The Mutants are Coming [Mass Market Paperback]

Isidore Haiblum (Author)

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback
• Publisher: Del Rey (August 12, 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345355008
• ISBN-13: 978-0345355003
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,664,758 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The What are Coming?, October 30, 2006

By 

doomsdayer520 (Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Mutants are Coming (Mass Market Paperback)

For fans of cheesy old out-of-print science fiction paperbacks, this one might be worth picking up if you happen to come across it. Here Isidore Haiblum created a goofy combination of detective noir and political space opera. However, the weirdness promised by the mutants of the title doesn't quite come together, as the mutants themselves are dimly portrayed and poorly defined. In short, an ambassador from a moon colony travels to Earth to drum up political support, and finds himself investigating a ridiculously intricate conspiracy to overthrow the government. The lead character isn't entirely believable as a wise-cracking private eye, speaking in classic detective slang that is really forced at times. The plotline piles on too many thin conspiracies and too many forgettable characters (both of these are issues of quantity over quality). However, writing in 1984, Haiblum came up with an interesting worldwide computer network called Ed-Out, the manipulations of which are outstandingly similar to today's attempted control of the World Wide Web by government and corporations. So while it's not as freaky as it probably could be, this old novel is worth some attention from fans of comedy sci-fi. [~doomsdayer520~]

3.0 out of 5 stars Not his best work, but fun, February 20, 2009

By 

Matthew C. Cook - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Mutants are Coming (Mass Market Paperback)

I'm a big fan of Haiblum's science fiction, but I have to admit that this isn't his best. His style is '50's hard boiled detective fiction, and his characters are not well developed, but the writing is amusing, and I was entertained. His better works are the Interworld series, and The Identity Plunderers. But having said that, I did enjoy reading this, and I've actually read it twice. I get tired of authors who write technically well, but bore the reader. This guy writes to be entertaining, and I think he has a real talent for it. Yet the humor isn't forced, and never interferes with the story. As for what genre this is in, who cares?

3.0 out of 5 stars Not sure what to make of this . . ., December 7, 2006

By 

K. Sozaeva "Obsessive bibliophile" (Athens, GA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Mutants are Coming (Mass Market Paperback)

Is it detective noir? Is it pulp sci-fi? Or is it supposed to be some sort of commentary on the existential angst of society? Whatever it was supposed to be, it didn't quite come together.

James Morgan is a "problem solver" from the lunar colony, called simply Moon Base. He is sent to Earth to secure the good-will of Senator Fulton in order to ensure the survival of Moon Base. He arrives to find the Senator missing and no one the wiser. Through a network of buddies, he attempts to find the Senator, unraveling a skein of complications and plots as he goes.

The characters are all caricatures and not at all fleshed out. The dialogue is circa 1950s for some reason (I was astonished to find out this book was apparently first published in 1984); one particularly Polly Pureheartish woman is fond of "Golly" and "Gee." Although it is a fairly short book, it took me almost 3 days to plow through it, because it just didn't hold my attention. I suppose for fans of pulp fiction of any type, it might be entertaining for the kitsch value. If you can pick it up used and cheap, like I did, and you think you might find it entertaining, go ahead. But don't expect entertaining mutants, because encounters with them are few and far between and they are all written as basically savages. I gave it 3 stars because it was at least fairly well edited and not full of the spelling and grammatical errors so common these days.