Alan Dean Foster is a prolific science fiction author and among his most popular books have been the stories of Flinx and Pip. These novels are set in a galactic future dominated by the Humanx Commonwealth, a multi-species, multi-world government founded by humans and Thranx (picture insects more or less scaled up to people size). After nearly 30 years of writing novels and short stories in this mileau (only about half of which involve the Human/Thranx duo), Foster decided to tell the tale of the founding of the Commonwealth. In fact, he wrote a three novel series called just that. I thought I’d reviewed the first two books (Phylogenesis and Dirge) last year but checking the website I see that’s not the case. Oh well.
In Diuturnity’s Dawn, the stage is set and readers, who know the general shape of the outcome of course, can smell the ink on the treaties and hear the rustle of the parchment. Though we know where we need to be at the end, Foster is a good enough writer to make the journey interesting, and he focuses on three separate sets of people who come together in the conclusion. The author explains: “One takes place on the colony world of Comagrave (see map of the Commonwealth on my website) and involves the AAnn and a momentous archeological discovery. The second revolves around an intercultural human-thranx fair on the world of Dawn (also on the map), and the third takes place on the thranx capitol world of Hivehom and centers on a female human diplomat stationed there.”
Diuturnity, by the way, is a real word. Though why it’s part of the title is somewhat confusing.
The pacing of the novel is somewhat problematic: it’s too slow, although at the end finally gets into gear. The characters and the plots are not bad, although the absolute adherence to cycling through the stories, 1-2-3, 1-2-3, all the way to the end is a bit unnecessary. This is definitely a book for ADF fans, the readers who just have to know, if you get my drift. I think I enjoyed the first book of this trilogy more and most of the Flinx and Pip novels are more fun to read.
BillSaysThis 