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Quofum
(Humanx Commonwealth #27)
by
A great read for the Sci-Fi/mystery reader.
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Hardcover, 304 pages
Published
October 28th 2008
by Del Rey
(first published January 1st 2008)
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Showing 1-30
Start your review of Quofum (Humanx Commonwealth #27)
Jul 31, 2015
Paul E. Morph
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review of another edition
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books-read-in-2016
This book is part of Alan Dean Foster's Humanx Commonwealth series... and it really should have ONLY READ THIS IF YOU'VE READ THE REST OF THE SERIES emblazoned across the cover because it definitely doesn't work as a standalone novel in its own right.
It would be fine for about the first 80% of the book but anybody not aware of the references ADF makes to other books in the saga would be scratching their heads in bewilderment for the last 20%. I have read the rest of the series and I still think ...more
It would be fine for about the first 80% of the book but anybody not aware of the references ADF makes to other books in the saga would be scratching their heads in bewilderment for the last 20%. I have read the rest of the series and I still think ...more
This is a showcase of Foster's imagination. It is also a sort of bridge story to read before you read Flinx Transcendent,the novel that brings Flinx's quest to save the Universe to a possible end. This is worth the time, check it out.
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You've heard of "cozy mysteries?" I believe Alan Dean Foster writes "cozy Sci-Fi." In the few books of his that I've read so far, his characters are likeable, have personality and charm, can be droll, sarcastic, and witty, and approach the challenges and obstacles put before them with positivity and aplomb. They can experience doubt and depression, but never stay down for long. The spaceships and planets these characters find themselves on are bautiful, strange, and awesome. Life is adventurous,
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While I’ve enjoyed Foster’s keystone Flinx and Pip story series, I think I’ve found his stand alone novels set in the same Humanx Commonwealth background to be the most rewarding. They often feel more fresh to me and each tends to highlight a different new world and different scientific mystery. Quofum (2009) is the latest addition to those stand alones I so love.
Relative to the other Commonwealth novels I may have enjoyed this less, but there are two key reasons. Read on before passing judgment ...more
Relative to the other Commonwealth novels I may have enjoyed this less, but there are two key reasons. Read on before passing judgment ...more
Foster, Alan Dean. Quofum. Humanx Commonwealth No. 27. Del Rey, 2008.
Alan Dean Foster is one of the most prolific of science fiction grand masters. His stories are never groundbreakingly original, but they are always entertaining adventure tales. The Humanx Commonwealth tales, with and without Flinx, are loosely connected and can usually be read as stand-alone novels. Quofum is one of the ones without Flinx, and frankly, I wish he was available to resolve the plot. I do not want to do too many s ...more
Alan Dean Foster is one of the most prolific of science fiction grand masters. His stories are never groundbreakingly original, but they are always entertaining adventure tales. The Humanx Commonwealth tales, with and without Flinx, are loosely connected and can usually be read as stand-alone novels. Quofum is one of the ones without Flinx, and frankly, I wish he was available to resolve the plot. I do not want to do too many s ...more
May 26, 2014
Becky
rated it
liked it
Shelves:
library-book,
adult,
reviewed,
inventive-world-and-lore,
science-fiction,
aliens,
future,
space-travel
Quofum
We're not sure how it's pronounced either
Ever wanted to read a book that is, essentially, a National Geographic documentary for an alien world with almost none of that pesky "plot" or "character development" nonsense getting in the way?
If your response to that was a "hell yeah, sign me up!", boy, did Alan Dean Foster write a book for you!
This is how to best describe Quofum, a spur-of-the-moment "pick up a book because it had a really cool cover and summary blurb" decision I made at the l ...more
We're not sure how it's pronounced either
Ever wanted to read a book that is, essentially, a National Geographic documentary for an alien world with almost none of that pesky "plot" or "character development" nonsense getting in the way?
If your response to that was a "hell yeah, sign me up!", boy, did Alan Dean Foster write a book for you!
This is how to best describe Quofum, a spur-of-the-moment "pick up a book because it had a really cool cover and summary blurb" decision I made at the l ...more
++This is obviously not my favorite ADF novel. It centers on a crazy mixed up world that is in fact a laboratory itself and the xenologists sent to take samples and classify the flora, fauna and the local culture find themselves intrigued, fascinated, bored and terrified with the scope of their observations. Just to make things interesting, the planet itself is there and then it isn't.++
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A great addition to his Commonwealth universe.
Originaly posted at SF Crowsnest Nov 2008.
I haven’t read an Alan Dean Foster book for years. I don’t know why, I enjoyed some of the early commonwealth novels – they were always exciting and entertaining. You know the problem when you return to something from your youth: it’s just not the same. Quofum is a world that mysteriously disappears from space occasionally and a small group of scientists are sent to explore it. I think the reason that I didn’t find it very exciting or entertaining is tha ...more
I haven’t read an Alan Dean Foster book for years. I don’t know why, I enjoyed some of the early commonwealth novels – they were always exciting and entertaining. You know the problem when you return to something from your youth: it’s just not the same. Quofum is a world that mysteriously disappears from space occasionally and a small group of scientists are sent to explore it. I think the reason that I didn’t find it very exciting or entertaining is tha ...more
I read this as a final book in the Humanthranx series rather than a part of Pip & Flinx series. Overall I enjoyed the series, a light read with a mix of S-F and mystery in different proportions, but mostly intriguing enough to keep the reader entertained. A good summer-time read for a S-F fan. Since I read the whole series in one shoot, I found some ideas and plots a bit repetitive, a fault that I am sure I would not find if I waited for a couple of months (or years, following the published date
...more
Wowed by the concept behind this book. Some readers may look at it as purely a filler story as some series authors have done in the past. I'm not saying that it doesn't fill you in on certain issues pertaining to the continuation of the Commonwealth story line running throughout this series, however I think it's a great deal more of a masterful job of in making you think of our own concepts of what civilized society really entails. Is it just a few steps away from our primitive beginnings? How c
...more
Quofum is a very strange planet. For one thing"," it is not always there. For another"," it is filled with an overabundance of incredibly diverse lifeforms. When a Humanx exploration team arrives"," the scientists are confronted by more questions than they can answer"," and make contact with literally dozens of unrelated species of intelligent beings. As if they didn't have enough problems"," some crew members have brought ulterior motives with them.This rambling tale has too many plot lines to
...more
Taking it by itself, this book might seem a bit... boring. But if you take it as a piece of the overall Commonwealth puzzle, it's good. It's not the typical action novel Foster's been writing for the Pip and Flinx books, but it's no less good if you take it in the light it was written. I know some people have said it's redundant to always hear about the multitude of life forms, but really, if you use your imagination (which is what books are supposed to inspire in us), then it's your own fault i
...more
Maybe I've read too much Foster. But this story was very predictable. Hence, boring. The premise is interesting; but come on! A robot probe records a planet that appears and then disappears. And a manned expedition *lands* on it?! Are we surprised that they later find they cannot leave? Not wanting to give away anything, I will only say that bad guys do get a very deserved fate. That was the best part of the book. The aliens are very unbelievable and difficult to imagine. So, like I said: intere
...more
I'm sad that I have to take Alan Dean Foster off my have to read list. I'm still going to read Flinx Transcendant, just to see how the story (hopefully) wraps up. But the last two books I've read by him, barely have enough content for a good short story, let alone a novel. And this one was basically a rehash of City of the Dead - which was a very good novel. Hopefully Flinx Transcendant will transcend the horrible taste this one left in my mouth.
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just beginning, on page 21
finished...If you’re looking for Pip and Flinx: spoiler alert – they’re not here…four scientists are set to deliver at one destination and end up at another where there is no stability whatsoever. Best line: “As a general rule scientists did not suffer from nudity phobias.” Hmmm, should have said another spoiler, there are naked scientists folks, and if you take offense, don’t read! ;)
finished...If you’re looking for Pip and Flinx: spoiler alert – they’re not here…four scientists are set to deliver at one destination and end up at another where there is no stability whatsoever. Best line: “As a general rule scientists did not suffer from nudity phobias.” Hmmm, should have said another spoiler, there are naked scientists folks, and if you take offense, don’t read! ;)
Two things that I love in literature are world building and character building. I love ADF's world building but find his disregard for characters unsettling. Normally I wouldn't read any further an author who doesn't bother with character building/growth and disposes of characters so cavalierly but the world building is enough to keep my interest. This one was just ok - characters were flatter than usual...
...more
Though I am a great fan of Flinx and Pip, this "novel of the Commonwealth" disappointed me in its execution--three scientists marooned on an impossible planet filled with impossible life forms and multiple, contradictory, evolutionary tracks--perhaps the fact that the plot had so much internal action as opposed to the more typical adventure...
...more
I usually like Alan Dean Foster, but this whole book felt like the leadup to some great story, with no final "punch-line" it was all back story. At the end of the book I was still waiting. I hope there are more to fill in the rest of the story, but I do not like this as a stand alone book.
...more
Not having much experience with Scifi this was a great entry book. A well written mystery and interesting characters. Friends tell me Foster is the writer of some of the Star Trek novels and this was certainly in the same vein. I'd read more by this author.
...more
Alan Dean Foster is one of my favorite authors. His stories are full of creativity. This story is no exception, however, I have a little trouble with the ending. It was certainly different than I expected, but a bit of a let down.
The latest in Foster's Humanx Commonwealth series.
...more
I like the Flinx series, and this is set in the same world. Good setup to the last book.
Disappointed that Flinx and his mini-drag weren't in the book. Bored by page 100, so I returned it to the library.
...more
Read from 7/17 to 7/19.
I felt like the book just leaves you hanging, like maybe it is half of a book and the rest is yet to come.
Probably the worst ADF book I've ever read (and I've read a ton of 'em). Seriously boring and incoherent. Bleah!
...more
This is a poor story with glacial pacing in the second half but manages to maintain some interest through Alan Dean Foster's ability to write.
...more
Only OK . . . actually started reading this twice thinking I had not read the end. But the ending was fairly forgettable.
Interesting, but it kind of just felt like a side story that didn't deserve its own book.
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Bestselling science fiction writer Alan Dean Foster was born in New York City in 1946, but raised mainly in California. He received a B.A. in Political Science from UCLA in 1968, and a M.F.A. in 1969. Foster lives in Arizona with his wife, but he enjoys traveling because it gives him opportunities to meet new people and explore new places and cultures. This interest is carried over to his writing,
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