The Man Who Used the Universe

*** beware spoilers ***

A racy read in which our protagonist, hired gun for a local protection racket, takes over his boss's syndicate, gradually worms his way up the criminal system and the layers of "illegal" status ranks, builds an interplanetary crime empire, and then breaks into "legal" business, using the kind of organizational skills which enable businessmen to hide their dealings in layers of shell companies and offshore tax havens, plus uncanny psychological intuition, long-term secret planning. and the strategic use of blackmail, extreme violence, and almost complete emotional detachment. Driven only by his desire for control over his own destiny (reacting against a childhood of bullying and parental neglect), he becomes the show more first human to make a full commercial agreement with the rival empire of the Nuel (delightfully depicted as a molluscan race so slimily repulsive that they have a collective paranoia about it). He plays human and alien interests against each other in an ever-more complex system of bluffs and double bluffs, and ends up saving both civilizations from conflict and invasion almost as an accidental side-effect of his personal obsession. Maybe there's some sort of message about how good leaders must eschew loyalty or even morality in relation to individuals in order to achieve a greater good for all; but mainly, it's just a fun SF novel.

MB 8-x-2012 show less

Kees vaan Loo-Macklin, a brilliant criminal mastermind who goes legit. He negotiates a tricky, suspicious peace with the enemy Nuel aliens, using their advanced secrets to secure power while raising questions about his true, potentially sinister, motives.

A born killer and highly intelligent criminal prodigy, he transitions from leading the intergalactic underworld to operating within legitimate society. Kees initiates a peace treaty with the Nuel, a move allowing him to gain forbidden technology and secrets from them in exchange for an illusion of peace.

Not my kind of thing at all, but I am interested in Foster's writing. And once I got going in this, I found it almost compulsively readable. Very 'manly' though, ruthless politics & weapons & the very few women as either accessories or bitches etc.

Several reviewers mentioned aliens... I've barely glimpsed them, at p. 70 out of 243... we'll see....
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ok, p. 100 we meet the key aliens and they swiftly become much more interesting characters than The Man.

I do like the "What If" that is What if business owners realized that healthy and happy employees would be more productive? Kees figures it out, and turns a world that is a polluted hell-hole into one with parks and gardens for all to enjoy.

But a lot of this is something that a fan of show more Ayn Rand would enjoy, too, and it makes me uncomfortable. Well, I'm nearly done now, actually....
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Ok done.
Yeah, I'm still not a fan of political intrigue. At least in this case the SF element was important... it would not have been as interesting as if it were written as if it were ordinary Earth history.

But at least Foster didn't lose me; I was able to keep track. And it was a clever tale. And, yes, the aliens were cool.

It's not great literature by any means, and is in some ways written almost at a teen level. But I respect that a lot of readers love it, and if you're interested and can borrow a copy from your library or otherwise get it cheap, go for it.

2.5 stars rounded up because Foster educated me, by giving the man a memorial on one of the worlds in the story, [a:Jorge Amado|52683|Jorge Amado|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1441324886p2/52683.jpg]. show less

The Man Who Used The Universe by Alan Dean Foster: This book is a science fiction novel about a human civilization that has spread over a group of planets and their antagonistic relationship with the slimy Nuel aliens who reside on another group of planets. Their xenophobic struggles with each other provide lots of intrigue, tension and violence. Just when the situation seems to be improving, another predator species mounts an attack that appears to be catastrophic. The book is populated by interesting characters, twists and turns of plot, and engrossing action. However, the most interesting aspects of this book are the covert manipulations that guided the development of the human and Nuel civilizations. I enjoyed this book very much.

I need to reread this to do a full review. The bad guy turned good guy, or is he still a bad guy? The plot revolves around figuring out what exactly he's up to, and whether its in his best interest, or all humanity.

Utilitarian writing but the best villain I've ever seen. The ultimate in villain motivation.

God, this guy is prolific - I assume he's actually a pen-name for a group of authors.

Loo-Macklin rises from a low ranked criminal to the highest regarded individual in an interesting and easy to read way.