Customer Reviews

The Icarus Hunt

5 star:		(51)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

This book is written in a genre not used much. It is basically a Agatha Christie novel done in space, and done very well. I could not put the book down and finished it in 2 days. Very enjoyable. If you liked Simon R. Green's 'Fischer and Hawk' series you will love this. This is a must read. I only hope Zahn writes more novels in this series using the present characters.

I was expecting something completely different picking up this book by Zahn. He is an extremely good author who knows the right combination of action and plot to seize his readers in a death grip. This book is no exception from his writing style.

However this time he has married a cloak and dagger/who-dun-it to the science fiction genre. I read this book in 2 days and it was extremely hard to put down as it took you from one event to another in a light speed fashion. He left you at the edge of your seat wondering/trying to figure who had done it but to no avail. The ending was very unpredictable and there was closure! A truly good story told by no other than Zahn.

All I can say is that Timothy Zahn is perhaps among the best sci-fi authors out there, next to Isaac Asimov. His stories are all complex and detailed, the plot jampacked with twists, turns, surprises, and shockers. "The Icarus Hunt" is certainly no exception.

"The Icarus Hunt"'s main character is Jordan McKell, a star-freighter pilot who plays the role of a poor yet honest private contracter, considering that in reality he is a smuggler working for a huge crime organization. Things couldn't get worse he supposed. Or so he thought...
When he takes a job flying a strangely put-together antique ship called the 'Icarus' with a ragtag crew, little does he know that he has just landed himself in the middle of a huge conspiracy. Jordan is immediately thrust into events spiraling out of control: one of the crew is murdered, his employer seems to have disappeared, an unknown saboteur is on board, and the 'Icarus' is being wanted by the oppresive Patth who have monopolized all trade in the galaxy.
It's up to Jordan and his mechanic partner Ixil, a Kalixiri with his two ferret 'outhunters' Pix and Pax, to figure out what's going on while struggling to stay alive. The hunt for the 'Icarus' is on!

If you thought my summary was complicated, wait until you actually pick up the book! There are so many other subplots that are too numerous too count and besides, most of them are the twists and turns this book has to offer. But though seemingly 'complicated', Zahn's expertise is put to use as he deftly weaves a tale with numerous 'threads' yet makes up one intricately woven 'tapestry'. There is not one moment where the action and suspense slows down; instead, we are taken on a ride where you have no clue where it'll end!

Though written in first-person from Jordan McKell's point of view, Zahn carefully makes sure we don't know 'everything'. We do get to know most of Jordan's thoughts and theories, but there's still plenty of mystery for you to try to figure out on your own. There are lots of stories where there's such a huge build up but at the end falls flat on it's face; fortunately, "The Icarus Hunt" is not the case. The ending is just one big surprise though if you think about it, you could have seen it coming. That again is one of Zahn's talents; in that he give you so many clues, theories, details, and little surprises, you can't tell what to expect!

Unlike many of Zahn's other stories, "The Icarus Hunt" has a large dose of humor in the story. Jordan McKell's character is very sarcastic and is quite the cynic, and has a dry sense of humor which I enjoy a lot. One of my favorite part is:

"For a change, Lady Luck seemed to be smiling on me. Then again, maybe the fickle wench was just lulling me into a false sense of security while she reached for a rock."

Those two sentences sums up Jordan's character perfectly. ^_^

To sum up, "The Icarus Hunt" is something I can highly recommend to all readers who enjoys a good mix of sci-fi, mystery, suspense, action, and humor. Other good Timothy Zahn books include "The Cobra Trilogy", "The Thrawn Trilogy", and "The Conquerors Trilogy". Now, all I can say is, when are any of Zahn's books gonna be made into a movie? Now THAT is a film I'd enjoy watching if they stay true to his work!

It's obvious from the review comments that the vast majority of people reviewing this book (both those who liked it and those who didn't) have no idea what they are reading. This book is, plain and simple, an homage to Alistair MacLean.

Furthermore, it is right up there with the best of the MacLean thrillers (Circus, Breakheart Pass, Where Eagles Dare, Guns Of Navaronne). The plot twists and hidden identities follow the MacLean patterns exactly, as does the intentionally ambiguous first-person narration, in which the main character tells you he is hiding something from you but does not tell you what it is.

Zahn's later novel Night Train To Rigel is similar, but the MacLean influence is toned down a bit and elements of Hitchcock, Noir, and horror films are woven in as well.

However, taken as a whole, The Icarus Hunt works somewhat better than Night Train To Rigel.

I don't know how many cross-over fans there are between the sci-fi and mystery genres, but the fewer there are, the fewer who will truly appreciate this book for what it is.

I am more solidly a mystery fan (Zahn is one of extremely few sci-fi authors I enjoy), and as such I was able to truly marvel at what Zahn has accomplished in this one extremely entertaining novel. It will not escape most people's notice that the plot of this novel is a whodunit, and that the sci-fi is only a backdrop. What most people won't realize is that there exists, or once existed, a small sub-genre of whodunits called the "cozy." In order to be properly classified as a cozy, a novel has to have a remote setting with a limited number of players, one of whom is murdered, all of whom are suspects, and a detective who calls them all together at the end for the revealing. Agatha Christie is of course the most famous author of cozies.

I was delighted to find that The Icarus Hunt, despite all improbability, fits very neatly into the catagory of a classic cozy.

Of course this type of book might not necessarily appeal to sci-fi fans who are unfamiliar with the genre of whodunits or the sub-genre of the cozy, but Zahn goes out of his way to make The Icarus Hunt appeal to as wide an audience as possible. Jordan's first-person narrative is often hilarious - to tell a complex story from a first-person perspective is challenging enough anyway, and Zahn triumphs.

Of course there's the typical Zahn - exotic places and bizarre aliens (and plenty of strange-sounding names thrown in just for fun), and the classic Zahn knock-your-socks-off surprises.

All of which makes for one of the most highly enjoyable books I've ever read. I seriously doubt there's another book like it in existence. Highly recommended to fans of any genre!

Half detective novel and half science fiction adventure novel. My favorite Timothy Zahn novels were "Spinnneret" and "The Blackcollar" series, but this is one of his better novels (all of Zahn's novel are good). The story is fairly common science fiction, but Zahn does a good job of developing his characters and his universe is consistent and interesting. I probably wouldn't reread the novel but I do look forward to a sequel.

Timothy Zahn can really take you for a ride & drop you intosome impossible situations! As well as writing good science fiction,he does extremely well at mystery too. In a universe of iron-fisted control of all galactic shipping, renegade Jordan McKell survives by dabbling in interstellar smuggling for the last of the free traders. It was good to read a book again that made me feel like a kid again, with characters I really liked doing things I really liked, in a plot that let me forget about the details & just live in the adventure...

The Icaras Hunt is one of the most enjoyable novels I have read in a while. With so much subterfuge it looks like a cold war spy novel, and a fully developed univerese, it is one heck of a book. The politics of economics, with the iron monopoly of the Patth, is a subject that is not just glossed over. The power that the Patth possese is very real, and relevent to us in our modern world. Of course this book is not here to preach, but to entertain, and it does succeed in this. The plot is well crafted, and the suspense is maintained through to the last page. The ending is almost cliche, but not bad enough to cause the book to disapoint. The first person perspective that some readers dislike is to me a major plus. I love being able to see inside a characters soul, their thoughts and motivations are very important, especially in understanding the ending. What is revealed on the final pages colors the entire book. I am almost tempted to reread the whole thing to get the full impact. I often hesitate to give a book 5/5 stars, as that implies perfection, but not this one. This is a perfect book, fleshing out a strange new universe, populating it with character the reader cares about, and then taking us on the ride of our lives. Good job Zahn.

This novel is basically a chase through the stars. However, the construction of the aliens and some of the technology of the novel make it interesting. A race called the Patth has a near monopoly on all interstellar shipping because they managed to create a propulsion system that is significantly faster than anything anybody else has. All the other races have had to scramble for small or illegal contracts to survive. The novel opens with the main character, Jordan McKell, being hired to pilot a starship.

The novel is something of a mystery as well. The mystery concerns the fate of the employer of McKell and the rest of the crew and what exactly they have been hired to convey to Earth. Tension gradually builds as McKell is questioned by authorities on route to the Icarus and then he meets several other strangers who will be the crew of the ship. They all have different histories that McKell doesn't know anything about; trust and suspicion run throughout the story.

Some of the more interesting ideas in the story are that monopolies, trade and the like will continue in much the same form in the future as they do in the present. There are even several criminal organizations in the novel, which are involved, in typical Mafia like actions such as drug smuggling and extortion. So much of SF assumes a Star Trek like universe where there is no shortages of food or anything else and everybody has everything provided for them. This aspect of realism made the novel more believable. Usually, hard science fiction focuses on predicting future technology or science (and giving plausible explanations for them), whereas this novel simply had technology as part of the background with mystery and characters taking the spot light. The novel does a have a Star Wars (Zahn has written several Star Wars novels) feel to it and this may turn off some readers.

The different aliens in the story are somewhat inventive. McKell's partner Ixil has two "ferrets" (originally used as hunting aids in his race's ancient history) that can obey simple orders, plug into Ixil's nervous system and provide him with all the information they gather. One of the alien races finds zero gravity environments very comfortable and they are in high demand to be space walkers (i.e. go outside space ships and perform repairs).

I thought the ending was somewhat unexpected; there is a sudden revelation about McKell and his mechanic-business partner Ixil that seems too easy but I doubt there would be a better way to resolve the plot. I do not want to reveal the ending but it seemed so clichéd; that said it was no predictable, in my view.

I gave the novel three stars not for any major error; I am not inclined to regard a straight adventure story like this as literature. The exploration of any significant theme seemed to be lacking as well. Philip K. Dick once said, "Science fiction is a literature of ideas," and that is lacking in this novel. It is fun to read yet it is nowhere near as trashy as Harlequin romances or similar fiction.

This book is one of the most enjoyable I have ever read. Zahn has outdone himself with this book - it is much more enjoyable than even his previous excellent work in the Star Wars universe and elsewhere.

Yes, the characters were rather flat and predictable, and the universe wasn't terribly scientifically accurate, and the book in general wasn't any piece of "great philosophical literature" that pushed your mind to its limits. Because it wasn't trying to be - it's just trying to be an entertaining story set in a universe that, albeit unrealistic, is pretty damn cool. And the main character, McKell - I mean, c'mon, how can you not like him? He's Sherlock Holmes rolled into Han Solo, with a dash of Indiana Jones. He's suave, clever, and seems to be thrust into a bad situation. You can't help but empathize with him.

And the plot was most enjoyable. The unending plot twists are well-developed: surprising enough to, well, surprise you, but logical and reasonable enough to maintain the plausability. I was kept guessing up till the very end. And yes, the very end did stretch it a *little* bit, but by the last page, it doesn't matter. You've grown so attached to the characters and universe that you don't care if the solution is a tad cliche, as long as it works. (Which it does.)

All in all, this is one of my new favorite books.