| Title | : | The Tar-Aiym Krang (Pip Flinx, #1) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0345908570 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780345908575 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 251 |
| Publication | : | First published January 1, 1972 |
Here was a wide-open world for any venture a man might scheme. The planet attracted unwary travelers, hardened space-sailors, and merchant buccaneers -- a teeming, constantly shifting horde that provided a comfortable income for certain quick-witted fellows like Flinx and his pet flying snake Pip. With his odd talents, the pickings were easy enough so that Flinx did not have to be dishonest ... most of the time.
In fact, it hardly seemed dishonest at all to steal a starmap from a dead body that didn't really need it anymore. But Flinx wasn't quite smart enough. He should have wondered why the body was dead in the first place...
The Tar-Aiym Krang (Pip Flinx, #1) Reviews
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My second Pip and Flinx novel was the first written in the series but it takes place right after book five. Confusing? Not really. I'm just reading them chronologically, so Flinx is only 17 here and he sure knows how to get into trouble!
What's most fascinating is how polished and fascinating and fast this tale is compared to the other one I had just read. It's the entry novel into the universe and I can see immediately how Alan Dean Foster hoisted himself into the SF field with such gusto and why it was popular enough to support fifteen novels. I like this one better than book 5, easily.
In fact, as a straight adventure, it's speedy.
As a science fiction full of interesting worlds and even more interesting alien species, it rocks.
Is it a hardcore SF novel ranking up with the most ambitious and best of the genre? No. But as light fun with a kid with a mysteriously powerful and/or unknown level of empathic telepathy, flexible moral compass in some circumstances but not in the ways that are really important, or simply... fun with mini-dragons... it's a real delight and an easy read.
It helps when we get spaceships and space battles, intrigue, planetary mysteries and ancient dead civilizations, and baddies who you *know* are bad. (So you don't feel bad when they get ripped to shreds) :)
This is a pure adventure and it is what it is. Fun. Not deep, just well-crafted fun. It has aged very well and I don't see any issues for enjoying it in any foreseeable future. :)
I can see why the author was chosen to pick up most of the official novelizations for Star Wars. He has the sense of wonder down pat. :) -
I can’t believe the rubbish job Del Rey (Ballantine) has done on the current reprints of the well beloved Pip & Flinx novels. Gone are the magnificent covers illustrated by the likes of Michael Whelan and Bob Eggleton. Replaced by blurry monochromatic photos of... what's this? A Justin Bieber clone in coveralls? And isn’t Flinx, like, 17 years old? This kid looks about 11. Also - where's Pip? Presumably they were unable to locate a flying snake for the studio sessions?
It's ATROCIOUS to say the least. Numerous generations of ADF-fans are weeping into their hands. What's more, on the very first page of The Tar-Aiym Krang there is a glaring typo. No Del Rey, no! Shame on you! What would Lester say?
Now. The book.
I appeal to all readers of speculative fiction not to judge this book by its cover. The Pip & Flinx novels used to be extremely popular back in the days and it's easy to see why. The Tar-Aiym Krang is very, very readable and conjures up fond memories of some of the early science fiction I'd read as a teenager, although this book is certainly not limited as far as target audience is concerned. In fact, some of the content is arguably not suitable for younger kids (there is some sex & nudity although it is pretty mild). It's a great adventure with grand imagery and every self respecting Space Opera lite fan should find something in here to enjoy. Long dead alien civilizations, majestic ruins on uncharted planets, the search for an important artifact with astonishing capabilities... what's not to like? It even has the sense of wonder sadly lacking in some of today's stuff. Flinx is easy to identify with and Pip is, well, Pip. As far as flying, venomous mini-drag(on) alien pets go, he’s pretty standard I suppose…
The novel is certainly not without its faults. I found the pacing a bit uneven, but not so bad as to really bother me. It’s unlikely that this novel will change the way you look at the world, but it will in all likelihood put a smile on your face.
A note on chronology. This is the first book in the series in order of publication. A prequel (
For Love of Mother-Not) was published later on and many people have taken that to be the first book. Alan Dean Foster wrote The Tar-Aiym Krang first - therefore I shall take it to be book one in the series until he personally orders me to do otherwise. Thank you very much. -
3.0 to 3.5 stars. First book in the Pip and Flinx series. I enjoyed the relationship between the two main characters and the world-building was interesting.
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The Tar-Aiym Krang (there’s a bewildering title if ever there was one) suffers a little from not knowing what it wants to be. It’s essentially a work of speculative ideas, and the ideas are pretty good, but it is dressed in a cloak of space opera.
This was the first book in the series Foster wrote, although he has since gone back and written books in the series that take place prior to it. As I’m reading the series in order of events rather than publication order, the relative immaturity of writing style in this volume compared to the prequels is a little jarring, but it’s far from being a deal-breaker.
Nothing really gets resolved in this volume but it ends on a very deliberate ‘to be continued’ so, if you’re reading the entire series (like I am), that’s more tantalising than disappointing.
Despite its minor identity crisis and the fact that it’s not one of the strongest books in this series, I still enjoyed it quite a bit. -
This is chronologically the second novel in Foster's Pip & Flinx series, but was the first written. In fact, I believe it's the first novel that he wrote and lacks some of the polish and slick pacing that would be a hallmark of his later work, but it's a fast-paced and very fun book, full of enthusiasm, spirit, and verve. Flinx is in his mid-teens in this one, and we're introduced to him, his fabulous mini-drag Pip, the mysterious planet Moth, the ancient artifacts of the alien Tar-Aiym, and a full and rich set of interesting characters. Fans of Luke Skywalker need to get to know Flinx.
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Nebloga, bet niekuo neišskirtinė knyga. Pilna klišių ir stereotipų, standartinių sci-fi temų ir sampratų. Tiesą sakant, perskaičiau knygą vakar, o šiandien jau ne taip ir lengva prisimint kokius nors išskirtinius momentus iš jos - viskas kažkur matyta, girdėta, skaityta. Jei reikėtų panaudoti vieną vienintelį žodį apibūdinti šitą knygą, tas žodis būtų generic. Paviršutiniškam pasiskaitymui tinka, bet nieko fresh joje nerasite.
-
The beginning felt very similar to
For Love of Mother-Not. For a while I thought I had mistakenly picked up that one. Which acts as a prequel and is the first Pip & Flinx book chronologically, but the fifth one written.
It is easy to read, although I confess to some skimming of various info dumps. They did not sit very well within the pretty light story. Some good ideas, but nothing was really fleshed out satisfyingly.
Same goes for the characters. They are all distinct voices, but they are also caricatures and clichés of the roles they play. Women are generally scantily dressed and sex-objects. Unless they are old and/or ugly. The only female character, the pilot, doesn’t pilot much and mostly concerns herself with her jealousy. Oh, and she cooks on occasion... *rolls eyes*. I kept picturing early Bond girls in Technicolor.
Technology is vague. Bran and Tzu’s exploration of the artifact for example was so vague that I found it highly irrelevant, when it should have ben a central part of the plot.
This is not hard SF, take it as a light read for the beach. The story can be seen as introduction into the rest of Foster‘s world, I guess. I would have liked more detail on the Aann and the Thranx.
The most interesting part for me was the flashback to Bran and Tzu‘s past as pilots. I think this is where I will redirect my re-read of Alan Dean Foster next—the Humanx Commonwealth and how Thranx and humans first meet in
Nor Crystal Tears.
+*+*+*+
This is a re-read. However, I read this about 30 years ago and do not recall anything. I skipped some of them back then, so who knows...
Reading order for Alan Dean Foster is
here or here:
https://www.goodreads.com/series/5181...
+*+*+*+
I am trying to find a specific Foster novel I read about 30 years ago. I can‘t remember if it was set in the Humanx Commonwealth or if it was something else. It might not have been Foster at all. There were humans and another race, which looked kinda elvish and could not deal with bright light and was in charge. The humans did not like them, because they were insufferably arrogant and looked down at humans. The story starts planetside and moves onto a starship and into space and a battle of sorts. Our MC transformed himself into an alien somehow, so he can pretend to be one of the other race and join one of their ship crews to find out something vital... His love interest, a human female, does not recognize him after his transformation and despises him because of his race, but eventually comes to love him despite of it. Ring any bells? -
Ein erstaunlich schlechter Roman von Alan Dean Foster. Die Sprache ist holprig, die Charaktere sind eindimensional, werden nicht eingeführt und entwickeln sich über den gesamten Roman auch nicht weiter. Die Erzählweise ist inkonsistent, holprig und irritierend für den Leser. Die weitestgehend nicht-existente Handlung ließe sich problemlos auf 2 Seiten zusammenfassen.
Erschwerend kommt hinzu, dass das Buch nicht gut gealtert ist. Bei der Beschreibung der Technik schmunzelt man heute, wenn Papierstreifen aus Computern kommen. Das ist vollkommen in Ordnung und nicht zu beanstanden. Die Rollenbilder hingegen, die Foster zeichnet, sind so überkommen, dass es den eh schon knappen Lesegenuss fast komplett ruiniert.
So sind Kriegshelden natürlich Helden im ganz positiven Sinne und nicht zu hinterfragen. Diese "Helden", die auch noch als philosophisch und naturwissenschaftlich gebildet beschrieben werden, tragen exakt nichts zur Problemlösung bei. Als Leser darf man sich dennoch seitenweise durch deren Kriegserinnerungen quälen, die simpel strukturiert und vorhersehbar sind.
Frauen hingegen sind entweder Lustobjekt oder fallen bei Problemen prompt in Ohnmacht. Dass eine der drei weiblichen Personen im Roman als Pilotin beschrieben wird, ist insofern bemerkenswert, da während der gesamten Handlung immer ein Mann am Steuer des Schiffs sitzt. Die sogenannte Pilotin hat in der Handlung nur die Aufgabe, ihren Chef anzuhimmeln und sich mit dessen Geliebter zu streiten.
Ich habe "Das Tar-Aiym Krang" nur zu Ende gelesen, um eine Basis für die Folgebänder der Homanx-Trilogie zu haben. Der einzige Zweck dieses ansonsten nicht lesenswerten Buchs von Alan Dean Foster ist es, die Hauptfiguren Flinx und Pip vorzustellen. Und auch das schafft der Roman nur mit Müh' und Not. Auf jeden Fall ohne Lesevergnügen. Finger weg! -
I had enjoyed a prequel to this book written eleven years later. I recall trying this first book (1972) of the series without success. Now I know why.
The universe described is fun, with bits of fascinating tech ideas.
However, like much early SF, it is horribly sexist. The only real female characters are the captain of a ship, portrayed only as a lovesick, jealous idiot and a sex lynx (literally). Neither take part in the action or plot.
It is also overly descriptive, and the characters are pretty flat.
That said, I'll give the another one a shot because I'd like to see if there was any reason for me to have liked what I read way back in high school. Lots less to chose from then, though!! -
The second book by Alan Dean Foster I ever read. The first was Nor Crystal Tears. After reading that book, I decided to read his other Humanx Commonwealth books in the order in which he wrote them. Tar-Aiym was Foster's breakout novel. He wrote it in the early '70's. It was also his first Flinx & Pip novel, and the first one that I read. I really enjoyed this book. He introduces us to Flinx & Pip, a teenge human boy and his pet flying snake, with which he shares a telepathic bond. Very good book, again I really enjoyed Foster's writing style. He keeps you interested and in suspense.
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Orphan Flinx 16, his erratic psychic ability augmented by shoulder-riding mini-dragon Pip, finds a map leading to a planet with the Krang, an artifact from extinct vicious warring aliens, the Tar-Aiym. Human Bran Tse-Mallory and insectoid thranx Truzenzuzex, who fought the AAnn together, also enlist Malaika and his very fast armed spaceship for the expedition. Mal lost his leg by choking a carnivorous ice-monster and brings crew of pretty personal pilot Atha, jealous of concubine Sissiph, and bodyguard Wolf, tortured by AAnn. Unfortunately, surgically-beautified aging Rashaleilla Nuaman, competing with her power-hungry young niece Teleen, sends equally evil Able Nikosos to take the remote planet.
Back stories build intriguing characters (thankfully some names - Bran and Tru - can be abbreviated), who wake dormant Krang by donning a head cap in turn. Not much really happens. -
Book 2 of the Flinx series. Flinx is now a young adult and an accomplished thief as well as an entertainer. He keeps his thieving in bounds so as not to attract undo attention to himself and only when his needs can't be supplied by the income from his mind-reading act. He no longer lives with his adopted mother, but stays close (in fact his "stage" is next to her stall).
A series of incidents brings him into contact with one of the major traders on Moth and he's included in an adventure that takes him off planet for the first time.
The book lives up to its predecessor (For Love of Mother-Not) and is extremely entertaining and easy to read. I can heartily recommend it to science fiction - adventure lovers. -
When under stress, read. When under extreme stress, read all your old favorites. I just reread the entire Pip and Flinx series. I don't know why I like these books so well. I think it had something to do with a totally gifted person who has had a hard life and is clueless. ( wish fulfillment? Not that I am totally gifted, had a hard life or am clueless. But to fix the world's ills with a thought. hmmmmm) Like some of the Dorsai books without the blood and guts. Pip and his flying dragon Flinx take on the world and mangage to win even if no one knows that they did it. (personal note- I wish this thing had spell check!)
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Reminded of this ADF classic by Neal Asher's reread report:
https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog...
He liked it, and so did I. I should look at my bookshelves & see which ADFs I own. -
Ho ritrovato una copia di questo secondo episodio della saga fantascientifica di Flinx e Pip e mi sono deciso di leggerla, in occasione della pubblicazione su Urania dell'ultimo testo di questa ottima saga. Che dire ? Bellissimo: una lettura agilissima, a tratti forse poco sofisticata, ma con un sense of wonder superlativo e degli alieni che nulla hanno ad invidiare alle creazioni del grande Jack Vance. La seconda storia della coppia Flinx and Pip è una di quelle letture che avvicinano i neofiti alla SF avventurosa e che ti fanno gradire ogni pagina di cui sono composte. Imperdibile.
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Maybe 2.5 stars. Nice idea for a main character in Flinx, and this book also boasts an Ancient Lost Race, a Powerful Unknown Artifact, and a Treasure Map. Pity the writing is so bad.
I know it was published in 1972, and it was Foster's first book to see print, but the loooonnng info dumps, the painfully cheesy dialogue, and the stupidly useless female characters make this really kind of a shame. I doubt it would even get published as is today. Skip it. -
This book is a lot of fun. It pales compared to some of Foster’s other novels I’ve read (my goal in life is to read all of his novels), but probably because this is one of his first? And it was written in the 70s, before science fiction got a little more nuanced. It reminds me more of Jo Clayton (for example) than some of Foster’s later novels, like
To the Vanishing Point.
I found the pacing a little off and it would have been nice for there to be some more character development/backstory. Flinx was a great character, don’t get me wrong; his special ability causes him some issues, he’s a teenager that is a little smarter than most that age (haha) and he’s endearing because he’s a good kid. And I love Pip. The other characters though, were flat. Mallory and Truzenzuzex were a bit more fleshed out (their backstory was arguably the best part of the novel), but not enough. Malaika was weird to me – I wasn’t entirely sure whether he was a shady guy or a good guy. His way of speaking was fun though. Wolf was useless – why he was even in the story was beyond me. And then we get to Atha and Sissiphix. Does this novel past the Bechtel test? Not really. I mean, I’m not going to rip it apart or anything, because a) there was a strong female villain and b) the time period, but I found the whole Atha/Sissiphix conflict to be out of place. If the characters were more developed, maybe it would have been interesting, but I didn’t really get the point of the rivalry – it didn’t add anything to the story. Maybe it was supposed to be funny? I found it annoying. Personally, it would have been cool if Sissiphix were not even in the story (other than at the start maybe?) and there was a tension between Atha and Malaika on the trip itself, but whatever. Minor detail.
Despite these issues with the depth of the novel there were some really cool stuff.
Spoiler alert!!
- The Aann. I’ve only read
Nor Crystal Tears of the Humanx chronology, so I had an initial idea about the Aann. What this novel did with them was fabulous. I pictured them as these kind of brutal, orc-like bruisers, but I completely forgot (somehow) that they had developed space technology, so they couldn’t be that stupid. I thought the part with the Aann Baron, his message, and his attitude towards chasing the ship was awesome. "And get me a drink!"
- The Krang’s “inner thoughts” were really well done. If felt like a machine and I thought that whole part was really interesting. It made for a good climax that didn’t end in a crazy battle like I was expecting.
- The ending – The “main” villain, Rasha, doesn’t just show up at the end and Malaika didn’t try some over-the-top do-or-die plan to escape from Nikosos. It was a realistic, which made it interesting to me.
- The Krang wasn’t some stupid-ass doomsday device that goes haywire or taken control of by a maniac and the galaxy is going to explode, etc etc. Oh wait, this isn’t every single action movie the last five years. My apologies.
- Like I said before, the backstory of Mallory and Tru – that was awesome. -
Flinx and Pip are becoming one of my favorite duos in science fiction, I enjoy their adventures quite a bit. I like that fact that the Pip and Flinx novels are not extremely long as well, most that I have read are about 300-400 pages or less, which is good because I have a lot of books to read. ^-^
That being said, I do wish The Tar-Aiym Krang was actually longer. The build up to the actual discovery of the Krang was quite long, and time spent after the discovery of the Krang was not long enough. I love the fact that Bran Tse-Mallory and Truzenzuzex made their introductory appearance in this novel (I have not read the Flinx of the Commonwealth series in order ><), as aside from Flinx they are my favorite characters. This book spends a good amount of time on them and their backstory, and I enjoyed that aspect of the book.
I feel as though Flinx really didn't develop much in this installment, so I'm glad there were other books written about him. Another character I would have liked to have known more about is Wolf. In the other books I have read, I have not ran into him again. I haven't read them all though as of yet, so here's hoping.
I would recommend The Tar-Aiym Krang to my friends and others, though I would suggest reading the Flinx of the Commonwealth series in the order they are meant for. It can get confusing on the timeline of certain events if you do not. But I will tell you to go out there and read them if you are a fan of science fiction. -
This was one of the first science fiction novels I read, many years ago while a schoolboy, one of the books that got me into the genre, and I'm rereading it after many years. Would it stand the test of time?
I'm happy to report that it has. It's very much a light SF novel, an adventure yarn with SF trimmings. So much so that I wouldn't be surprised if Foster were to reveal he'd deliberately reworked Treasure Island.
I've noticed things my adolescent self never did, though. Malaika's use if Kiswahili is nice, though it's a very antiquated form of the language. For '72, though, it was a stunning effort to include it, and I wonder how Foster learnt as much as he did. A tourist phrase book? An old copy of the 1930s Kamusi dictionary? I was impressed.
Female characters get short shrift. None are developed as well as the male secondary characters; in fact they're little more than window dressing. The catfights between Malaika's concubine and his pilot are condescending. Touch too much of adolescent fantasy perhaps.
But it remains a craftsman-like novel - and I mean that as praise. I respect craftspeople greatly. Not as well developed as his later work, but all the pieces fit together nicely.
I'm looking forward to rereading more of the Humanx novels, and the Flinx series in particular. -
My first readings of Alan Dean Foster were the books Alien and Star Wars: Splinter of the Mind's Eye and the Star Trek Log series. I did not enjoy any of these books very much but thought I would give Mr. Foster a try with his own material. Eh-
This book is an origin story. It is fairly uninteresting and appears to leave out information which is important to certain subplots. Maybe that is just he audio file that I was listening to because it also repeated one chapter twice in the file. I did not feel that this book did what it had the potential to do with its characters. I may read another Pip and Flinx. They seem interesting, but Foster didn't give them anything interesting to do. Also, if Flinx is the main character and Flinx is the companion/sidekick/pet/familiar, why dies Pip get top billing. The only reason I can come up with is that it sounds better in that order.
***Spoiler***
It ends with a deus ex machina ending, but the odd thing is not the deus ex machina, but the set up for the use of it which seems contrived. -
1975 grade ?
1988 grade B+
2003 grade A-
2018 grade A
2021 grade A
Series book F2 (My series numbers are based on Flinx's age. He is late 16 in this book.)
Purchased new in 1975, third printing. Written in 1972, this is Foster's first full novel. The prequel For Love Of Mother Not was written ten years later. Krang is a better story, but Mother is better written. Foster's writing skill went from very good to excellent in that time.
There is a lot of world building in this book and the first dozen or so pages are pretty much solid description. It is not boring, as many are, but it is a little tedious. The entertainment picks up fast when the protagonists, Flinx and his Alaspinian minidragon Pip, meet the remainder of the protagonists and the space faring adventure starts - the search for the Krang, weapon or musical instrument(?).
The last time I read the book I marked chapter 5 and a later sub-chapter to skip which I did. Other flashbacks and antagonists' POV are short and interesting.
This is a highly Recommended book. -
I have to say that this book (written, I believe in the early 70s) doesn't fare so well to modern eyes. The plot was a little predictable, the danger seemed largely non-existent, and there's a lot of slightly objectionable stuff going on in the background. Of the three women characters, one was a prostitute and the other two were minor enough to be largely irrelevant, despite one of them being the pilot of the spaceship the characters traveled around in. They also were described as having to do all the cooking since none of the menfolk could (or would) handle that task. Ugh.
The prose was often very florid and characters frequently spoke in very stilted ways. Lots of huge "as you know, , the Maguffin has a long history of....." infodumps. I think both these are only seen as flaws today - they wouldn't necessarily have been viewed that way back when this book was first published.
So while I think this book has its flaws, it was still an okay read, and I'm looking forward to seeing how the Flinx's story develops over the years. -
The first 3 or 4 books of this series were out when I was younger, and Flinx fired my imagination with his psionic talents, his flying, venom spitting snake, pip, and him being an orphan raised on the streets.
This was the first Pip & Flinx that he wrote (He went back later and wrote For Love of Mother-not). He first meets up with Truzenzuzex and Bran Tse-Mallory, and goes with them to find an ancient alien device, the Tar-Aiym Krang. The story is actually kind of slow.
However, I wanted for Flinx to develop and use his psionic talents. The series is now something like 13 books and his mental talents are still unreliable and pretty much useless; this was a very, very, very big disappointment to me for the series as a whole. -
Very good but I am starting to feel these books are on tad on the short side, the ending also seemd kind of abrupt and didn't seem to answer many question.
-
I just finished this, and I think the series is off to a great start. I am already loving Alan Dean Foster.
What I liked:
This book understands mythic tropes in a space opera, and it is hard to find authors who know how to meld those two things so that they are welded together tight. If the rest of the series keeps that vibe, great. It's good to see themes like orphan with a special destiny, proud older woman maternal figure, ship captain as a mentor figure, side characters that act as moral questioners/council, and the lost city subgenre attempted and for the most part pulled off well because they don't scream it at you. The flow of the book never diverts from the idea of special destiny in a society that has distinct social classes based on income, and culturally evolved around that concept. Foster understands this, and he takes us along for the ride with characters that don't constantly tell us what to think about their society. Instead, we simply experience the unfairness when they encounter it, and that's what a good novel does. It brings us along for a ride to another world we can navigate with the characters as they do.
The colorful nature of the planet Moth, the alien designs and concepts were all well handled.
Interesting characters I can easily separate. One of the marks of a good science fiction novel is can you make a giant insect creature a character that I come to like? Truzenzuzax may be my favorite name for a scifi character in quite a while. It's just so much fun to say. I also like the character himself. He's basically if a Japanese monk were a giant insect that was a former soldier partner to his human bestie. Tse-Mallory was fun. Dark, mysterious, a bit foreboding, his presence on this crew is both protective and he is the archetypal knight that acts as a mentor to the hero and his destiny. He's going to be the template that Flinx will want to emulate later on, and I see that being set up so it will be interesting to note if there will be follow through with later novels.
Mother Mastiff could come across as a bit of a cliche, but she's handled with care. I believe that she's both loving and a complete con artist. I picture Conchata Ferrell could have played her easily, but she passed in 2020. Mother Mastiff has that same wry kind of comedic timing, though. She's an older woman who is set in her ways and Flinx as her adopted son figure, urges her to have momentum in her life. I like their relationship because it does seem very tit for tat. Flinx always gives whatever he can to her, and he's devoted to her. It isn't expected of him. He does this out of a sense of honor, respect, and gratitude. It's a healthy relationship that just happens to have horrifying origins. And I like that the first book starts off with his first real journey into manhood. This solidifies him as an adult in the eyes of the other adult characters, and this is a stable plot device.
Action scenes are solid. Science talk about future FTL sounds solid. The locales were all interesting.
I'm amused by the old school catfight scene near the beginning of the space journey. Other readers might not be. It's very late 70s TV adventure show type of writing here.
Pip is a minidragon. And he's poisonous. And also adorable! I approve of Pip.
Flinx's superpowers are burgeoning and therefore exciting. I like that he's describing how he's just beginning to understand them, and handle them. And this is exploratory a lot of the time. That aspect is probably my favorite of this book, just due to the fact that his superpowers are happening to manifest as he's discovering who he is, and is going to be tested. This is all a great setup.
What I Didn't Like:
Tse-Mallory and Truzenzuzax and the rest of the crew don't have a lot to do near the end and I thought the plot needed a little more conflict near the end, maybe an in person (and longer) confrontation would have made it feel more fleshed out.
So...the villains are like straight out of an 80s soap opera. I kept picturing Christine Baranski as the billionairess chasing our merry crew. I thought she and the vapid and murderous niece and her dumb jock boyfriend were all very cartoonish compared with the protagonists. Her stooges are also caricatures. I'm hoping better villains come along for the rest of the series.
I would have liked for the protagonists to have had a little more to show for their experience on the crap planet where the Krang is. I wanted them to come away with a little bit of tech or treasure, and it feels like a loss for their team, which is a bit of a bummer.
SPOILER AHEAD:
It's all just a setup for Flinx because of his mental powers being activated, while the audience is told that this is going to take a while for him to absorb all that is being given to him. He has an A type mind, which is described by the artificial intelligence as the type of mind it had been waiting aeons for, but it needed Flinx to be fully aware of his abilities before attempting to reach out for him. The reason I like this is that the artifact, the lost city, then becomes a character who is interested in Flinx, unbeknownst to the crew. So the lost city is also the mage figure, the instrument that is going to teach Flinx how to become the wizard archetype.
Summary
The ending is unresolved, and that's fine. You can just jump to the next book and pick up just a few months later.
I like the mystery of Flinx's origin even though it's a trope.
