Customer Reviews

Rissa Kerguelen

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Originally published as two volumes-Rissa Kerguelen and The Long View-this first paperback edition combines both works. 

The paperback version hit the racks in 1977 right after Star Wars hit the theaters. While Star Wars kept audiences spellbound, Rissa Kerguelen captured this reader's imagination far more profoundly. La Femme Nikita meets Han Solo! No ordinary science fiction novel, Rissa Kerguelen is an epic tale of feminine charm, guile, and revenge unleashed on a galactic scale. 

In response to global financial crisis, North America adopts an election-based corporate-run government. When United Energy and Transport is elected, its Presiding Committee seizes total control, canceling further elections. To secure its financial interests on foreign soil, UET quickly overruns those governments. The brutal Committee Police force maintains global order through fear and assassination. Using stolen alien technology UET begins exploring deep space. On Earth, it implements a prison-model totalitarian welfare system to control the growing number of poor-and political dissidents.

After the Committee Police murder her journalist parents, a five-year old Rissa Kerguelen becomes a ward of the state, to live out her life in total welfare. When-as a teenager-Rissa escapes, she becomes a poster child of the underground, and is hunted relentlessly by the chagrined Committee Police. Under the guardianship of the Hulzein Establishment-a matriarchal autocracy of great wealth and power outside the reach of UET-she learns sophisticated armed and unarmed combat techniques, control of air and land vehicles, political and financial manipulation, psychology, mastery of several languages, the art of disguise, sexual prowess, self-discipline and other invaluable skills.

Her training complete, and her parents' deaths vindicated, Rissa begins her incredible journey across space and time with the Committee Police one step behind. Through a series of chance events, she finds herself allied with Bran Tregare, secretly a Hulzein by blood, and captain of the only armed ship to escape. Together, they implement an armed fleet, and embark on a mission to free Earth from UET control. But unknown perils await them on every front: space faring aliens, UET, and the Hulzein Establishment itself! 

Beyond the adventure and suspense, Busby weaves an impressively complex tapestry of elaborate characters and events over space and time on an unimaginable scale. By embracing the theory of relativity-a subject most science fiction writers eschew-Busby not only flatters the intelligent, science-minded reader, he achieves a more dynamic and believable story-one that remains as thrilling today as when it was published.

No, Rissa is not perfect. But she's a damn sight better than most.

This is one of those books that I keep on the shelf and pull down when I want to go back to an old friend. Yes, I know every page and every storyline. And yes, the more I read it, the more it seems familiar. And yet, I keep reading it.

Rissa, herself, presages Heinlein's Friday quite amazingly (with the exception of the genetic modification bit) - intelligent, resourceful, deadly as needed. Another book, Rebels' Seed, is echoed again in David Weber's Heirs of Empire. Star Rebel and Rebel's Quest... you get the idea. It's as was said - by Heinlein - writing consists of taking someone else's work, changing the lines, and filing off the serial number.

That being said, you will be entertained by this book. And, if you find yourself wondering what happened next, or how Tregare got that way, or just HOW Zelde lost the earlobe - Busby created enough books in this universe to satisfy you.

I first owned/read "Rissa Kerguelen" in the late 1970's while stationed overseas. It was a many-time re-read for me. I lost my original copy during my college years and could not find a replacement copy, until recently.

Rissa begins as a cowering victim of a future totalitarian society but transforms with the help of Tregare, a space pirate captain.

I guarantee that you will enjoy this space-opera; I did - many times. I am just settling down to enjoy it once more, a cup of hot mocha beside me on this bitter day, and my needy Chihuahua warming my lap. Having led an adventurous professional life in Federal law enforcement (DEA), I can't wait to indulge in Rissa's escapades once more.

Will I view her tactics in the same light as before? Based on my memories of the book, I believe not. Will I enjoy it, nevertheless? I am certain of it.

The sequels, "Rissa and Tregare" and "The Long View," are not at the same level of authorial passion against tyranny, but still worth the read - just not the multiple re-reads.

It is our loss that he, the author, is no longer among us, having died in 2005.

Francis Marion Busby, may you rest in the peace of knowing that others continue to fight the tyrants, perhaps in your name.

I remember reading this series of books when they were first published, and, quite frankly, struggling to get through a pretty thin prose, a-typical "anti-capitalist" theme, with obligatory sexual refernces tossed in (as well as how organized crime has/had always done everyone elses' "dirty work").

I found the first book tiring; the second book even moreso: and the third book just plain exhausting (I finally put it down when the Freudian references reared their head in the not-so-epic space-battle scenes).

Honestly, I've read a lot of books (sci-fi included), and I've never read anything to obtuse (from all angles) as the Rissa Kerguelen series. If you like so called dystopic futuristic settings, where the evil-corporatoins run everything in a Norman Jewison "Rollerball" movie kind of way, then this book, and its sequels, are for you. But be warned, there's better material out on the market, and if you find yourself a little hampered with literary sci-fi cliches, then don't say I didn't warn you.

In the meantime, if you must read this thing, then do yourself a favor and check it out at a local library. Don't waste your dollars on it.