I reread Isaac Asimov’s Foundation Trilogy this week. It’s generally considered one of, if not the, best Science Fiction series ever. I read it many many times growing up, I spent countless hours with a good proportion of Asimov’s 500-plus books.
And now it’s not as fun. The characters are ridiculously one-dimensional, and the writing is so bare as to be naked. I still remember the two key twists which takes a lot of fun out. I know enough about Roman history that it seems a lot less creative (it’s loosely based on the rise of the Roman Empire). It’s the same for many of my old classics. The books I like are still primarily plot-driven, but I need them to have some literary merit also.
Isaac Asimov was a great writer, and an incredible person, and now I can’t read his books. I’ve destroyed one of my own heroes.
Blech.