Customer Reviews

Retief

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Keith Laumer is among my favorite writers of "light" sf, and these three books, the first in the long series (13 volumes that I know of, counting each original volume as one) of Retief adventures, show why. Filled with sharp pokes at government bureaucracy (Laumer himself was connected with it for many years and knew whereof he wrote), they follow the wild adventures of Jaime Retief, a member of the Corps Diplomatique Terrestrienne with more than a touch of James Bond in his makeup. Constantly redeeming his superiors' blunders, usually by making an end run around the "accepted" way of doing things, he bounces in and out of serious bodily peril and thwarts at every turn the machinations of the Groaci, whispering five-eyed aliens with a penchant for torture and a thirst for universal domination. (The books were originally published in 1963, 1965, and 1968, in the very heart of the Cold War, which suggests that these villainous beings were intended as an analogue of the Communists.) Yet the stories never take themselves too seriously, and very little happens that couldn't safely be shared with a child. I've collected Retief religiously, and joyously, for some 30 years, and I don't regret a bit of it. You won't either.

Edited and compiled by Eric Flint, and with a foreword by David Drake, this book is one of the best buys Baen has offered in a long time. In addition to "Diplomat-at-Arms" (the first-written of the Retief stories, and one of the hardest to find), this compilation includes the entire short novel *Retief's War* (whence we draw the immortal quotation recapitulated above). Flint did a fine job of ordering the stories contained in this book, and did even more shortly thereafter (including collecting Laumer's adventure stories in *Odyssey* and a non-Retief anthology of *The Lighter Side* of Laumer's work).

I grew up reading the Retief stories in *Astounding*, and I'm grateful to Flint (and Baen Books) for having given us the chance to revisit so much of the best of Laumer's stuff in this volume.

...

I first came across the Retief stories in Analog/Astounding in the early '60's. They were greatly enjoyable then, and still retain their pleasure.

Unfortunately, we can see from current events that diplomats still screw up international relations, which makes these stories topical today.

Retief is a very junior diplomat when these stories begin(as edited and arranged by Eric Flint) and they follow him through his career. He never rises very high, because he is more concerned with results than appearances. As a result, he gets the job done, but never finds approval of his superiors, who are only concerned with how it looks.

Laumer's foreign service experience makes these stories quite effective. I only wish we had more diplomats like Retief, instead of what we have.

His characters act believably, even if the situations are somewhat unbelievable. Then, I remember the history of the second half of the 20th century, and the situations become quite believable. They are both enjoyable as stories and as satire, and the humor is quite good.

This book was so enjoyable, funny, well written, entertaining, and compelling that I read it in one sitting. Then I walked several miles to the nearest used book store and bought every novel by Keith Laumer they had. Didn't even have to feel guilty, since all of them were out of print. But this book is so much worth the price... it's just funny! Unfortunately I think it's sometimes too close to home, especially the story about "Retief of the Mountain of Red Tape".

Most SF readers have heard of Laumer's Retief series. Many of them have read some of them. There've been compilations, sets, and short stories release for years. This time, however, Baen and Mssr's Flint and Drake have done a wonderful job compiling some of the best (and hardest to find) Retief stories in one place.

If you've never read Retief, try it - you'll like it. And this is a great way to get your feet wet.

Retief, the unorthodox diplomat, is assigned the hardest jobs(often self-assigned), works against incompetence and active opposition from his side, not to mention the opposition's opposition - and succeeds. This was one thing I enjoyed when I first read the stories in the magazines, and maybe what I enjoy most now. You don't have to have perfect conditions or helpful allies to get results. This is frequently screened by strange-looking aliens, odd cultures, color and glitter, and some laughs - but those are also aspects of the stories that I enjoy.

Retief: diplomat extraordinaire. That's one way to describe the main character in a series of short stories that have been collected into this volume. Retief knows the ins and outs of behavior and negotiation, and is adept at (literally) cutting through the red tape. Although his superiors dislike his . . . unorthodox methods, Retief always gets results, and makes the best of bad situations.

Well written, with wit, humor, and a knowledge of international diplomacy, this book is a great read for people of all ages and interests. Keith Laumer is just one of the many classic Science Fiction authors whose work is returning to print via the good graces of Baen's Books and editor Eric Flint.

"Retief! (A Collection of Stories) is good science fiction reading. Imagine James Bond, under a different name, with a different profession, with more humor, and set a thousand years into the future. That is fairly close to Retief. Our hero is a junior ambassador. The only serious competitors to humans in the galagy are the Groaci. And, Retief believes in getting things done. Unfortunately, the rest of the human diplomats and ambassadors worry much more about how they look to the upper echelons, who seem to be a Politically Correct crowd.

Retief has some amazing adventures. The results of each adventure seems to be some light humor and some serious accomplishments. But, Retief's career plugs along, because he seems less than PC and is not afraid of doing rough things, such as fighting.
These are good, fun, stories. However, take care to read one, put the book down, do other stuff, including reading some other author's stories, then go on to the next Retief story. Otherwise, Retief can get to be TOO MUCH. So, go gently and you will, likely, have many good times in reading the individual stories.