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Loading... Kalin (original 1969; edition 1976)by E. C. Tubb (Author)
Work InformationKalin by E. C. Tubb (1969)
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. This 4th in the Dumarest saga was pretty good. The protagonist of the series, Earl Dumarest, is a standard strong-jawed hero. He's tough, smart, competent at pretty much everything. He doesn't think all that much. The novels are chauvinistic, being of a certain era of SF. Go back a few decades and you don't really find a lot of female characters who have much to say. That being said, they are fast, fun space-opera reads. For what it is, I'd rate this one a 5. It's nice to read some SF that you can just read and not have to decypher. For my money, the Dumarest Saga of E.C. Tubb ranks up there as one of the best science fiction series written in English. Set in the far distant future, when mankind has spread across the galaxy, they feature the inimitable Earl Dumarest, a man with lightning fast reflexes who is forever trying to find the home world he fled as a child and has long since lost: Earth. The galaxy he travels through is a hard, deadly place for a man with no affiliations and little money. Tubb pulls no punches in his depictions of the many harsh, hellish worlds and people whom Dumarest encounters, and invariably survives, if only just, during his quest. Perhaps one of the best things about this series (which consists of some 32 books) is that each book is short, with no unnecessary padding; they're generally between 150 and 190 pages long. So they're a reasonably quick read, too. I recommend reading all books in the series, preferably in the intended order. If you can, though, avoid the Arrow Books editions - the cover illustrations are, to put it simply, the pits. The artists clearly had never read the books, or if they did, didn't bother to note down a lot of details about the scenes they chose to portray in these illustrations, e.g. clothing, weaponry, etc. Shame on Arrow Books for using such second-class amateurs. Did I mention? Unlike the seemingly interminable Wheel of Time series of Robert Jordan, or the never-ending Chronicles of Thomas Covenant by Stephen Donaldson - both of which I find way too verbose, i.e. a lot of words pass by without very much happening - the Dumarest Saga has an actual ending - in volume 32, The Return, Dumarest finds his way home! no reviews | add a review
Belongs to SeriesDumarest (4) Is contained in
Many times, Dumarest's dream of Earth has almost cost him his life. As he journeys from world to world, restlessly moving outwards towards the edge of the galaxy where his goal lies, Dumarest must be alert, watchful. For there are new dangers - forces more powerful than man - which threaten his dream. On a planet where violence and superstition hold sway, Dumarest forges a bond with the prophetess Kalin. And now, more than ever, he needs her. Kalin. The mutant girl whose mysterious talent for seeing into the future has already saved him from Bloodtime on Logis, from space-disaster, from slavery on desolate Chron. Kalin. Who can foretell the terrors yet to come. (First published 1969) No library descriptions found.
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read 9/14/2023 ( )