Status
Available
Call number
Collection
Publication
New English Library Ltd (1986), Paperback, 208 pages
Description
Moth was a beautiful planet, the only one with wings -- two great golden clouds suspended in space around it.@@Here was a wide-open world for any venture a man might scheme. The planet attracted unwary travelers, hardened space-sailors, and merchant buccaneers -- a teeming, constantly shifting horde that provided a comfortable income for certain quick-witted fellows like Flinx and his pet flying snake Pip. With his odd talents, the pickings were easy enough so that Flinx did not have to be dishonest ... most of the time.@@In fact, it hardly seemed dishonest at all to steal a starmap from a dead body that didn't really need it anymore. But Flinx wasn't quite smart enough. He should have wondered why the body was dead in the first place...
User reviews
LibraryThing member iftyzaidi
I struggled with getting through this slim 200 page book, and not just because I was busy, tired and distracted with various other goings on. Given how enjoyed his fantasy book Spellsinger earlier in the year, this was a disappointment. Whereas that book was light entertainment, with prose that
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felt fresh and engaging, this book seemed clunky and at times dull. It is poorly written, and I would be tempted to say it seems to be aimed at more of a YA audience than an adult one (though that's no excuse). While a couple of the characters stood out, others were cardboard and one particularly found the infantilization of the female characters annoying. Show Less
LibraryThing member ProfesoraLoca
I'll give Foster this: the Space Foreigner in his book, Maxim Malaika, is an intelligent and knowledgeable character without whom the plot would have been infeasible. The expedition to retrieve the titular unpronounceable artifact would literally never have gotten off the ground. However, Malaika,
Malaika is also mercenary; possessed of terrible table manners (early in the book, he wipes his face on his ridiculously expensive sleeve); and given to casual sex with the whitest wimmins possible. Not only that, but his dialogue continually roars and booms in the lowest vocal register possible, like amplified James Earl Jones, in case we forgot from any of the early description that he's the Space Black Guy.
Women and the physical appearances thereof are also problematic. We have a classic crone archetype early in the book, but she's a prop to the protagonist, and he's already outgrown her care by the time the book starts. There's a Black-Widow archetype: rich, ruthless, gigolo-hiring, awful to her family, and one plastic surgery away from being Lady Cassandra from latter-day Doctor Who. (Indeed, when Malaika rings her up on the videophone thingy to taunt her about having foiled her cunning plan, he also disses her face, to her face.) Malaika's blonde is a Lynx; the protagonist defends (and defines) the Lynx to the pilot (and the reader) as not a prostitute per se, but something like the Firefly universe's Companions -- beautiful and charming women who have no interest in settling down, and who thus prefer to have serial relationships with fascinating, usually wealthy, men. (If you hadn't guessed it, there are no gays in this book, unless you really, really want to slash the Bran Tse-Mallory/Truzenzuzex pairing. I don't, because the latter is a sentient bug.)
However, Sissiph the Lynx is no Inara Serra. She is, rather, a spoiled brat who enjoys the fancy pretties Malaika buys her more than she enjoys Malaika (whom she, of course, calls "Maxy"); at the first sign of true difficulty, she turns all Anna Nicole Smith, and vows to ditch Malaika for an elderly googolplexionaire who will die soon and leave her to enjoy a "long, wealthy widowhood" (Foster 146). Also, it nearly goes without saying that she's dumber than a bag of hair extensions, including not knowing the difference between a reptile and a worm.
These objections aside -- and it takes me a fair bit of effort to push them there -- the book has two major faults remaining. One is common to hard SF: it revels in dense paragraphs that delightedly explain exactly how the author has figured every bit of l33t technology could work, especially with regard to spaceship battle, but not without the universe's history and sociology into the bargain -- shades of Heinlein there too, not just in the Women Problem and Stereotyped Space Foreigners Problem.
The other fault is the protagonist. Flinx is a Gary Stu of the highest order, being an empath with a Magic Pet and Tragic Past, and not only is he a Stu, he's the Wesley Crusher. He's just a kid, we're told repeatedly, but of course his presence and his alone is what makes the climax of the book possible, when not even the elder statesmen who showed up searching for the MacGuffin can bring about the necessary event. And when the book is over, he's got even greater Powers of Stu, as if the amazing archaeological relic the group found had only that as its entire point.
If I lay the snark on heavily here, it is because I liked this book a lot as a tween girl, identifying with the protagonist without having the conceptual framework necessary to figure out whether this novel could have worked with a girl of Flinx's age as the Mary Sue, or why all the named female characters were, in order of appearance, (a) old and ugly; (b) blonde, mercenary, petty, and dumb; (c) lovestruck, petty, and sneaky; (d) old, mean, vain, sex-obsessed, and the villain; and (e) sneaky, vengeful, and thoroughly pwned by the villain. It's like Disney fairytales in space, if you're casting female roles. Even the wealthy male characters haven't just possessed things; they've done things, seen things, gone places.
And that -- that's what isn't fair. Kindly, O writers, do not raise the hopes of the tween, only to lay the smackdown on the adult re-reader.
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smart as he is, is too dense to have noticed that a woman in his employ for six years is madly in love with him, enough so to eventually get in a really ineffective physical fight with another woman over him. And, like every other Fictional Foreigner, he is fluent in English but inexplicably given to dropping random native-language phrases -- heavy on the Swahili, light on the Russian, in this case -- into conversation. He also gets the unbelievably clichéd description: "Shockingly white teeth gleamed in the dusky face...." (Foster 48) Why shockingly? The man is insanely wealthy; does Foster think maybe he can't afford space toothpaste? And in what other part of the human body does Foster think teeth are ordinarily found gleaming? (Late in the book, he also gets this: "Malaika's eyebrows did flip-flops." O RLY?)Malaika is also mercenary; possessed of terrible table manners (early in the book, he wipes his face on his ridiculously expensive sleeve); and given to casual sex with the whitest wimmins possible. Not only that, but his dialogue continually roars and booms in the lowest vocal register possible, like amplified James Earl Jones, in case we forgot from any of the early description that he's the Space Black Guy.
Women and the physical appearances thereof are also problematic. We have a classic crone archetype early in the book, but she's a prop to the protagonist, and he's already outgrown her care by the time the book starts. There's a Black-Widow archetype: rich, ruthless, gigolo-hiring, awful to her family, and one plastic surgery away from being Lady Cassandra from latter-day Doctor Who. (Indeed, when Malaika rings her up on the videophone thingy to taunt her about having foiled her cunning plan, he also disses her face, to her face.) Malaika's blonde is a Lynx; the protagonist defends (and defines) the Lynx to the pilot (and the reader) as not a prostitute per se, but something like the Firefly universe's Companions -- beautiful and charming women who have no interest in settling down, and who thus prefer to have serial relationships with fascinating, usually wealthy, men. (If you hadn't guessed it, there are no gays in this book, unless you really, really want to slash the Bran Tse-Mallory/Truzenzuzex pairing. I don't, because the latter is a sentient bug.)
However, Sissiph the Lynx is no Inara Serra. She is, rather, a spoiled brat who enjoys the fancy pretties Malaika buys her more than she enjoys Malaika (whom she, of course, calls "Maxy"); at the first sign of true difficulty, she turns all Anna Nicole Smith, and vows to ditch Malaika for an elderly googolplexionaire who will die soon and leave her to enjoy a "long, wealthy widowhood" (Foster 146). Also, it nearly goes without saying that she's dumber than a bag of hair extensions, including not knowing the difference between a reptile and a worm.
These objections aside -- and it takes me a fair bit of effort to push them there -- the book has two major faults remaining. One is common to hard SF: it revels in dense paragraphs that delightedly explain exactly how the author has figured every bit of l33t technology could work, especially with regard to spaceship battle, but not without the universe's history and sociology into the bargain -- shades of Heinlein there too, not just in the Women Problem and Stereotyped Space Foreigners Problem.
The other fault is the protagonist. Flinx is a Gary Stu of the highest order, being an empath with a Magic Pet and Tragic Past, and not only is he a Stu, he's the Wesley Crusher. He's just a kid, we're told repeatedly, but of course his presence and his alone is what makes the climax of the book possible, when not even the elder statesmen who showed up searching for the MacGuffin can bring about the necessary event. And when the book is over, he's got even greater Powers of Stu, as if the amazing archaeological relic the group found had only that as its entire point.
If I lay the snark on heavily here, it is because I liked this book a lot as a tween girl, identifying with the protagonist without having the conceptual framework necessary to figure out whether this novel could have worked with a girl of Flinx's age as the Mary Sue, or why all the named female characters were, in order of appearance, (a) old and ugly; (b) blonde, mercenary, petty, and dumb; (c) lovestruck, petty, and sneaky; (d) old, mean, vain, sex-obsessed, and the villain; and (e) sneaky, vengeful, and thoroughly pwned by the villain. It's like Disney fairytales in space, if you're casting female roles. Even the wealthy male characters haven't just possessed things; they've done things, seen things, gone places.
And that -- that's what isn't fair. Kindly, O writers, do not raise the hopes of the tween, only to lay the smackdown on the adult re-reader.
Show Less
LibraryThing member PhoenixTerran
I've been meaning to read one of Alan Dean Foster's Pip and Flinx novels for...I'm not really sure how long. Often included in the Science Fiction Book Club mailings, the names and covers would often catch my eye (I mean, who doesn't love a mini dragon-like creature?), but I've never got around to
Philip Lynx, better known as Flinx, is an orphan growing up on the planet Moth. He's actually managed to do pretty well for himself--of course, being somewhat psychic is an uncommon but useful talent to have. And keeping Pip, a poisonous minidrag, as a pet guarantees that most people will pretty much leave you along if you want them to. But that doesn't mean it's always easy to stay out of trouble, and Flinx has found himself caught up in a deadly race to find a mysterious relic of the militant Tar-Aiym. Funded by the wealthy and powerful merchant Maxim Malaika and accompanied by his contingent of pilots, Atha Moon and Wolf, and his consort Sissiph in addition to the foremost authorities on the Tar-Aiym, Bran-Tse Mallory and Truzenzuzex, Flinx will get more of an adventure than he bargained for.
I was generally annoyed by several things in The Tar-Aiym Krang. Something that particularly struck me was the utter lack of a decent female character. There were plenty of women in the book, but none of them were given a real positive portrayal overall. I also dreaded any time Malaika spoke since he was constantly dropping foreign words (Swahili?) into his speech in such a way that was more irritating than adding depth to the character. It seemed more like a shortcut to needlessly exoticise him more than anything else. Less annoying but still vaguely problematic was that Flinx's powers were never very well defined but seemed to change or be added to as the story progressed or the plot required. I still really like Pip, though
I really was not impressed by The Tar-Aiym Krang at all. There were some very interesting ideas and concepts, unfortunately more as background information than anything else, but even that wasn't enough to save the book for me. Part of the problem was how it was all introduced, usually by info-dumps in the form of dialogue between characters who already knew all the information and really shouldn't have been discussing it except for the benefit of the reader. In addition, the beginning chapters were particularly awkward in style although that settled out pretty well by the end. There's not much plot to speak of, granted it is a shorter book, and what I'm assuming was to be the exciting twist in the story came as no surprise whatsoever. Ultimately, I think The Tar-Aiym Krang would have worked better edited down significantly and then used as an opening sequence in a larger work; it doesn't really do so well standing on its own. Even though some great elements were introduced to the story and world by the end of the book, I probably won't be making time for the rest of the series.
Experiments in Reading
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reading one until now. Published in 1972, The Tar-Aiym Krang is the first book to have been written in the series, and is Foster's first novel. Chronologically, it is also the first book except for the prequel For Love of Mother-Not which was published more than ten years later. I figured I might as well start where it all began and grabbed one of the several copies of The Tar-Aiym Krang off of the library shelves.Philip Lynx, better known as Flinx, is an orphan growing up on the planet Moth. He's actually managed to do pretty well for himself--of course, being somewhat psychic is an uncommon but useful talent to have. And keeping Pip, a poisonous minidrag, as a pet guarantees that most people will pretty much leave you along if you want them to. But that doesn't mean it's always easy to stay out of trouble, and Flinx has found himself caught up in a deadly race to find a mysterious relic of the militant Tar-Aiym. Funded by the wealthy and powerful merchant Maxim Malaika and accompanied by his contingent of pilots, Atha Moon and Wolf, and his consort Sissiph in addition to the foremost authorities on the Tar-Aiym, Bran-Tse Mallory and Truzenzuzex, Flinx will get more of an adventure than he bargained for.
I was generally annoyed by several things in The Tar-Aiym Krang. Something that particularly struck me was the utter lack of a decent female character. There were plenty of women in the book, but none of them were given a real positive portrayal overall. I also dreaded any time Malaika spoke since he was constantly dropping foreign words (Swahili?) into his speech in such a way that was more irritating than adding depth to the character. It seemed more like a shortcut to needlessly exoticise him more than anything else. Less annoying but still vaguely problematic was that Flinx's powers were never very well defined but seemed to change or be added to as the story progressed or the plot required. I still really like Pip, though
I really was not impressed by The Tar-Aiym Krang at all. There were some very interesting ideas and concepts, unfortunately more as background information than anything else, but even that wasn't enough to save the book for me. Part of the problem was how it was all introduced, usually by info-dumps in the form of dialogue between characters who already knew all the information and really shouldn't have been discussing it except for the benefit of the reader. In addition, the beginning chapters were particularly awkward in style although that settled out pretty well by the end. There's not much plot to speak of, granted it is a shorter book, and what I'm assuming was to be the exciting twist in the story came as no surprise whatsoever. Ultimately, I think The Tar-Aiym Krang would have worked better edited down significantly and then used as an opening sequence in a larger work; it doesn't really do so well standing on its own. Even though some great elements were introduced to the story and world by the end of the book, I probably won't be making time for the rest of the series.
Experiments in Reading
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LibraryThing member wfzimmerman
The beginning of one of the longest-running series in modern science fiction. Still a fun read.
LibraryThing member Inky_Fingers
Ah! Apart from Andre Norton, this was my favorite sci-fi book when I was a teenager. I remember the drug store I bought it in, and going back to look for the sequels. A great book by a great writer.
LibraryThing member sf_addict
This is Alan Dean Foster's first novel and chronologically the second Pip and Flinx book. I found it ok, not as compelling as For Love of Mother Not which was written in the 80s (that book is an introduction to the character Flinx and his minidrag Pip.) This book, though having its good adventure
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parts, often drags in technobabble and is less prosaic than later works, more stiff in parts. Still its an entertaining read and I will read others in the series. Basically Flinx is a young man living on the planet Moth under the care if his foster mother called Mother Mastiff and he has psi-powers. He also has a pet mini dragon called Pip, a ferocious and loyal fighter. Flinx is approached by 2 strangers who request his services as a guide around the city. Really they are trying to find the mysterious artifact called the Krang, which was left behind by the belligerent race The Tar Aiym. Thus begins an adventure in space to find and decipher the mystery of the Krang. Show Less
LibraryThing member NickHowes
In the sequel to For Love of Mother-Not, teenage Flinx and his mini-drag, Pip, are recruited to a small group of traders and explorers searching for the Krag, an unspecified device on a distant planet, left by the extinct Tar Aiym. The author introduces aliens in an interstellar relationship only
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hinted in the first book...the insect-like Thranx, the villainous AAn, and others, an entertaining expansion. Show Less
LibraryThing member JBreedlove
This is the first in a short series by ADF. Read it when I was in high school. Saw it on the shelf and gave it another read. Only slightly campy w this being the first in the short series introducing his universe and his main characters, the telepath Flinx and his flying poisonous snake. Written in
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the early 70's he had a good handle on technology and was good w metaphor and symmetry. Show Less
LibraryThing member DarthFisticuffs
Quite enjoyable for a first novel! There are many pieces of a busy universe here, and with several of them the reader gets too little to do anything with, but ultimately they add to the sense of the setting. The plot is a bit all over the place, and the finale seems to come and go much too quickly,
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but overall the book is enjoyable and has some interesting ideas. Show Less
Subjects
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1972-03
Physical description
208 p.; 17.5 cm
ISBN
0450042707 / 9780450042706
Local notes
Omslag: Ikke angivet
Omslaget viser et flyvende snescooteragtig luftfartøj
Indskannet omslag - N650U - 150 dpi
Omslag: Tim White
Tim White ifølge isfdb.org
Taraiym
Omslaget viser et flyvende snescooteragtig luftfartøj
Indskannet omslag - N650U - 150 dpi
Omslag: Tim White
Tim White ifølge isfdb.org
Taraiym
Similar in this library
Pages
208
DDC/MDS
| 813.54 |