Lost and Found / Alan Dean Foster

Lost and Found

(category: science fiction)
book 1 of The Taken by

Alan Dean Foster

published by Del Rey / Random House in 2004, read in December 2009

Agamedes' opinion: 6 out of 10

Somewhere near the start of this book I was reminded of L.Ron Hubbard's Battlefield Earth... you just know that the Earthman is going to defeat the aliens with their high technology and low intelligence. Sure enough -- he did. But he did it with Star Wars sociology: a mixture of alien allies (antisocial types who fall for the Earthman's charisma), each with different strengths. Ah well. Cliched but a lot of fun.

..o0o..

These reviews are provided by Agamedes Consulting. For an independent and thoughtful review of your own processes, problems or documents, email nick leth at gmail dot com.

Reunion / Alan Dean Foster

Reunion

by

Alan Dean Foster

published by Del Rey in 2001
read by Agamedes in June 2009
science fiction
book 7 of Pip & Flinx

First, it’s hard to read because the author has swallowed a dictionary and is coughing up long words and pretentious phrases. Then there’s the space given over to predicting how badly this could turn out, or how the hero could do this thing... but he won’t. Pip & Flinx began -- I think -- as the adventures of a young lad with exceptional mind powers. Sure, the powers fail unexpectedly – unexpectedly except that you can expect them to fail whenever they are really required. As the series progresses there is more and more of Flinx discovering where he came from. This book, Reunion, is almost entirely that voyage of discovery: there is no other plot worth mentioning. And, since he discovers very little at all, the book offers very little of interest. A chapter in the life of Flinx, perhaps. As a book in its own right, a waste of printed paper.

Agamedes' rating: 3 out of 10