Customer Reviews

Retief of the CDT (Jaime Retief Series #6)

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

 

 

A quick search of the web didn't reveal much about the authors' time as a diplomat, but the elements of his experience that peek through this and other Retief stories are what make them most enjoyable for me. Although I first read and enjoyed this book in Junior High School, it wasn't until my later service in Cyprus (UNFICYP) and Israel/Syria (UNDOF) that I came to appreciate the similarities between the United Nations and the Corps Diplomatique Terrestrienne. Farcical bureaucracy, inefficiency, a focus on process rather than "doing the right thing"...it's as if Keith Laumer was around today and viewing the UN's pronouncements on North Korean attacks on the south, their inaction in Syria, and their installation of known despot nations on Human Rights panels!

Once again, Jaime Retief delights by deflating the pomposity of our world's pretentious managers, diplomats and politicians in the guise of the Terran Corps Diplomatique in a series of pithy short stories. A must read, as fresh now as it was in the 1960s and 1970s. I'm still searching for the story about Refief and Mangan on a world beset by volcanic activity (mostly mud volcanoes), with a fragile ecosystem, where the mud rats delicately balance the crab grass, which holds the mud world together. Another pompous head diplomat arrives with rat poison and then chaos results. Anyone out there know the title of this short story. Great for reading to high school ecology students as an introduction!

I read this book a number of years ago (about 10 times!!!) and I lent it to a friend. I believe he lost it so I bought a new copy and I still love it. It's just a fun series of short stories, very enjoyable.

Despite having been written some years ago, this deliciously
funny book took on PC before it was generally acknowledged to
exist. Hard to find, but well worth the effort.

This is one of the best books I've ever read. Retief is my faverite space hero. If you want to read a good science-fiction book read anything by Keith Laumer, no body does it better;and this is one of his best. It's none stop action and full of funny wit . You'll be guessing until the very end.