Four Scientists, a military captain, and a technician are sent to the unusual planet of Quofum, a planet that seems to appear and disappear with some regularity. The scientists are there to survey the planet and its many and varied lifeforms while the Captain runs the base and the technician keeps it working.
The scientists soon find Quofum to be an enigma, as Evolution runs so rampant on the planet as to seem ridiculous. Just within easy reach of the camp they have set up are four very different sentient races and innumerable life forms that should not have been able to evolve together.
Unbeknownst to the scientists, the Captain is in debt to a criminal organization and has decided not to repay the debt. In fact, he has told people he was doing this and his words led to some consternation on the part of the criminal organization. His boasts made them look like fools, and they would not put up with that. So they hired an assassin to kill the Captain and make it look like an accident. But to keep up the pretense, the other scientists would have to die. The Tech is actually an assassin slipped into the crew, and he plans to leave the scientists alive on the planet and take the ship they arrived in.
However, they discover the Captain before the tech-cum-assassin can leave. A failed attack on the assassin leads to the death of one of the scientists, and the other three flee. The tech leaves, but finds that Quofum has disappeared again, leaving him stranded in unfamilliar space that is not anywhere in the known universe.
Back on the planet the scientists become depressed, but decide to keep up their researches anyway for the edification of any future expeditions to the planet. As they work hard to catalog the many life forms and sentient species, the two humans and one Thranx eventually stumble onto the makers of Quofum. But will what they find there enable them to escape, or eventually lead to their deaths?
I was predisposed to like Quofum, which is set in Alan Dean Foster's Commonwealth Universe, the same place inhabited by the long-standing character of Flinx, more properly Phillip Lynx, and his pet Alaspian Minidragon, Pip. But despite mentioning Flinx on the dust jacket copy, he never actually appears in the story, nor is his name mentioned. It's possible that a future novel will feature the characters of the scientists in this story meeting with Flinx, but to mention him here as if he will actually appear or even be mentioned somehow is misleading at best and an ouright lie at worst.
Now, I don't know who's at fault for the Dust Jacket snafu: Alan Dean Foster himself or one of the people who works for the publishing company. I realize that ADF is in all probability writing the sequel to Quofum where the three scientists actually meet Flinx and Pip, but that doesn't make it right to write a blurb that makes it seem like he's going to be part of the story you are reading or appear in this book when he's not and he won't. Did I mention I really dislike a book that lies to me about what is going on in the blurb? Well, now you know.
Aside from that, the book is rather interesting, and the descriptions of the Planet Quofum are intense and amazing. On its own, without any mention of Flinx, I probably would have liked this book, although the ending really doesn't resolve anything, and the book feels horribly unfinished because of that. But with the misinformation on the Dust Jacket, I ended up really disliking it. It reads like it needed to be edited within an inch of its life, and wasn't.
My take is give this one a miss. You aren't really missing anything in this novel that a quick recap in the next won't fix. The entire plot of the novel could be summed up in one short paragraph and ends up being a big waste of time.
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2 comments:
(Contains spoilers -- but little more than already revealed by LadyRhian's review.)
I was given two of Foster's books for Christmas: Exceptions To Realities (a collection of short stories) and Quofum.
I enjoyed the short stories, although they felt like they'd been written in the 50s and 60s rather than 2000-2004.
Seeing "A novel of the Commonwealth" on the front cover made me cautious; I do not like to buy a book and find that it's the second or third in a trilogy, or based on a series I have no previous knowledge about!
I think I've read Foster before, but nothing specific comes to mind. Other than a short story in the first book I mentioned, I don't know anything about Flinx or Pip -- or what a "minidrag" might be -- so I was a little reassured -- and confused -- when I read in the teaser on the dust jacket that they're not in this book.
Like movie "trailers", I think dust-cover blurbs too often reveal more of the story than necessary, so I read just enough of the jacket copy to feel assured this would be a stand-alone story.
Did I mention I also don't like to read a book only to discover that it's the beginning of a series? With few exceptions, the trilogies I've read tell stories that stretch over three volumes; rarely have I read one part of such a series that had a satisfying beginning, middle, and conclusion. I have no objection to trilogies; I just don't care to wait months -- or years -- for the next installment. I'd rather read the entire story, without interruption.
The Quofum story began well, and held my interest and imagination. The characters were each unique and believable, as was the plot.
My first stirring of unease came halfway into the story, when Araza abruptly revealed himself as some kind of ninja/mafia enforcer. Where did this come from? I don't recall any hint that Boylan was in debt, nor that he flaunted his refusal to pay, nor that Araza bore him any ill will. (Perhaps I missed such clues... but I'm not willing to re-read half the book to find out!)
I kept reading... hoping there would be some clever explanation, some reason, some logical revelation... but no.
Araza -- super-spook -- easily kills Boylan, then a short time later, Tellenburg (who I had thought to be the story's hero), abruptly ending what had seemed to be developing into an interesting involvement with the story's only female character!
Well, okay, I thought: Quofum is a planet of mystery, and this is a science fiction story; perhaps Tellenburg will somehow be brought back to life, to become an interesting castmember again.
No. Tellenburg instantly disappears from the storyline; no burial, no second thoughts, nothing.
It's as if the character hadn't existed -- and he didn't need to. There was no real reason for Tellenburg to have been in the plot; he didn't add to or advance the story, and his presence (and then removal) didn't seem to have any impact on the remaining characters!
At this point, I started to worry. I checked to see how many pages remained; would there be enough to allow the plot to come together into a reasonably logical, entertaining conclusion?
I kept reading... hoping... but in the end I was disappointed.
Araza wandered off into some alternate space or galaxy or something; lost... and apparently crying. We don't learn where... or why. End of the Araza storyline.
The remaining characters continue their research, discovering more and more interesting and unusual facets to the ecology of Quofum.
Then they discover -- and explore (for years, or maybe centuries?) -- a vast machine inside the planet.
Eventually, in the last few pages -- through some kind of cosmic power-point presentation -- all is revealed to them: there's an evil something on its way, and maybe they will have a part in fighting it. Or maybe not.
The story (this is a story?) just dribbles away.
Haviti (apparently now the main character) leaves us with this final thought: "She knew only that she [and the others] had best continue to get along with one another in their enhanced and altered states because the wait to learn the final answer was likely to be a long one."
I have no doubt of that.
Unfortunately, I have neither the patience nor the interest in finding out if there's an actual conclusion (a "final answer") to this... chain of events. (I can't call it a story, since -- although it does have a beginning -- it lacks a rational middle and is totally without a conclusion!)
If I had purchased this book, I'd be at the bookstore, demanding a refund.
I agree with LadyRhian's comments about feeling cheated and lied-to: if this is the beginning of a trilogy or series, there's no mention of what the follow-up title(s) might be; it supposedly involves other characters (Pip & Flinx) but there's no connection to them in this book; the dust jacket blurb is misleading and inaccurate; and the plot (such as it is) is little more than a series of setups without a single punchline.
HawkeyeJoe here--
I first caught on to the Alan Dean Foster writings when I learned he was the caretaker, for lack of a better word, of the H.Beam Piper legacy. I read most of Pipers works, posthumously (That is after he died, not after I died! 8-)). I loved them and was very pleased to see ADF carry on with that universe.
For the first time, I am disappointed in a book by ADF. I have read some I did not really like very much. But that was just a matter of taste. This book stunk, IMHO. I felt that it was written as a setup for a more worthwhile read in a future book about Flinx's showdown with the Ultimate Evil. Fine. I understand that. But if that is what this was, then don't palm it off as a novel. This book simply ran out of pages, before it wrapped up anything. It did not setup any compelling questions. It did not explore anything worthwhile. The only thing it did was make money for the Author and Publisher. This sucker will be much less willing to part with my hard earned cash for the next ADF book I see. That says something, since I have read over 50 of ADF's previous books.
Shame on you ADF.
My email, if you wish to contact me-James Bailey (liljim@tds.net)
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