Finder
The Finder Chronicles, Book 1
Suzanne Palmer
DAW
Fiction, Sci-Fi
****+ (Good/Great)
DESCRIPTION: Fergus Ferguson has spent his whole life running away, yet has a peculiar knack for finding things. This makes him an ideal seeker of stolen items across the galaxy; he can get in, grab the goods, and get out without any undue entanglements or regrets (at least, none he'll admit to). But this latest job - reclaiming the stolen AI-driven ship Venetia's Sword from a would-be tyrannical crime boss in the backwater collection of floating habitats called Cernekan - is nothing but undue entanglements, from the moment his interhabitat cable car is destroyed by the thief's thugs. The explosion leads to the death of the grandmotherly Vahn matriarch, a lichen farmer whose last act saves his life. Despite his personal rule about staying out of local troubles, the local troubles have found him - troubles inextricably entwined with a delicate power balance on the verge of collapse, the unexplained interference of a mysterious and dangerous alien race, and secrets long held by the old woman... and by Fergus Ferguson, whose past is catching up with him even as his future looks more uncertain than ever.
REVIEW: I went to the bookstore looking for something new and interesting... and, if I'm being honest, another book entirely, but the nearest surviving Barnes and Noble has gutted their genre section to near-uselessness. So I took a chance on an impulse buy from the "New Arrivals" section (which is larger now than their entire science fiction and fantasy area... and they wonder why people turn to internet options. But, I digress...). It was pitched by the staff recommendation as "Star Wars meets Indiana Jones", which isn't quite accurate. It's more of an homage to older space adventures, with reasonably hard science but also more than enough room for action, danger, and just a hint of the inexplicable and alien at the fringes. Things kick off fairly quickly; by the end of the first chapter we have a rough sketch of our story, our hero, and our setting, rounded out by our first explosion. The tale keeps moving fairly well from then on out, as Fergus keeps getting himself into more trouble and digging himself in deeper with the power play/open war that's just been sparked in Cernekan, in no small part due to his arrival (or, rather, the balance-tipping ship he was sent to repossess). This isn't his first dance with civil war, but the last one left scars and regrets he swore never to repeat... only the universe apparently doesn't care what he swore, and sometimes the only way out of danger is right through the heart of it. Around Fergus grows a network of allies and enemies (he tries not to entangle himself enough for true friends, just contacts, but ends up with friends anyway), which sometimes gets a bit tangled and convoluted. The mystery aliens insert themselves into the tale at a key moment. If anything feels off-step in this story, it's them, though I expect that's because their actions and reasoning will be further explained (insomuch as they can be) in future installments. The rest of the book, however, is solid adrenaline-rush old-school science fiction action, establishing a universe and main character more than sturdy enough to carry further adventures.
As a closing note, I read this with just a slight twist of sadness. This is the exact kind of book that, some years ago, I would've handed over to my father as soon as I'd finished; as an old-time science fiction fan, he would've eaten it up. Dementia is a cruel disease, indeed...
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