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Bengal Station #2
Xenopath
Working for a telepathic detective agency, Vaughan investigates a series of murders linked to the colony world of Mallory, and the slaughter of innocent aliens there by a colonial organization.
414 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published June 1, 2009
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About the author
Eric Brown
372 books186 followersEric Brown was a British science fiction author and Guardian critic.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews
May 3, 2016
The second installment of the Bengal Station Novels is 2009's "Xenopath". We join Telepath Jeff Vaughan, two years later than the first book, who is now working for a detective agency on Bengal Station. The space port which floats on the ocean between India and Burma. Vaughan is married and is expecting a new child.
Vaughan is called out to the colony world of Mallory to investigate recent discoveries of alien corpses. With he rumor that a group can "raise the dead".
This well a written SF novel.
Vaughan is called out to the colony world of Mallory to investigate recent discoveries of alien corpses. With he rumor that a group can "raise the dead".
This well a written SF novel.
December 23, 2022
Out of the gates I have to make one thing clear: this book isn’t nearly as edgy, or dark, as Necropath.
This is a much more hopeful and upbeat book, and the protagonist isn’t half as jaded and troubled as he was in the first book. Obviously, this does speak to character development / progression, but I am not sure it is to the benefit of the world that the author has created. For one thing, the noir elements that are typically served well by a dark and sinister backdrop, seem to suffer a bit here. Also, a lot of the events in Xenopath focus on the more affluent areas of Bengal Station, which almost makes this feel like a whole different setting than the first book. I could also argue that one of the female leads was rather, erm, insipid, but to each his (or her) own.
HOWEVER…
Despite my misgivings above, the book still works.
The ship stuttered from voidspace. Ahead, rising from the calm blue waters of the ocean, as solid as an anvil, was Bengal Station.
This is both due to the setting (a massive spaceport in the Indian Ocean, or more specifically, the Bay of Bengal between India and Burma) and the plot itself (which is a good old mystery thriller with Crime Noir and Space Opera trappings).
Bengal Station is a city unto itself, with 20 levels (the lowest being the least affluent, or the “slums”, and the uppermost being where the rich folk live) and it is in this setting where telepath Jeff Vaughan is faced with a murder investigation that soon spirals into something much larger.
Given the nature of these books, I have to wrap up this review, since there isn’t a lot more I can add that won’t possibly be a spoiler of some sort.
3.5 stars (which I’ll round up)
This is a much more hopeful and upbeat book, and the protagonist isn’t half as jaded and troubled as he was in the first book. Obviously, this does speak to character development / progression, but I am not sure it is to the benefit of the world that the author has created. For one thing, the noir elements that are typically served well by a dark and sinister backdrop, seem to suffer a bit here. Also, a lot of the events in Xenopath focus on the more affluent areas of Bengal Station, which almost makes this feel like a whole different setting than the first book. I could also argue that one of the female leads was rather, erm, insipid, but to each his (or her) own.
HOWEVER…
Despite my misgivings above, the book still works.
The ship stuttered from voidspace. Ahead, rising from the calm blue waters of the ocean, as solid as an anvil, was Bengal Station.
This is both due to the setting (a massive spaceport in the Indian Ocean, or more specifically, the Bay of Bengal between India and Burma) and the plot itself (which is a good old mystery thriller with Crime Noir and Space Opera trappings).
Bengal Station is a city unto itself, with 20 levels (the lowest being the least affluent, or the “slums”, and the uppermost being where the rich folk live) and it is in this setting where telepath Jeff Vaughan is faced with a murder investigation that soon spirals into something much larger.
Given the nature of these books, I have to wrap up this review, since there isn’t a lot more I can add that won’t possibly be a spoiler of some sort.
3.5 stars (which I’ll round up)
August 18, 2018
I bought this some years ago at, I think, a library sale. I vaguely remember reading it, thinking it was 'eh', and then putting it away. Recently I had need of a physical book on short notice, so I figured I'd see if my opinion has changed in the seven or eight years since I last read it.
It has, and largely for the worse.
Let's be blunt. This is a terrible book. It has a somewhat promising start, but it gets more and more irritating as it goes forward.
So let us count the issues:
--Weak plot. Ostensibly, this is billed as a noir/cyberpunk mystery, and to be a mystery there needs to actually be some, you know, mystery. In this case, it is *blatantly obvious* that the megacorp is the baddie from roughly the 33% mark, and by the 66% point it's fairly clear what the shape of the plot will be. Mysteries in general can get away with a lot of writing flaws so long as the central mystery interests, so the lack makes all the other flaws in the book that much worse.
--Unpleasant/shallow/uninteresting characters. Basically the only person in this I like is the seven-year-old girl, Pham, who seems to have a richer internal life than the adults. Our protagonist, Vaughan, is a very whitebread example of a noir protagonist, without even the redeeming aspect of being entertainingly snarky about it. His wife, Sukara, seems to have a life that revolves entirely around her husband, her baby, and her dead sister, and honestly doesn't seem terribly bright. The other detective, Lin Kapinsky, seems promising, but ultimately contributes little to the plot. The antagonists are standard-issue megacorp villains, with a faint whiff of Ubermenschian justification. And Khar... spare me the messianic and enlightened aliens.
--Deus Ex Machina plot developments. Character dies! Jesus-Alien resurrects her!
--People acting like idiots. There are dangerous radicals here I need to exterminate. I have access to basically an entire planet's military. Let me go in with three other people and a gun instead.
--Orientalism/Exoticism. Not as bad as it could be, and I give the author credit for *trying* to write some semi-non-Western fiction. But it comes off as a bit of a shallow effort when both the main protagonist and the main antagonists are white guys, and the Asian characters are largely in need of protection.
...I could go on, but safe to say I did not like this book.
It has, and largely for the worse.
Let's be blunt. This is a terrible book. It has a somewhat promising start, but it gets more and more irritating as it goes forward.
So let us count the issues:
--Weak plot. Ostensibly, this is billed as a noir/cyberpunk mystery, and to be a mystery there needs to actually be some, you know, mystery. In this case, it is *blatantly obvious* that the megacorp is the baddie from roughly the 33% mark, and by the 66% point it's fairly clear what the shape of the plot will be. Mysteries in general can get away with a lot of writing flaws so long as the central mystery interests, so the lack makes all the other flaws in the book that much worse.
--Unpleasant/shallow/uninteresting characters. Basically the only person in this I like is the seven-year-old girl, Pham, who seems to have a richer internal life than the adults. Our protagonist, Vaughan, is a very whitebread example of a noir protagonist, without even the redeeming aspect of being entertainingly snarky about it. His wife, Sukara, seems to have a life that revolves entirely around her husband, her baby, and her dead sister, and honestly doesn't seem terribly bright. The other detective, Lin Kapinsky, seems promising, but ultimately contributes little to the plot. The antagonists are standard-issue megacorp villains, with a faint whiff of Ubermenschian justification. And Khar... spare me the messianic and enlightened aliens.
--Deus Ex Machina plot developments. Character dies! Jesus-Alien resurrects her!
--People acting like idiots. There are dangerous radicals here I need to exterminate. I have access to basically an entire planet's military. Let me go in with three other people and a gun instead.
--Orientalism/Exoticism. Not as bad as it could be, and I give the author credit for *trying* to write some semi-non-Western fiction. But it comes off as a bit of a shallow effort when both the main protagonist and the main antagonists are white guys, and the Asian characters are largely in need of protection.
...I could go on, but safe to say I did not like this book.
February 18, 2015
5 Stars
Xenopath book two in the Bengal Station trilogy takes everything from book one and outdoes it in this one. Xenopath by Eric Brown is a novel tailor made me to my likes. It is a science fiction novel and hard boiled detective novel mashed into one. The science fiction is of the light nature as there is very little technical data discussed or utilized. The novel is well written and fast paced. The book takes place in the future when Earth has expanded to the stars and we are now in contact with many different alien species. All of this has a light space opera feel.
Xenopath is better than Necropath because our hero has become a better man. After the conflicts ended in book one Jeff's life is forced to be remarkably changed. No longer a Telepath and now totally open to his new wife, Jeff has now let people in and showed that he has a heart. The changes in Jeff are welcome to us the reader as he is a character that is easy to empathize with now.
The story in Xenopath is less a mystery than book one, but more filled with heart and emotion. There are several interesting new characters and new places. The action is fun and the chases are great. I really feel that this is much more of a complete book and I loved it.
What a science fiction dream this series is and I cannot wait to read more.
Xenopath book two in the Bengal Station trilogy takes everything from book one and outdoes it in this one. Xenopath by Eric Brown is a novel tailor made me to my likes. It is a science fiction novel and hard boiled detective novel mashed into one. The science fiction is of the light nature as there is very little technical data discussed or utilized. The novel is well written and fast paced. The book takes place in the future when Earth has expanded to the stars and we are now in contact with many different alien species. All of this has a light space opera feel.
Xenopath is better than Necropath because our hero has become a better man. After the conflicts ended in book one Jeff's life is forced to be remarkably changed. No longer a Telepath and now totally open to his new wife, Jeff has now let people in and showed that he has a heart. The changes in Jeff are welcome to us the reader as he is a character that is easy to empathize with now.
The story in Xenopath is less a mystery than book one, but more filled with heart and emotion. There are several interesting new characters and new places. The action is fun and the chases are great. I really feel that this is much more of a complete book and I loved it.
What a science fiction dream this series is and I cannot wait to read more.
December 28, 2024
En Xenopath, de Eric Brown, Jeff Vaughan, un ex-telepata que ha renunciado a sus habilidades psíquicas por el estrés y los riesgos que conllevan, vive una vida modesta en la futurista y densamente poblada Bengal Station junto a su esposa embarazada. Su rutina da un giro cuando su antigua colega, Lin Kapinsky, ahora una exitosa detective, le ofrece un lucrativo trabajo que requiere retomar sus habilidades con un avanzado implante telepático. Mientras Vaughan se adentra en un mundo de corrupción y misterio al estilo noir, la historia se entrelaza con la travesía de Pham, una niña de los niveles más bajos de la estación, quien huye de la explotación laboral buscando un futuro mejor, pero termina atrapada en un complot mortal tras presenciar un asesinato. La novela combina ciencia ficción, intriga y drama social, explorando temas de sacrificio, desigualdad y las sombras de la condición humana.
Gran historia de Eric Brown, que mezcla perfectamente el noir con la ciencia ficción.
Gran historia de Eric Brown, que mezcla perfectamente el noir con la ciencia ficción.
October 11, 2011
Xenopath is the second Bengal Station book by Eric Brown, focusing on a telepathic detective based in a huge spaceport off the coast of India. The first novel, Necropath, was a joy to read last year and it certainly whetted my appetite for more stories focusing on Jeff Vaughan and his abilities. With Xenopath I was hoping that the general feeling would be carried through and that the characters would continue to be as enjoyable as they were in Necropath. I was pleasantly surprised in the direction it went and managed to blast through it with no problem at all!
Set two years after Necropath, Jeff Vaughan has now married Sakura and they are expecting their first child. After having his pin removed he now works outside of the investigative area and enjoys a quiet, although not wealthy, life. This was the first thing that struck me when reading Xenopath. Gone is the depressed and moody Jeff Vaughan and here we are with a happy and content one, enjoying his life with Sakura even though they live in a relatively small apartment and don't have too much to show for themselves. What does come across very well is the love that Jeff and Sakura show for each other. It's a very real and very well written relationship - if you've ever been in love then you can relate to the deep feeling between the two and just how well Eric Brown puts that across.
So, it's clear from the off that we've got a different type of novel here with different motivations and well structured character relationships. When we move on to the investigative and telepathic side of things, once Jeff has had a new well paid job and state-of-the-art implant, the novel kicks into gear and moves along at a good and steady pace. The set-up is established and the case starts to get deeper and deeper until the pieces start to point to one place - but why? This is what kept me turning the pages and trying to figure out just what exactly was going on. It's fairly obvious from early on what the outcome could be, but the questions of how? why? when? what? - you know, that feeling you get when you're really enjoying a story and just want to get to the part where it all gets explained - pushes you on and on.
I was more than happy with the conclusion and Eric Brown managed to write a damned good story and got it across in a very effective way. I can't say that this is better than Necropath, but it certainly is different. The tone is lighter and more optimistic and the ideas and concepts dealt with are bigger, but it's just as good a read. I would recommend this without hesitation and strongly suggest that you start the journey from the beginning to fully appreciate it. Here's looking to book 3, Cosmopath!
Set two years after Necropath, Jeff Vaughan has now married Sakura and they are expecting their first child. After having his pin removed he now works outside of the investigative area and enjoys a quiet, although not wealthy, life. This was the first thing that struck me when reading Xenopath. Gone is the depressed and moody Jeff Vaughan and here we are with a happy and content one, enjoying his life with Sakura even though they live in a relatively small apartment and don't have too much to show for themselves. What does come across very well is the love that Jeff and Sakura show for each other. It's a very real and very well written relationship - if you've ever been in love then you can relate to the deep feeling between the two and just how well Eric Brown puts that across.
So, it's clear from the off that we've got a different type of novel here with different motivations and well structured character relationships. When we move on to the investigative and telepathic side of things, once Jeff has had a new well paid job and state-of-the-art implant, the novel kicks into gear and moves along at a good and steady pace. The set-up is established and the case starts to get deeper and deeper until the pieces start to point to one place - but why? This is what kept me turning the pages and trying to figure out just what exactly was going on. It's fairly obvious from early on what the outcome could be, but the questions of how? why? when? what? - you know, that feeling you get when you're really enjoying a story and just want to get to the part where it all gets explained - pushes you on and on.
I was more than happy with the conclusion and Eric Brown managed to write a damned good story and got it across in a very effective way. I can't say that this is better than Necropath, but it certainly is different. The tone is lighter and more optimistic and the ideas and concepts dealt with are bigger, but it's just as good a read. I would recommend this without hesitation and strongly suggest that you start the journey from the beginning to fully appreciate it. Here's looking to book 3, Cosmopath!
October 24, 2015
I enjoyed this second entry in the series. Which is good, because I bought all three books at once, so I've one more to go. There was one point in this one at which I thought the author was going to majorly shaft the main character. In the end, he didn't, but given the way he worked around it, I'd almost rather he had. Not that, that would have made me happy, because the main character is empathetic and likeable, but the wiggle out felt like a cop out. Nevertheless, a fairly minor nitpick, and overall a good read. *When shelving this one, I contemplated making a "Detective" or "Procedural" shelf for books like this. But where does Ms. Marple end and Law & Order begin?
February 5, 2015
Found this book at the library, I didn't realize that it was the second book in the series until after finishing it..... It was a very good book. Eric Brown is an excellent writer. I easily flew through pages, which was good because the book was quite long, but an easy read and very interesting!
October 24, 2024
Wanted to enjoy this book as a somewhat naive sci-fi romp. It was a bit of innocent fun (private investigators with telepathic implants, FTL travel colonial era, giant multicultural space station moored in the Bengal Sea - OK fun). However, two main problems: 1. Plot drag/bloat in book-two-of-a-series with no apparent intention of resolving anything by 90% through the book, but hooking us into a serial. 2. Too much gratuitous human-on-human violence causing reader shudder but not adding much meaning or insight except "hired-killer/greedy corporation = bad." I put the book down (scoring a DNF) when the Brown unnecessarily brutally murdered one of the few sympathetic, truly innocent main characters. Romp => tragedy? There is some chance the character may be magically revived, maybe not. But when the author shows us someone we care about is killed, I'll take his word on it. Can't really care about the book or other characters when the author doesn't seem to.
June 24, 2018
Brown, Eric. Xenopath. Bengal Station No. 2. Solaris, 2009.
This is a close sequel to Necropath. And I just discovered there was an even earlier book (2004) in the series, Bengal Station (labeled No. 0 in the series on Goodreads . . . hmm). Xenopath actually takes us interstellar this time, and it continues to develop the characters from the earlier books in a pleasing way. This series has one of the more innovative approaches to technologically enhanced ESP that I have read. Necropath made one think hard about the ethics of using telepathy in police investigations and made us pity the poor telepath who could not turn off the mental noise. This one provides a technological fix to the noise problem—about time, our hero thinks. The plot involves a murder witnessed by an orphan girl and some interesting aliens. Enjoyable.
This is a close sequel to Necropath. And I just discovered there was an even earlier book (2004) in the series, Bengal Station (labeled No. 0 in the series on Goodreads . . . hmm). Xenopath actually takes us interstellar this time, and it continues to develop the characters from the earlier books in a pleasing way. This series has one of the more innovative approaches to technologically enhanced ESP that I have read. Necropath made one think hard about the ethics of using telepathy in police investigations and made us pity the poor telepath who could not turn off the mental noise. This one provides a technological fix to the noise problem—about time, our hero thinks. The plot involves a murder witnessed by an orphan girl and some interesting aliens. Enjoyable.
May 22, 2017
I really enjoyed the continuation of this trilogy. It was good to see that the second installment was thematically a very comfortable sequel to its predecessor, without simply being a rehashing of the same formula. It was enjoyably different without feeling like an entirely different book.
My only real complaint was what appeared to be a major plot hole in the book. Spoilers to follow. I had trouble believing that Javinder, as a telepath/necropath, would not have notified Major Denning that his mind-shield had been removed. I was unable to formulate any reason for this apparent oversight. I've done some cursory searching online to see if there might be some explanation but as this isn't a heavily discussed book I haven't come across any explanations. Maybe someone here can enlighten me.
My only real complaint was what appeared to be a major plot hole in the book. Spoilers to follow. I had trouble believing that Javinder, as a telepath/necropath, would not have notified Major Denning that his mind-shield had been removed. I was unable to formulate any reason for this apparent oversight. I've done some cursory searching online to see if there might be some explanation but as this isn't a heavily discussed book I haven't come across any explanations. Maybe someone here can enlighten me.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 23, 2020
Not as good as Necropath
January 4, 2015
As with any story from Eric Brown, this Bengal Station story is pure fun. It's made up of some of my favorite sci-fi tropes, these being a future Earth, cool tech, faster-than-light space travel, distant planet colonies and wonderful alien creatures. I love this stuff, and Brown uses them to produce a kind of 'pulp sci-fi' feel which I absolutely love. His are the sort of easy-reading adventure stories that lend themselves to pure escapism, getting lost in an engaging story that moves along at a really nice pace and is wonderfully entertaining to boot.
In Xenopath, we again follow telepath Jeff Vaughan, our main character, and the story picks up his life on Bengal Station a couple of years after the events of Necropath, which is the preceding book in the series. Vaughan is again working as a telepath but this time for a private investigation agency, where he gets mixed up in the questionable affairs of a corporation who administer Mallory, a colony planet many light-years from Earth. Something strange is happening on Mallory and people are being killed to safeguard it's secrets and Vaughan vows to get to the bottom of it all. What ensues is a cool adventure that kept me interested right through.
The characters are interesting and developed well enough for the purposes of the story, but I can just hear some complaining about the 'shallow' or 'one-dimensional' characters. I disagree wholeheartedly, because it's a short and sweet book where Brown manages to show us just enough of the players in the story, as well as a nice look at a far away planet and alien species that are central to the plot. I'm withholding the fifth star from my rating only because I did find the plot a tad predictable, not enough to ruin any part of the book, but just enough to take the edge off it. It's like the author dropped little clues into the story a bit soon and had me figuring the plot quite early on.
However, I still enjoyed the yarn immensely, and I recommend this book to any fan of Eric Brown or lover of fun stories. My usual quip here: Once again, Brown fails to disappoint.
In Xenopath, we again follow telepath Jeff Vaughan, our main character, and the story picks up his life on Bengal Station a couple of years after the events of Necropath, which is the preceding book in the series. Vaughan is again working as a telepath but this time for a private investigation agency, where he gets mixed up in the questionable affairs of a corporation who administer Mallory, a colony planet many light-years from Earth. Something strange is happening on Mallory and people are being killed to safeguard it's secrets and Vaughan vows to get to the bottom of it all. What ensues is a cool adventure that kept me interested right through.
The characters are interesting and developed well enough for the purposes of the story, but I can just hear some complaining about the 'shallow' or 'one-dimensional' characters. I disagree wholeheartedly, because it's a short and sweet book where Brown manages to show us just enough of the players in the story, as well as a nice look at a far away planet and alien species that are central to the plot. I'm withholding the fifth star from my rating only because I did find the plot a tad predictable, not enough to ruin any part of the book, but just enough to take the edge off it. It's like the author dropped little clues into the story a bit soon and had me figuring the plot quite early on.
However, I still enjoyed the yarn immensely, and I recommend this book to any fan of Eric Brown or lover of fun stories. My usual quip here: Once again, Brown fails to disappoint.
Read
August 3, 2011I still remember how accidentally stumbled upon Eric Brown with HELIX and how I followed and got hooked on with KETHANI to then stumbled on NECROPATH perhaps because of by being the first book in a trilogy I couldn't quite put together what the book was about or how and where it would end. So, I do apologise to Mr Brown for its second instalment on the Trilogy is a cracking futuristic thriller so far so good that it took me a week to finish it. If you found yourself lost in Bengal Station and how it works in NECROPATH well, you will get to understand more of it in XENOPATH. Brown's descriptions are so surreal and realistic you could actually, with some imagination [you would not be reading SF if you did not have a fertile mind, otherwise it would be boring for the reader] you can actually transport and see for yourself what it looks like. Bengal Station is an AMAZING place , perhaps a new continent built upwards rather than flat as we know them.
In this second book, we found our anti-hero Vaughan turn into a very simpathetic character, far from Book One and it is made clear, the journey it is not about a big SF Opera in space or in the future but about Vaughan himself. And honestly, this is not a bad thing! We have a self contained story within the book but the actors we already know and they are developing. If anything, some of Sukara's chapters seemed to me to be superflous to the whole storyline as it was centred around her fears and insecurities.
This time, as in HELIX, Brown manages to create an Alien World so easy to imagine with his beautiful descriptions of Mallory. Come on, its orange skies, blue grass and trees and silvery oceans are just to die for! If you can picture it yourself.
The pace is upped in here and we have Vaughan running around everywhere to save the day and it s a very thrilling ride. As in previous books, the resolution might not be bombastic, but it works and it proves that you dont have to end your book with a blast to have a good ending.
Bring on COSMOPATH!
In this second book, we found our anti-hero Vaughan turn into a very simpathetic character, far from Book One and it is made clear, the journey it is not about a big SF Opera in space or in the future but about Vaughan himself. And honestly, this is not a bad thing! We have a self contained story within the book but the actors we already know and they are developing. If anything, some of Sukara's chapters seemed to me to be superflous to the whole storyline as it was centred around her fears and insecurities.
This time, as in HELIX, Brown manages to create an Alien World so easy to imagine with his beautiful descriptions of Mallory. Come on, its orange skies, blue grass and trees and silvery oceans are just to die for! If you can picture it yourself.
The pace is upped in here and we have Vaughan running around everywhere to save the day and it s a very thrilling ride. As in previous books, the resolution might not be bombastic, but it works and it proves that you dont have to end your book with a blast to have a good ending.
Bring on COSMOPATH!
October 5, 2014
This is the second book in Brown's Bengal Station series. It is set two years later with Vaughan married and expecting their first child. He no longer is a telepath when he is offered a job which will mean a better standard of living for his growing family, but will mean he will have to go back reading minds.
The story is a thriller with a good back story of the relationship between Vaughan, his wife and Pham, a young girl looking to see the sky for the first time in her life.
This is a really enjoyable story, may be not quite a good as the first book, but not by much and I really liked it. On to book 3.
The story is a thriller with a good back story of the relationship between Vaughan, his wife and Pham, a young girl looking to see the sky for the first time in her life.
This is a really enjoyable story, may be not quite a good as the first book, but not by much and I really liked it. On to book 3.
January 28, 2010
Review from my blog cybermage.se
It’s two years after Necropath and Jeff has married Sakura and they await their first child when Jeff gets an offer he can’t refuse. He is back as a telepathic detective and soon he is investigating murders connected with Malloy. The plot thickens and his telepathic abilities and insight in the workings of Bengali Station serve him well when he has to find the urchin connected to the case.
The finale is a showdown on the planet Malloy where he have to stop a genocide.
It’s two years after Necropath and Jeff has married Sakura and they await their first child when Jeff gets an offer he can’t refuse. He is back as a telepathic detective and soon he is investigating murders connected with Malloy. The plot thickens and his telepathic abilities and insight in the workings of Bengali Station serve him well when he has to find the urchin connected to the case.
The finale is a showdown on the planet Malloy where he have to stop a genocide.
March 1, 2010
This was a refreshingly fun sci/fi that did not wallow in goofy scientific succotash and metaphysical balderdash. It was simply a fun adventure with assasins, intrigue, lasers, and chase scenes. It was also wonderfully lacking in space-based warfare. I'm looking forward to reading the other books in this series.
The writing was a bit basic, with a lot of "he did this" and "he did that" without much embellishment. But where it counted, the action became crisp and dynamic enough to create some very well done scenes.
The writing was a bit basic, with a lot of "he did this" and "he did that" without much embellishment. But where it counted, the action became crisp and dynamic enough to create some very well done scenes.
August 21, 2012
The futuristic world of compressed humanity and distant world colonization is the backdrop for a good old fashion detective/thriller. This one includes a newer twist on the future of telepathy but ncludes a refreshing detective who is in love with the women he married. It all works and the suspension of disbelief works well. I did find a couple of loose ends that seemed to press up against this window of fiction to distract my complete immersion. However, this was a good book and I look forward to more from this author.
August 13, 2016
this is the first book of this author that i am reading and it is good enough for me to seek out the rest. this one the plot and characters are quite simple, i mean one dimensional. those that are good remain so and those that are bad also remain so, except for one character... i think maybe the first book of the series might be more complex and nuanced. Maybe.
May 26, 2009
A little bit better for me than Neuropath - if you like PI in space you will probably love this one - but for me it only partially worked, though I liked the ending so i will check out book 3 next year too.
June 13, 2011
The story of this book was much better than Necropath. The main character is a lot better and the plot is better. It's still just a murder mystery in "space" but it was a much better read than the first book. Hopefully the third book is as good or better.
August 6, 2013
Horton Hears a Who! I liked Necropath's gritty world, but Xenopath descended (ascended?) into a cutesy story with cartoonish characters and a happy ending. The alien deus ex machina was way too tacked on.
June 30, 2010
The series is getting better now that the characters have had a chance to connect and develop. Bengal Station is more a mystery set in a scifi future than an overarching space opera.
December 26, 2010
Good Read -But really a whodunit
April 27, 2011
I like this author. This book was just as gripping as the first in the trilogy.
November 29, 2012
Excellent trilogy. I would like to see more books with this character.
June 10, 2013
I loved the action-packed story of a telepathic detective on the space station that's packed with humanity. Great setting and characters I cared about.
May 24, 2015
Decent detective tale set in a scifi setting. Didn't wow me, but a solid book.
April 28, 2014
Typical sci-fi. Not in the same league as Asimov or Arthur C. Clarke (but then who is) but will keep you entertained for the duration.
October 21, 2015
continuation to the first book, still good enough to be above average
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