Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. Well, this was definitely better than Benford's entry in the Foundation series in that at no point while reading this did I want to gouge my eyes out. However, I can't really say it was a good or necessary part of the Foundation saga. I wouldn't call it a complete waste of time (again, unlike Foundation's Fear)...but I was pretty glad to finish it. I did gain a healthy respect for Bear's writing (he's one of my wife's favorites) and am interested in reading something else. I just hope it has more of a plot than this had.