Customer Reviews

The I Inside

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Definitely a classic in the genre. I have only read a few Alan Dean Foster novels, but this one and The Man Who Used The Universe are in my "worth-5-reads" category. Being a computer nerd myself, I always enjoy escapist stories where the nerd gets cool powers and has adventures with pretty chicks. Harrison's To The Stars trilogy is one of my favorites too. I only have good things to say about The I Inside!

This was one of the most enjoyable books I've ever read. I'm not going to argue about its depth; however, I had so much fun losing myself in the life of Eric Abbot and his quest for the woman he can't help loving. Despite the insurmountable odds he faced he never quit, all the while taking a rational approach to all of his new found abilities. If anyone wants to just sit down for a few hours and take a trip in a great adventure of love and daring-do, read this book. It IS a shame it doesn't get more recognition.

If you like Alan Dean Foster books at all, you will like this one. It is a compelling read from beginning to end. A very unique and interesting story with lots of good plot twists. Giving much more information about the story will probably give things away. I hate that.

Quite possibly one of the most ambitious and alternative love stories ever. Combining all the essential ingrediants that go to make a great Sci-Fi stew, this has action and adventure, cemented together against a romantic plot.

When Eric Abbott glimpses the girl through the window of a passing car, he knows nothing will stop him from meeting her. He soon learns that other people feel differently about this, and will do anything to keep them apart. Anything.

As he quest to meet the woman of his dream intensifies, Abbott discovers abilities he never knew he had, and his love for the mystery woman could prove to be not only his own undoing, but all of mankinds.

Quite possibly one of the best example of the genre, you have to read The I Inside. From cover to cover it's a rollercoaster ride you won't want to get off!

This book is one of a little known work of Foster's that gets lost in the shuffle because he's written so much and so much better. But this speaks highly for his writing talent - this book is damned good, and few people know about it. The Ultimate Infatuation: You see a woman in a car as you're walking down the street, and you drop everything, literally, to meet her. Nothing can stop you. Your life is meaningless if you cannot be with her. This is how the novel starts, and set in an era when alien contact is a reality (and the aliens can teleport at will), how in a little genetic cloning, interplanetary gates, and an invasion, and you have a novel that makes ID4 look tame - you could punch the aliens in ID4, these guys just teleport away. It's an excellent novel, and the hero has some very real moments (he is so upset at one point that he shuts a communication off momentarily so he can weep) that makes this novel shine.

I have this in a first edition paperback, got it when it first came out. Yes, I have had the book that long. I still like to read the story even today, as much as I did when I first read it.
And I would love to see them release this in a Kindle edition.

This was my first eperience with Foster's science fiction work, my previous exposure to him being the Spellsinger trilogy.

After an abrupt change in setting and characters from the first chapter to the second the left me scratching my head, I found I couldn't put the book down. The action moves quickly, driven by the main character's emotions as well as his actions. After the climax the events of the falling action seem to be anti-climactic until the denoument is really reached. Then Foster pulls everything together in a satisfying and conclusive way.

I can only emphasise what other reviewers have already said, this is an excellent book.
What I wanted to point at is the various similarities between this book and the famous Matrix movie.... really makes me wonder if the brothers read this book, there are a few elements in this book which have been used in the movie, which would make it too much of a coincidence.
highly recommendated

I've read a number of Foster's books and The I Inside is flat out his best book. It's the story of superman who never figures out he's superman.

Alan Dean Foster's books figured prominently in my kidhood, back in the '80s, starting with his lighthearted Spellsinger fantasies, then diving right into his neat sci-fi/adventure series featuring Pip & Flinx. But his stand alone stuff is also terrific, several of which include Glory Lane, Cyber Way, and one of my very favorite Alan Dean Foster novels, THE I INSIDE.

Setting the scene: It's somewhen in the future, but probably not the far-flung future. But technology has advanced far enough that humanity has been able to create artificial persons (artisons) and unearth (by chance) the key to instantaneous interplanetary travel. But the science to this is less than thorough, so ergo the Gate, the lottery system which allows its winners to take a one-way teleportation trip to one of either two paradise worlds gazillion light years away.

This is also relevant: For over a hundred years now, the benevolent man-made machine, the Colligatarch, has for all intents and purposes run the planet, and smoothly, at that. Its non-human impartiality renders the Colligatarch ideal for resolving global issues, settling disputes amongst the remaining superpowers, and for implementing comprehensive administrative decisions. Of course this machine can only suggest, but Earth has gotten used to being swayed by these suggestions. Of late, however, the Colligatarch has voiced a concern, theorizing that an ill-defined force is intent on causing it harm. This is the backdrop to THE I INSIDE.

"He had done a number of improbable things, then followed up by doing a number of impossible things." We soon meet Eric Abbott, a bland junior micro-electronic designer busy living out his unassuming life in Arizona. Eric's life changes irrevocably one evening when he catches a glimpse of a girl's face in a passing car and falls hopelessly in love. He faces a task and a half, tracking the girl down, and resorts to hiring a private investigator. But things get hinky when the investigator is murdered and Eric is accosted by two burly, imposing men. But Eric Abbott is really unnerved when he breaks the arm of one attacker and accidentally flings the other straight into the ceiling. Soon he's a fugitive, frantically eluding and trying to outwit shadowy agencies in pursuit even as he presses on with finding the girl he loves. From Phoenix, Arizona to Nueva York to England and then offworld, Eric treks - and all for love. And, the whole time, he's trying to puzzle out how he's suddenly capable of these impossible feats.

Also, there's space aliens.

You're in for a treat with THE I INSIDE. Me, I've gone over the book several times over, and it has never gotten old. The central character's journey of self-discovery ranks as one of the most pulse-pounding reads I've ever had. What's more gratifying than finding out you have super powers? Eric Abbott embodies that wish fulfillment as he inexplicably gains superstrength in moments of extreme stress, able to run thru concrete walls, leap spans of ninety feet and easily take out opponents in robotic armor. Alan Dean Foster keeps the pace a crackling one, building the tension, escalating the stakes, until finally the future of humanity itself hinges on Abbott's desperate decisions. How's that for grandeur? So, yes, as good as Alan Dean Foster's other novels are, THE I INSIDE ups them in stupendous action and thrills, with the closing pages providing a darn satisfying finale. And since Eric Abbott does eventually find that elusive girl, there's even a nice little love story. But the girl, she ain't normal, either.