Reunion: A Pip and Flinx Novel [Hardcover]

Alan Dean Foster (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 29, 2001

The wait is over! At last, New York Times bestselling author Alan Dean Foster returns to his acclaimed Humanx universe, where a young human orphan called Flinx seeks to unlock the dangerous secrets of his past and the uncertain prospects of his future with the aid of the formidable minidrag known as Pip. Together, Flinx and Pip have roamed the galaxy on their quest for knowledge, finding friends and enemies along the way, and providing unforgettable memories for an ever-growing legion of delighted fans. Now, with Reunion, Alan Dean Foster gives those fans what they've been clamoring for: the most mind-bending Flinx and Pip adventure yet--a roller-coaster ride into the unknown, filled with wonder and humor . . . and a host of deadly adversaries.

It all starts innocently enough. Well, almost innocently. So what if Flinx uses his enhanced empathic abilities to finesse his way into a top secret security installation on Earth? Once there, he bamboozles a sophisticated AI program into releasing classified information about the Meliorare Society, the sect of renegade eugenicists whose experiments with human beings had horrified the civilized universe more than twenty years ago. After all, as one of the few Meliorare experiments to survive, Flinx has a right to know about his past. Especially since his telepathic powers seem to be evolving. The question is, evolving into what? The excruciating headaches afflicting Flinx with increasing frequency make him wonder if he will be alive to find out.

But headaches are the least of his problems. For the information he uncovers leads Flinx into AAnn space, and the reptilian AAnn are more likely to eat human visitors than welcome them. Awaiting Flinx is a planet brimming with hidden dangers and astonishing discoveries. But nothing so dangerous, or so astonishing, as the unexpected return of an old enemy: an enemy as evil as she is beautiful . . .

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

After a long wait, fans of the adventures of Flinx of the Commonwealth finally get to rejoin the hero and his poisonous minidrag, Pip. In Reunion, Flinx travels from earth to AAnn space trying to unlock the secrets of his past.

Flinx is on earth to hunt down classified information about the Meliorare Society, the sect of renegade eugenicists responsible for his telepathic gifts. To get into a top-secret installation, he uses his powers to charm one of the key security people so he can gain access to their AI program. However, the file with the information he's looking for has been taken, and he barely escapes.

In an effort to hunt down the file, Flinx and Pip end up on a dangerous trek across the galaxy into the heart of AAnn space. When their shuttle crashes on a desert planet, Flinx and the minidrag soon find themselves up against native dangers and a nest of reptilian AAnn soldiers. But that's only the beginning for Flinx, because before it's over he will discover an ancient mystery and face an old foe who may turn out to be his most dangerous enemy yet.

Reunion is the eighth novel in the series and it is less a complete book than a continuation of the story. It's clear that Foster has bigger things in mind for Flinx and Pip. The novel is a page-turner, with lots of action to keep things moving. Fans of the series will find revelations in the book that make Reunion a must-read. However, those new to the series will wonder why they would want to read about a hero who seems, at best, morally questionable based on his first actions in Reunion. A bigger problem still is that the entire book seems to be just a teaser for the ninth novel, and if it takes another five years to arrive, that's a long tease. --Kathie Huddleston

From Publishers Weekly

Bestseller Foster has created yet another entertaining adventure story in the far-flung reaches of a far-future outer space. Featuring the Alaspinian minidrag Pip and the intellectually enhanced Phillip Lynx (Flinx), this is the seventh in an ongoing series that began with For Love of Mother Not. There are few real surprises in this nostalgic novel, as Flinx continues to pursue all sources of knowledge of his birth parents. In his quest he runs into previously introduced nemeses like the alien AAnn and another genetically enhanced person like himself, the adolescent woman Mahnahmi, who turns out to be more closely linked and more dangerous than was previously revealed. He finds he has unsuspected allies, including intelligent vegetal life and a souped-up spaceship, all the bases of plots from earlier novels. The penultimate adventure links Flinx with a huge alien artifact on the moon of a distant planet, Pyrassis, always an appealing adventure-plot element. There, after hardship and seemingly certain extinction, he communes with the alien intelligence and plants the seeds (remember the intelligent plants?) that alert us to the possibility of future exploits. Using the traditional cliff-hangers and narrow escapes of classic SF adventure page-turners, and propelling Flinx from one crisis to another, from moral dilemma to deus-ex-machina, Foster enlists multiple formulas for a surefire, if comfortably predictable, reading experience that should appeal to space-opera fans. (May 29)Star Wars, the first three Alien pictures and Alien Nation. His novel Cyber War won the Southwest Book Award for Fiction in 1990, the first science fiction work ever to do so.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Del Rey; 1st edition (May 29, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345418670
• ISBN-13: 978-0345418678
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.7 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (35 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,640,702 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Alan Dean Foster's work to date includes excursions into hard science-fiction, fantasy, horror, detective, western, historical, and contemporary fiction. He has also written numerous non-fiction articles on film, science, and scuba diving, as well as having produced the novel versions of many films, including such well-known productions as "Star Wars", the first three "Alien" films, "Alien Nation", and "The Chronicles of Riddick". Other works include scripts for talking records, radio, computer games, and the story for the first "Star Trek" movie. His novel "Shadowkeep" was the first ever book adapation of an original computer game. In addition to publication in English his work has been translated into more than fifty languages and has won awards in Spain and Russia. His novel "Cyber Way" won the Southwest Book Award for Fiction in 1990, the first work of science-fiction ever to do so.

Foster's sometimes humorous, occasionally poignant, but always entertaining short fiction has appeared in all the major SF magazines as well as in original anthologies and several "Best of the Year" compendiums. His published oeuvre includes more than 100 books.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars It's another Flinx and Pip book, June 5, 2001

By 

"fighteer" (Sterling, VA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Reunion: A Pip and Flinx Novel (Hardcover)

After an interminable wait, Alan Dean Foster gives us another Flinx and Pip novel. There are quite a lot of firsts: our first visit to an actual AAnn world (and our first meeting with AAnn who are *not* actively engaged in the attempted subjugation of the human race), our first glimpse into the complexities of the Commonwealth computer system, and the first time Flinx actively defies Commonwealth authority instead of merely being elusive. Not to mention properly immense alien artifacts and the long-fated return of a tormented girl with immense powers and even more reason than Flinx to hate the universe. For all these reasons, and more, this book easily earns a four-star rating from me.

But as much as I enjoyed reading it, I can't help but think that it is just what it says it is, "another Flinx novel." I have to wonder, after all the soul-shattering revelations and grim destinies that ADF keeps subjecting his hero to, if he actually intends to resolve the series! If we have to keep waiting five years between Flinx books, it may be several decades before, as it is stated so succinctly on the author's web site, "Flinx turns fifty, the reality and ultimate threat emerging from the Great Emptiness makes itself known to the civilizations of the galaxy, and the Final Confrontation commences." To put it bluntly, the tone of Reunion falls flat for me. Maybe it's partly the fact that Flinx persists in being so obstinate about retaining his independence from authority, so adamant about being independent. In his persistent mission of self-discovery, he is so obsessed with the plain facts of his life that he completely ignores the subtler but more profound clues that the universe keeps throwing into his life. After a while, it becomes hard for me to empathize. Maybe it's perfect characterization, but in a series as long as this, I am starting to get a little bored with Flinx's stubbornness. Reunion lacks that special, undefinable *something* that was present in earlier Flinx books, leading me to wonder if Alan Dean Foster is losing enthusiasm for his work. I desperately hope not, but this is the main reason that I give the book a four, not a five.

I also wonder if the long wait between books is at least partly to blame for some of the odd stutters of continuity between the various novels. For example: in Flinx in Flux, the Teacher (Flinx's marvelous ship) is filled with a garden of exotic plants and Ulru-Ujurrian artifacts. In Midworld, it suddenly becomes spare and utilitarian. In Reunion, it suddenly becomes able to shift itself to any of a variety of exotic displays. In Flinx in Flux, Flinx's ability to *project* emotions--as opposed to merely receiving--suddenly develops by several orders of magnitude. In Midworld, this ability is strangely unmentioned. In Reunion, it is suddenly back, except Flinx seems to have had it (and known about it) for most of his life. Other loose ends in the series remain agonizingly unresolved. When is Foster going to let us know whether Mother Mastiff is still alive? What have the delightful Bran Tse-Mallory and Truzenzuzex been up to, and will we ever see them again? Are the Qwarm (who put in an unexpected and somewhat understated appearance in Reunion) still trying to kill Flinx? Does Clarity come back? What about the redoubtable Maxim Malaika? Skua September? The Xunca? Will they all come together in some ridiculously improbable climax, or will they just dangle loosely for all eternity? Lastly, I cannot help but wonder how, given the immense trouble he is now in with Commonwealth authorities after the events of this novel, our dear Flinx manages to be so nondescript and unruffled eight years later, where he puts in his appearance on Repler to deal with the Vom (Bloodhype, written in 1973).

Don't get me wrong - I love this book! But I really wonder how Alan Dean Foster intends to wrap up all his series' loose ends and provide us with a climax worthy of nearly thirty years of thrilling buildup... and if, at his current pace, he will be alive long enough to write it!

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Quite readable, but devoid of any real content, July 22, 2001

By 

Ben Cooley (Chandler, AZ United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Reunion: A Pip and Flinx Novel (Hardcover)

The first sci-fi book I read as a kid was Foster's "The End of the Matter", probably because of the facinating blue pear shaped alien on the cover. I think I could hardly have picked a better sci-fi book to start off with. The Flinx novels have been consistently creative, extremely well written, and a lot of fun to read. The alien worlds are inventive and vividly detailed, the characters are typically believable and interesting, and Foster's Commonwealth is a remarkably optimistic universe which is thankfully free of modern sci-fi literature's cliche's.. (governments that aren't entirely corrupt, religions that aren't singlemindedly dedicated to ignorance and superstition, corporations that aren't just out to rape and pillage??)

Unfortunately, this particular novel seems more like a filler. It reads more like the first couple of chapters of one of the better books in the series. You are waiting for the real focus of the story to emerge, then suddenly find yourself with only twenty pages left in the book to read. Worse yet, you discover that instead of the characteristic inventiveness of other books in the series, you are treated to some particularly non-inventive (though larger in scale) elements in this storyline.

At the end you are left wondering what happened to the rest of the book, and why Foster seemed to have cut short the story and constructed a rather quick ending that left it feeling unresolved. Perhaps he had another more interesting project on the line and had to wrap this one up right away.

In any case, the book is fun and readable, and taken as an interim transition to a more interesting forthcoming story sometime in the future (hopefully), it's not bad. If you're a fan of the series you're sure to like it, though you'll definitely be left a little unsatisfied.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A place-holder in the series, June 5, 2001

By 

N. Dodson "wheatpuppy" (South Dakota) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Reunion: A Pip and Flinx Novel (Hardcover)

This is the 8th Pip and Flinx novel, and my least favorite so far. Dealing with Flinx's never-ending search for his personal history, REUNION actually contains several different reunions, as Flinx runs into the AAnn, Mahnahmi, and a little something left behind by a long-vanished civilization. Flinx starts out on Earth seducing his way into a secure records facility, and from there follows the trail of a crucial file all the way into AAnn space--where he finds that the possessor of the file is the mentally talented and morally challenged young girl he last saw on Ulru-Ujurr.

The setup of the book is such that the meeting with Mahnahmi is apparently supposed to be a surprise, but only to those who haven't read the editorial reviews above. Frankly, I would have preferred that Flinx come face-to-face with her much earlier in the book. As it is, the first half of the book is fairly dull. Foster seems to have found a new thesaurus, judging from the number of dubious adjectives that sprinkle the pages, but that doesn't make the action any more interesting. MID-FLINX did a much better job describing camouflaged dangers on an unknown world, and had more of a plot to boot.

REUNION is surprisingly lacking in interesting characters; the few humans who appear are mere plot devices, lacking any meaningful contribution to the story. The cynical and ambitious AAnn, when they appear in the narrative, are far more plausible than the humans.

The rush of action at the end of the book hints that more sequels are upcoming. Presumably this novel was intended to prepare readers for those future adventures. I would recommend that avid followers of the series read this book; first-time browsers should instead start with an earlier, worthier selection like THE TAR-AIYM KRANG.