Review: “Running from the Deity” by Alan Dean Foster

This is the next in the long-running “Pip & Flinx” series by Alan Dean Foster. There are 10 novels in the series prior to this one so you can forgive Foster for losing a little steam.

Newbies to the “Pip & Flinx” universe will need a few chapters to catch up because Running from the Deity begins mid-crisis: Flinx, a former thief and singularly talented telepath, is on his way (via his trusty sentient starship) to locate an ancient, planet-sized weapons platform that is wandering Flying Dutchman-style through the universe. An attack by a hostile, practically omnipotent alien race is imminent and the entire galaxy is in peril. Flinx and his allies hope that the missing weapon-planet will pack the necessary punch to defeat the invaders.

Flinx is accompanied by his trusty pet, Pip, a miniature dragon that sprays toxic venom. In this book, it serves the function of deadly handbag, but in earlier books it actually mattered to the story. I wish Foster had found more for Pip to do in this installment besides fly around in the background of every scene.

This book is like one of those episodes on the old Battlestar Galactica where Apollo and Starbuck would get stranded on the cowboy planet or the casino planet for an episode, helping the primitive locals with their advanced knowledge and technology before rejoining the ship and the main plot line.

Flinx puts down on a pre-industrial planet for repairs and decides to take a look around. He discovers that the locals are telepaths like himself. On every other planet, Flinx has been overwhelmed by all the psychic noise, which gives him terrible headaches. Among the telepathic natives, however, Flinx finds mental peace.

He befriends a poor native couple while his ship repairs itself, and they soon cajole him into using his advanced technology to heal the ill. Against the wishes of the humble husband, his scheming wife, taxes the sick pilgrims. Meanwhile, the number of pilgrims escalates and, eventually, the entire society is drawn into war over who will control this god from the stars.

As I said, this installment loses some steam. It’s clearly a breather episode away from the more weighty material of the larger series arc. There�s never much threat to our main character: Flinx�s technology is so advanced as to make him a god to the natives, and because of the lower gravity, he can outfight, outrun, and outjump them handily. Though there are half-hearted attempts to control or kill him at various points, neither side ever seems convinced that they might actually work. The book revolves more around the moral issues&#151your typical Prime Directive stuff.

Not a rip-roaring yarn, but a perfectly solid, if old-fashioned, piece of scifi storytelling. Foster writes with the rigor and thoughtfulness of a sci fi master, and if this fails to thrill as entertainment, at the very least it creates a believable and consistent universe that you’ll want to return to.

Rating: 3 out of 5

Running from the Deity by Alan Dean Foster
Published by: Del Rey (October 25, 2005)
ISBN: 0345461592
Genre: Science Fiction