Customer Reviews

Bloodhype

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Bloodhype (1971) is the second SF novel published in the Pip & Flinx series, but follows Running From the Deity by internal chronological order. In the previous volume, Flinx stalemated the war started by his presence on Arrawd. Then the Kewwyd tried to assassinate him and his talents took care of them.

As Flinx was preparing to leave Arrawd, he received a mental message from a powerful being. It warned him of something within the galaxy that was dangerous. So Flinx set course to the world of Repler.

In this novel, Philip Lynx is a biotechnically mutated human. Flinx has the intermittent ability to read emotions and occasionally to project them. He lives in a world of mental noise and has frequent headaches.

Pip is an Alaspinian minidrag. Her species are natural empaths. They are also very dangerous pets, at least to those who attack them or their kin.

The Vom is an unusual lifeform, capable of directly absorbing energy and of spreading its body into a very thin layer. It can live off sunlight, but prefers the substance and energy of other lifeforms.

Peot is a Tar-Aiym. His species are warriors, but he is different. He volunteered about half a million years ago to guard the planet on which the Vom had been trapped.

Kitten Kai-Sung is a Lieutenant in Church Intelligence. She is only twenty-four, but has a brilliance and openness to new ideas that allows her to do things that more experienced agents cannot. Her partner -- Lieutenant Porsupah -- is a Tolian.

Malcolm Hammurabi is a ship captain/owner. Mal discovers thieves breaking open some of his cargo and overcomes them. He learns that they are searching for a shipment of bloodhype inadvertently mixed into his cargo.

Russell Kingsley is the son of a very rich merchant. His mother died very early and his father Chatham has spoiled him.

Dominic Rose is a dealer in illegal substances. He seems to be the source for the new supply of bloodhype, a very addictive drug that effects almost every carbon-based nervous system.

In this story, a scout ship of the AAnn looking for new opportunities enters Commonwealth space and discovers the Vom. The science advisor recommends that they just leave the planet without the Vom. Yet the ship captain refuses this approach and the AAnn arrange to gather the Vom substance and take it to their enclave on Repler.

The AAnn commandant on Repler has prepared a facility to house the Vom. After they get the creature into to lab, the AAnn prepare to release it from its transport container. But the Vom breaks out on its own and kills all the nye within the area.

The AAnn manage to contain the creature using high wattage electricity, but the Vom is still alive. While it is slowly recovering from the shock, the nye try to train it to follow their commands. Unluckily, the Vom is more intelligent than they assume.

Church Intelligence has traced the new supply of bloodhype to Repler. Kitten and Porsupah are sent there to discover the source of the drug. Kitten has a run-in with Russ when she first arrives and leaves him on a small island after he tries to play rough.

Later, Kitten and Porsupah are abducted by Rose's minions. They are held on his island and Kitten is tortured. Then Mal arrives with the threat of informing the Church of Rose's bloodhype dealings. But Rose offers Mal another deal: release of the intelligence agents for return of the bloodhype.

Mal agrees and is locked into the same room as Kitten and Porsupah. Then Flinx appears and tells them to prepare for a breakout. Flinx and Pip have only been on Repler for a short time. Flinx is now working for Rose as an assistant sanitary engineer and he takes the three prisoners out through the waste disposal tunnel to the sea.

Meanwhile, Peot and his Machine appear in Repler space. Peot's life capsule is taken down to the surface and studied by employees of Chatham Kingsley. The Vom is aware of Peot's presence on Repler, but does not know the exact location of the Tar-Aiym.

This tale has Flinx and Pip as background characters. They interact with the main protagonists, but seldom from their own viewpoint. Flinx interacts with the Vom later in the story, but conceals his identity.

Pip is a male in this story. Maybe Flinx is concealing her gender as a cover. Pip does get in one good spit, but only offstage.

The story makes more sense later in the series. As the second book, it postulated many hidden developments that were explained in later books. Yet the previous volume has Peot contacting Flinx to bring him to Repler, but this story presents Peot as inactive and needing awakening at the start of the tale.

This story presents Flinx as a very powerful Talent. The next novel in the series -- Trouble Magnet -- takes him to a very different world. Read and enjoy!

Highly recommended for Foster fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of high adventure, covert operations, and psionic talents. Any reader who is new to this series will want to start with the first volume: The Tar-Aiym Krang.

-Arthur W. Jordin

whis i had gotten a newer book. This older version did not have much about Flinx an Pip in it.

Bloodhype reads well, has layers of plots and interesting characters. Unfortunately, Flinx and Pip aren't two of them; they are barely in the story. Parts of the story are a little dated; however, it is easy enough to substitute the correct "current" technology and read on.

If you like the Flinx & Pip stories, try The Vorkosigan Saga by Lois McMaster Bujold.

This was your normal science fiction adventure: hero, female helper(almost hero), helper, odd characters and futuristic technology. I enjoyed reading this story, like the other stories by Mr. Foster's I have read. His writing style is very good and he puts enough humor in to help you enjoy reading it.

It has a blurp on the cover of it being, "The continuing adventure of Flinx and his mighty minidrag Pip...", but I never read anything about them. They might have been in there incognito, but the hero was someone else anyway, and those two are just background characters. Odd to advertise this story like that. It is good enough to be read for the rest of the characters.

I gave this a 4 star rating because the ending becomes obvious to experienced readers from the middle of the story and you just bide your time until it happens.