Gryphon

by Crawford Kilian

The Gryphons, alien invaders of the Solar System, clamp down on all human space travel forcing Alex Macintosh to find some way around them

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Fantasy

260 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published July 17, 1989

About the author

Crawford Kilian was born in New York in 1941. Raised in Los Angeles and Mexico City, he is a naturalized Canadian citizen living in Vancouver, British Columbia, with his wife, Alice, and daughters, Anna and Margaret. Formerly a technical writer-editor at the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory in Berkeley, he has taught English at Capilano College in North Vancouver since 1968.

Reviews

[James Hogan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, if you're in the mood for a pulp sci-fi book, look no further. This one was a light and breezy read, full of imaginative ideas, bursting at the seams with sci-fi wackiness and not short of action and adventure!! The characters are a bit flat, the plot points sometimes laughable, and it definitely feels like an 80s book! But you know what? It was a lot of fun. If you want to read a book about a weird future Earth, aliens, space-travel, huge stakes, and snappy old-fashioned dialogue...you'll probably enjoy this one. I did.

[Kimberly Fleming · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not into fantasy novels and don't have much experience with them, but I was pleasantly surprised by this one. I found it hard to visualize the characters and the setting because it was a fantasy/future world. However, the plot was very interesting and compelling. Again, I might be biased a bit, this was written by a distant cousin of mine.

[Dustin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Full of ideas, but lacking in narrative

[Otis Campbell · Rating 3.5 out of 5]

The story follows a wealthy, spoiled 25-year-old fella named Alex Macintosh who flies around the solar system in a giant steam-powered spaceship that literally has a mansion and gardens built right on it. Alex is just minding his own business, getting ready to party at his daddy's floating castle in the clouds, when the craziest thing happens. A brand-new planet suddenly shows up out of nowhere in the middle of our solar system. It's full of these aggressive, warlike alien creatures that humans call "Gryphons". These big feather-brained invaders clamp down on the whole system, locking down human space travel and throwing everybody's fancy, high-tech lives into absolute chaos. Young Alex has to grow up real fast, stop acting like an entitled brat, and figure out how to outsmart these alien overlords to win back human freedom. It has a little bit of everything—space battles, fancy nanotechnology, alien mind control, and moving planets. It don't ever get boring. It’s actually pretty neat watching Alex stop being a lazy rich boy and turn into a proper, gritty hero. The way Kilian builds this future world is cleverer than a tree full of owls. If you want a unique, fast-paced 80s sci-fi adventure that finishes its whole story in one single sitting without making you buy five more books, this one is a dandy. It’s weird, it’s wild, and it’s a heck of a ride.