I read quite some time ago the foundation trilogy and “prelude to foundation”, and I was evaluating buying an ebook with the 7 books, (the trilogy plus the 2 prequels and the 2 sequels.)
Are they worth it?
Yes. I suggest Asimov’s recommend reading order, from I, Robot through Foundation and Earth, including the Empire trilogy. Keep in mind some were written decades apart, regardless of series chronology, so the tone may shift due to the era written and Asimov’s growth as a writer, which can be jarring for a couple pages (primarily getting to the Empire novels, but still great little stories, and I enjoyed the continued lore).
As an avid reader, particularly sci-fi, it’s my very favorite series, from start to finish, and I’d recommend it to anyone - personally, Foundation itself might be my least liked of the group, though that may be for it being a collection of stories put together from the magazines, I found it mildly disjointed, (and I have a tendency to confuse certain character names in that one, haha), but I appreciated it more when my spouse listened to them all on audiobook (PS. Scott Brick is a wonderful Asimov narrator).
Regardless of which, and how you may read them, I hope you enjoy them!
Yes. Get them. Read them in sequence.
Publication order or in-universe order?
They are all great books and worth to follow both Hari Seldon and Golan Trevize around, in the Asimov universe.
I can also suggest The End of Eternity.
I remember The End of Eternity as being quite unlike anything else Asimov wrote, and all the better for it.
I re-read the trilogy and progressed through them at a good pace but got bogged down on the later books (which I haven’t read before). I think the writing shows its age and are a little longwinded at times.
Groundbreaking story in concept and scope, that hasn’t changed for me.
If you’re up for it start with the Robot novels, or even the Robot short stories, and go through Empire then Foundation. The Empire novels are the weakest of the entire multiple millennia spanning story, but it’s worth reading the whole thing in my opinion.
I checked and, without any plan, I already went throught all robot novels and short stories… So I’ll continue with the empire part! Thank you
I read the trilogy and the sequels. The sequels definitely aren’t as intricate and political as the trilogy. But if you like just getting lost in Asimov’s ideas and tropes they’re perfectly good books.
If you liked those you will like rest of them. I also recommend Robot and Empire books after Foundation because they are in the same universe.
I read the Robot/Foundation series in the order that Asimov recommended after watching the Foundation TV series.
https://more.bibliocommons.com/list/share/1584219139/1735833849
Agree with the other posters here, if you liked what you already read, you’ll probably enjoy the rest. It’s an interesting set of stories that take centuries to complete with completely new characters in each book. My wife’s take is that they’re good in that they were some of the first popular operatic Sci Fi available.
