Flinx's Folly [Mass Market Paperback]

Alan Dean Foster (Author)

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback
• Publisher: Ballantine (2003)
• ASIN: B002LHQ8H4
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,889,621 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

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars All Sizzle, No Steak, November 20, 2003

By 

Rusir-10 (Gaithersburg, MD United States) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Flinx's Folly: A Flinx & Pip Novel (Hardcover)

Okay, I've been reading the stories of Flinx and Pip for years now and I'm a huge fan. I'll admit that Foster's habit of jumping around chronologically in the novels he releases gets a little old (i.e. not within each story, but you're never certain where each new novel will fall in Flinx's life). Even given that I've usually enjoyed each one as it was released. The relationship between Flinx and Pip is explored in each book, Flinx learns more about his past, his powers continue to develop and Flinx matures and learns.

However, there's little of that in this novel. The only real development in this novel is that Flinx hooks up with Clarity again (and a few other characters, but I won't spoil that).

His powers are no more understand at the end of this book. The evil that he senses in earlier stories is about the same in this book. The powers that are influencing his powers and headaches are only developed in the smallest way.

Overall, I just found it kind of boring. Not much happens. Most of the story is driven by a jealous boyfriend and Flinx's headaches.

I'm not saying skip this one. If you're a fan of Flinx and Pip, you'll definitely be getting it, but save yourself some money and wait for the paperback. If you're new to the series, do not start with this story, but read some of the earlier stories like "For Love of Mother Not"

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Space Opera Lite for Flinx and Pip fans [Mild Spoilers], January 11, 2004

By 

"fighteer" (Sterling, VA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Flinx's Folly: A Flinx & Pip Novel (Hardcover)

I think the title of this book really should have been "Yet Another Flinx and Pip Novel." Serving mainly to reunite Flinx with some of his old friends and allies, introduce a few new (and somewhat implausible) enemies, and further propound on the "Great Evil That Threatens The Universe As We Know It," this novel feels annoyingly like filler intended to keep fans happy until Foster gets around to wrapping up the series.

In Flinx's Folly, true to its name, a number of the titular hero's choices, from past stories and current, come back to haunt him. Fleeing both from a mysterious new group of fanatics devoted to the cleansing of the universe and from his own increasing mental turmoil, Flinx seeks out his former lover, Clarity Held, on the paradise planet of New Riviera. There he becomes the unwitting target of her would-be fiancee's jealous rage. The orphan prodigy who has outwitted interstellar crime lords, hostile aliens, and Commonwealth authorities is inexplicably defeated by a scheming corporate ladder-climber, and rescued by one of the least credible deus-ex-machinas in the entire series.

The one and only thing that is actually resolved in this novel is Flinx's ultimate choice: whether or not to accept his role in confronting the aforementioned Great Evil. In the end though, his choice is rendered moot by an annoying plot twist that once again leaves him fleeing from enemies and friends alike.

With all of my objections, however, this is still a Flinx and Pip novel, and as such is worth reading for devotees of the series simply so as not to have missed anything. I heartily wish that I'd waited for the paperback version to come out, however, as the hardcover price is too much to pay for filler. I await the release of Sliding Scales later this year with equal parts trepidation and anticipation.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Flinx meets, well, everyone, and becomes the Fifth Element, May 9, 2004

By 

Christopher B. Browne "cbbrowne" (Scarborough, Ontario, Canada) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Flinx's Folly: A Flinx & Pip Novel (Hardcover)

I "panned" the previous Flinx book, _Reunion_, as being little more than a placeholder.

This one does a tad better, as it actually is something of a "reunion" with Flinx meeting up with several of the past favorite characters. Unfortunately, it's all pretty rushed.

And the story is being transformed to Flinx as an unwitting "Fifth Element" (ala Luc Besson), albeit without a Gary Oldham to play the central Zorg "bad guy." Well, actually, the "corporate VP" would have fit that fairly well, except that he's a too-easily vanquished monster that started the story masquerading as a thoughtful wannabe-fiance.

Did I mention that the story seems rushed?

I get the sense that Foster isn't really interested in Flinx anymore except as a salable franchise. There's a clear way to progress the story, because there's the "Fifth Element" thing; Flinx as the not-totally-understood weapon against the Ultimate Evil.

Unfortunately, the results aren't as engaging as the earlier books in the "Saga."