The Candle of Distant Earth (Hardcover)

by Alan Dean Foster (Author)
Key Phrases: scoop ship, traversing species, upper tentacles, Pret Klob, Commander Captain Gerlla, Great Government (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
In the quietly amusing last installment of bestseller Foster's Taken trilogy (after 2005's The Light-years Beneath My Feet), Marcus Walker, a Chicago commodities trader kidnapped by aliens in 2004's Lost and Found, and his companion, George, a sardonic talking dog, land on the planet Hyff. There Marcus and George help the Hyfft, peaceful meter-high creatures, battle unpleasant invaders known as the Iollth before resuming their quest to return home. Fans of E.E. "Doc" Smith's golden age space-traveling hero, Kimball Kinnison, will enjoy this slyly humorous saga, in which the good guys have plenty of human weaknesses and the villains aren't too evil. (June 27)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
The Taken trilogy comes to a rousing finish with more than a few surprising twists to keep fans of Lost and Found (2004) and The Light-Years beneath My Feet (2005) guessing. After escaping the ruthless, curio-collecting Vilenji and soaking up their rescuers' hospitality, Chicago commodities broker Marcus Walker and his fellow escapees are again space bound, searching for their respective home worlds. During the quest, they stumble across a planet populated by humble, catlike beings who at first mistake them for the bullying Iollth from a nearby star system, then enlist their aid in battle when the Iollth do show up. As designated leader of the expedition, Walker suddenly gains an improbable ally in the hunt for Earth when the Iollth are defeated. Meanwhile, watching their every move, the Vilenji are close at hand, setting the stage for a final, unpredictable confrontation. Readers who have come this far will revel in this book's skillful blend of amusing cultural misunderstandings and edge-of-the-seat suspense and enjoy a satisfying conclusion to one of Foster's most entertaining series. Carl Hays
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Del Rey (June 27, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345461312
• ISBN-13: 978-0345461315
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #895,887 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars fun tour of the galaxy , July 5, 2006

By	Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews (#1 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

On the planet Hyff, an astronomer sees three ships approaching and fear the Iollth are approaching as they do every century or so to loot and plunder. The Hyffs are pacifists by nature and simply do not have the military mindset to wage war even on an enemy. However, the ships the astronomer saw are not from Iollth but are Nyyuan carrying Marcus Walker, the sentient speaking canine George, the squid like creature Sque and the giant Braouk from the planet Tuuqalia.

These four aliens have been abducted from their homeworlds by the Vilenjii traders who believe sentient beings are commodities to be taken. The astronomers of Hyff find Braouk's planet but before they can travel there the Iollth arrive. The people of Hyff have been so kind and helpful to them, they find they can't leave without solving the Iollth problem. On Braouk's world they find the homeworld of Sque and once they arrive there, the isolationist egotistical beings of K'eremu refuse to help George and Marcus find earth because it is not their problem.

Readers are treated to a tour of the galaxy filled with sentient aliens of all shapes and sizes. It is a dazzling universe and Earth is considered such an isolated backwater place, nobody knows where it is. Allen Dean Foster has written an excellent Star Wars like novel that dazzles the readers with characters that are so realistic and unusual. There is plenty of action but what makes this tale stand out from others is that that these different worlds are explored in intricate detail.

Harriet Klausner

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Decent End to a Decent Series, November 17, 2006

By	Stewart Teaze (San Diego, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

THE CANDLE OF DISTANT EARTH (2006) is the third book from THE TAKEN TRILOGY, following LOST AND FOUND (2004) *****, and THE LIGHT YEARS BENEATH MY FEET (2005) ***.

In LOST AND FOUND, we were introduced to Marcus Walker, the "All American Boy" who gets abducted by aliens while on a solo camping trip in the Sierra Nevadas. Walker is paired with the "All American Mutt", abducted from a Chicago alley, whom he calls George... the dog is able to speak, due to brain enhancement and implant technology of the "evil" abducting aliens. While in captivity aboard a giant alien ship, our heros encounter all sorts of strange oxygen-breathing aliens in a Wild Animal Park setting; and eventually work with some of them to execute an exciting escape attempt - but as they are breaking free in a "life boat", an even bigger space ship arrives on the scene manned by "interstellar cops" who take pity on the 4 individuals, whom they take back to their planet near the center of the galaxy, which can be described as near the height of galactic civilization, and where they put the four abductees on the government dole as hardship cases.

In the 2nd book, the 4 folks (human, dog, giant poetical monster, & genius pompous land octopus), manage to find a way out of their "boring" government sponsered lives, where they are basically provided everything they want, except for a ride home (nobody knows exactly where home is)... they are put to work on an alien planet that is hopefully closer to their homes out on the galactic "outback"... this alien planet turns out to be constantly at war, but with some strange rules (that closely parallel those from the STAR TREK Original Series episode A TASTE OF ARMEGEDDON). Suffice it to say, those adventures were far less believable than the ones from the first book.

In the third book, the 4 aliens eventually manage to find their way back to their individual worlds, and new adventures and situations transpire... the book starts off well, but slows down in the middle, and winds up with an unsatisfying ending that leaves the door open for similar future books.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Great Series, Implausible Ending, November 25, 2007

By	P. Taylor "bubba" (world) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Candle of Distant Earth (Mass Market Paperback)

Spoiler:

Ever read a book or a series of books, enjoy them thoroughly, only to reach the end and then have the author deliberately choose an "easy" resolution which not only seems entirely implausible but has you seething at being cheated out of what could have been the best part of the entire story?

Candle of Distant Earth is the most frustrating of books, as the consistently entertaining series screeches to a most disappointing ending as our reluctant hero and dog and friends decides AGAINST visiting earth and - most unlikely of all - somehow manages to convince the arch villain to not only spare his life but become - incredibly - a likely business partner! Keep in mind that in Book 1 our hero and friends managed to KILL several representatives of the kidnappers and Pret-Knob spends the entirety of the last two books trying to reacquire his cargo! And never mind the bloodthirsty Iollth whose brief appearance in this book raises far more questions than it answers. And can anyone not see the cosmic and comic possibilities of a Man and Talking Dog and "Weird" Friends actually visting good old Earth! But nope - Walker decides that after finally reaching his home he can't go home again so there goes the book (even though Pret-Knob never said that he wouldn't kidnap yet more human cargo or for that matter that they haven't been doing it for some time!).

One can only hope ADF revisits this series which was otherwise well-written, charming, and immensely sly and entertaining - at least until page 254 of this book (with the words "I am going to kill you") before it jumps the shark....