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Flinx Transcendent: A Pip & Flinx Adventure (Pip and Flinx Novels) [Hardcover]

Alan Dean Foster (Author)
3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)


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Book Description

May 19, 2009 Pip and Flinx Novels
From one of the most brilliant imaginations in science fiction comes Flinx Transcendent, Alan Dean Foster’s thrilling conclusion to the series that began over thirty-five years ago–the epic adventures of Flinx and his flying minidrag companion, Pip.

Flinx is the only one with even the tiniest chance of stopping the evil colossus barreling in to destroy the Humanx Commonwealth (and everything else in the Milky Way). With time running out, Flinx is a man in search of a solution and in search of himself. His efforts take him to the land of his mortal enemies, the bloodthirsty AAnn, where chances are excellent that Flinx’s discovery–and summary execution–will eliminate all his demons and doubts in one masterstroke.

The way Flinx is feeling, that might not be the worst imaginable end. After years of searching for his father, he finally has–and must bear–the truth. And now he must also seek out an ancient sentient weapons platform wandering around somewhere in the galaxy and then communicate with it, a powwow that could very well fry his already frazzled brain. Then there are the oblivion-craving assassins determined to stop Flinx before he can prevent total annihilation.

With a future that rosy, it’s no surprise he’s flirting with disaster. Still, Flinx is no quitter, and he’s got something else going for him–an uncanny ability to improvise and triumph (or at least survive) in impossible situations. He’s certainly been through enough of them, and now he’s going to need every ounce of that know-how, because he’s venturing to places where the laws of physics fear to tread, where no one’s ever been, to do what no one’s ever done, and where his deadliest enemy is so close it’s invisible.


Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Flinx and his feisty minidrag, Pip, reunite with old friends for one final slam-bang universe rescue in the 14th title of one of science fiction's longest running series. After the devastating events of 2008's Quofum, Flinx is at his most self-destructive. His malaise is compounded by his knowledge of the Great Evil that threatens to destroy all intelligent life, a monster only he can defeat. On his way to that fateful confrontation, dodging dark agents of the Order of Null, Flinx negotiates a temporary peace between the human Commonwealth and the AAnn, reconciles with his one true love, Clarity Held, and reunites with his old mentors Truzenzuzex and the sociologist-soldier Tse-Mallory. Once the story picks up steam, the pace never slows. Flinx fans will delight in seeing familiar faces come together for one last grand adventure. (May)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

In the conclusion of Foster’s long-running series, Flinx finally gets to unleash his mental powers to save the universe. With Pip faithfully at his side, Flinx has challenged himself to visit the AAnn home world, an endeavor that may be suicidal but certainly will be interesting. Unfortunately, a minor slip-up arouses official suspicion; he has to send Teacher (his ship) away and fend for himself. Hiding on AAnn, he is discovered only by a remarkably open-minded AAnn youth. The subsequent adventures are steeped in the over-the-top danger and triumph that series followers expect. When Flinx finally leaves AAnn, he is reassured that sentient life is worth saving and feels ready to find the relics of long-dead civilizations with which he might neutralize the great evil bent on destroying everything in its path. Before the inevitable showdown, he picks up some old friends and his beloved Charity Held. All loose Flinxian ends are tied up before the end of the entertaining trip Foster has led readers on since 1972 (see The Tar-Aiym Krang to start all over again). --Regina Schroeder

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 397 pages
  • Publisher: Del Rey (May 19, 2009)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0345496078
  • ISBN-13: 978-0345496072
  • Product Dimensions: 6.4 x 1.3 x 9.7 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
  • Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #750,197 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Alan Dean Foster's work to date includes excursions into hard science-fiction, fantasy, horror, detective, western, historical, and contemporary fiction. He has also written numerous non-fiction articles on film, science, and scuba diving, as well as having produced the novel versions of many films, including such well-known productions as "Star Wars", the first three "Alien" films, "Alien Nation", and "The Chronicles of Riddick". Other works include scripts for talking records, radio, computer games, and the story for the first "Star Trek" movie. His novel "Shadowkeep" was the first ever book adapation of an original computer game. In addition to publication in English his work has been translated into more than fifty languages and has won awards in Spain and Russia. His novel "Cyber Way" won the Southwest Book Award for Fiction in 1990, the first work of science-fiction ever to do so.

Foster's sometimes humorous, occasionally poignant, but always entertaining short fiction has appeared in all the major SF magazines as well as in original anthologies and several "Best of the Year" compendiums. His published oeuvre includes more than 100 books.



 

Customer Reviews

27 Reviews
5 star:
 (9)
4 star:
 (7)
3 star:
 (5)
2 star:
 (2)
1 star:
 (4)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.6 out of 5 stars (27 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Too bad this was how he ended it., August 8, 2009
By 
Ronald Stepp (Enterprise, AL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Flinx Transcendent: A Pip & Flinx Adventure (Pip and Flinx Novels) (Hardcover)

- - - POSSIBLE SPOILER OR TWO BELOW - - -



I too have read Flinx since the beginning. Those early books were what addicted me to the series. In the last few years Foster seems to have just lost sight of what made the series special to me, and from reading other review, special to many other fans.

This book could have easily dropped the whole first half, when I saw the Null arc reappear I groaned, muttering, "not again. Geesh, just drop them."

They added nothing to the overall series and are rather flat as villains. I just wanted to get on with the cool stuff, Tar-Aym weapons platform, Tse Mallory and Tru, stuff like that. Even Syl seems to drag the book into less than satisfying directions.

Overall I wish we could have notched the whole thing down a few steps from "Flinx has to save the whole universe" to "Flinx goes places and sees and does truly amazing things."

I also feel rather sad for the people in the Universe they lured the EVIL BLOB into. Wonder if that is how it got into OUR universe?

I wonder if I am just haded with all the extra years of reading SciFi since Tar-Aym Krang came out, and all the new science we know now. Perhaps people today just can't get the same thrill out of books like Splinter of the Minds Eye, one of my all-time favorites.

My ratings for the various books in the series:

* (10/10) The Tar-Aiym Krang (1972)
* (8/10) Bloodhype (1973)
* (9/10) Orphan Star (1977)
* (9/10) The End of the Matter (1977)
* (8/10) For Love of Mother-Not (1983)
* (7/10) Flinx in Flux (1988)
* (7/10) Mid-Flinx (1995)
* (7/10) Reunion (2001)
* (6/10) Flinx's Folly (2003)
* (4/10) Sliding Scales (2004)
* (4/10) Running from the Deity (2005)
* (6/10) Trouble Magnet (2006)
* (5/10) Patrimony (2007)
* (5/10) Flinx Transcendent (2009)

Dishonorable mention

* (2/10) Qofum (2008)
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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining, but frustrating, May 27, 2009
This review is from: Flinx Transcendent: A Pip & Flinx Adventure (Pip and Flinx Novels) (Hardcover)
I had a hard time deciding between 3 and 4 stars here, because I really did enjoy the book, and it's the first Flinx book in a LONG time with a truly satisfying ending. But ultimately, there were too many niggling problems for me to go with 4 stars.

SPOILERS below.

First of all, the good things. It was incredibly refreshing that he finally stopped waffling about Clarity. The overall storyline/plot was good, and had plenty of the wonder and awe that ADF started things out with in The Tar-Aiym Krang. As mentioned above, the ending was truly satisfying (at least to me).

And now, the not-so-good things.

First and foremost, the first half of the book was completely unrelated to the rest, and everything gained there was ignored thereafter. It didn't have to be that way. The amazing result he achieved COULD have been incorporated into the rest of the story, but it wasn't. The first part could literally have been a separate volume, and while people would have complained about ADF ignoring the big story for yet another book, it wouldn't have stood out as being any worse than other recent Flinx installments (although perhaps a bit short; I can't remember where that part ended as far as page number).

Secondly, there were some gratuitous bits that added nothing to the storyline. WHY wasn't the bomb scene cut out during editing? WHAT did it add to the story?

Thirdly, it's starting to get old the number of times Flinx finally makes his mind up to do something after lots of waffling, only to be IMMEDIATELY thwarted by unexpected outside events. (This led to the entire first half of the book.)

Finally, and this is purely personal, it seems that this being the last book in the series should have encouraged less attempts at preserving the status quo. We get to the end, and nobody in the Commonwealth is the wiser about things, and not even his friends learn much.

Ironically, the series "bad guys" (the AAnn, all the way from The Tar-Aiym Krang) presumably know far more at the end than the "good guys" (the Commonwealth), since they have to at least guess that Flinx was involved, even if he never tells them directly (which is left somewhat ambiguous; it's implied that he did tell them).

I can't help feeling that as the last installment, it would have been cool if Flinx had done more that surprised people. Perhaps something that required Teacher to land on a planet. Perhaps an encounter with the AAnn in the second half (which also would have removed my first complaint above). Perhaps having Tru and/or Bram see the Ulru-Ujurrians (or at least Syl). SOMETHING that didn't make it look like ADF is holding back for future installments. The fact is, once we get to the end, the main conflict is resolved (which is a huge plus, granted), but pretty much everything else is zero sum.
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars Too much filler, June 5, 2009
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This review is from: Flinx Transcendent: A Pip & Flinx Adventure (Pip and Flinx Novels) (Hardcover)
I've been reading this series for a VERY long time and when I read each book I find myself getting impatient for it to move along.

This book spent the first half on something that had no bearing whatsoever to the conclusion of the series.

I'm afraid that ADF just throws filler into these books because he doesnt know what else to do with the character.

Please let this be the last book. ADF is an excellent writer but lets start on something that has more meat and less fluff.
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