Customer Reviews

Mid-Flinx

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

 

 

This 1996 entry in the popular science fiction "Flinx" series is non-stop action space-adventure from first page to last. Flinx, the product of illegal genetic experiments, who grew up an orphan on the streets, has the useful but stressful and uncontrollable ability to read emotions in those around him.

As the story opens, Flinx, 20 and the owner of an interstellar space craft with a unique drive, is at loose ends, looking for peace and quiet on a backwater world. But the local bully takes a shine to Flinx's longtime companion, an empathic and poisonous flying snake, or minidrag, and insists on buying it.

When the situation becomes life-threatening, Flinx and his snake, Pip, flee the planet, instructing the space ship to fly into random uncharted space. The ship takes them to a supposedly undiscovered planet, covered with jungle a mile thick. Flinx exits his lander - and is nearly killed by a huge, transparent flying creature.

But something draws him on to explore this lush and beautiful world where the flowers have hidden teeth and even the water may reach up and grab you. For the first time in years, his headaches are gone. Risking death with every cautious step, he is finally rescued from a most ingenious botanical predator by a band of humans - descendants of a lost colony ship long forgotten.

These humans have companions, not pets, but apparently native creatures whose lives are bound inextricably (unto death) with their particular human. And they and the humans have some sort of peculiar empathic relationship with the planet.

Meanwhile, Flinx's enemies are hot on his trail -- no sooner is one set apparently neutralized than another appears.

Foster has a lot of fun with the creation of this life-teeming world. Everything has a function and a place in the planetary, evolutionary scheme of things. And it appears this strange and marvelously dangerous place has some importance in the destiny that draws Flinx through this series. Readers will hope so anyway as Foster's latest creation offers an endless source of thrills and surprise.

This is another novel from Foster's Humanx Commonwealth universe. Here, his series hero Flinx smashes headlong into Midworld, a strange super-green plant-dominated world that was the subject of a previous standalone non-Flinx novel. (One thing that ADF excels at is creating cool worlds with fully realized environments and deadly flora and fauna, such as in Cachalot and Sentenced To Prism.)

On account of evil scientists having messed with his fetal DNA or something, Flinx is this young guy that has a few mind powers rattling inside his skull. So he's got this empathic ability plus a few other latent talents. Also his best friend is a non-sentient Alaspinian mini-drag, basically an extremely venomous flying snake with its own low-grade empathy skill. In any case, a rich psychotic merchant on a backwater colony world sees Pip the mini-drag and demands to buy her, but Flinx refuses to sell, and then has to flee when the merchant goes all postal. Luckily, Flinx has this rockin' spaceship that he acquired in an earlier novel from some super-aliens, so he zooms off in a random direction and ends up on Midworld, a planet which is not on any Commonwealth charts and which is the home to a small long-lost now-adapted group of human settlers.

There, a wandering Flinx meets a trio of the neo-natives and agrees to help them, since an accident has separated them from their Home Tree and they need assistance in getting back. But then the monomanical merchant catches up, because no one can say no to him. And much else happens from that point, including an appearance from the most excellent AAnn, which are these neat yet evil reptiloids that live to conquer everything, but with extreme politeness, accompanied by a gestural language component that allows them to convey nuances like third-degree regret or fifth-degree smugness.

A lot of the good stuff here has to do with the fact that virtually every creature and plant on Midworld is hyper-dangerous, so your best bet is to burn everything on sight, except that of course the vegetation is adapted to counteract this as well and you would be met with explosive results. Anyway, you'd best believe that people are dying left and right, getting decaptitated or infested with parasites or dissolved into goo. Dude, this would make a fantastic straight-to-cable movie!

So I liked it, although ADF's often-florid writing style and intermittently omniscient narration might take some getting used to. But I've been reading this guy since I was, what? maybe 15 or something? I think he rules. And he does a pretty good job with characters and can throw a few plot twists and stuff, so I can definitely recommend his material for those looking for a fairly quick and romping read. (Avoid the trilogy about the founding of the Commonwealth, though--it's fairly weak.)

I love all of foster's pip-and-flinx book's and am waiting fro the next. There are still a lot of unanswered questions fro all of his books that I wish he qwould answer. If anyone has heardf of qa new Flinx book please tell me???

A good read but after raising many fascinating questions about Flinx and his universe in the preceding books, ADF proceeds to answer absolutely none of them in this book. I love Flinx and Pip, I will read anything he chooses to write about them, but I was disappointed by this book. It mainly functions for me as a promisory note, that Mr. Foster is still thinking about Flinx, and intends to continue writing about him as a character. Worth reading if you love Flinx, but it's just not quite up to the standards of the others because it's running in place.

My goodness! Take one of the best books ever written (Midworld) and throw in Flinx and his wonderful Pip, and you have a recipe for a best-seller. I drooled at the prospect of going back to Midworld, and when I saw Flinx was involved, I couldn't believe my eyes. Foster's descriptions of plants, animals, and the humans there (not to mention a great story) are just incredible. I don't know where he gets his ideas, but I envy his talent. I still consider Foster the King of Description.

I am a hopelessly captured Flinx fan! I also have always loved the classic Foster novel Midworld. When these two concepts collided, what could be better? Mid-Flinx was a fantastically fun book with a lot of surprises! I can't wait for Foster's next Flinx epic! It just keeps getting better and better!

Alan Dean Foster uses the background of his previous novel, Midworld, to set up Flinx and Pip's latest adventure. While I found the book hard to put down (at least in the middle of the story), I was disappointed by the ending, and by the dropped hints about the next work to come ( I am assuming there is another adventure in the works).

Flinx ends up in Midworld after fleeing a planet being chased by a local merchant/crazy who for some reason feels he must possess Pip. As usual, Flinx finds new friends and saves them as they save him. The Midworld flora and fauna were very interesting, however, the whole story was a little thin. Basically, Flinx ponders the reality of the great evil he has learned of, while admiring the beauty of this new planet. Obviously, Mid-Flinx is merely a placeholder while Foster ponders how to wrap up his big idea about the nature of evil. Also, this is the last Flinx book to date...so it doesn't look like we'll find out the answer for a while.

In a sequel of the Flinx and Commonwealth books, we find Flinx and Pip fleeing from a would-be kidnapper and landing on the jungle planet of Midworld. This book came as rather a disappointment to followers of the Flinx saga as hinted in chronology set forth in "Flinx in Flux". Not only do we not find out Flinx's "purpose" but this seems to be a rehash of "Midworld". As a rabid Foster fan, I really wanted this to be a continuation, rather than a sidestep in this series. But it still holds all the good qualities of Foster's works and should be included in your ADF library.

This is a return to "Mid World" via Flinx. If you haven't read "Mid World", do that first and it will make more sense. I liked it. You can see that Foster is setting up future things-to-be based upon this encounter. I'm a huge fan of Flinx and Pip so I might be a bit biased!