The Third Lynx (Quadrail #2) ★★★✬☆

~ Bookstooge

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Title: The Third Lynx
Series: Quadrail #2
Authors: Timothy Zahn
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF
Pages: 266
Words: 99.5K



Synopsis:

From Wikipedia.org & Me

The Third Lynx starts several months after the events of Night Train to Rigel. Having destroyed the hub world of the Modhri, Frank Campton is riding the Quadrail with Bayta, his traveling companion and friend, when a murder occurs on the Quadrail car which he is traveling on. The victim is a middle-aged man who had proposed a deal to Compton a few hours before.

Turns out some valuable art pieces of an unknown race are actually parts of a weapon that can go undetected through the Quadrail sensors. Frank and Bayta must capture the remaining pieces so it can’t be reverse engineered. They stop the pieces from falling into the hands of the Modhri’s walkers, only to discover there is a whole planet filled with the weapons, and not only weapons, but spaceships as well.

My Thoughts:

When I originally read this back in ’08 I stated that I hoped Zahn would dig a little deeper into the universe he’d created here. Having read the whole series I know he didn’t but oddly enough, knowing that actually allowed me to enjoy this a bit more this time around.

I wasn’t worried about trying to read a cracking fantastic scifi detective story. I just had to enjoy a decent sf detective who was as laid back as if he’d been smoking blunts his whole life. Despite many protestations to the contrary, at no time did Frank Compton ever come across as worried or afraid. I’m afraid he was lit to the max.

Whatever relationship Zahn was trying to create between Frank and Bayta came across as weird, uncomfortable and just plain awkward. It felt like watching two 13 year olds trying to talk to each other. It was almost as uncomfortable to read about as it seemed to be for them to actually do.

And I still had a good time reading this. Weird huh?

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

21 thoughts on “The Third Lynx (Quadrail #2) ★★★✬☆”

    1. I like his short stories collections the best. He works best with the short story format.

      But his original Thrawn trilogy really is the foundation of the Star Wars universe 😉

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        1. No worries. I actually had to look up when it was originally published 😀
          But that is actually quite apropo of Zahn. I read him in the late 80’s, early 90’s and his writing didn’t grow up with me. It stayed the same 😦

          Liked by 1 person

          Reply

    1. Zahn has zero(!!!!) ability to write relationships. It’s not a bad thing in his short stories or his standalone stories, but once you move past the first book in a series, well, it becomes extremely obvious.

      It’s really a weakness of his that he’s never overcome. It just took me a long time to realize it was a weakness and not a fluke…

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