Second Foundation

Ahhhhh, it feels like it's been a year since I've read Foundation and Empire, and since the day I've finished the second volume of the Foundation saga, I've been wondering about the second Foundation and now, at least, I KNOW!!
I've found the first two volumes of the saga absolute "must-read"s and this third one is no exception!
This one comes in two parts, each part being neatly parted in chapters but, as usual, it all comes down to the last chapter. Let get into it thoroughly (so, as usual, ***SPOILER AHEAD***):

Part I: Search by the Mule
The Mule is now the emperor of the universe or rather, the "First Citizen of the Union" as he wants to be called. After having rapidly expanded, he has stopped for consolidation for 5 years, and his union is politically quiet and economically prosperous. But this apparent consolidation hides a ineffectual search for the second foundation: after his first failed effort by psycho-actively using Ebling Mis (see Foundation and Empire), he has been unsuccessfully raking the universe, looking for it: the first Foundation as been created in the broad daylight but the Second Foundation is an absolute mystery; the only information that is sure is that it is located "at the other end of the universe". As a new kind of effort, from his palace on the ex-pleasure world of Kalgan, he teams the former Foundation lieutenant -now Converted- Han Pritcher and the young, gifted, handsome -and Unconverted- Bail Channis together and asks Pritcher to let the other take the all initiative that his unconverted and therefore more creative mind offers.
All along the chapters, we are being offered, trough interludes, glimpses of the Second Foundation, through discussions between its highest members. They are all psychologists and are not hampered by physical speech anymore, so they do not strictly talk but rather understand each others. The Seldon plan is at a fracture point and to recover, they say that they need the Mule to find them...
Bail Channis quickly deduces that the Second Foundation could be on Tazenda, a quite forgotten world, and he and Pritcher embark for Rossem, one of its dominions, a chilly agricultural planet, in order to gather information on Tazenda. There they meet peasants, and the Elders of Rossem who make them wait... I won't delve into details, but the Mule has followed his lieutenants on Rossem: he confronts Bail Channis as a member of the Second Foundation while his fleet destroys Tazenda. Feeling that Channis is not desperate enough at the news of the possible destruction of the Second Foundation, the Mule mentally tortures him and learns his truth: Tazenda is not the second Foundation, Rossem is! The Mule orders his fleet to Rossem but there comes the First Speaker, leader of the Second Foundation. He explains the Mule that the plan created by Seldon is not a finished product, and that the second-foundationers are the guardian of this plan and finally, that Bail Channis' truth is not really the truth, but he was a volunteer for this mission and has been made to think that Rossem is the Second Foundation. While the Mule has a fraction of a second of inattention at this news, the First Speaker enters his mind and alters it. That is how the Second Foundation vanquishes the Mule.

Part II: Search by the Foundation
A quick history lesson informs us that after a change took place in the Mule's plan (which some says has been inspired by the Second Foundation), he has ruled as an enlightened despot for 5 year before dying. Then, his empire had slowly crumbled and the Foundation had risen again.
A generation has passed since the Mule died. Arcadia Darell, daughter of Dr Toran Darell, is the granddaughter of Bayta Darell, who defeated the Mule (see Foundation and Empire); she is a quick-witted teenager. About the Second Foundation, some believe it doesn't exist, some believe they guide the first Foundation, and among believers, most think that the Foundation need no blind guidance and want to control their own fates. Arcadia's father is specialized in encephalography and brain patterns and is leading a team of "secret conspirators" who are looking to find and defeat the Second Foundation; Arcadia likes to spy on them.
At an unknown place, the First Speaker introduces the Prime Radiant to a promising student. The Prime Radiant is a black cube containing the whole Seldon Plan; when he died, Seldon had 40% of the plan completed and since then, the plan has been completed, amended, corrected and reality-checked by second-foundationers. The whole plan could cover the wall of a large room with equations of a microscopic size. To enter Speakerhood, the student will have to make a contribution to the Plan. But right now, he learns that, after the Mule mess, the probability of success of the Plan is down to 20% or so and that the Second Foundation is currently working on a plan in the Plan -against the basic laws of psychohistory- with very low probabilities, involving the actions of individuals: another Seldon Crisis is looming.
The conspirators are a small group: Dr Darell, Homir Munn -a librarian who collects artifacts from the Mule- and some others, and Pelleas Anthor, a newcomer, student of an ex-colleague of Dr Darell. The science of encephalography is spurred by the interest in the Second Foundation, and the group has discovered the "Tamper Plateau", a plateau that shows on the graphs of persons who could have been tampered with, by the Mule or... the Second Foundation! Needing more information, they send Homir to Kalgan to investigate the inviolate Mule's palace, feeling that it could be under the influence of the Second Foundation. Homir goes, but Arcadia slips in his ship and goes with him.
Kalgan, after the death of the Mule, never reverted to a leisure world, and has stayed under the domination of self appointed "First Citizens". The current ruler of Kalgan, the killer of his predecessor, Lord Stettin hungers for the days where the Union was the ruler of the universe. Homir Munn asks lord Stettin to be granted access to the Mule palace but is rejected, that is until his favorite -more than friend but less than wife-, the Lady Callia makes him believe that Homir thinks that in the Seldon Plan, it is not said that the Second Empire must be that of the Foundation: it could be his.
Lord Stettin grants the access and after Homir's unsuccessful search, decides to start his conquest of the universe, and keeps him as a warranty that he is following the Seldon plan. Arcadia tries to flee from Kalgan, buys a ticket to Trantor and closely escapes a police search, helped by Preem Palver, a trading representative of a farm co-operative on Trantor, and his wife, two seemingly charming rednecks dubbed Pappa and Mamma. From Trantor where she is now stuck with Mamma and Pappa, Arcadia now knows -she doesn't know how, but she knows- where the second Foundation is and sends a 5 words message to his father.
Then, war is declared by Lord Stettin on the Foundation, and the First Citizen of the Union is rapidly expanding, with the strong fleet he has been massing for years. After several months of victories, he is trying for a big jab closer to the Foundation but they have prepared a bold trap and destroy his whole fleet: a Foundation victory it is! First witness of the kalganian defeat, Homir Munn thinks he knows the truth.

• Chapter 21: The answer that satisfied: The conspirators are reunited, and Homir Munn exposes his theory: there is no Second Foundation. Anthor confounds him and an encephalography reveals that Munn has been tampered with, certainly by the Second Foundation! Anthor then explain that he thinks the Second Foundation is on Kalgan, which has been the center of events recently. But Dr Darell thinks otherwise: the message he has received from his daughter is "a circle has no end" and indicates that the other end of the universe, to the Foundation, is... Terminus itself, and he believes that the Second Foundation is on Terminus. Then, he shows a little device he has been working on: a Mind Static, which creates randomly shifting wave patterns, to prevent a Second Foundation mind to read or control other minds. Pushed to the maximum, it acts to a powerful mind like a blinding light to an eye, it is a torture. And as it is turned on, Pelleas Anthor screams! He is a Second Foundationer, and confesses that the Second Foundation is on Terminus, that they are no more than 50 and that the Lady Callia is one of them. The last task is to make sure that Arcadia had not been manipulated: her encephalography shows no Tamper Plateau. Thus, it's over, Foundation is now free from the Second Foundation.
• Chapter 22: The answer that was true: Back to the First Speaker and his student for the real truth: to be able to get back on the track of the Plan, the first Foundation had to regain its confidence and forget about the Second Foundation so that they do not feel guided and act naturally according to the laws of the psychohistory. They (the Second Foundation) have arranged that the Foundation really beat a physical enemy in the ruler of Kalgan to regain its confidence; and they have seen to it that they believe that they've killed the Second Foundation. Thus, the Mind Static and science of encephalography, without any spurring, will decay. To attain this goal, they've been working for more than a decade, and they have manipulated Arcadia since she was a infant (and her mind a blank slate) so that the Tamper Plateau does not show! The First Speaker, Preem Palver (!) has brought the Seldon Plan back on track.

So great a story, I had to get into details and yet, I feel I did not do justice to the book: you just have to read it for yourself. To the next volumes now...

La Rose de Versailles

Portant le titre original de "Versailles No Bara", le manga "Les Roses de Versailles" de Ryoko Ikeda est plus connu chez nous sous le nom de "Lady Oscar", popularisé par le fameux dessin animé diffusé dans les années 80. Un collègue m'a amené l'autre jour le premier tome, un pavé de 500 pages, avec un look de shojo plus que prononcé: des personnages ultra-androgynes, des femmes aux longs cheveux blonds flottant dans le vent, des hommes à la crinière brune au moins aussi flottante, de grands yeux humides remplis d'étoiles pétillantes... bref, tout ce qui ravit les jeunes lectrices mais qui fait que je ne lis pas de shojo habituellement.
Mais bon, afin de m'ouvrir un peu plus, j'ai lu le tome 1... et j'ai demandé le tome 2. Ce qui m'a attiré dans ce livre, ce n'est certes pas le style graphique dont j'ai parlé; ce n'est pas non plus les dialogues dont on ne sait s'ils sont pensés ou parlés (d'ailleurs, c'est assez pénible à la longue cette manière de faire); ce ne sont pas non plus les amours impossibles qui font souffrir les cœurs de tous les personnages (on erre d'ailleurs ici dans du pur shojo, il ne semble jamais y avoir de satiété pour les bon sentiments...); et enfin, ce ne sont pas non plus les petites blagues des personnages caricaturés... C'est tout simplement la même chose qui a fait l'énorme succès de ce manga: le contexte historique.
A travers les vicissitudes de ses 3 personnages principaux (Marie-Antoinette, Oscar François de Jarjayes et Hans Axel de Fersen), l'auteure mêle habilement les personnages fictifs et les aventures romancées avec les personnages et les événements historiques. Ce manga a fait découvrir l'histoire de la révolution Française à des millions de Japonaises et, dans cette optique de narration et d'histoire, c'est une vraie réussite. De toute façon, une bonne histoire restera toujours pour moi, au delà du style graphique, ce qui fait une bonne bande dessinée. Et même si on connait la fin à l'avance, ce manga tient une bonne histoire!

Ivanhoe

I've just finished Ivanhoe, and I've gone "WOW". That is a great and epic story. It features noble knights, bad villains, damsels in distress, tournaments, sword fights and a happy ending; everything one could wish for in such a story. It really makes want to learn more about the history of our English friends.

For such a story, let's get into a lengthy summary...
So beware *** SPOILER AHEAD ***

All along the book, you are given details about the historical background of the story. Cedric of Rotherwood is one of the last fighters for the rights of the Saxons to the throne of England, which has been usurped by the Normans. The King Richard Plantagenet, the lion-hearted is in prison somewhere between Palestine and England and the Prince John has taken the regency, but obviously wants the throne of his elder brother. The Normans are strong, proud, cruel to the people and despise the Saxons. The Saxons are divided amongst those who gave allegiance to the Norman king and those who refuse to even utter a word of French; and among the last, Cedric of Rotherwood is the most vehement.
His only shame is that his own son, Wilfred of Ivanhoe, has pledged allegiance to the Norman King Richard and has gone crusading with him to Palestine. Cedric of Rotherwood is also the guardian of the Lady Rowena, the most beautiful of princesses, and direct heiress to the last Saxon King, whom he plans to marry to Athelstane a very strong but light-headed Saxon knight also of noble untainted royal Saxon blood. But the heart of the Lady Rowena is inclined toward the companion of her childhood, Ivanhoe.
In the first chapters, you make the acquaintance of Wamba the fool and Gurth the swineherd, both serving under the noble Saxon Cedric of Rotherwood. A strange and poor Pilgrim, and a wretched Jew both ask for a night's rest at Cedric of Rotherxwood's. It must be noted that although the Normans and Saxons hate each other, they share the belief that Jews are just greedy underlings that must be abused; touching a Jew is even seen as dishonour. Before the morning comes, the Pilgrim wishes to leave and when he reveals his identity to Gurth, the poor swineherd is shocked into obedience and shows him the way out. Thus leaving, he helps the Jew escape certain costly adventure.
When the tournament starts at Ashby-de-la-Zouche, in the country of Leicester, everything is in place:

• The Jew, Isaac of York appear in all his riches, with his stunningly beautiful daughter Rebecca


• The champions are strong Norman nobles: the proud Templar Brian de Bois-Guilbert, Barons Reginald Front-de-Boeuf and Philip Malvoisin


• Yeoman and Knights will prove their valor in the lists again the champions


• Prince John presides the feast, flanked by his councelors, de Bracy and Fitzurse, both hoping a share of the treasure in helping the Prince John to the crown

The champions defeat all the challenging knights but then, a mysterious Knight, who call himself the Disinherited Knight, beats them one by one, with armor, lance and steed. We then learn that, attended by Gurth, he is the Pilgrim and has been armed by Isaac the Jew. With the help of another anonymous Black Knight, he defeats the champions again the following day, but this time with his sword. Champion of the day, he chooses the Lady Rowena as his Queen of Love and Beauty before fainting, having been hurt. He is then unmasked on the order of the Prince John, vexed by the defeat of his Norman champions, and is recognized as Ivanhoe. After the tumult of these events, both the Black Knight and the body of Ivanhoe disappear. On the third day at Ashby, it must be related that a yeoman named Locksley easily crushes his opponents in the archery competition.

After the tournament, the crowd is scattered, and Cedric and Rowena head back home and meet distressed Isaac and Rebecca on their way: they've been robbed and left in the woods with a sick friend; Rebecca has indeed taken Ivanhoe into her care, to cure him with her oriental knowledge of medicine. The woods are considered dangerous because the Norman barons drive the people to such poverty that the number of them turning to robbery is growing at a fast pace. Cedric, by his Saxon heredity, sees himself immune to that danger, but it's another danger that falls on the whole party. They are attacked and captured by a group disguised as Saxon bandits and taken to the castle of Reginald Front-de-Boeuf, all of them except Wamba and Gurth, who managed to escape.
In the castle of Front-de-Boeuf, the prisoners face different fates:

• The Lady Rowena's heart is assailed by De Bracy (who really is the mastermind behind the abduction, in order to present himself as a savior to her...), who certainly thinks about her royal blood


• Rebecca's heart is assailed by the Templar Bois-Guilbert, who is ready to renounce everything his order stands for her


• The Jew is about to be slowly tortured to death if he does not pay as high a ransom as Bois-Guilbert gives him


• Cedric and Athelstane are detained, and will be freed for a ransom

But outside the castle, another party has gathered: Wamba and Gurth have gained the help of the Black Knight and of Locksley, the stout Yeoman, who is to be the main chief of a very large and very organized band of forest thieves. Wamba proves that what he lacks in wits, he makes up for in courage and devotion, by exchanging his place as a prisoner with his master's, disguised as a priest and distributing "Pax vobsicum" all around. Then ensues the epic assault of the castle, won by the assailants, the deaths of Reginald Front-de-Boeuf and Athelstane; The Templar escapes, abducting Rebecca with him; De Bracy surrenders; Ivanhoe is saved. After the battle comes the division of the spoil, directed by Locksley. Wamba and Gurth gain freedom from Cedric of Rotherwood, and the Black Knight gains the choice to dispose of De Bracy, whom he chooses to free.

As De Bracy comes back to the Prince John, he informs him that Richard is in England, that he is the Black Knight; knowing that, Fitzurse leaves to take the lead of a small group of strong men to find and assault the King. This assault would fail, because the Black Knight will be saved by Wamba and Locksley. The Black Knight then reveals to everyone he is Richard of England, and Locksley that he is the famous Robin Hood of Sherwood Forest.
Meanwhile, Isaac the Jew sets out to the prefectory of Templestowe where Bois-Guilbert is supposed to have taken his daughter. The Grand Master of the Temple, Lucas Beaumanoir, is a templar proud of his order and rigidly follows its principles. And, thus, he prepares a full trial for Rebecca under the accusation of sorcery, for which she is to be burnt alive: if Bois-Guilbert has taken her, it can only be that he has been bewitched. Isaac asks for mercy but the voice of a Jew accounts for nothing. Madly in love, but always rejected by Rebecca, Bois-Guilbert nonetheless gives her a way out: Rebecca is trialed and found guilty but she asks for a champion: by a law of the order of the Templars, if a champion appears for her in the lists and beats the representative of the order, she will be free. Bois-Guilbert wanted to come as her champion, but is designed to be the representative of the order!

Later, everyone in the Saxon party gathers at the castle of Torquilstone for the ceremony of the defunct Athelstane during which the defunct appears very much alive! He had been left for dead and then detained by abbots! He avows he does not want to marry Rowena since she doesn't love him but Wilfred of Ivanhoe. But where is Ivanhoe? He disappears from the scene to rush at the lists to be the champion of Rebecca, who has healed and saved him. Brian de Bois-Guilbert is beaten and dead. All is well that ends well!