Sliding Scales

Better than the last novel, which seemed mostly like filler. More inventive descriptions of aliens and their ecology, without overuse of words like \”bromeliad\”. The Vssey and their world are interesting. The story is mostly about the AAnn. The Vssey are mostly peripheral. The book is a vacation from the larger story arc. Flinx has amnesia for most of it. It clears up the instant it no longer serves as a plot device. There are far fewer instances of awkward prose-like dialog than in the last book. Nice. If you\’re interested in reading through the series, to completion, buy it. If you are only interested in reading one book about Flinx, Idunno. It barely touches the larger story arc at all.

This is one of the sadder books in the Flinx series. In his search for a \’vacation\’ from his problems, Flinx suffers a \’minor\’ medical malady that results in him having a clean slate in relationships with other species. This adventure leads him to one of the closest relationships he could have with the enemy Aan. This story is great. Very evocative and heartfelt. And further binds us in the interesting lives of Flinx and Pip. It also leads to closer to a solution to the problem of the Great Void as this is one more \’brick\’ in the foundations of the final solution to Flinx\’s function as a Key. A fantastic read all around. Alan Dean Foster has not disappointed again.

The series is entertaining and easy to get into, as it has been since I was a teenager and first read the early issues. Once again I am concerned about the ever inflating price of each kindle issue as you get further into the series, a feature altogether too common in the modern ebook economy. If anything they should get less expensive as you have already invested a significant sum into the estate of the author and the finances of greedy publishers.

Anyone who liked the previous books in the series should pick this one up as well. It had a bit too long of descriptions of the natural surroundings and animals for my taste. I\’d have preferred more explanations about some of the people in the book than descriptions of nature. I am happy with the way it ended because people basically got what they deserved for the most part even without more explanations besides those of nature. I recommend this book for its completeness\’ sake in the series, among other things. This book, alas, has no chapter demarcations and neither does the next in the series, which I dislike. It makes it very difficult to know how close one is to the end of a chapter. None of the problems I had with the book were quite large enough to take a star away, however. I hope future readers of this book enjoy it more than the others who have rated it besides me.

Alan Dean Foster is very good, imaginative, and keeps the story line active. I have read his \”Pip and Flinx\” Series at least 3 times and look forward to doing so again in the future.

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