Point of View

Isaac Asimov tells the story of Foundation's Edge in the third person, past tense, using a great deal of first person dialog to drive it along. As a narrator he assumes no personality but, like the "Second Foundationers" and "Gaians," can enter characters' thought processes. He describes at length how the Second Foundationers communicate rapidly and super-efficiently with the verbal component playing a minor role. Never does he attempt to display such communications. He loves convoluted mystery, however, and the belated revelation of useful facts.

The novel finds the mysterious Gaians bringing years of covert effort to a climax. The ambitious leader of the First Foundation is close to the point of establishing a Second Galactic Empire 500 years before the "Seldon Plan" predicts it should occur. An ambitious young Speaker of the Second Foundation hopes soon to become First Speaker and to move the secretive organization...