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A review by branch_c
Mission to Moulokin by Alan Dean Foster
4.0
After a recent reread of Icerigger, I decided that the current winter weather would be a fitting time to move on to the sequel. First read 40 (!) ish years ago, this has long been a sentimental favorite of mine, from the time when I was just getting into science fiction and developing a taste for certain styles. Foster's style, with its straightforward adventuring in unique future settings, holds up remarkably well after all this time.
Sure, as I said about Icerigger, not everything is believable, but it doesn't really have to be in order for this to be an enjoyable story. I'll mention a couple of quibbles this time around: I commented favorably on Icerigger that Foster had managed to avoid the obvious blunders of non-sailors writing about sailing - this time he didn't do quite as well, committing the cardinal error of mistaking sheets for sails, as well as mixing up some other terminology. I've definitely seen worse though! And then there's the big revelation about the Golden Saia and the history of Tran-ky-ky. It may have been original at the time; I'm not sure. But this time it struck me as a bit anticlimactic.
Anyway these are minor issues; and the book is worth reading for anyone who enjoys hard SF with a fairly light tone and a dash of swashbuckle. It easily retains my four star rating for nostalgic reasons if nothing else.
Sure, as I said about Icerigger, not everything is believable, but it doesn't really have to be in order for this to be an enjoyable story. I'll mention a couple of quibbles this time around: I commented favorably on Icerigger that Foster had managed to avoid the obvious blunders of non-sailors writing about sailing - this time he didn't do quite as well, committing the cardinal error of mistaking sheets for sails, as well as mixing up some other terminology. I've definitely seen worse though! And then there's the big revelation about the Golden Saia and the history of Tran-ky-ky. It may have been original at the time; I'm not sure. But this time it struck me as a bit anticlimactic.
Anyway these are minor issues; and the book is worth reading for anyone who enjoys hard SF with a fairly light tone and a dash of swashbuckle. It easily retains my four star rating for nostalgic reasons if nothing else.