Orphan Star by Alan Dean Foster
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Is it just me or are these novels just getting better? Sure, it took a few years before ADF pumped out the second published novel (or third, chronologically,) but the story sure as hell popped along.

At first glance and in Flinx's mental flavor, it's so easy to fall into the trap of thinking this might be a YA title of '77 before we got all clunky with terms. Indeed, it feels more like a more polished and popping Heinlein juvenile, full of tough situations and some truly nasty crap going on while a basically good-hearted 17-year-old with untested mental telepathy and a fiercely loyal mini-drag tries to discover his past. You know. The little things like discovering who his parents are after having been raised an orphan.

Unfortunately for him, he runs headlong into child-porn rings, slavers, a corrupt universal church, murder (some of it his doing), and even a slave uprising... of which he manufactures. Sound too good to be true? Everything follows, though, and it's fun as hell.

That's right. I'm becoming a fanboy.

I'm not quite to the point where I'm raving or anything, but this is still a tight and fun read and it has no lossy quality compared to modern fiction at all. Indeed, it's standing the test of time and why aren't all you YA fans reading this great SF series???

It even leaves a wholesome taste in my mouth. It's odd. Weird. Even refreshing. :)

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