Customer Reviews

Envoy to New Worlds (Jaime Retief Series #1)

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_Envoy to New Worlds_ (1963) is the first collection of Retief stories by Keith Laumer. There are six tales, all published in _If_ between 1961 and 1962. For those not in the know, Jame Retief is a low-ranking official in the Terran Diplomatic Corps, an organization that seems to be willfully determined to work against the best interests of Earth. Retief, using a bit of trickery and martial arts, manages to foil pirates, villainous aliens, and dictators in spite of his superiors.

The stories are all good fun. But Judith Merril raised a question some years ago that I find hard to forget. Here is Retief-- dashing, witty, intelligent, and heroic. There is the CDT, filled with personnel who are crooked, stupid, hidebound, and bungling. Why does Retief stay with them? We see that he enjoys sticking pins in pompous bureaucrats. And we see that he manages to do good for worthy people from time to time. But somehow these reasons do not seem to be quite enough. Couldn't he accomplish good things outside the CDT?

We don't really know Retief's motives because we see him only from the outside. We hear what he says, we watch him in action, but we are never privy to his thoughts and feelings. He is like-- well, like a diplomat. He keeps his cards close to his vest.

The stories themselves are all of comparable quality. My favorites, by a slim margin, are "Cultural Exchange," for its absolutely slick foiling of a revolutionary plot; "Aide Memoire," in which Retief teaches some manners to seventy-five year old juvenile delinquents; and "Palace Revolution," involving some double crosses on a world of gamblers. Certainly not great science fiction. But the book is first class entertainment.

This is one of the better Reteif books. I like the whole series for the sense of humor Keith Laumer has. Reteif is a 6ft. hunk of a hero with a sidekick who happens to be his boss (at least on paper). He never follows directions from the home office but uses his head to fix the situation and defeat the Groaci. Keith is very funny and had several years as a military atache with the diplomatic corps that makes his satirical style even more fun. A great read for someone looking for a few chuckles on a rainy day.

Envoy to New Worlds (1963) is the first SF work in the Retief series. It contains six stories about Jaime Retief and the Corps Diplomatique Terrestrienne.

- "Protocol" concerns the atrocious behavior of Retief during a diplomatic visit to Yill. A slightly revised version was reprinted as a chapbook: Retief: The Yillian Way.

- "Sealed Orders" takes Retief to Adobe with instructions on handling the hostilities between the Terran settlers and the Jaq.

- "Cultural Exchange" involves Retief in a manpower shortage on Lovenbroy during the grape harvest.

- "Aide Memoire" confronts Retief with a hostile youth group on Fust.

- "Policy" exposes the difficulties Retief has on Groac while looking into the disappearance of a Terran warship.

- "Palace Revolution" discloses the troubles Retief has with a coup on Petreac,

These stories were loosely based on the experiences of the author in the US Foreign Service. Evidently the author did not approve of the attitudes and objectives of the Ambassadors and Consuls with whom he served. He uses satire to illustrate the diplomatic blundering of that period, although it probably is also relevant today.

Ben Magnan is Retief's foil and frequent companion in these stories. Magnan generally outranks Retief and often chastises him for behavior unbecoming a diplomat. But Magnan seems to have some undiplomatic quirks under his CDT conditioning.

Retief has many more romps through alien environments. The next installment is Galactic Diplomat. Read and enjoy!

Highly recommended for Laumer fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of diplomatic endeavors, creative solutions and humorous ploys.

-Arthur W. Jordin

'Envoy' (134 pages) includes stories Protocol, Sealed Orders, Cultural Exchange, Aide Memoire, Policy, and Palace Revolution. 'Retief Unbound' (343 pages) includes all those except Cultural Exchange, plus Retief's Ransom. Love these stories but you don't have to buy both books.

this is one of the first science fiction books that i read. I must say i really liked it. I prefer the sci fi books with alot of action, and this book has just that. It is definetly worth reading.