Il cercatore di tesori

Retrieval Artist #6.5

by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

ROMANZO BREVE (109 pagine) - FANTASCIENZA - Un avvincente thriller spaziale ambientato nell'universo ostile dell'Artista dei recuperi e dei cacciatori di teste

In un universo dove umani e alieni hanno formato un commonwealth galattico denominato "Alleanza Terrestre" trattati interplanetari regolano la convivenza tra le razze, e gli umani, che  cercano di espandersi sul suolo di altri pianeti e sistemi solari, devono sottostare alle bizzarre usanze extraterrestri. Spesso le leggi aliene non hanno un senso immediato per gli umani, ma la punizione per chi le viola  è quasi sempre terribile, e può andare dalla perdita della vita a quella del primo figlio nato. Spesso gli umani, per evitare le conseguenze dei loro reati, si affidano ad agenzie che provvedono alla loro "scomparsa", fornendo una nuova identità  su altri mondi. Alla loro caccia sono  sguinzagliati i cacciatori di teste, investigatori ingaggiati dagli alieni in cerca di giustizia. Il cercatore di tesori", un avvincente thriller spaziale nella maniera della K.K. Rusch, narra la storia di Hadad Yu, che passa la vita a recuperare oggetti preziosi su pericolosi mondi alieni per conto di ricchi collezionisti, ingaggiato stavolta dai misteriosi gyonnesi per recuperare un criminale umano, Rhonda Flint, una donna che si è macchiata di un terribile omicidio  di massa sul loro pianeta natio. Come di consueto, l'avventura galattica della Rusch è anche un modo per porsi interessanti domande sulla morale futura e sui rapporti tra la civiltà umana e le varie culture aliene.

Nata il 4 giugno del 1960 a Oneonta (New York, USA), Kristine Kathryn Rusch ha raggiunto il successo come editor di "Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction", che ha guidato per sei anni, dal 1991 al 1997, vincendo anche un premio Hugo come miglior editor professionale. In seguito ha abbandonato l'editing per concentrarsi sulla produzione narrativa, diventando in breve una delle scrittrici di punta del mercato americano. Dotata di grandi doti narrative, la Rusch si è dimostrata autrice competente e prolifica in numerosi campi, passando con disinvoltura dalla fantascienza hard al romance, fino ai romanzi gialli. Nel campo prettamente fantascientifico si è fatta notare per i suoi magnifici racconti e romanzi brevi, come "Millennium Babies "(premio Hugo 2001 come miglior novelette), "Recovering Apollo 8 "("Il recupero dell'Apollo 8", Delos Odissea),  "Echea", del 1999, finalista a tutti i maggiori premi del settore, dallo Hugo al Nebula, allo Sturgeon e al Locus. Sono inoltre assai celebri due cicli di gran successo di pubblico e critica: il ciclo delle Immersioni e della Tecnologia dell'Occultamento (Stealth), di cui abbiamo pubblicato "Un tuffo nel relitto" (Diving into the Wreck) e "Stealth, "e quello dell'Artista dei recuperi, che inizia con "The Retrieval Artist "(2001, finalista al premio Hugo come miglior novella, e da noi già presentato su questa collana)  e prosegue con numerose altre storie, tra cui  "Il cercatore di tesori "("Recovery Man's Bargain", 2009)

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Novella, Mystery Thriller, Audiobook, Short Stories, Mystery

138 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 30, 2010

About the author

Kristine Kathryn Rusch is an award-winning mystery, romance, science fiction, and fantasy writer. She has written many novels under various names, including Kristine Grayson for romance, and Kris Nelscott for mystery. Her novels have made the bestseller lists –even in London– and have been published in 14 countries and 13 different languages.

Her awards range from the Ellery Queen Readers Choice Award to the John W. Campbell Award. In the past year, she has been nominated for the Hugo, the Shamus, and the Anthony Award. She is the only person in the history of the science fiction field to have won a Hugo award for editing and a Hugo award for fiction.

In addition, she's written a number of nonfiction articles over the years, with her latest being the book "A Freelancer's Survival Guide".

She has also published as:
Sandy Schofield (collaborations with husband Dean Wesley Smith)
Kristine Grayson - romances
Kathryn Wesley (collaborations with husband Dean Wesley Smith)
Kris Nelscott - mysteries
Kris Rusch - historical fiction
Kris DeLake - romances

Reviews

[Anissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one more novella from the Retrieval Artist series that I realized I'd not read. There's nothing new here as it relates to the larger story. The story is told from the POV of Hadad Yu who takes a job from the Gyonnese to bring in Rhonda Flint Shindo. They want her to answer for her conviction for a major loss of life on their planet. 

Rhonda happens to be Miles Flint's ex-wife and mother of their deceased daughter, Emmaline. And so too, she's the mother of Talia, the cloned sister of Emmeline. And about five other cloned versions of Emmeline, as it happens. That whole thread of story comes up here and reminded me of how much I enjoyed it in the main series. I was also reminded that for the life of me I can't figure out how Miles and Rhonda ever got together. She comes off as the most calculating, craven human being and her brilliance does not make up for it. While I accept that Miles and Talia loved her, I have never been convinced of her love for them. It rankles. So when Hadad does his recovery of her, there's not a lot of sympathy for Rhonda. For Hadad and this reader, all the sympathy goes to Talia. The story ties up well enough and unsurprisingly for readers of the series. I'm glad I read it but if this one is skipped in a reading of the series, nothing is missed.

[Lois · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was decent. I'd give it a 3.5 out of 5.
I wouldn't have imagined the Recovery Man's journey would be quite what it was.
This was an interesting inside look into a character I have zero interest in knowing better.

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Recovery Man’s Bargain is not so much a sequel as a reboot of Recovery Man with a different focus. Recovery Man followed the two victims of a kidnapping/child custody case. The Recovery Man’s Bargain follows the kidnapper, Hadad Yu. Yu has to make a deal with the alien Gyonnese, who want a human child in return for children lost through industrial carelessness. Here are some of the issues raised. Should clones be considered fully human? Should the sins of the elders be visited on their offspring? Is bounty hunting human trafficking? Yu was a simple villain in the first novel, but here he has surprising depth.

[Charl · Rating 3 out of 5]

The kidnapping of Miles' wife, from the point of view of the kidnapper. Interesting.

[BobA707 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Summary:I was hoping that this would add to the "recovery man" which I had just read, but its essentially exactly the same story told from the recovery man's view point. It does add some insights, but didn't go anything like as far as I was expecting. Not really recommended - just read "recovery Man" which is excellent.

Plotline: Same as Recovery man, but told from the Recovery man's viewpoint

Premise: Excellent - its part of the Retrieval Artist universe

Writing: Excellent as always, descriptive, simple.

Ending: He gets away with it !! Bat at a cost

Pace:Never a dull moment.

[Carly Kirk · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was okay... It was kind-of interesting to read about Rhonda Shindo/Flint being kidnapped from the Recovery Man's perspective, but there was so much of the story that was word for word taken straight from the previous book that I skimmed a lot of this short story, making it even shorter to read... To me there wasn't enough added to really justify this being a book of it's own, I think it should have been added to the original, so I'm kinda ticked that I paid for this when it's for the most part a regurgitation of the same story.

[Cissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very short novel in the Retrieval Artist universe

This very short novel offers some back-story to the main story arc. Flint does not appear, but the events have a huge impact on his life.

It's an engaging and interesting story. My only quibble is that it really is extremely short; I read it in a couple of hours.

[Nancy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a very interesting character or an interesting story. It's like a children's story in which someone is naughty, is sorry and promises to do better. Pretty much tripe from an author I expected more of.

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read all of the Recovery books by Ms Rusch, and I've enjoyed them all. This isn't the best one of the bunch, but it's still good. Enjoyed it.

[Wes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Probably the weakest of the series, this short story has a lot of repetitive material from the novel it follows.

[Larry · Rating 4 out of 5]

6.5 may not be where to start a series :-)

[Dave · Rating 3 out of 5]

It fills in a little back story, but I don't think there was anything here I loved.

[Ryan Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this look at the Recovery Man from his point of view. It overlaps with the novel The Recovery Man, but there is plenty of new material.

[Rain · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not one of my favourites of the series, although like "The Impossibles" it adds back-story to the operation of the Black Fleet organisation which becomes important in later books.