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Title: Odd Girl Out
Author: Timothy Zahn
Genre: Science Fiction (third in series)
Thingummies: 3.5
Synopsis: When a classic damsel in distress greets a covert operative in an intergalactic war at his own apartment (waving his own gun), a race breaks out to rescue a little girl and possibly a ton of mindcontrolling coral that wants to take over the universe.
Thoughts: This is actually the third in a series, which I didn't realize when I picked it up. Fortunately, Zahn does a pretty good job of dropping enough hints that you can tell what's going on (without the dreaded, "So, Bob, as you well know [info dump]").
He's trying to do something between Sam Spade and James Bond, which I think mostly works. Frank Compton, the narrator, is appropriately cynical but chivalrous. He's quite competent but still manages to misjudge things on a regular basis. Given that the entire narrative is a maze of double and triple crosses against an opponent who takes over people's minds and could literally be lurking anywhere, getting the timing wrong here and there is fairly excuseable.
The pace moves along briskly, never giving Frank (or you) quite enough time to think things through. Eventually, he figures out what you can't (and conceals this until the big showdown with the mastermind, with the somewhat more typical and dreaded "How long have you known/how did you discover this/the one thing I don't understand is" exchange). Everything, including several side jaunts and red herrings, is explained, although the explanation is not always particularly satisfying. Frank manages to get arrested by three different police forces on three different worlds for at least six different murders he didn't commit--but the several he does commit seem to go unnoticed.
His associates, the face-changing McMickering and the telepathic alien/human hybrid Bayta, get very little development, but that's most likely because they received better introductions in earlier books.
It's a fun ride, even if it's a little anticlimatic and not everything hangs together at the end. But that's really more of a retrospect problem--you'll enjoy it as you read. Just don't think too hard.
Author: Timothy Zahn
Genre: Science Fiction (third in series)
Thingummies: 3.5
Synopsis: When a classic damsel in distress greets a covert operative in an intergalactic war at his own apartment (waving his own gun), a race breaks out to rescue a little girl and possibly a ton of mindcontrolling coral that wants to take over the universe.
Thoughts: This is actually the third in a series, which I didn't realize when I picked it up. Fortunately, Zahn does a pretty good job of dropping enough hints that you can tell what's going on (without the dreaded, "So, Bob, as you well know [info dump]").
He's trying to do something between Sam Spade and James Bond, which I think mostly works. Frank Compton, the narrator, is appropriately cynical but chivalrous. He's quite competent but still manages to misjudge things on a regular basis. Given that the entire narrative is a maze of double and triple crosses against an opponent who takes over people's minds and could literally be lurking anywhere, getting the timing wrong here and there is fairly excuseable.
The pace moves along briskly, never giving Frank (or you) quite enough time to think things through. Eventually, he figures out what you can't (and conceals this until the big showdown with the mastermind, with the somewhat more typical and dreaded "How long have you known/how did you discover this/the one thing I don't understand is" exchange). Everything, including several side jaunts and red herrings, is explained, although the explanation is not always particularly satisfying. Frank manages to get arrested by three different police forces on three different worlds for at least six different murders he didn't commit--but the several he does commit seem to go unnoticed.
His associates, the face-changing McMickering and the telepathic alien/human hybrid Bayta, get very little development, but that's most likely because they received better introductions in earlier books.
It's a fun ride, even if it's a little anticlimatic and not everything hangs together at the end. But that's really more of a retrospect problem--you'll enjoy it as you read. Just don't think too hard.
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Date: 2011-10-18 04:47 pm (UTC)From:I thought it was a kind of charming pastiche, but I don't really have an interest in a kind of charming pastiche. None of the characters were developed, but that's kind of the genre. The mystery in the book I read was handled extremely well. There's a real problem with sf/f mysteries using tech/magic you've never heard of before to resolve the plot, in a very Agatha Christie so-and-so-not-appearing-in-the-book-before is the murderer kind of way. Zahn manages to avoid that. So that was good. But I'm not really interested in reading others in the series. And my dad said he picked this one up in an airport and got halfway through before forgetting it on the plane and hasn't been motivated to find another copy. That's kind of my reaction. Fun. But meh.
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Date: 2011-10-18 05:22 pm (UTC)From:But yeah, Zahn does seem to be a consummate professional.
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Date: 2011-10-18 08:21 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2011-10-18 08:24 pm (UTC)From:*snigger*
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Date: 2011-10-18 08:31 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2011-10-18 08:32 pm (UTC)From: