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St. Cyr Interplanetary Detective #2
The Purloined Prince
Claudine St. Cyr, heroine of Deathstar Voyage, is back in an exciting new science fiction adventure. This time, trapped on a strange planet in a distant galaxy, she attempts to solve an intriguing double mystery---the theft of a fortune in jewels and the simultaneous disappearance of a royal heir.
207 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1971
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
December 14, 2012
Yay! I'm the first to rate this book!
I like science fiction, but I've read very few mysteries. I'd say, however, that I am a bit impressed that the author yanked me around as much as he did. In his forenote, he mentions that the criminal can be figured out by page 103. I read that much and then the rest of the book quickly made me question all of my conjecture up to that point. I thought that was pretty neat. There was also a lot of clever technology that made sense, without being over-explained or getting too heady. The technology that made it a science fiction novel was theoretically semi-feasible, but it didn't go overboard. It was a fun story and a quick read and I enjoyed it.
The writing could use some work, however. I thought the author did a somewhat sloppy job of introducing words that were made up. Some words were never explained and he seemed to be using the fact that the book took place in the future to write-off the fact that they were just futuristic things and helped create the futuristic setting. I wasn't a fan of that. Words like, "reonic" were repeatedly used--often used as explanations for other technologies and anomalies that occurred in the book--but they were not explained and left me drifting, unsure of what the technology was. Rather than building up a futuristic setting, it just creates confusion. The dialogue was also clumsy. He used a format of telling the name, the emotion, then the words spoken. Anyhow, it might just be a 1970s thing, but it seemed kind of dumb to me....
Anyway, I don't think the writing has to be perfect for me to enjoy a great story... I'd probably still read the other books in the series if I came across them.
I like science fiction, but I've read very few mysteries. I'd say, however, that I am a bit impressed that the author yanked me around as much as he did. In his forenote, he mentions that the criminal can be figured out by page 103. I read that much and then the rest of the book quickly made me question all of my conjecture up to that point. I thought that was pretty neat. There was also a lot of clever technology that made sense, without being over-explained or getting too heady. The technology that made it a science fiction novel was theoretically semi-feasible, but it didn't go overboard. It was a fun story and a quick read and I enjoyed it.
The writing could use some work, however. I thought the author did a somewhat sloppy job of introducing words that were made up. Some words were never explained and he seemed to be using the fact that the book took place in the future to write-off the fact that they were just futuristic things and helped create the futuristic setting. I wasn't a fan of that. Words like, "reonic" were repeatedly used--often used as explanations for other technologies and anomalies that occurred in the book--but they were not explained and left me drifting, unsure of what the technology was. Rather than building up a futuristic setting, it just creates confusion. The dialogue was also clumsy. He used a format of telling the name, the emotion, then the words spoken. Anyhow, it might just be a 1970s thing, but it seemed kind of dumb to me....
Anyway, I don't think the writing has to be perfect for me to enjoy a great story... I'd probably still read the other books in the series if I came across them.
Displaying 1 of 1 review