Customer Reviews

Flinx Transcendent: A Pip & Flinx Adventure (Pip and Flinx Novels)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

- - - 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)

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.

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.

Wretchedly written. Initial set-piece on Aann homeworld has nothing to do with the remainder of the book. Order of Null are incompetent villains, hence provide no drama. Much of the book is endless banter irrelevant to forwarding the plot. Doesn't even get to the main plot until the last the last third of the book, and that is basically "Flinx sticks his head into a variety of old machines until he saves the galaxy. The End." Tying up every single plot point in the series is grotesquely dull.

I thought that this was a nice conclusion to the series. It was fast paced and did a fairly good job of pulling things together. I was, however, disappointed in the explanations of how the "three" were pulled into the resolution. It seemed to me that Mr. Foster (or perhaps the editor??) wanted to streamline the book a bit and pulled out the detailed explanations of the relationship between the "three" ... I didn't feel as if the "why" of each was fully explored. In spite of that, I enjoyed this book. I very much enjoyed Flinx's time on Aann and the very ending. I was chuckling as I closed the book. So .. well done Mr. Foster! Thanks for the adventure - I wouldn't have missed it.

I started reading about Flinx in 6th grade, 1983 I just happened to pick it up the first day it came in at the library at Humboldt Jr High and from there, I became a fast fan of Science Fiction. The last few books of the series seemed to be fillers then this comes out. It brings the entire universe back together, loose ends are tied off and the great mysteries of the Commenwealth that are mentioned in other books are put to rest. Good job Alan, I've been around for the long haul and I'm happy to have such a great ending to this road. Now it's time to get my son hooked on the series, thanks!

Having followed Foster's Commonwealth series since the The Tar-Aiym Krang (yes, I'm that old!), I was very disappointed with Flinx Transcendent.

After a series of short Flinx novels beginning with Sliding Scales, I had hoped for a sprawling epic ending. Instead I got was two novellas parading as a single novel. To me it felt like a contrite way to end a storyline Mr. Foster was tired of pursuing. I had thought Quofum was the worst original novel he had written but this was worse.

I read the first of these books as a teenager, and never lost my fondness for them. Who wouldn't love a story about a uniquely talented young man and his flying snake, set in galaxy littered with mysterious ancient alien artifacts and site of wild adventures? However, after the serious disappointment of the last few books, I was somewhat reluctant to essay this one- and yet, how could I not? It promised to be the last Flinx book, the final resolution of decades of dark hints scattered over a dozen books.

I'm happy to say that I'm glad I read it. It's not without flaws- the first part of the book is a long digression that turns out to be utterly pointless to the plot, the references to previous books and adventures come so thick and fast that only someone who has read the majority of the books will even be able to follow it. But it has a strong through-plot, it has reappearances from a vast number of beloved secondary characters, including non-trivial roles played by two of my favorites, the inimitable Bran Tse-Mallory and Truzenzuzex. The threats that Flinx faces are credible, even in the face of his burgeoning Talent, and Foster comes up with a surprising twist for the climactic obstacle.

Trying to end a series of this longevity and beloved by so many fans could never have been an easy task. While it's not a tour de force, it does provide a satisfying and enjoyable resolution to the epic saga, with lots of nods to the history of the character, and rewards for loyal long-time readers.

After following the series for the 35 years, I can truly say how disappointed I was at this conclusion. So much redundancy and repeating the obvious made this read tedious. I'm surprised that Foster felt his readers (Flinx fans) couldn't remember all that made this series so enjoyable by reiterating that which we all knew so well. I gave this a 2 star read since it did conclude the series; however, as Flinx says, "I'm bored"... Too bad so much space was wasted in this tome leaving several questions unanswered. A sad end to a well perceived original.

Like most of the other reviewers I have been following this 13 or 14 or 15 book saga for the last 20+ years. Needless to say I enjoyed the first five or six books of the saga quite a bit. However the last three to four books in the series were just space fillers. This final book puts to bed the teaser plot(s) we have been strung along with for all these books and novels. While others found the time spent on the AAn homeworld space filler, I actually found it interesting similar to Sliding Scales. I found the resolution (not the theory) to the Great Evil a bit contrived and anticlimatic but given its cosmic nature it not like there was going to be a great climatic duel between it and Flinx. Clearly the resolution could have been achieved several novels ago had Flinx been allowed to focus on the problem at hand. Reunion of various characters from past novels was welcome. While my review appears be negative I did enjoy the book and look forward to close ended substantive one book plots, hopefully one where we get to meet the Xunca or learn a bit more about their civilization. These can be with a now more centered Flinx or with a new cast of characters. It does not matter.