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Pip & Flinx #12
Trouble Magnet
From science fiction icon Alan Dean Foster comes a blazing new Pip & Flinx adventure for fans of the green-eyed redhead with awesome mental powers and his miniature flying dragon. In this dazzling new novel, Flinx confirms his status as the galaxy’s greatest magnet for big trouble.
Wandering out there in some remote region of the galaxy is a gargantuan sentient Tar-Aiym weapons’ system. All Flinx has to do–while his pals look after his injured love Clarity Held–is find the hefty object and persuade it to knock out the monstrous evil that is hurtling through space to waste the entire Commonwealth.
A no-brainer, really, especially for Flinx, who is never without his loyal entourage of official snoops, crazed zealots, assorted goons, and the occasional assassin. Indeed, the boy wonder and his mini-drag, Pip, are eager to commence their heroic task . . . just as soon as Flinx visits Visaria–a dangerously depraved planet–to convince himself that humans are indeed worth saving.
The chances of stumbling across high moral values and utopian ideals don’t look promising–what with Flinx playing a lawless Pied Piper to a gang of lying, thieving juvenile delinquents. But prospects really go south when Flinx runs afoul of the corrupt planet’s ruthless crime king.
Still, life is full of surprises, and Flinx is about to get smacked by a passel of them–by turns devastating, heartening, and positively jaw-dropping. For although Flinx came to Visaria to plumb the enigma of humankind, there’s another mystery waiting here, a shocking clue about his own shadowy past.
From the Hardcover edition.
Wandering out there in some remote region of the galaxy is a gargantuan sentient Tar-Aiym weapons’ system. All Flinx has to do–while his pals look after his injured love Clarity Held–is find the hefty object and persuade it to knock out the monstrous evil that is hurtling through space to waste the entire Commonwealth.
A no-brainer, really, especially for Flinx, who is never without his loyal entourage of official snoops, crazed zealots, assorted goons, and the occasional assassin. Indeed, the boy wonder and his mini-drag, Pip, are eager to commence their heroic task . . . just as soon as Flinx visits Visaria–a dangerously depraved planet–to convince himself that humans are indeed worth saving.
The chances of stumbling across high moral values and utopian ideals don’t look promising–what with Flinx playing a lawless Pied Piper to a gang of lying, thieving juvenile delinquents. But prospects really go south when Flinx runs afoul of the corrupt planet’s ruthless crime king.
Still, life is full of surprises, and Flinx is about to get smacked by a passel of them–by turns devastating, heartening, and positively jaw-dropping. For although Flinx came to Visaria to plumb the enigma of humankind, there’s another mystery waiting here, a shocking clue about his own shadowy past.
From the Hardcover edition.
288 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2006
82 people are currently reading
684 people want to read
About the author
Alan Dean Foster
498 books2,034 followersBestselling science fiction writer Alan Dean Foster was born in New York City in 1946, but raised mainly in California. He received a B.A. in Political Science from UCLA in 1968, and a M.F.A. in 1969. Foster lives in Arizona with his wife, but he enjoys traveling because it gives him opportunities to meet new people and explore new places and cultures. This interest is carried over to his writing, but with a twist: the new places encountered in his books are likely to be on another planet, and the people may belong to an alien race.
Foster began his career as an author when a letter he sent to Arkham Collection was purchased by the editor and published in the magazine in 1968. His first novel, The Tar-Aiym Krang, introduced the Humanx Commonwealth, a galactic alliance between humans and an insectlike race called Thranx. Several other novels, including the Icerigger trilogy, are also set in the world of the Commonwealth. The Tar-Aiym Krang also marked the first appearance of Flinx, a young man with paranormal abilities, who reappears in other books, including Orphan Star, For Love of Mother-Not, and Flinx in Flux.
Foster has also written The Damned series and the Spellsinger series, which includes The Hour of the Gate, The Moment of the Magician, The Paths of the Perambulator, and Son of Spellsinger, among others. Other books include novelizations of science fiction movies and television shows such as Star Trek, The Black Hole, Starman, Star Wars, and the Alien movies. Splinter of the Mind's Eye, a bestselling novel based on the Star Wars movies, received the Galaxy Award in 1979. The book Cyber Way won the Southwest Book Award for Fiction in 1990. His novel Our Lady of the Machine won him the UPC Award (Spain) in 1993. He also won the Ignotus Award (Spain) in 1994 and the Stannik Award (Russia) in 2000.
Foster began his career as an author when a letter he sent to Arkham Collection was purchased by the editor and published in the magazine in 1968. His first novel, The Tar-Aiym Krang, introduced the Humanx Commonwealth, a galactic alliance between humans and an insectlike race called Thranx. Several other novels, including the Icerigger trilogy, are also set in the world of the Commonwealth. The Tar-Aiym Krang also marked the first appearance of Flinx, a young man with paranormal abilities, who reappears in other books, including Orphan Star, For Love of Mother-Not, and Flinx in Flux.
Foster has also written The Damned series and the Spellsinger series, which includes The Hour of the Gate, The Moment of the Magician, The Paths of the Perambulator, and Son of Spellsinger, among others. Other books include novelizations of science fiction movies and television shows such as Star Trek, The Black Hole, Starman, Star Wars, and the Alien movies. Splinter of the Mind's Eye, a bestselling novel based on the Star Wars movies, received the Galaxy Award in 1979. The book Cyber Way won the Southwest Book Award for Fiction in 1990. His novel Our Lady of the Machine won him the UPC Award (Spain) in 1993. He also won the Ignotus Award (Spain) in 1994 and the Stannik Award (Russia) in 2000.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 47 reviews
November 30, 2017
This still remains a light and easy space opera, focusing more on Flinx's boredom and curiosity to propel the tale than focusing on ... you know ... galaxy eating darkness going a LOT faster than physics might imply.
The poor boy is upset, after all. He's a got a weird brain tumor and growing powers and a deep desire to figure out WHY he wants to save the universe, let alone how. Fortunately or unfortunately, he winds up in the bad part of a bad (if rich) town/planet, and meets kids that very well may have been him as he grew up. Thieves and sneaks and all around abandoned. It kinda pulls at the heartstrings.
Adventure time.
Add a big crime boss who's coming up against something WAY out of his league, (namely Flinx), a bunch of hijinx and theft and consequence and a nice battle at the end, and we've got a pretty standard and easy tale. Not mind-blowing, but definitely fast and fun and perfect for an afternoon of SF.
The poor boy is upset, after all. He's a got a weird brain tumor and growing powers and a deep desire to figure out WHY he wants to save the universe, let alone how. Fortunately or unfortunately, he winds up in the bad part of a bad (if rich) town/planet, and meets kids that very well may have been him as he grew up. Thieves and sneaks and all around abandoned. It kinda pulls at the heartstrings.
Adventure time.
Add a big crime boss who's coming up against something WAY out of his league, (namely Flinx), a bunch of hijinx and theft and consequence and a nice battle at the end, and we've got a pretty standard and easy tale. Not mind-blowing, but definitely fast and fun and perfect for an afternoon of SF.
March 19, 2009
Trouble Magnet by Alan Dean Foster (2006)
The Flinx and Pip duo is a long standing team in SF. The boy and his “dog,” in this case an Alaspinian flying snake, whose venom makes the Giger’s Alien’s blood look like orange juice. Trouble Magnet is billed as yet another adventure of this pair and in a way that tells you want to expect from this book. Magnet delivers an amiable, mildly adventurous story showcasing the Phillip Lynx aka Flinx (an esper from a eugenics program) and the deadly Pip. They will meet and defeat dastardly villains and Pip will spit acid into the eyes of people threatening her master. At the end of the story these characters will not be significantly changed. It’s like hearing music that like playing in another room. You’ve heard it before, it’s a piece you like but the sound is kind of muffled, no longer fresh. This is an amiable Twinkie as opposed to a meal. If you are fond of Flinx and Pip you will enjoy traveling with them again. If you did not know them before I’m not sure this book would make you a fan.
Foster gives new readers a bit of Flinx’s history though sometimes too much of the same parts of it and a new reader may be a bit bewildered by who and what Flinx is. While not completely covered by this book, the short version is that he’s the creation of the discredited Meliorare society. The eugenics experiments go bad and the surviving children are scattered among the stars as foundlings. Flinx grew up in the care of Mother Mastiff as s street urchin. He wangled his way on board a starship bound for deep space on an expedition. There he encounters the Krang a device of the ancient, powerful and long-gone race of the Tar-Ayim. The planet-sized weapon, a combination of church organ and Deathstar, awakens latent powers in Flinx. In other adventures he acquires, knowledge, wealth and influence and some dangerous friends as he journeys among the stars in his continuing quest to find out more about his origins and most particularly, his father.
Flinx is cast in the role of a modern Diogenes, disillusioned by his species, he is voyaging on his private starship in search, once again, of the Krang to combat a deadly alien menace called the Vom. This is not well-developed in this book as it is something to occur perhaps in the far future. This puzzled me as I remember the Vom being destroyed in an earlier book, Bloodhype, by Flinx and a resurrected Tar Ayim. So I do not know if this is more Vom, a Super Vom, or Vom Release II for Windows. It doesn’t matter in that we do not meet it and all we know is it is big, bad and heading for us, eventually.
Our hero is despondent over the wounding of his recently found love, Clarity Held, in a prior book. We learn little about her other that she is recovering under the care of some powerful friends of Flinx. We are told he loves her, which is good because we will not find it out otherwise. Flinx’s emotions seem remote and muted to me and I never got the sense of an agony of separation or the longing of love. While he debates if he should abandon the search for the Krang to return and live out his life with her, there is no passion in it. In consequence while I am told there is a love I am not shown it and do not believe it.
Flinx decides to turn away from the search for the weapon to ward off our annihilation to again walk among humans and see if we are worthy of being saved . He picks the frontier world of Visaria( a wretched hive of scum and villainy –oh wait- that’s Tatoinne) for his hiatus. Once there he meets a street urchin named Subar and the gang of Faganesque characters that Subar runs with, caught in the act of mugging some aliens. Flinx stops the robbery of the thranx aliens, driving off the toughs but saving Subar from the local authorities. The boy reminds him of himself.
Having intervened he becomes involved in the struggle to save the “pod” of youths from the merciless crime lord, Shaeb. In the process, Flinx comes into contact with a sole surviving member of the Meliorare Association, who gives him a clue as to where to continue his other quest to find his father, setting up the next book.
The Pros: Pip and Flinx, two engaging characters that we have followed for years. The piece only moves when they are on stage.
The Cons: Are we really to believe that Flinx needs to find his “good man” on Visaria or he will abandon his species and maybe all life to its fate? Does he really need some reminder that the same species that spawned Adolf Hitler, and Pol Pot gave us Mother Theresa, St. Francis and Sophia Loren? (Ok for all your people under 30, Milla Jovovich.) Again I am told of his existential dilemma but it seems melodramatic, even childish.
Similarly, Flinx’s near god-like powers mean that at no point, even when his powers slip, do I believe he is ever in any real danger of dying or even losing anyone significant in this “episode.” On the two occasions where it appears our hero faces imminent demise, deus ex machinas intervene and in one instance the author even says so. So how am I to feel more than mild interest in how Flinx will solve this one? As with Sherlock Holmes, the answer is more one of intellectual curiosity then emotional impact. “My, that was clever” as opposed to “Ohmigod.”
I found the new characters of Subar and Ashile of little interest and skimmed over them, their pod, their dialect (shades of Clockwork Orange) and petty crime machinations to get back to the main action with Flinx and Pip.
Point of view was somewhat unsettling in this book. Lately it seems more authors are wandering “head-to head” without breaking chapters or even using the traditional three line-break. For me this breaks down my identification with the main characters. I no longer feel like I am in someone’s head but sort of floating around the action, disconnected and immune to it. This weak and wandering POV seems to be indulged in for little purpose, to gather information that could be achieved other ways. If we do need to hop into other heads, it seems to me that we should be there longer and for more of a purpose. This could just be my more traditional approach to writing, like I say I see more and more of it but I can’t say I care for it. It has a lazy feel to me.
If you are looking to kick back and just enjoy a Twinkie, this is for you. If you want more meat look for Fosters much earlier work.
By Edward McKeown
The Flinx and Pip duo is a long standing team in SF. The boy and his “dog,” in this case an Alaspinian flying snake, whose venom makes the Giger’s Alien’s blood look like orange juice. Trouble Magnet is billed as yet another adventure of this pair and in a way that tells you want to expect from this book. Magnet delivers an amiable, mildly adventurous story showcasing the Phillip Lynx aka Flinx (an esper from a eugenics program) and the deadly Pip. They will meet and defeat dastardly villains and Pip will spit acid into the eyes of people threatening her master. At the end of the story these characters will not be significantly changed. It’s like hearing music that like playing in another room. You’ve heard it before, it’s a piece you like but the sound is kind of muffled, no longer fresh. This is an amiable Twinkie as opposed to a meal. If you are fond of Flinx and Pip you will enjoy traveling with them again. If you did not know them before I’m not sure this book would make you a fan.
Foster gives new readers a bit of Flinx’s history though sometimes too much of the same parts of it and a new reader may be a bit bewildered by who and what Flinx is. While not completely covered by this book, the short version is that he’s the creation of the discredited Meliorare society. The eugenics experiments go bad and the surviving children are scattered among the stars as foundlings. Flinx grew up in the care of Mother Mastiff as s street urchin. He wangled his way on board a starship bound for deep space on an expedition. There he encounters the Krang a device of the ancient, powerful and long-gone race of the Tar-Ayim. The planet-sized weapon, a combination of church organ and Deathstar, awakens latent powers in Flinx. In other adventures he acquires, knowledge, wealth and influence and some dangerous friends as he journeys among the stars in his continuing quest to find out more about his origins and most particularly, his father.
Flinx is cast in the role of a modern Diogenes, disillusioned by his species, he is voyaging on his private starship in search, once again, of the Krang to combat a deadly alien menace called the Vom. This is not well-developed in this book as it is something to occur perhaps in the far future. This puzzled me as I remember the Vom being destroyed in an earlier book, Bloodhype, by Flinx and a resurrected Tar Ayim. So I do not know if this is more Vom, a Super Vom, or Vom Release II for Windows. It doesn’t matter in that we do not meet it and all we know is it is big, bad and heading for us, eventually.
Our hero is despondent over the wounding of his recently found love, Clarity Held, in a prior book. We learn little about her other that she is recovering under the care of some powerful friends of Flinx. We are told he loves her, which is good because we will not find it out otherwise. Flinx’s emotions seem remote and muted to me and I never got the sense of an agony of separation or the longing of love. While he debates if he should abandon the search for the Krang to return and live out his life with her, there is no passion in it. In consequence while I am told there is a love I am not shown it and do not believe it.
Flinx decides to turn away from the search for the weapon to ward off our annihilation to again walk among humans and see if we are worthy of being saved . He picks the frontier world of Visaria( a wretched hive of scum and villainy –oh wait- that’s Tatoinne) for his hiatus. Once there he meets a street urchin named Subar and the gang of Faganesque characters that Subar runs with, caught in the act of mugging some aliens. Flinx stops the robbery of the thranx aliens, driving off the toughs but saving Subar from the local authorities. The boy reminds him of himself.
Having intervened he becomes involved in the struggle to save the “pod” of youths from the merciless crime lord, Shaeb. In the process, Flinx comes into contact with a sole surviving member of the Meliorare Association, who gives him a clue as to where to continue his other quest to find his father, setting up the next book.
The Pros: Pip and Flinx, two engaging characters that we have followed for years. The piece only moves when they are on stage.
The Cons: Are we really to believe that Flinx needs to find his “good man” on Visaria or he will abandon his species and maybe all life to its fate? Does he really need some reminder that the same species that spawned Adolf Hitler, and Pol Pot gave us Mother Theresa, St. Francis and Sophia Loren? (Ok for all your people under 30, Milla Jovovich.) Again I am told of his existential dilemma but it seems melodramatic, even childish.
Similarly, Flinx’s near god-like powers mean that at no point, even when his powers slip, do I believe he is ever in any real danger of dying or even losing anyone significant in this “episode.” On the two occasions where it appears our hero faces imminent demise, deus ex machinas intervene and in one instance the author even says so. So how am I to feel more than mild interest in how Flinx will solve this one? As with Sherlock Holmes, the answer is more one of intellectual curiosity then emotional impact. “My, that was clever” as opposed to “Ohmigod.”
I found the new characters of Subar and Ashile of little interest and skimmed over them, their pod, their dialect (shades of Clockwork Orange) and petty crime machinations to get back to the main action with Flinx and Pip.
Point of view was somewhat unsettling in this book. Lately it seems more authors are wandering “head-to head” without breaking chapters or even using the traditional three line-break. For me this breaks down my identification with the main characters. I no longer feel like I am in someone’s head but sort of floating around the action, disconnected and immune to it. This weak and wandering POV seems to be indulged in for little purpose, to gather information that could be achieved other ways. If we do need to hop into other heads, it seems to me that we should be there longer and for more of a purpose. This could just be my more traditional approach to writing, like I say I see more and more of it but I can’t say I care for it. It has a lazy feel to me.
If you are looking to kick back and just enjoy a Twinkie, this is for you. If you want more meat look for Fosters much earlier work.
By Edward McKeown
February 3, 2014
This is the 12th book in the Pip and Flinx series. Alan Dean Foster has been writing this series sporadically for over 20 years.
It follows a familiar pattern. Flinx lands on a new planet. As usually, he get into trouble. In this case, he stops a youth gang from mugging the alien Thranx. But Flinx has had run-ins with the police as a youngman, so he permits one young man, Subar, to escape and even goes with him.
The juvenile delinquents don't learn from mistake one, and are soon way out of their league against one of the biggest crime bosses on the planet. Once again, Flinx gets pulled in.
The ending is very contrived. One weakness of this series--of any series actually--is we know that Flinx is not going to be killed. I already have volume #13 in the series to prove it. So there is no really intense suspense--just a puzzle story--how is he going to get out of this?
For fans of the Pip and Flinx series, this is an average entry. If you have never read the series, the first three books are much, much better written. Light, escapist fiction in a long running series.
I do think that this series is a good starting series for teens, however.
It follows a familiar pattern. Flinx lands on a new planet. As usually, he get into trouble. In this case, he stops a youth gang from mugging the alien Thranx. But Flinx has had run-ins with the police as a youngman, so he permits one young man, Subar, to escape and even goes with him.
The juvenile delinquents don't learn from mistake one, and are soon way out of their league against one of the biggest crime bosses on the planet. Once again, Flinx gets pulled in.
The ending is very contrived. One weakness of this series--of any series actually--is we know that Flinx is not going to be killed. I already have volume #13 in the series to prove it. So there is no really intense suspense--just a puzzle story--how is he going to get out of this?
For fans of the Pip and Flinx series, this is an average entry. If you have never read the series, the first three books are much, much better written. Light, escapist fiction in a long running series.
I do think that this series is a good starting series for teens, however.
June 9, 2013
Okay, I am of the opinion some times an ending can make or break a story. For example, Snowcrash great novel, ruined by one of the worst, tacked on, endings ever. Trouble Magnet, was a book that actually was tedious, I had to read through the book as if I was trapped in a mud pit. It was slow, the flow was tedious. Why am I giving it 4 stars, then? Well, it had a great ending that answered a lot of questions while propelling the story forward. Sometimes in life the reward outweighs the journey. And this one made the journey worthwhile.
January 11, 2008
This latest entry in Foster's long running chronicles of Flinx & Pip is heavier on reflection and shorter on action than most of the previous volumes. It's a good story nonetheless, all about Flinx trying to decide if the universe is -worth- saving or not. I was a little let down by the resolution because it came in completely out of left field and there's no way it could have been foreseen. Up to that point, though, it was a good read.
November 30, 2018
The twelfth book in the Pip and Flinx series finds Flinx stalling rather than continuing on his quest of saving the galaxy. Rather than risk his life to possibly complete his task of repulsing the massive evil force set to arrive in our Galaxy in somewhere from a hundred to a thousand years, Flinx decides to take a pit stop to the planet of Visaria. Visaria is a planet ripe with crime. Law enforcement is corrupt. Knowing this, Flinx decides to stop to put some thought into the question of whether humanity is worth sacrificing his own future and possibly even his life to save?
Shortly after arriving on the planet, Flinx becomes involved with a young criminal named Subar who reminds Flinx of himself. Subar has a gang of cohorts who end up stealing several priceless artifacts of the ancestral home world and getting one of the most dangerous crime lords on the planet seeking revenge. (This ancestral home world is Earth, and the artifacts are things like books, plants, and fast food restaurant disposable cups. I liked how a lot of the stuff referenced were artifacts for the characters in the book but would still be from the future of the reader.) When Subar’s friends start getting captured or killed, he turns to Flinx to seek help or protection.
In many ways, Trouble Magnet reminded me of the better books in Terry Goodkind’s Legend of the Seeker series. Like those books, by this point in the series we have a protagonist who has powers that can get him out of any situation, however the abilities are unreliable and tend to leave him at the worst times. When they do reappear, it is in so late and spectacular a fashion that it can feel like a cheat code. As the story builds, Foster has also relied on deus ex machina a few times in the series now, and that continued here in Trouble Magnet. Even with those complaints, this was the rare book in the Pip & Flinx series where the supporting characters were more interesting than the stars.
More than anything other aspect of the book, I enjoyed reading about Subar’s crew. Everything from plotting their heist, to executing it, to celebrating and having everything go south afterwards kept my interest. The dynamics between the characters were fun too, particularly with Subar’s best girlfriend and the sexy criminal Subar was always pining for. Unlike the characters Pip & Flinx, the group of young criminals are subject to things like death or turning into villains over the course of a random book in the middle of the series.
Overall this was one of the better books in the series except for a few things that made me groan. The climactic encounter between good and bad guys would have been more satisfying with literally any other ending than the one Foster utilizes. Even having read all the other books, and even being very familiar with the last minute entrants into the fray, their timing and capabilities still seemed way too fortuitous and convenient to provide a satisfying resolution. Likewise, the minuscule chance that in all of the Commonwealth that Flinx would land in the one city in the one planet that had somebody reviewing video that would provide the key clue to his ancestry was another coincidence too far.
Shortly after arriving on the planet, Flinx becomes involved with a young criminal named Subar who reminds Flinx of himself. Subar has a gang of cohorts who end up stealing several priceless artifacts of the ancestral home world and getting one of the most dangerous crime lords on the planet seeking revenge. (This ancestral home world is Earth, and the artifacts are things like books, plants, and fast food restaurant disposable cups. I liked how a lot of the stuff referenced were artifacts for the characters in the book but would still be from the future of the reader.) When Subar’s friends start getting captured or killed, he turns to Flinx to seek help or protection.
In many ways, Trouble Magnet reminded me of the better books in Terry Goodkind’s Legend of the Seeker series. Like those books, by this point in the series we have a protagonist who has powers that can get him out of any situation, however the abilities are unreliable and tend to leave him at the worst times. When they do reappear, it is in so late and spectacular a fashion that it can feel like a cheat code. As the story builds, Foster has also relied on deus ex machina a few times in the series now, and that continued here in Trouble Magnet. Even with those complaints, this was the rare book in the Pip & Flinx series where the supporting characters were more interesting than the stars.
More than anything other aspect of the book, I enjoyed reading about Subar’s crew. Everything from plotting their heist, to executing it, to celebrating and having everything go south afterwards kept my interest. The dynamics between the characters were fun too, particularly with Subar’s best girlfriend and the sexy criminal Subar was always pining for. Unlike the characters Pip & Flinx, the group of young criminals are subject to things like death or turning into villains over the course of a random book in the middle of the series.
Overall this was one of the better books in the series except for a few things that made me groan. The climactic encounter between good and bad guys would have been more satisfying with literally any other ending than the one Foster utilizes. Even having read all the other books, and even being very familiar with the last minute entrants into the fray, their timing and capabilities still seemed way too fortuitous and convenient to provide a satisfying resolution. Likewise, the minuscule chance that in all of the Commonwealth that Flinx would land in the one city in the one planet that had somebody reviewing video that would provide the key clue to his ancestry was another coincidence too far.
September 6, 2022
Good book. On par with the rest of the series. Stop over on a new world, solve a local dilemma. Flinx picks up another clue in his personal life quest. No closer to the galactic rescue. I have noticed that Mr. Foster has a penchant for using obscure, uncommon words that a college professor would have to look up but the local riffraff, who cain't pronunciate reel gud, seem to have no problems with. Still like the books though.
February 23, 2018
A depressed Flinx lands on a frontier planet to see if the galaxy is really worth saving, he's looking for a good hearted human on a dog eat dog crime ridden planet. Naturally he and Pip get drawn into mayhem. And he finds a clue to his origen. Book 12 is solid, looking forward to 13. Check it out.
September 4, 2021
haven't read this in many years. finally got around to start finishing the series and it is still Great.! just as fun to read and just as funny. first book series to have ever made me laugh out loud. what great characters in this series. Love It.!
June 1, 2023
I am finally getting down to the last 4 books in the series. They all have been good reading and this book is sort of heading in the direction of who he really is. Good twists and turns in the story line.
August 12, 2025
Another great book by Mr Foster. Our hero reluctantly comes to the rescue of ne'er-do-wells and chaos ensues. I really like the empathy that pervades the book. The ending was such that I couldn't put the book down.
October 13, 2017
Been reading pip and flinx for years never been disappointed
November 12, 2019
I really liked this book, it had the feel of the first book, I really hoped that Flinx would start creating a crew beginning with his own sidekick, Can't have everything, but this was a Good Read.
February 14, 2021
The adventure continues.
April 2, 2024
Quite gripping.
January 28, 2025
good story, fun read.
August 9, 2025
It was a fun continuation of this long-running sci-fi adventure series. Now I just have to read the next book: Patrimony to find out what happens.
May 13, 2025
Audible/Kindle
I am so thoroughly disappointed at the declining quality of this series. Since Sliding Scales, it's as if ADF gave up on Flinx. Lousy stories with lazy plots. Three books to go and I have no hope that the central plot will be wrapped up.
I mean, c'mon. Flinx is bummed because humans are lousy and might not be worth saving...he heads off to some miserable planet (again, to find himself) and runs into a band of juvenile delinquents, who I imaged being in some off-Broadway version of West Side Story...scruffy youths committing petting crimes and line dancing in a darkened, dank alley.
Gone is the rich world-building of near all the Humanx books and the earlier Flinx ones...here, it's just a dirty Gotham outpost world with a seedy underbelly. It's just not interesting. It's lazy.
A ton of time is spent with one little idiot, Suban, who reminds Flinx of his younger self on the rough streets of Draller on Moth. Really? I didn't get any of that.
There's, of course, some crime lord who wants to exact revenge on the youth gang for boosting some of his prized stuff.
I will allow that it was nice to see ursinoids show up towards the end - it's bit silly that they can tunnel anywhere in the universe and - effectively - save Flinx from anything at anytime. Still, they're fun and remind me of a time when this series was interesting.
I'll finish the series...but I will probably be leaving ADF behind (unless he writes another proper Humanx book...more Ice Rigger! more Midworld!)
I am so thoroughly disappointed at the declining quality of this series. Since Sliding Scales, it's as if ADF gave up on Flinx. Lousy stories with lazy plots. Three books to go and I have no hope that the central plot will be wrapped up.
I mean, c'mon. Flinx is bummed because humans are lousy and might not be worth saving...he heads off to some miserable planet (again, to find himself) and runs into a band of juvenile delinquents, who I imaged being in some off-Broadway version of West Side Story...scruffy youths committing petting crimes and line dancing in a darkened, dank alley.
Gone is the rich world-building of near all the Humanx books and the earlier Flinx ones...here, it's just a dirty Gotham outpost world with a seedy underbelly. It's just not interesting. It's lazy.
A ton of time is spent with one little idiot, Suban, who reminds Flinx of his younger self on the rough streets of Draller on Moth. Really? I didn't get any of that.
There's, of course, some crime lord who wants to exact revenge on the youth gang for boosting some of his prized stuff.
I will allow that it was nice to see ursinoids show up towards the end - it's bit silly that they can tunnel anywhere in the universe and - effectively - save Flinx from anything at anytime. Still, they're fun and remind me of a time when this series was interesting.
I'll finish the series...but I will probably be leaving ADF behind (unless he writes another proper Humanx book...more Ice Rigger! more Midworld!)
May 27, 2010
Flinx starts out to find a weapon to use against the hungry evil accelerating toward the galaxy, only to be diverted to... Wait didn't we do this in "Running From the Deity?" Actually, Flinx decides to go to some scummy crime ridden planet to evaluate humanity and see if it is worth his time to bother trying to save the galaxy.
Flinx spends his time trying to salvage a young gang member from the streets. He annoys the local crime lords, and gets himself in mortal peril whereupon his mental talents fail him utterly, and deus ex machina, er, I mean a totally unforseen, plot twist.
This book is heavy on mental angst and inner dialogue, and light on action. The main storylines involving Flinx learning to control his power and save the galaxy don't go anywhere. It does add a tiny piece to the overall storyline. I'll tell you what it is so you don't have to read this book if you don't want to. It is really not much of a plot spoiler since the next is called Patrimony after all.
Very very mild plot spoiler
Flinx finds the last living member of the Meliorare Society who reveals the name of the place where he can find his father--"Gestalt."
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.
Flinx spends his time trying to salvage a young gang member from the streets. He annoys the local crime lords, and gets himself in mortal peril whereupon his mental talents fail him utterly, and deus ex machina, er, I mean a totally unforseen, plot twist.
This book is heavy on mental angst and inner dialogue, and light on action. The main storylines involving Flinx learning to control his power and save the galaxy don't go anywhere. It does add a tiny piece to the overall storyline. I'll tell you what it is so you don't have to read this book if you don't want to. It is really not much of a plot spoiler since the next is called Patrimony after all.
Very very mild plot spoiler
Flinx finds the last living member of the Meliorare Society who reveals the name of the place where he can find his father--"Gestalt."
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.
February 20, 2014
I really enjoy the Pip & Flinx series but this particular book was a disappointment. There were a couple things that really bothered me about this one.
One, Flinx is obviously mired in depression and not very interested in helping people as he has been in the past. There's enough depression in life, I really don't need to be reading about it. His visit to this planet to figure out if humanity is worth saving annoys me, and just doesn't seem like him. And choosing this particular planet to do it? Really???
Two, this story is less about Flinx and more about the kids on the planet he's visiting. I wanted to see more action with Flinx and Pip. I just wasn't very interested in this one.
I feel like I may have read this book before, but it obviously didn't make much of an impression. Just not a good installment of the series.
One, Flinx is obviously mired in depression and not very interested in helping people as he has been in the past. There's enough depression in life, I really don't need to be reading about it. His visit to this planet to figure out if humanity is worth saving annoys me, and just doesn't seem like him. And choosing this particular planet to do it? Really???
Two, this story is less about Flinx and more about the kids on the planet he's visiting. I wanted to see more action with Flinx and Pip. I just wasn't very interested in this one.
I feel like I may have read this book before, but it obviously didn't make much of an impression. Just not a good installment of the series.
April 18, 2016
Flinx goes off on another tangent in this one, whilst trying to decide if the Milky Way is even worth saving. It's a solid, action-packed, rollercoaster ride of a book, no doubt. The only trouble is, reading this series back-to-back as I am, Flinx's little side-missions are starting to become a bit frustrating... even one like this that drops a rather important plot point for the series as whole at the end of the book. I think I'm ready for Flinx to stop pissing about and save the bloody galaxy already!
Also, the more often Flinx's fat is pulled out of the fire by the timely arrival of allies, the more it starts to feel like deus ex machina. He even says so himself in the book!
Sorry for the short review; still ill. Yuck.
Also, the more often Flinx's fat is pulled out of the fire by the timely arrival of allies, the more it starts to feel like deus ex machina. He even says so himself in the book!
Sorry for the short review; still ill. Yuck.
August 14, 2016
At the start of this book Flinx is feeling down from being alone and having to save the universe, including nasty characters like the master criminal he faced in Bloodhype. So, he decides to visit a new world and let humanity prove its worth to him. In order to do so, he chooses a world that is considered particularly dangerous and corrupt, of course. And while there, runs into some youths who remind him of himself. There is also a cameo from some old friends, and a hint about his search. While I found myself feeling a bit frustrated by Flinx's determination to seek out the worst in and of people, there were a few moments that made me smile.
August 18, 2019
An odd stopover on a deliberately chosen depraved planet in order to judge humankind's worthiness to be saved. Seems a very odd choice. Anyone with common sense knows that a goodly portion of humanity is worthless, useless, downright scarily awful. So Flinx has to know that there are good people, enough good people in proportion that he should not, at this point in time, be questioning whether he should soldier on and give up his life to save the universe and all life and suns and planets in said universe. Premise of book is off. However, progress has been made on another front and Fluff shows up using Road Runner's portable hole to get rid of the bad guy.
July 16, 2012
I have loved Pip and Flinx since I first read them as a kid. However, the series is going downhill. It seemed like for at least a week Flinx was leaving in the next day or 2..... constantly..... throughout the entire book. It got a bit annoying. His decision making also seems to be getting worse, not better. Really? Going to a world you know is going to be rife with crime to see if you can find "one good person" to decide whether to save the human race? What about the good people you already know? Don't they prove the human race is worth it?
September 21, 2024
Trouble Magnet by Alan Dean Foster (Book 12 of the Pip & Flinx Adventures)
Well, this is book 12 of Pip & Flinx’s Adventures and on a frontier world developing rapidly. He comes across a younger version of himself (minus the Talent). Now if he can only survive this encounter he might be able to continue his search for the ancient weapons platform the size of a planet.
Enjoy reading Flinx’s latest adventures.. ;)
Well, this is book 12 of Pip & Flinx’s Adventures and on a frontier world developing rapidly. He comes across a younger version of himself (minus the Talent). Now if he can only survive this encounter he might be able to continue his search for the ancient weapons platform the size of a planet.
Enjoy reading Flinx’s latest adventures.. ;)
September 7, 2016
+++Pip & Flinx are out to save the Commonwealth. Looking for a huge sentient Tar-Aiym weapons system, Flinx (Philip Lynx) has diverted to a depraved, developing planet called Visaria to find some reason to not return to his love Charity and let humanity shift for itself. Circumstances put him in contact with a group of teenage thieves and of course he can not avoid giving them aid against greater evil.+++
July 31, 2012
Much better than Sliding Scales. A good little Flinx story, with some plot and character development. Hoping for more from Patrimony!
June 21, 2013
Flinx visits a less than ideal planet and ends up helping a young thief who reminds him of himself at that age. The latter Pip & Flinx books are showing a little too much angst and navel gazing. I enjoyed the earlier titles where things were not so financially secure and Flinx and less time to ponder the meaning of his existence. Too much introspection makes for a dull book.
May 15, 2014
For me, this is the least enjoyable so far of this series -- closer to a refrigerator magnet. Not horrible, but not typical Foster, featuring no outré settings and not much in the way of quirky characters. I am so close to the end of the series, I'll trudge onward. One can hope it has an epic wrap up.
January 17, 2014
After its pointless predecessor, Running from the Deity, finally another decent Flinx novel. Once again, the small contribution to the overall story arch is somewhat disappointing. And the repeated "deus ex macchina" makes your eyes roll. Still, it is well written and the plot is fun. 3 stars.
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