Lost and Found [Library Binding]

Alan Dean Foster (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 29, 2008

Ever since his classic debut, The Tar-Aiym Krang, the first of the wildly successful Pip and Flinx adventures, New York Times bestselling author Alan Dean Foster has captivated readers around the world. Now this writer of bold imagination and stunning originality has created an electrifying space epic set in a universe at once strangely familiar and starkly terrifying. Familiar because the universe is ours; terrifying because the human condition might soon be. . . .

Not so long ago Marcus Walker was just another young commodities trader in Chicago, working hard and playing harder. But that’s all in the past, part of a life half forgotten—a reality that vanished when he was attacked while camping and tossed aboard a starship bound for deep space.

Desperately, Walker searches for explanations, only to realize he’s trapped in a horrifying nightmare that is all too real. Instead of being a rich hotshot at the top of the food chain, Walker discovers he’s just another amusing novelty, part of a cargo of “cute” aliens from primitive planets—destined to be sold as pets to highly advanced populations in “civilized” regions of the galaxy.

Even if he weren’t constantly watched by his captors, Walker has few options. After all, there is no escape from a speeding starship. Another man might resign himself to the inevitable and hope to be sold to a kindly owner, but not Walker. This former college football star has plenty of American ingenuity and no intention of admitting defeat, now or ever. In fact, he’s only just begun to fight.

The adventure will continue with two more novels

--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Alien abductions are fast becoming an SF cliché, but bestseller Foster (Dirge) puts a fresh spin on the theme in the wacky first book of a new comic SF series about Marcus Walker, a Chicago commodities broker, and George, a talking dog. Both fall victim to the seven-foot Vilenjji, who roam outer space and snatch specimens from various backward planets to sell as novelty pets to wealthy clients. Marc and George are the only Earth samples in the vast traveling zoo en route to an undisclosed alien marketplace. The other oxygen-breathing sentients—caged in enclosures that imaginatively echo the places where they were captured—can communicate with each other and their captors, due to implants that have been softwired into their brains. Much mayhem ensues as Marc and the streetwise mutt decide to attempt an escape with fellow zoo allies, the huge, very scary, always hungry poetry-spouting Braouk ("Sorrow is sharing, the abducted are together, many one") and the tiny, bejeweled, hysterically superior Sque ("a female of the K'eremu"). Walker's enthusiasm in taking stock of the assets at their disposal in their wild bid for freedom—something his work has taught him to do "when faced with a difficult set of circumstances"—and George's doggy determination make this a winner for all ages.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

Young-turk commodities-trader Marc Walker is camping alone in the California wilderness to win a bet with his hometown Chicago buddies when he's cold-cocked by buglike purple aliens and whisked into interstellar space. When he comes to, he finds himself isolated in a force field, along with his tent; selected pieces of the surrounding Sierra Nevada scenery; and George, a dog that talks, thanks to a universal translator and canine cranial upgrade. Through his furry friend and a snooty, octopus-like fellow captive, Walker learns that he and a menagerie of colorful extraterrestrials are prisoners on a galactic slave ship and destined to be sold as curios by their enterprising, amoral captors to the highest bidder. The parable of humans plucked for an alien zoo has been told often in sf but never with greater flare and more intrigue. Foster doles out enough wit, suspense, and original alien anthropology to keep readers spellbound from chapter one on. The utterly enchanted may look forward to a pair of sequels filling out a prospective trilogy. Carl Hays
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Library Binding: 240 pages
• Publisher: Paw Prints 2008-05-29; Reprint edition (May 29, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1435292944
• ISBN-13: 978-1435292949
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 4.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #11,071,445 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

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Noble Savage Among the Decadent Aliens?, July 5, 2004

By 

Arthur W. Jordin (Smyrna, GA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Lost and Found: The Taken Trilogy Book 1 (Hardcover)

Lost and Found is the first novel in The Taken trilogy. Marcus Walker was a commodities broker from Chicago. Somehow, he found himself camping near the miniature metropolis of Bug Jump, California, to win a bet that he could actually survive outside civilization. Aside from a close encounter with the relatives of a possibly pregnant maiden, Marcus was looking good going in to the home stretch. Then he heard some strange noises around his tent and opened the flap to shine his flashlight directly into the eyes of a very alien countenance.

In this novel, Marcus wakes up the next day in a fairly convincing simulation of his campsite, but not in California. Instead, he is on a starship many lightyears away from home and putting even more distance from Chicago with each second. After some days of solitary confinement in his little diorama, one wall opens up to reveal the neighboring cell, an urban alley scene, and its inhabitant, a now talking dog of unknown ancestry.

After some discussion, the dog lets Marcus address him as George. Strangely enough, he is also a native of Chicago and was taken directly from that city. George has not been as belligerent as Marcus, so he has had the run of the common area for several days and has met many of their fellow captives. Thanks to his universal translator implant, George has discovered much about their captors. Among other info, George has discovered that they were captured for the curiosities market by a mercantile company of Vilenjji.

With some coaching by George, Marcus begins to mingle with the other captives and soon starts working on a plan to gain their freedom. He meets two other captives with exceptional mental and physical powers and brings them into the conspiracy. Despite their blatant disbelief in his goals, Marcus is determined at the least to strike back at their captors and, if remotely possible, to escape from the ship.

In this story, Marcus learns that he is not very special. Only his ability to learn humility keeps him alive. However, he perseveres in his goals, despite all objections; some would say that he is just too dumb to understand his situation, but he doesn't agree ... most of the time (those midnight doubts are hell).

The storyline combines the tale of the ignorant savage introduced to high society with that of the powerless slave escaping from the chains of a hellship. Of course, the author includes a clean, disease-free environment maintained by advanced automata, so the outward forms of this captivity are not as visible, but the psychological environment is just as miserable.

Highly recommended for Foster fans and for anyone else who enjoys light tales of humans among advanced technological societies and sophisticated sapients.

-Arthur W. Jordin

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars a boy and a dog go to space..., December 31, 2005

By 

Michael Lynn Mcguire "mmcguire" (Sugar Land, TX United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Lost and Found: A Novel (Taken) (Mass Market Paperback)

This book reminds me of a Heinlein Juvenile. It a very good read and the first of a trilogy. Having a man and a dog collected for a space zoo is a cool idea and their travails were interesting.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pure escapist fun, August 23, 2004

By 

booksforabuck "BooksForABuck" (Long Beach, CA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Lost and Found: The Taken Trilogy Book 1 (Hardcover)

Chicago commodity trader Marc Walker is planning to win a bet by spending a week camping by a beautiful California lake. The strange object in the sky is less initially less interesting than the attractive woman at the bar but when Marc wakes up to discover that his bit of California lakefront has been transported into an alien spaceship, he realizes that he's misplaced his priorities. With the assistance of a talking dog and a group of also-abducted aliens--intended for some sort of alien zoo or perversion--Marc battles despair. Still, what can one human, even if assisted by an overly smart dog, do against an entire spaceship full of alien-tamers?

Some of the captive aliens are smarter than Marc. Some are much stronger. But Marc's drive for success made him a top commodity trader back in Chicago and it eggs him on--to do something rather than wait to be sold into slavery. Unfortunately, he must also deal with the reality that not all of the prisoners want to escape--and there are always some willing to betray him in exchange for food or simply out of cruelty. And even if he did escape, where, exactly would he go on a huge spaceship located billions of miles from the planet he once called home?

Author Alan Dean Foster writes a charming story of alien abduction and human survival. The characters of George the dog, Braouk, the monster, and Sque the vain octopus-creature are amusing and well thought out. LOST AND FOUND is a bit of a throwback to the science fiction of the 1960s, with pure escapism at its heart.

If you're looking to take a break from 'serious' SF and seeking for some pure escapist fun, LOST AND FOUND may be just the ticket.