Another classic read. It's a familiar story of a quest to find some powerful alien artefact and a bit of a romp from start to finish. We have the profit-seeking merchants, the good guys of the Humanx amalgamation and the boy hero with his pet mini-dragon and nascent psionic powers. It's old stuff of course. One has to accept that said alien artefact has dials, switches and miles of wiring though now we are living in an age when they have all but disappeared. I could imagine breadboards of transistors heating up somewhere inside the Krang. One part, that thoroughly dates this and made me chuckle more, was when Flinx got a utility belt that had on it an amazing device that could store fifty books! Yet, characters and story are all, and Foster does both very well. I very much enjoyed this and now need to get hold of the ensuing books.
5 comments:
I have that very one - I must give it another look!
Have you switched over to the new blog editor yet? I haven't and am wondering how easy it will be.
I always enjoyed Foster's adventures. Maybe I should get them out again. Thought about Icerigger lately.
Alan Dean Foster has always been an excellent writer - and a go-to when doing novelization of movies and stuff. I mean, the latest Pip and Flinx is from... 2017!
ADF always struck me as a "Jobbing" writer. Not inspired, not adventurous, just judging the "American" market, and then writing for it. In the same way Spielberg does movies.Stick a cutesy kid in there, give him a pet and pals, all of whom serve to support his central role. Without details (mostly), ADF never had to worry particularly about "Niven Limits" on his stories. I read them, enjoyed them slightly, but always was aware that they were filler, whilst waiting for better SF to present itself. ADF did the same thing as a movie novelist, working to a publishers deadline, to capitalise on the mayfly memory of the movie market.
Not an artist; a decorator.
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