Well, this is the second of Asimov's "Empire" trilogy, and after having read the robot trilogy 20 years ago, and the seven books of the Foundation Trilogy over a period from 2003 to 2007 I was looking forward to plugging the gap.
Yes, Currents in Space does fit in the building of the Empire, and looks at politics and political motivations. I found it light on science, and most of the science was verging on technobabble.
Did I feel cheated? A little, the action plays out, not furthering the plot, then everyone meets in a courtroom and they talk themselves in circles about who would benefit most by stabbing who in the back. The final summing up is Market Forces take precedence over Human Lives.
Read it to complete the series, don't start the series here. The action is fun(ish). No heavy theology, no stupid soft porn. Just a cloak and dagger yarn and courtroom summing up.
