Customer Reviews

The Light-years Beneath My Feet

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The Light-Years Beneath My Feet (2005) is the second SF novel in the Taken series, following Lost and Found. In the previous volume, Marcus Walker and George the talking dog escape from the Vilenjji slaveship with Sque and Braouk. Their lifeboat is rescued by the Sessrimathe and taken to Serematherin. There they make friends and have living spaces with every possible convenience. Yet they wish to return home.

In this novel, Marc has learned how to cook for the Sessrimathe and other aliens with alien equipment. His creations are well accepted by his friends and his later demonstrations are well attended. At one of his performances, Viyv-pym-parr of the Niyyuu offers him a position on her home planet. Marc talks it over with his friends and they agree on taking the chance to travel on to Niyu, even though they are not sure that it is even within the same galactic arm as their home planets.

Marc accepts Viyv-pym's offer, but with one condition: his friends must be taken along. She agrees and provides a departure date. On the night before, they all pack and turn in early.

They are rudely awakened in the early morn by the Vilenjji from the slaveship. The Sessrimathe were conned by the Vilenjji's expressions of remorse and repentance and, after a time, had let them go free. Now the Vilenjji are engaged in repossessing their lost property; the four friends are bound thoroughly and loaded into a cargo container.

On the way out of the building, the Vilenjji are attacked by the Niyyuu and either killed or driven away. Viyu-pym had left a liquid tracker in Marc's body just in case and had been alerted by its early morning movements. After retrieving their luggage, the four friends are transported to the Niyyuu ship for their voyage to Niyu.

This novel is another introduction to the alien cultures of the galaxy. A custom of the Niyyuu is traditional warfare. Civilization had started on the planet with the separation of the civilian and military aspects of their culture. They still fought small, localized wars with each other, but only against legitimate military targets.

The concept of collateral damage was not accepted by the Niyyuu; any city that caused such incidents was punished by a coalition of the surrounding cities. So was any formal alliance, or appearance of it, by two or more city states. In many respects, the Niyyuu seem much like the ancient Greeks, but with a strict separation of warfare from the civilian population. However, war broadcasts had become a major factor in the entertainment media.

Marc's culinary performances were well received by the Niyyuu, as was the entertainment provided by his friends. These four alien creatures were unique on the planet and other city states were envious of Kojn-umm, the hiring city. Of course, Kojn-umm was well pleased with their presence. Maybe too pleased.

When Marcus and his friends asked for information on their home planets, the government leaders were noncommittal. After a while, Marc learned that these leaders were only paying lip service to their requests. How could they get the Niyyuu to help them discover the location of their home planets?

This work is light SF with a few unexpected twists. With the exception of the capitalistic Vilenjji, none of the aliens are truly hostile to the four friends. Still, one of the Niyyuu becomes a bit incensed by the political manipulations.

Highly recommended for Foster fans and for anyone else who enjoys light tales of travel, aliens and political intrigue.

-Arthur W. Jordin

Freed from the slavers, former Chicago commodities trader Marcus Walker, George the Dog (now enhanced with speech), Braouk the Tuuqalian, and Sequi the K'eremu have a comfortable existance, but all of them want to return to their homes. In the meantime, Walker seeks a role that will allow him to find some meaning in his alien existance. After all, Braouk is sought after by those who admire his eternal war-epics, George is simply lovable, being a dog, and Sequi is self-reliant in her confidence (often well-justified) that she is smarter than anyone around her. But Walker is a human and needs positive strokes. He comes up with the idea of becoming a chef--in a galaxy where foods have to be martialed and persuaded into service.

Walker's increasing expertise in the kitchen nets him a job offer by a star-crossing race much further out the Milky Way's spiral arm, but is it the right arm, or will Walker and his friends be moving away from home? In the end, it doesn't matter--at least they're moving and they haven't had any other offers. The four set off to a world where warfare is a game, played by 'traditional' rules that restrict military technology to a medieval level, but give newscasters sophisticated broadcast equipment to let everyone in the cities stay in tune with the battles.

Although Walker's cooking skills had proven valuable in getting them started in their travels, they also make him too valuable to simply let him walk away. His hosts don't exactly tell him he can't leave, but they tell their astronomers not to fast-track his requests for help in locating Earth. Walker decides to get involved in local politics, and in the 'traditional military' side of society. Walker's football-based strategy leads to strange results--but can it get him home? And what to do about the pesky slavers who seem intent on recovering Walker and friends, no matter what the costs?

Author Alan Dean Foster pokes loving fun at the traditional fish-out-of-water story, having Walker engage in some truly weird tactics. His super-intelligent but annoying alien Sequi is a nice touch, and George the Dog remains one of the most attractive characters in a science fiction story. THE LIGHT-YEARS BENEATH MY FEET suffers a bit from being the middle book in a trilogy. We don't have the getting to know you as the characters learn to deal with each other, or a grand resolution as I'd expect in the final novel. Still, LIGHT-YEARS is entertaining light reading.

If you're looking to decompress from a rough day at the office, or maybe from an involved and convoluted Stephenson or Cheryth SF tale, LIGHT-YEARS would be a great choice. You don't need to read the previous book in the series (LOST AND FOUND), but it would enhance the experience.

The Viilenjii stole Chicago businessman Marcus Walker, a dog named George, and other alien species from various parts of the galaxy and are taking them to a place where they will be sold as pets. Luckily Marc and George (who was operated on so he could speak), the brilliant K'eremu a Sequi'aranaqua'na'senemue and Tuuqualia Braouk were able to gain asylum from the ultra civilized, technologically advanced Sessrimathe.

His host doesn't know where any of the alien home worlds are so out of desperation Walker becomes a successful cook that attracts the attention of the visiting Niyo who offer him and his friends employment. Since it is one step closer to their home worlds, they accept the offer and become such a success that nobody wants to help them get home. Walker and company come up with an ingenious plan that will make the people of Niyo glad to get rid of them.

This is book two in "The Taken" trilogy and it is every bit as good as the precious LOST AND FOUND as well as the Pip and Flinx novels. Alan Dean Foster's trademark dry wit, colorful characters and mesmerizing story line will insure readers eagerly await the last book in this series. Marcus and his companions become true friends despite the difference in their species' philosophy and are there for one another in good times and bad.

Harriet Klausner

Often sequels stumble in the second book (either at surprise that people wanted more or stuck as plot drivel setting up for the 3rd in a trilogy). However, this sequel was almost good enough to be on its own if needed. Still, there was a different tone, and it felt more plot than character driven. While the first book focused on the relationships, especially main character Marcus and dog George, this sequel was a bit more political-war heavy. The main characters interactions were less and they were often crabby to each other. It's hard enough to like your friends in real life for being crabby in extended amounts of time, and more difficult to read. The writing is excellent though, and the plot is well thought out and executed with thorough connecting detail. Rating - Idea premise: B+, Content: A-, Overall Rating: B+.

The Human Marc Walker, the dog George, the Tuuqalian Braouk and the K'eremu Sque, all having been abducted from their respective homeworlds by the profit-centric Vilenjji in the previous novel, Lost and Found, now find themselves on the world of Niyu. There, this unlikely quartet try to enlist the aide of the Niyyuuan authorities in their attempt to return to their respective worlds. But the Niyyuuans are disinclined to help the group of aliens because Walker has certain talents that the Niyyuuan find valuable. So, it is left up to Walker and his motley bands of comrades to manipulate the situation; to get the Niyyuu to actively and vociferously aide in the hunt to find their homeworlds.

The Light-Years Beneath My Feet does not live up to the rollicking romp through space that its predecessor, Lost and Found, provided. The internal machinations and plotting within plots is simply not described all that well. Some of this is made up by the admittedly interesting Niyyuuan culture of traditional warfare to solve economic and other disputes between rival nations. And the Niyyuuans themselves were characterized well; everything from their physical descriptions to their cultural eccentricities were believable. But the overall plot of getting Walker and his friends home just moved to slowly and seemed to get mired down in the very Niyyuuan culture that did make the story worth turning pages.

Overall, The Light-Years Beneath My Feet wasn't a grand follow up to its predecessor, but it was decent enough to make me want to pick up the concluding volume in a trilogy that has held my attention reasonably enough.

This is the middle book in a trilogy, and it shows. I love the characters. They are each unique, and yet they have formed a solid friendship and partnership. I also enjoy the humor in the novel.

But the plot develops slowly and just doesn't have the payoff one would hope for. (This continues into the third book, unfortunately. The first book in the trilogy is the best for plot.)

Everything about their cunning plan is just slightly off. It requires too many different people to agree to too many different things that really don't seem beneficial to them. It develops too slowly. And it's too predictable to be dramatic.

All in all I liked the book a lot. But that's entirely because of the characters and the whimsy. It definitely suffers from "middle book syndrome".

It is an interesting book but you need to read the first book in the series to understand some of what the characters are talking about since they refer a lot to the first book.

Quick read, but not as entertaining as the first book in the trilogy, LOST AND FOUND (2004)*****.

These sometimes humorous stories are different from anything else I've ever read before... the closest I can come to describing them is like a serious HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE UNIVERSE.

In LOST AND FOUND, we were introduced to Marcus Walker, the "All American Boy" who gets abducted by aliens while on a solo camping trip in the Sierra Nevadas. Walker is paired with the "All American Mutt", abducted from a Chicago alley, whom he calls George... the dog is able to speak, due to brain enhancement and implant technology of the "evil" abducting aliens. While in captivity aboard a giant alien ship, our heros encounter all sorts of strange oxygen-breathing aliens in a Wild Animal Park setting; and eventually work with some of them to execute an exciting escape attempt - but as they are breaking free in a "life boat", an even bigger space ship arrives on the scene manned by "interstellar cops" who take pity on the 4 individuals, whom they take back to their planet near the center of the galaxy, which can be described as near the height of galactic civilization, and where they put the four abductees on the government dole as hardship cases.

In this, the 2nd book, the 4 folks (human, dog, giant poetical monster, & genius pompous land octopus), manage to find a way out of their "boring" government sponsered lives, where they are basically provided everything they want, except for a ride home (nobody knows exactly where home is)... they are put to work on an alien planet that is hopefully closer to their homes out on the galactic "outback"... this alien planet turns out to be constantly at war, but with some strange rules (that closely parallel those from the STAR TREK Original Series episode A TASTE OF ARMEGEDDON). Suffice it to say, these adventures were far less believable than the ones from the first book.

In any event, I'm looking forward to the last book from this series, THE CANDLE OF DISTANT EARTH.

As a multi-decade and huge ADF fan, I have to warn you that this series is AWFUL compared to the excellent entertainment and writing he usually provides. Book two starts off just as utterly boring as book one but after too long a time, a somewhat interesting story surprisingly develops. Sadly, ADF has to spend time justifying at the end of the story why a profit-minded alien slaver is diven at all expense and loss-of-profit to recapture some escaped slaves in order to move the plot forward and create a cliff-hanger but the explanation does not satisfy. While ADF does not make the mistake of making the various aliens too anthropomorphic (human-like), aspects of the story seem human-centric when the sole human quickly gains global power on an alien planet. This is an ego-stroke to the reader but not realistic. The lack of astronomical mapping and search capability by advanced space-faring races also seems a little odd along with their inability to hypnotize any of the aliens to provide increased visual or factual memory in order to better determine where in the galaxy there home planets are more likely to be (a yellow sun, not in the galaxy core, etc.). In any case, this story is better than the horrifyingly-bad first book in the series but not enough to pay for the hard-cover price and it certainly is near the bottom of ADF's work resting atop book one. Avoid this series and read ADF's many good works out there.