Terran diplomat and interplanetary troubleshooter Jame Retief must stop the belligerent, five-eyed Groaci from invading the beleaguered planet of Bloor, which is already plagued by violence between rival gangs.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Very Disappointing,
By
This review is from: Retief and the Rascals (Paperback)
Jame Retief, galactic diplomat of the Corps Diplomatique Terrestrienne is Keith Laumer's most enduring and popular character, whose adventures span eighteen novels and anthologies. Retief is a roguish figure, preferring to use his wits and creativity in solving problems, rather than his not-inconsiderable brawn. He is hampered by the machinations of the other diplomats of the CDT, most of whom are only in the job to look out for number one - only Retief's presence allows the good guys to have justice at the end.Unfortunately for Retief fans, Mr. Laumer suffered a stroke in 1971 which severely impacted his writing ability. Some few books published after 1971 were actually plotted and written in outline before the stroke, but most of Mr. Laumer's works published after 1971 show the deleterious effects the stroke had on his writing. It is almost as if the Retief books were ghost-written by a writer chosen more for his ability to satisfy deadlines than his ability to write Retief the way it should be written - gone is the devious cunning and sophistication of the character at his best, to be replaced by a reliance on his muscle, and a habit of ceding center stage to the pedantic bureaucrats higher up the CDT food-chain. Retief and the Rascals is no exception. The second chapter reads more like a too-long Three Stooges or Abbot and Costello routine than a piece of Retief's carefully-planned diplomacy. Instead of good planning and efficient research, Retief attacks his problems with two fists and a few lame rejoinders. Jokes that were only funny the first time propagate throughout the book, such as the facial expression classification system or the use of stilted writing to reflect picayune dialects. And old-standby characters, such as Retief's officious and ineffectual boss Mr. Magnan (whose purpose in the early stories is to form an obstacle to Retief's attempt to find the best possible solution) has more to say than Retief does. It takes actual digging to get to the meat of the story, which is never a good thing. The story itself, which concerns various attempts by different individuals inside and outside the Corps to loot money from a fund earmarked for developing worlds, is not enough to sustain the entire novel; this would have made a decent short story. Sadly, I can't recommend this novel to any but the most die-hard Retief fans.
1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Retief gets burnout,
By The Demon Prince (farris@sirius.com) (Clovis, CA, USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Retief and the Rascals (Paperback)
The Retief stories by Laumer are for the most part light-hearted, fast-paced fun reads. "Retief and the Rascals" is none of the above. My only explanation is that Laumer was under pressure to produce another Retief story, and was forced to write this one while suffering acute dyspepsia.
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