Tag: Alan Dean Foster

Sentenced to Prism (HumanX Commonwealth) ★★★★☆

~ Bookstooge ~ 25 Comments

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: Sentenced to Prism
Series: HumanX Commonwealth
Author: Alan Dean Foster
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF
Pages: 212
Words: 82K

Yeah, really should have left this one alone for another couple of years. 2018 isn’t long enough ago for me. I downgraded this favorite of mine down to 4stars because it is just such a simplistic story. Sometimes that really works for me but this time, it was a detriment and not a positive. I’ll definitely be re-reading this again sometime in the future, but I’m guessing it will be another decade instead of 4-5 years.

That is all. Carry on with your normal daily business, citizens of Planet Earth, no need to be alarmed. All Your Cinema Are Belong To Us!

★★★★☆

Sentenced to Prism (HumanX Commonwealth #5) ★★★★★

~ Bookstooge ~ 22 Comments

sentencedtoprism (Custom)This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Sentenced to Prism
Series: HumanX Commonwealth #5
Author: Alan Dean Foster
Rating: 5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Science Fiction
Pages: 288
Format: Mass Market Paperback

 

Synopsis:

Evan Orgell: Troubleshooter, Fixer, Company Man, Confident. If there is a problem, you send in Evan Orgell and your problem gets taken care off. There is no one better on Samstead.

The Company has a problem. They’ve discovered a new world and their presence there isn’t quite exactly legal. But the payoffs could be huge, so they’ve sent down a full research team with labs and defensive outpost. But the team has gone silent. The Company needs Evan to go in alone and find out what is going on. One man, alone, won’t draw the attention of rival companies, the United Church or the Peace Forcers. Equipped with a suit of mobile armor with the latest gadgets, Evan is all set to investigate the mysteries of Prism.

Unfortunately, neither The Company or Evan are truly prepared for what Prism holds.

Evan finds the remains of the base and it is overrun by prismatic lifeforms feasting on all the rare-earth metals in the base. All of the staff, except for one Martine Ophemert, are dead. Evan begins the process of tracking down the missing staff member. During his pursuit, his suit, his superdupercan’tbreakcansolveeverything suit fails. Evan is forced to proceed on foot and comes into contact with a native, a scout named Azure. Azure saves Evan’s life and they head back to Azure’s Associative.

There Evan finds a fully functioning society. The lifeforms of Prism have all specialized and then come together instead of being multi-use creatures that standalone. Evan gives them the idea of a battery, as they are all photovores so they can function through the night. In turn they grow him a locator so he can track down Martine easier.

On the way to finding Martine’s tracker, the group is attacked and Evan is partially destroyed. The Associative rebuilds him so he is part biological and part Prismatic. A true synthesis of Prism and the Commonwealth. They rescue Martine, who has also been rebuilt by another Associative and they all head back to the base to try to contact The Company.

Turns out one of the former crew was working for a Rival Company and said Rival Company is on site when they return. After being taken prisoner and then rescued by their Associative, Evan and Martine send the scouting party packing. The Rival Company returns with a military complement, only to run into the Peace Forcers and the United Church, who Evan has contacted using a homegrown space contact thingy grown by the Prismites.

Prism is now considered a Class One world and must be left alone. Evan and Martine are left as Liasons considering their new “forms” and their mission is now to get the various Associatives across Prism to form one Super Associative. And the Associatives have already considered this, agreed and are planning on growing a spaceship so Evan and Martine can travel as official representatives of Prism to the Commonwealth.

 

My Thoughts:

“You cannot steal information, Evan,” Azure said reprovingly. “Library says you can only borrow it…”

That just made me laugh coming from an author. Being intimately involved with the de-drm’ing of ebooks back in the day, I’m very aware of arguments on both sides of the Information Must Be Free fight. Anyway, on to the review.

This is the fourth recorded time that I’ve read this. Much like Way-farer though, I had also read this several times in highschool and through Bibleschool. So in reality, this is probably my sixth or seventh time and I still love it. Reading it for the first time now I’d probably pooh-pooh this as mediocre SF and move right on. But this is one of those books that got its hooks in me early on and has never let go.

This was a “fun” idea and Foster executes it well in one book. There is a lot of time building things up before Evan gets transformed into a Prismite and yet each time it comes as a surprise to me. I suspect part of it is that events with him and Martine as Prismites are bigger in scope whereas the previous stuff is smaller so it comes across as a bigger portion even though its not.

Basically, I like this book no matter what. For me, this is the quintessential standalone science fiction adventure story. It is Perfect even while I acknowledge that it really isn’t. But reading it 4 times in 18 years? I think that speaks for itself and the fact that I still enjoyed it this time around as much as I did back in 2000. After my mis-adventure with Dragon’s Gold and realizing how my tastes have matured, it is good to find that some books can withstand even me being more mature * wink *

Another plus to reading the same book multiple times is that I can see how I have grown as a reviewer and not just as a reader. I think you’d agree that this review is VERY different from my first one in 2000.

★★★★★

bookstooge

 

 

The Deluge Drivers (Icerigger #3) (Project Reread #11)

~ Bookstooge ~ 5 Comments

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This review is written with a GPL 3.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot, Booklikes & Librarything by  Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission.

Title: The Deluge Drivers

Series: Icerigger #3

Author: Alan Dean Foster

Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars

Genre: SFF

Pages: 320

Format: Kindle digital edition

Project Reread:

I am attempting to reread 10+ books in 2016 that I have rated highly in the past. I am not attempting to second guess or denigrate my younger self in any way but am wanting to compare how my tastes have changed and possibly matured. I am certainly much more widely read now [both in the good and bad quality sadly] than then.
I will hopefully be going into the reasons for any differences of opinions between then and now. If there is no difference of opinion, then it was a hellfire’d fine book!
Links may link to either WordPress, Booklikes or Blogspot, depending on when the original review was.

Synopsis: Spoilers

Just as Ethan and Skua are getting ready to leave Tran-Ky-Ky, Ethan gets suckered into taking a job for his company as the Representative for the world, meaning that he has to stay on Tran-ky-ky.

At the same time, some egg heads on station find an anomaly in the weather, which upon investigation, shows that the whole of Tran-ky-ky is in danger. With the help of Ethan, Skua, Milliken, the Slanderscree and the eggheads, that danger is proven to be man made.
Mad scientists, renegade Tran, a melting world and the genocide of an entire species. Has Ethan stepped in it or what?
My Thoughts:
 The weakest of the trilogy, unfortunately.
My Review from ’05 pretty much nails the story line.
This just felt worn and old. While Icerigger excited me even upon my latest re-read, this didn’t excite me at all. I certainly have no desire to ever re-read this again. The shallowness of the characters really shows up here.
In fact, this is exactly like the Magic Kingdom for Sale/Sold series by Brooks. First book is great, but since all the characters are cardboard, that flaw shows up in greater detail in each successive book. Problem is, to get deeper characters, you’d seriously up the page count and the plot couldn’t handle that.
Now, that doesn’t mean this was a bad book. It was just a generic SF book that was written for pure entertainment and absolutely nothing else. It fulfills that mission quite admirably. And back when it was written in the 80’s that was all we as readers were looking for. The tome-meisters hadn’t gotten on the scene yet and publishers wouldn’t have published them anyway.
Good to finish up the storyline and that was about it. Read it and forget it.
star35full-custom

Mission to Moulokin (Icerigger #2) (Project Reread #10)

~ Bookstooge ~ 10 Comments

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This review is written with a GPL 3.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot, Booklikes & Librarything by  Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission.

Title: Mission to Moulokin

Series: Icerigger #2

Author: Alan Dean Foster

Rating: 4 of 5 Stars

Genre: SFF

Pages: 280

Format: Kindle digital edition

Project Reread:

I am attempting to reread 10+ books in 2016 that I have rated highly in the past. I am not attempting to second guess or denigrate my younger self in any way but am wanting to compare how my tastes have changed and possibly matured. I am certainly much more widely read now [both in the good and bad quality sadly] than then.

I will hopefully be going into the reasons for any differences of opinions between then and now. If there is no difference of opinion, then it was a hellfire’d fine book!

Links may link to either WordPress, Booklikes or Blogspot, depending on when the original review was.

Synopsis: Spoilers

Having survived Tran-ky-ky for a year, Ethan Fortune isn’t that keen on going right back to his planet to planet sales job. He does refuse Collette DuKane’s proposal of marriage but more because he realizes that he’ll resent her power and constant on-the-go lifestyle than because she is fat.

This book is about Ethan, September, Milliken, Hunnar and the Slanderscree trying to put together a Trannish coalition so that Tran-Ky-Ky can be given membership into the Commonwealth. Unfortunately for them, greedy humans, self-serving tran and one particularly insane tran, stand in their way.

On their journey, they discover information that makes it imperative that Tran-Ky-Ky joins the commonwealth, for the good of all Tran the world over.

My Thoughts:

Well, this held up to my previous reading

and stayed at 4 stars. I used the link to my review at Booklikes because my original review on blogspot, which has been transferred to wordpress, was a Year by Month list. I wasn’t keeping track online yet and was just using a paper notebook. Once I started online, I had to copy out everything since 2000 and it was easier to do a year at a time instead of each individual book. Just goes to show how my reviewing style has changed and grown over the years:

This was much weaker than Icerigger both in terms of adventure and interesting characters. The already existing characters are pretty static and the new characters who show up are there to either cause problems, be killed off or act as allies, nothing more, nothing less.

On the adventure side of things, it just didn’t grab me the same way. There is a battle at Moulokin that wasn’t nearly as good as the battle between the Horde and the Settlement in Icerigger and the Slanderscree’s overland journey didn’t nearly match up to the journey to Brassmonkey from the previous book. There is still a lot of action, it just wasn’t as good. I can’t pin it down any further than that, sadly.

Overall, while I enjoyed this read and am glad I made it part of my Project Reread, I don’t think I’ll be reading it again. It is time to let this sit and relax with all the other books I’ve read.

star40full-custom

Icerigger (Icerigger #1) (Project Reread #9)

~ Bookstooge ~ 5 Comments

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Icerigger
Series: Icerigger
Author: Alan Foster
Rating: 5 of 5 Stars
Genre: SFF
Pages: 313
Format: Kindle digital edition

 

 

Project Reread:

I am attempting to reread 10+ books in 2016 that I have rated highly in the past. I am not attempting to second guess or denigrate my younger self in any way but am wanting to compare how my tastes have changed and possibly matured. I am certainly much more widely read now [both in the good and bad quality sadly] than then.
I will hopefully be going into the reasons for any differences of opinions between then and now. If there is no difference of opinion, then it was a hellfire’d fine book!
Links may link to either Booklikes or Blogspot, depending on when the original review was.

 

Synopsis:

Ethan Fortune, traveling space salesman, interrupts a kidnapping and is taken along for the ride. The little kidnapping craft crashes and the kidnappee’s suddenly out number, out bulk and out gun their lone kidnapper. Sadly, they’ve crashed on Tran-Ky-Ky, the Hoth of the HumanX commonwealth, where metal is rare, the natives furry and the group is 1000 of kilometers from the only humanx outpost on the world.

After being rescued by a group of friendly natives, you’d think the groups’ problems were over. Nope. It appears that they have arrived just as the locals are rising up against the Horde, a nasty group that sails around taking tribute and causing mayhem.
Lots of adventures happen and the book ends with the Slanderskee, an ice rigger [hence the name of the book and trilogy], skating into Brass Monkey, the humanx outpost.

 

My Thoughts:

If was I reading this for the first time, I’d be hesitating between 3.5 and 4 Stars. There are several things that you could nitpick about. My main one was where was the security detail for the Du Kanes? Heads of businesses that are multi-bajillionaires don’t wander around by themselves.

However, since this is my 5th or 6th time reading this, I’ve obviously gotten past that. This is another book that I read multiple times in highschool, at least once or twice in bibleschool and then again since 2000. And now.  When I read this back in ’06, I started looking for a hardcover edition. I managed to buy one recently [ie, in the last couple of years] for under $100, but before that, the price had ranged from $150 to $450. OUCH.

This was fun. Ethan is a good face for the group. Being a salesman he’s used to dealing with disparate groups of beings and is mentally flexible enough that a little thing like being stranded on an ice planet doesn’t make him panic and freeze [ha, wordplay totally intended there]. Skua September is the mature, wise, warrior elder. Ok, maybe not quite so wise or mature but he definitely provides that “experience” vibe that Ethan certainly doesn’t have. Then the “scientist’y” teacher who fills in all those science’y parts necessary in an SF book. Finally, there are the Du Kanes. The sometimes senile, sometimes not, father and then Collette, the smart as a whip, really running the business but a dutiful and loving daughter. Who can only be described as fat.

Foster pulls no punches whatsoever in regards to Collette. In some ways it is rather shocking to see how she is treated so bluntly, but I never felt like it was used as a comedic “hey lets make fun of the fat girl” kind of thing. She is not a princess but is expected to fill a princess’s role and that conflict brings a bit of gravity to this otherwise pretty light novel.

The fighting was great. There were several battles and each one was great to read about. Made me want to go outside, skate around and cut people’s heads off 🙂
Once again, this was a smashing success for my Project Reread.

The Spoils of War (The Damned #3) (Project Reread #5)

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aaeebad22767f77ba299aca8dee1dbe3This review is written with a GPL 3.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at Bookstooge.booklikes.blogspot. wordpress.leafmarks.com & Bookstooge’s Reviews on the Road Facebook Group by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission.

Title: The Spoils of War

Series: The Damned

Author: Alan Dean Foster

Rating: 4 of 5 Stars

Genre: SFF

Pages: 273

Format: Kindle digital edition

Project Reread:

I am attempting to reread 10+ books in 2016 that I have rated highly in the past. I am not attempting to second guess or denigrate my younger self in any way but am wanting to compare how my tastes have changed and possibly matured. I am certainly much more widely read now [both in the good and bad quality sadly] than then.
I will hopefully be going into the reasons for any differences of opinions between then and now. If there is no difference of opinion, then it was a hellfire’d fine book!
Links may link to either Booklikes or Blogspot, depending on when the original review was.

Synopsis:

The Amplitur surrender in hopes of winning the war by subverting humanity in the ensuing peace.

One of the Wais has made humanity her specialty of study. In the course of things, she comes into contact with the Core, the humans who can influence others like the Amplitur. She also discovers that the Lepar aren’t the slow stupid beings that everyone thinks they are.

Can humanity become a race that can live in peace or will they become the next Amplitur?

My Thoughts:

 

Reading this was practically like reading a new to me book. I just didn’t remember any of the details. My previous review of Spoils of War was spot on in its assessment but with no details…

I enjoyed getting a viewpoint from the Wais.  However, just like the previous books, no resolution to the questions raised is ever brought about. It is more of a shrug of the literary shoulders and a “who knows?” Still found the overall series very enjoyable if not quite as compelling as before.

The False Mirror (The Damned #2) (Project Reread #4)

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ba8dbf1db92d12b79c0f55f21fb7084aThis review is written with a GPL 3.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at Bookstooge.booklikes.blogspot. wordpress.leafmarks.com & Bookstooge’s Reviews on the Road Facebook Group by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission.

 

 

 

 

Title: The False Mirror

Series: The Damned

Author: Alan Dean Foster

Rating: 4 of 5 Stars

Genre: SFF

Pages: 343

Format: Kindle digital edition

 

 

Project Reread:
I am attempting to reread 10+ books in 2016 that I have rated highly in the past. I am not attempting to second guess or denigrate my younger self in any way but am wanting to compare how my tastes have changed and possibly matured. I am certainly much more widely read now [both in the good and bad quality sadly] than then.
I will hopefully be going into the reasons for any differences of opinions between then and now. If there is no difference of opinion, then it was a hellfire’d fine book!
Links may link to either Booklikes or Blogspot, depending on when the original review was.

 

Synopsis:

The fight continues.

The Amplitur are on the defensive and so make a choice to create a new set of beings masquerading as one of their own allies, a hybridized human without the mental defenses against the Amplitur that normal humans have.

We follow one of these super soldiers through his training, to his capture, to the revelation that he is human. Now he is on a crusade to free the other super soldiers.

And he is hiding a secret, one so big that it could tear apart the Weave and cast humanity into a role that is even more hated than the Amplitur.

 

My Thoughts:

This was different than I remember. I remembered a lot of conspiracy by the newly created humans to keep their existence a secret. I think I was confusing this with the next book.

Just like in the first book, aliens get as much face time as humans. I think that Foster does an excellent job of creating different species and cultures without resorting to rooting through human history and stealing forgotten cultures for ideas.

The training maze chapter near the beginning was probably the best one and sadly, the rest of the book doesn’t live up to its awesomeness. You get a lot of introspection from the main human character who is dealing with the fact that he’s a human and not an alien. It felt very “whah, whah, poor me”.

The ideas put forth in this book though are what carry it.  Humans are already on the fringe of the Weave alliance. Our ability to commit, and love for, violence makes us attack dogs, not really allies and definitely NOT equals. For the most part, we don’t care. But there are people, and aliens, who wonder what humanity’s role will be once/if the Amplitur and their Purpose, is defeated. Then you add in the fact that there are now humans who have Amplitur mental powers. The humans realize what a danger they pose and hence the secrecy.

For a SFF book that is pretty shallow overall, Foster really takes a hard look at possible consequences of such a situation. I think that is why I like this trilogy so much. Gives me a little brain food with my candy.

A Call to Arms (The Damned #1) (Project Reread #3)

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651ebbb366d3f52ce328e329de1b5adfThis review is written with a GPL 3.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at Bookstooge.booklikes.blogspot. wordpress.leafmarks.com & Bookstooge’s Reviews on the Road Facebook Group by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission.

Title: A Call to Arms

Series: The Damned

Author: Alan Dean Foster

Rating: 4 of 5 Stars

Genre: SFF

Pages: 343

Format: Kindle digital edition

Project Reread:
I am attempting to reread 10+ books in 2016 that I have rated highly in the past. I am not attempting to second guess or denigrate my younger self in any way but am wanting to compare how my tastes have changed and possibly matured. I am certainly much more widely read now [both in the good and bad quality sadly] than then.
I will hopefully be going into the reasons for any differences of opinions between then and now. If there is no difference of opinion, then it was a hellfire’d fine book!
Links may link to either Booklikes or Blogspot, depending on when the original review was.

Synopsis: (Copied wholesale)

For eons, the Amplitur had searched space for intelligent species, each of which was joyously welcomed to take part in the fulfillment of the Amplitur Purpose. Whether it wanted to or not. When the Amplitur and their allies stumbled upon the races called the Weave, the Purpose seemed poised for a great leap forward. But the Weave’s surprising unity also gave it the ability to fight the Amplitur and their cause. And fight it did; for thousands of years.

Will Dulac was a New Orleans composer who thought the tiny reef off Belize would be the perfect spot to drop anchor and finish his latest symphony in solitude. What he found instead was a group of alien visitors; a scouting party for the Weave, looking. for allies among what they believed to be a uniquely warlike race: Humans.

Will tried to convince the aliens that Man was fundamentally peaceful, for he understood that Human involvement would destroy the race. But all too soon, it didn’t matter. The Amplitur had discovered Earth…

My Thoughts:

Originally read this back in 2005. Enjoyed it enough that I went out and bought the whole trilogy in hardcover. It has since sat on my bookshelves for over a decade. So it was a prime candidate for Project Reread.

Thankfully, I liked this just as much this time around as I did last time.  Which means I had awesome taste back in ’05 and still have it today 😀

The biggest surprise to me, this time around, was how much time was spent dealing with the Amplitur and the Weave before ever coming to Earth. I had remembered the Weave/Human interaction as the starting point, and it wasn’t.

The other main thing I noticed was Foster’s idea that killing non-humans, for humans, was something that they could deal with without guilt or side effects. It forms the whole philosophical basis of this book, ie, Humans are killing machines but hadn’t found the proper outlet yet. I think that he is wrong this time around. I concur that humans can fight [not just killing, but the conflict] and in many cases enjoy it. However, seeing how war [Gulf II, Iraq, Afghanistan, etc] has affected our soldiers [even the ones who keep it together], I am not so blithely sure that humanity can engage in conflict without consequences. Most of the difference, I know, stems from the fact that I am a Christian and I’m pretty sure Foster is an atheist.

In ’05 I noted that I stayed up until midnight to finish this. This time around I stayed up until 3am. And did I pay for that the next day! 3hrs of sleep is nowhere near enough for me these days. I find it interesting to note my physical changes in my book reading habits. Ha.

Finally, the cover of this Gateway edition is butt ugly. I liked the hardcover edition covers that were all colorful and showed aliens and weapons. I would WANT to read those. This one, not so much based on the cover alone.

Sentenced to Prism (HumanX Commonwealth)

~ Bookstooge ~ 1 Comment

5ab29c76455fe24e5f9a8dafdb727030This review is written with a GPL 3.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at Bookstooge.booklikes.blogspot.wordpress.leafmarks.com by express permission of this reviewer

Title: Sentenced to Prism

Series: HumanX Commonwealth

Author: Alan Dean Foster

Rating: 4 of 5 Stars

Genre: SFF

 

 

 

Synopsis:

Evan  Orgil, Fixer for a large Corporate Entity, is sent to a newly discovered world to see why their Exploration Team has suddenly stopped communicating. Everything is under the down low, as the world should be explored by the Commonwealth Authority before being exploited.

Orgil has lived his entire life in various powered suits and for his trip to Prism, he gets a prototype super suit to keep him safe. Of course, you all know what that means.

 

My Thoughts:

When I read this back in 2000 and in 2006, I gave it 5 Stars both times. It was a lot of fun, it was standalone and I found the world of Prism to be pretty unique.

This time around, I still found all those elements applicable. However, in the last couple of years I’ve read a tiny  bit about biology and you know what I’ve discovered, our bodies are truly fearfully and wonderfully made. So Foster’s asides about how inefficient and simple our biology is and how the sentients on Prism just replaced things with silicon and made them better rang completely false. That is why I knocked a star off, because I know better now.

With all that being said, this was still just a great fun ride! I would consider this a classic SFF read. To bad this isn’t more widely known.