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St. Cyr Interplanetary Detective #1
Deathstar Voyage
Book by Wallace, Ian
- GenresScience Fiction
191 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1969
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
November 19, 2021
I joined the Science Fiction Book Club when I was a teen in the early 70s, and this was one of the first selections that I bought. It seemed an exciting read, a possible murder assassination aboard a luxury space cruiser with a king, his female bodyguard/cop/psychologist, and a Carnaby Street-style entertainment arcade. I tried reading it on and off for years and finally set down to read it now.
It's a fast thriller, but there are not enough red-herrings or interesting suspects to keep it going; in fact, it needed several subplots. The characters are thin, especially the heroine, the desirable Claudine St.-Cyr, whom everyone loves. My main disappointment was in the underuse of Frolic Street. The story could have involved more of the odd shops and shows that encompass the ship. It also falls apart in the third act with a huge dose of Deux ex Machina.
It's a fast thriller, but there are not enough red-herrings or interesting suspects to keep it going; in fact, it needed several subplots. The characters are thin, especially the heroine, the desirable Claudine St.-Cyr, whom everyone loves. My main disappointment was in the underuse of Frolic Street. The story could have involved more of the odd shops and shows that encompass the ship. It also falls apart in the third act with a huge dose of Deux ex Machina.
February 25, 2017
A well-crafted mystery that positively boils with red herrings. They're signaled, and in at least one case, telegraphed so hard you're surprised the lead detective misses it (or I was, anyway), but they more-or-less serve their purpose. (I spotted the true murderer early on but dismissed it as "too cute".)
A few things didn't work for me. Our heroine borders on the Mary Sue, arguably, being desired by all the men, and often the only competent one around. This part was okay, I suppose, but felt so odd in some very critical places. She rather transparently uses her sexuality in a way, one might say, doesn't feel true. Also, she's rather oddly swept up in the moment at points.
Some of the characters just didn't stick; the sci-fi aspect was a problem here. We know we're dealing with aliens, but they're not THAT alien (with one exception), and so one is given to think that the details of the alien species are important—and they are—but they're not described in enough memorable detail. So I had this feeling that I needed to be keeping track of who was what race, for mystery-understanding purposes, but really didn't have much to go on.
The climax is not actually shown. We have the before and the after. I wasn't sure it was actually climax: I thought maybe the denouement was a fake ending, but no, we simply don't get to see how things went down.
The means of the climax are obfuscated, apparently knowingly so, to the point where I wonder if I actually got it. A character lies, and in saving the day, reveals the truth. But while we can see why the lie was necessary in the first place, the truth is quite heavily sold as being improbable-to-the-point-of-impossible. It's like if in poker you had a Straight Flush and I told you I didn't have a Straight Flush—but then it turned out I had a Royal Flush (which is the highest rank type of straight flush).
I don't know. It's sold like an "Ohhhh." moment but I didn't go "Ohhh." I went "Huh?"
Not terrible or nothin', just didn't get as much out of it as I would've liked.
A few things didn't work for me. Our heroine borders on the Mary Sue, arguably, being desired by all the men, and often the only competent one around. This part was okay, I suppose, but felt so odd in some very critical places. She rather transparently uses her sexuality in a way, one might say, doesn't feel true. Also, she's rather oddly swept up in the moment at points.
Some of the characters just didn't stick; the sci-fi aspect was a problem here. We know we're dealing with aliens, but they're not THAT alien (with one exception), and so one is given to think that the details of the alien species are important—and they are—but they're not described in enough memorable detail. So I had this feeling that I needed to be keeping track of who was what race, for mystery-understanding purposes, but really didn't have much to go on.
The climax is not actually shown. We have the before and the after. I wasn't sure it was actually climax: I thought maybe the denouement was a fake ending, but no, we simply don't get to see how things went down.
The means of the climax are obfuscated, apparently knowingly so, to the point where I wonder if I actually got it. A character lies, and in saving the day, reveals the truth. But while we can see why the lie was necessary in the first place, the truth is quite heavily sold as being improbable-to-the-point-of-impossible. It's like if in poker you had a Straight Flush and I told you I didn't have a Straight Flush—but then it turned out I had a Royal Flush (which is the highest rank type of straight flush).
I don't know. It's sold like an "Ohhhh." moment but I didn't go "Ohhh." I went "Huh?"
Not terrible or nothin', just didn't get as much out of it as I would've liked.
May 3, 2012
One of his Claudine St. Cyr Interplanetary Detective Mysteries, this wasn't particularly memorable. Pritchard, incidentally, was a psychologist--thus the device of this science fiction novel.
November 16, 2025
This is the most boring I've read in a long time. I only finished it because it was a Christmas gift and I felt bad about not finishing it. I shoulda just skipped it.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews