Storyline: 4/5 
 Characters: 2/5 
 Writing Style: 2/5 
 World: 3/5 
 This must have been a phenomenal book in the 1950s. So much science fiction from the 30s through the 50s was atrocious, but Asimov's Foundation and Empire series were not just ahead of time in their technological vision of the future, their trend-setting view of space exploration, but also in their interjection of social criticism. The realistic presentation of bigotry in this book was as skillful and that of serious works social commentary works of today's era. Asimov's characters are still shallow, and many dialogues still lack inspiration. The pacing at the beginning and ending were awkward and detracted from the generally-strong middle. Overall this was an enjoyable read (even disregarding its original publication date). It also makes me look more favorably upon the original Foundation series books.