Ghostdrift

The fourth installment in Palmer's Finder series is a lot of fun. After the wild events of book three, Fergus is doing what he'd always claimed he wanted: making tea and gazing at the ocean. He's become almost Zen-like in his calmness. Unfortunately, an old acquaintance locates him and before long, he's involved with space pirates, deep-space waystations, the Alliance, traveling uncharted wormholes, and having even more alien encounters.



The Finder series is an interesting one. Palmer is not a prolific author, with a year between each of the first three books, and a wait of three years before this one. Perhaps because of the evolution of Fergus as a character, changes in the publishing industry and, well, life, each book has a different show more feel. Book one was the Price of Altruism, book two a Lone-hero Adventure, book three Heists and McGuffins, and this one, well, this one is all-out Space Adventure. I think the reluctant hero is a tricky one, and each book had Fergus feeling more and more boxed in. This one frees him, and his mild altruism opens it up for more fun, less obligation, and less fear. I hate to say too much for the risk of spoilers, so I'll just note that I felt like Palmer did a good job walking the line of keeping the story unpredictable, yet congruent.

"'Exactly,' Belows said. 'You would have made an excellent real pirate, you know, if only you were a little more inclined toward violence.'"

The tone matches the plotting. I like that Palmer neatly avoids all the romantic stuff; there's a line in this one that made me realize the lack of entanglement might have been deliberate:
"Marche glared at Fergus, as if this was all somehow his fault.
“Don’t look at me,” Fergus said. “I’m not much of a smoocher.”

I'll acknowledge to quibbles, two of my own and one others'. For myself, I felt that while Palmer talked a lot about the horrible and evilness of the Belos' space pirates, they really weren't. I was great with the positive feel, but I don't know that she achieved that dichotomy--were they really that evil, or was it their own marketing ploy? I lean towards the latter, personally. "It's quite the tale, though I don't know how much of it is real.' 'Some, but not all, of course.' Belos said. 'Go on.'" I'll also note that the writing felt a little less polished in places than Bot 9 stories. A few fragments, a little less atmosphere, a few cultural references ('spaceship turducken'? Really?) that seemed odd. But that's more a product of very high expectations over poor quality.

Regarding the general complaint of the omnipotent plot device: yes, the Asiig make an appearance (as they do), and though they are accused of being the ultimate deux et machina (much like Q in Next Generation), more of their intentions become apparent.

Really, any complaints from me are slight. This was an engaging adventure, start to finish. I sucked it up in a day. Alas; all things come to an end. Perhaps, as Palmer hints, even the Finder series, though I sincerely I hope not (I'd also love a spin-off with either/both Belos). I'll be looking for whatever Palmer chooses to write next (insert plea for more Bot 9 here!).



~Much appreciation to Neil~ show less

The Ghostdrift is an empty region of space where theory says there should be more stars. Why go there? Well, Fergus Ferguson, whose mother may have really wanted to honor the first king of Scotland or just have had a quirky sense of humor, has joined a team hoping to rescue a woman who was either killed or abducted by aliens or pirates in the area. Fergus knows about being in alien hands: one group of whimsical aliens has left him with a strange ability to “hear electricity.” It comes in handy at times. Fergus is like Odysseus—a man of many wiles who is not always the luckiest guy to be around. Good, old-fashioned space opera. I have enjoyed all four books in the series, and I hope Suzanne Palmer has one or two more on the way.

I was sorry to learn that Ghostdrift is the last of the Finder series. I liked Fergus well enough in the first book, Finder, but he grew on me quite a bit as the series went on. I don’t usually read series, so the fact that I read this one shows how much I liked it.

The blurb says “a hopepunk sci-fi caper described as Macgyver meets Firefly,” and that pretty neatly sums it up. There’s a lot more action and adventure than Becky Chambers, but enough life-affirming values, however subtly incorporated, that hopepunk space opera seems a fitting description.

I quite enjoy this book, although it seems even less plausible than the preceding volumes in the series, and I somewhat regret that it allows the Asiig to become less mysterious and less frightening than they were originally.

It’s described as the last book in the series, but the ending is not at all final, leaving the way clear for the author to continue the series if she ever wants to.