SEL. KEEPER. TOPS!

Inside flyleaf: One of Gordy's Best! SEL ( )

As humans embark on interstellar travel, they head, of course, to the Alpha Centauri system but find an ancient civilization there already. In fact, based on the remarkable resemblance of flora and fauna, it seems highly likely that Earth was a lost colony of this empire. In order to begin to understand the Empire and how Earth will relate to it, Earth has plotted to inject a very special man into the Empire to observe it and to report back. But things progress far quicker than anyone imagines, and before long simple observation is no longer possible.

This was an amazingly quick read - I started it at about 6pm and finished by 11pm - and that included dinner, a trip to the grocery store and bath night. It wasn't terribly deep but did ask a couple of interesting questions. The unfortunate impression I came away with was that our hero, Jim Kiell, was James Bond - strong, suave, stoic, knowledgeable, able to learn anything (physical or mental) quickly - in short, a demigod. I think it takes away from characters when they are given so many advantages. The insights that Our Man Jim gets, the amazing leaps of perception and reason are just not quite believable. Perhaps they would be if Dickson had spent more than 162 pages on the story.

Then again, if it had gone much longer, we probably would have gotten into High-born sex... or Starkian military maneuvers... And who would want THAT? Ummm.. Me! ( )