research. Much of the third story revolves around Dors trying to uncover a conspiracy within the Foundation group to kill Seldon. In the end, Dors herself is murdered and it is revealed that she is actually a robot. Of course, this is more then obvious to anyone who read Prelude and doesn't come as any shock.

The final story documents Seldon's final years as he works practically alone on the project after Amaryl's death. Most of his work is done in the Galactic Library, compiling the information to go into the 'Encyclopedia Galactica'. It is also here that Seldon decides to establish the first Foundation on Terminus, a bleak world at the edge of the galaxy where much of the original Foundation's story takes place. The rest of the story involves Seldon discovering his granddaughter's telepathic abilities and convincing her to find others like herself.

The novel does a great job of describing Hari Seldon's efforts to save the Empire through his famed Foundation. The story lays the groundwork for much of the action that takes place in his Foundation trilogy, written almost 40 years earlier. Every fan of the original series while find this book an excellent read.

My perceptions again are probably somewhat different having read the prequels before the original series. I just finished reading Foundation and have to say that I'm quite glad that I read these books first. The knowledge I gained of Seldon's life helped me understand his plan for the future of the Empire and how he hoped to use the Foundation to achieve it.

As much as I enjoyed the novel, there were a few things that I disliked about it. First, I didn't feel that Asimov really presented Seldon as the mathematical genius one would expect him to be. It seemed as though Seldon was more involved with administrative work and that most of the breakthroughs came from his partner, Yugo Amaryl. After all, it was Amaryl's idea to setup two Foundations and most of the work that went into the 'Prime Radiant' came from others. Asimov seemed more interested in showing off Seldon's physical prowess evidenced by his numerous altercations with street thugs. This is just a minor complaint and really doesn't detract from my appreciation of the book.

I also didn't see a reason for killing of Raych and his wife. They had already left Trantor and had become peripheral to the story. I don't see how anything was gained from their death as far as the story goes. At best, it led to a greater emotional attachment between Wanda and Hari Seldon.

Regardless of this, Forward the Foundation is another excellent piece of fiction from one of the most acclaimed science-fiction authors of our generation and represents the coup de grace of Asimov's storied career.