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Farscape: Novels & Guides #1
Farscape: Dark Side of the Sun
Lost and alone is an uncharted region of space, American astronaut John Crichton has found refuge of a sort aboard Moya, a living starship sheltering a fractious band of bizarre alien beings. But now Moya is dying of pernicious infection, and the only cure in light-years belongs to the leader of a vicious band of space pirates. Crichton and his mismatched companion must strike a bargain with the dreaded Free-Trader, Jansz, or else perish along with their vessel.
An already perilous situation escalates to open warfare when Rygel XVI, deposed ruler of a vast interstellar empire, discovers that his long-lost love is being held captive by the pirates. Will Rygel let his own pride and passion place Crichton, Aeryn, and the others in mortal jeopardy?
Of course he will...
An already perilous situation escalates to open warfare when Rygel XVI, deposed ruler of a vast interstellar empire, discovers that his long-lost love is being held captive by the pirates. Will Rygel let his own pride and passion place Crichton, Aeryn, and the others in mortal jeopardy?
Of course he will...
272 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published November 24, 2000
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
August 21, 2017
Fair reading about Farscape
SO WHAT THE HECK IS FARSCAPE?
In case you aren't familiarized...
Farscape is an awesome sci-fi Tv series that it was produced by The Jim Henson Company (the same one which did some shows that you may heard around like Sesame Street and The Muppet Show) and as you may guess, two of the main characters were...
...yep, muppets!!! (and trust me, they were way cool!)
John Crichton (nope, none relationship with the late author of Jurassic Park, just a coincidence in the last name), an American astronaut, getting lost in an uncharted region of space, separated at all of his own civilization and species, he must ally with a rag-tag group, all of them with strong & dominant personalities, usually clashing each other in arguments, all onboard of a living (yep, living, you read right) space ship called Moya, and since they are considered criminals in the eyes of law in that space region, so they are constantly chased by the militaristic Peacekeeper forces, the recognized police organization in that weird space region.
The John Crichton's rag-tag group is formed by:
Aeryn Sun: Former Peacekeeper officer, now she is a renegade.
Ka D'Argo: Formidable warrior from the Luxan species, he was wrongly accused of murdering his beloved wife.
Pa'u Zotoh Zhaan: Former priestess of a religious order, she is from a plant species called Delvians.
Chiana: Con artist and thief, she is of the Nebari species.
Dominar Rigel XVI (one of the two regular muppets in the series!): Former emperor of the Hynerian Empire.
Pilot (the other muppet in the cast): He has multiple arms and he is connected to Moya and serves as the "voice" of the ship.
LOST IN... FARSCAPE
This is the second novel (of only 3 in total) that it was able to print before the cancellation of the TV series.
It was a real shame that the publishing house didn't go on with the novel line not matter that the TV series was cancelled, since after all, Farscape was on its peak of rating and popularity, but due some unknown (and very dumb) reasons, Sci-Fi Channel representatives just came one day to the set where it was filmed and say "Sorry guys, today is the last of filming".
Geez!
There was a mini-series directed to video to try to close in a better way the TV series and later it was printed several comic book series (that I am truly happy to have in my collection), however I think that they should keep trusting in the prose novel line and keeping producing more books.
PIRATES AND ROMANCE
Anyway, this novel wasn't a stunning reading BUT...
...still was a very good adventure with a good use of the characters of the series especially Rygel (one of my favorites in the TV series) that not only he is an important character of the story itself but also, it was able to make things with his character in the area of "movement" and "interaction" that physical limitations of the muppet used on the production of TV series couldn't be able to do.
Moya is ill and it's in danger to die, so the rag-tag group must deal with dangerous pirates to get what they need to cure Moya, but things can't be that easy, right?
The pirates have in captivity, the long-lost lover of Rigel, so, yes...
...things will get quite messy!
So, if you were fan of that excellent TV series made by Jim Henson Productions, I think that you could give a chance to this novel if you have the opportunity of reading it.
SO WHAT THE HECK IS FARSCAPE?
In case you aren't familiarized...
Farscape is an awesome sci-fi Tv series that it was produced by The Jim Henson Company (the same one which did some shows that you may heard around like Sesame Street and The Muppet Show) and as you may guess, two of the main characters were...
...yep, muppets!!! (and trust me, they were way cool!)
John Crichton (nope, none relationship with the late author of Jurassic Park, just a coincidence in the last name), an American astronaut, getting lost in an uncharted region of space, separated at all of his own civilization and species, he must ally with a rag-tag group, all of them with strong & dominant personalities, usually clashing each other in arguments, all onboard of a living (yep, living, you read right) space ship called Moya, and since they are considered criminals in the eyes of law in that space region, so they are constantly chased by the militaristic Peacekeeper forces, the recognized police organization in that weird space region.
The John Crichton's rag-tag group is formed by:
Aeryn Sun: Former Peacekeeper officer, now she is a renegade.
Ka D'Argo: Formidable warrior from the Luxan species, he was wrongly accused of murdering his beloved wife.
Pa'u Zotoh Zhaan: Former priestess of a religious order, she is from a plant species called Delvians.
Chiana: Con artist and thief, she is of the Nebari species.
Dominar Rigel XVI (one of the two regular muppets in the series!): Former emperor of the Hynerian Empire.
Pilot (the other muppet in the cast): He has multiple arms and he is connected to Moya and serves as the "voice" of the ship.
LOST IN... FARSCAPE
This is the second novel (of only 3 in total) that it was able to print before the cancellation of the TV series.
It was a real shame that the publishing house didn't go on with the novel line not matter that the TV series was cancelled, since after all, Farscape was on its peak of rating and popularity, but due some unknown (and very dumb) reasons, Sci-Fi Channel representatives just came one day to the set where it was filmed and say "Sorry guys, today is the last of filming".
Geez!
There was a mini-series directed to video to try to close in a better way the TV series and later it was printed several comic book series (that I am truly happy to have in my collection), however I think that they should keep trusting in the prose novel line and keeping producing more books.
PIRATES AND ROMANCE
Anyway, this novel wasn't a stunning reading BUT...
...still was a very good adventure with a good use of the characters of the series especially Rygel (one of my favorites in the TV series) that not only he is an important character of the story itself but also, it was able to make things with his character in the area of "movement" and "interaction" that physical limitations of the muppet used on the production of TV series couldn't be able to do.
Moya is ill and it's in danger to die, so the rag-tag group must deal with dangerous pirates to get what they need to cure Moya, but things can't be that easy, right?
The pirates have in captivity, the long-lost lover of Rigel, so, yes...
...things will get quite messy!
So, if you were fan of that excellent TV series made by Jim Henson Productions, I think that you could give a chance to this novel if you have the opportunity of reading it.
June 7, 2020
Muddled action, inconsistent characterization, unmotivated actions, shaky descriptions and questionable writing all around.
There's an interesting core in here, but it's a mess.
There's an interesting core in here, but it's a mess.
May 28, 2020
I enjoyed the interaction between Rygel and his father: a Dominar must never be eclipsed by his own shadow. I found the alien organism Re incredibly fascinating. However, the author has an incredible misunderstanding of who Chiana is and it completely crippled the enjoyment of the book.
March 2, 2016
While not the best in the series, it wasn't bad. A few spelling errors and the writing style was different. But overall, the story was interesting.
January 4, 2025
Parts of this story were great, others were a bit annoying to get through. The concept of a dead dentic being ingested by Moya causing her to become ill was great. The way Chiana was portrayed though felt completely foreign. While she does end up redeeming herself in some ways she still didn't come off how she did the show. The Rygel backstory was fun, the "twist" with his former lover was a bit too easy to predict for me to enjoy. The author initially seemed obsessed with letting the audience know Moya was the size of Manhattan but that little tidbit never seemed to matter to the larger story. "Re" initially seemed to be an interesting entity to explore but disappointingly just shows up to save the day. I feel like even the author admits to this in the epilogue where John says something to the effect of "tell me more about Re". It could have been better, though I did enjoy the story.
January 3, 2026
There's not much I can say for this book that others haven't said already - the dialogue is often bizzarely formatted. The author mischaracterizes Chiana - I get that Chiana has a selfish streak, but here, it's run with to the point of erasing her redeeming qualities. There's also lots of other little mistakes that don't sync with the setting - references to the "Seven Galaxies" (Farscape takes place in the Milky Way) or "hyperspace" (that's not how FTL works in the setting). To compare it to House of Cards, while I'm not overly fond of that book, DeCandido did "get" Farscape, so to speak.
Still, there are things here that I like, though for better or worse, it's when the author's doing his own thing. There's how delvians react to different stars. There's the astro-mechanics of the blue giant that features which, while arguably out of place in a setting like Farscape (which pays little heed to actual science), does fit said science, so that's kinda nice.
Overall, the book isn't bad, but it's by no means good either. Of the two Farscape novels I've read, House of Cards is easily the stronger.
Still, there are things here that I like, though for better or worse, it's when the author's doing his own thing. There's how delvians react to different stars. There's the astro-mechanics of the blue giant that features which, while arguably out of place in a setting like Farscape (which pays little heed to actual science), does fit said science, so that's kinda nice.
Overall, the book isn't bad, but it's by no means good either. Of the two Farscape novels I've read, House of Cards is easily the stronger.
Read
January 3, 2024Could not get into it. Could not finish it.
August 10, 2025
Some of those stars are to encourage the publication of more books in this series, but this was fun regardless of its flaws.
March 18, 2020
A few things in this book really annoy me:
* Moya being in so much pain. This is not just 'quick! We need to save Moya' this is the author torturing her. 1. Surely a spaceship, living or otherwise, is not that fragile. 2. Nobody is fooled, we know she will be saved. 3. It is not nice reading about an innocent being like this. 4. This is not very origional
* Crichton's egocentrism and bad jokes. This is the only thing that annoys me in the series (well, this and D'argo's creepy lips that do not match his physique and look particularly wrong when he makes a slow 'o'). In this book its even more prominent and seems exaggerated.
* Dekacycles
* Many weird inacuracies, my favourite is probably the holding of breath while hyperventilating...
One thing about goodreads that annoys me:
* Who the frell is Jim Mortimer? The name apears no where on the book. pseudonym?
That said i think the author does have good imagination. Also, introduced characters seem better thought through than the ones we know from the series. I think Dymond would have been better off writing his own novel rather than a farscape spin off.
* Moya being in so much pain. This is not just 'quick! We need to save Moya' this is the author torturing her. 1. Surely a spaceship, living or otherwise, is not that fragile. 2. Nobody is fooled, we know she will be saved. 3. It is not nice reading about an innocent being like this. 4. This is not very origional
* Crichton's egocentrism and bad jokes. This is the only thing that annoys me in the series (well, this and D'argo's creepy lips that do not match his physique and look particularly wrong when he makes a slow 'o'). In this book its even more prominent and seems exaggerated.
* Dekacycles
* Many weird inacuracies, my favourite is probably the holding of breath while hyperventilating...
One thing about goodreads that annoys me:
* Who the frell is Jim Mortimer? The name apears no where on the book. pseudonym?
That said i think the author does have good imagination. Also, introduced characters seem better thought through than the ones we know from the series. I think Dymond would have been better off writing his own novel rather than a farscape spin off.
March 15, 2019
A few things in this book really annoy me:
*Moya being in so much pain. This is not just 'quick! We need to save Moya' this is the author torturing her. 1. It is not nice reading about an innocent being like this. 2. Nobody is fooled, we know she will be saved. 3. Surely a spaceship, living or otherwise, is not that fragile. 4. This is not very origional
*Crichton's egocentrism and bad jokes. This is the only thing that annoys me in the series (well, this and D'argo's creepy lips that do not match his physique and look particularly wrong when he makes a slow 'o'). In this book its even more prominent and seems exaggerated.
* Dekacycles
* Many weird inacuracies, my favourite is probably the holding of breath while hyperventilating...
two things about goodreads that annoys me:
* Who the frell is Jim Mortimer? The name apears no where on the book. pseudonym?
* why is the same book listed twice?
That said i think the author does have good imagination. Also, introduced characters seem better thought through than the ones we know from the series. I think Dymond would have been better off writing his own novel rather than a farscape spin off.
*Moya being in so much pain. This is not just 'quick! We need to save Moya' this is the author torturing her. 1. It is not nice reading about an innocent being like this. 2. Nobody is fooled, we know she will be saved. 3. Surely a spaceship, living or otherwise, is not that fragile. 4. This is not very origional
*Crichton's egocentrism and bad jokes. This is the only thing that annoys me in the series (well, this and D'argo's creepy lips that do not match his physique and look particularly wrong when he makes a slow 'o'). In this book its even more prominent and seems exaggerated.
* Dekacycles
* Many weird inacuracies, my favourite is probably the holding of breath while hyperventilating...
two things about goodreads that annoys me:
* Who the frell is Jim Mortimer? The name apears no where on the book. pseudonym?
* why is the same book listed twice?
That said i think the author does have good imagination. Also, introduced characters seem better thought through than the ones we know from the series. I think Dymond would have been better off writing his own novel rather than a farscape spin off.
May 25, 2014
What the Frell did just read? Seriously, I know TV tie-in novels can be awful, but this one just may win the prize as the worst one I've ever read. I'm not sure the author watched any many episodes before penning this glorious disaster. The characters barely acted like themselves, Moya lived through repeated agonizing injury, and at the end was a frelling supernova that didn't kill them. Also, there were fragments. Like everywhere. Seriously.
Like this.
taking up
multiple lines
for some
reason.
(this isn't how to add drama/tension in writing)
Anyways, if you want a good Farscape novel to read, pick up Farscape: House of Cardsby Keith R.A. DeCandido.
Like this.
taking up
multiple lines
for some
reason.
(this isn't how to add drama/tension in writing)
Anyways, if you want a good Farscape novel to read, pick up Farscape: House of Cardsby Keith R.A. DeCandido.
August 7, 2012
This may be the worst book I've ever read. Author Andrew Dymond felt compelled to create a Farscape that felt entirely alien to the one depicted by the TV show, and told his story as though he were Douglas Adams hired to parody a Star Wars novel.
Awful on all levels. From abandoning the plot to interject exposition in the most leaden way possible to needing to add as many unfunny throw-away characters as possible to not being particularly adapt as a fiction writer in terms of style, Dymond gets it all wrong.
Awful on all levels. From abandoning the plot to interject exposition in the most leaden way possible to needing to add as many unfunny throw-away characters as possible to not being particularly adapt as a fiction writer in terms of style, Dymond gets it all wrong.
May 9, 2015
I'm not sure exactly where in the series this book takes place; I'm guessing sometime in Season 2. Crichton's toothache manages to infest Moya, and of course it all goes downhill from there. Some of the writing got a bit repetitive, especially in the physical descriptions of Moya and the other characters, but the story was decent. Each main character gets a healthy dose of backstory, so if you couldn't get enough of the television series, you'll enjoy revisiting it through this book.
April 3, 2009
Hilarious moments, great scenes but overall the story was lacking atmosphere and some of the characterizations seemed a tad off.
June 6, 2010
Parts were quite funny, and mostly it was in character... but still, not the best Farscape novel out there. Good for an afternoon read, though.
August 11, 2014
the Rygel plot was faintly interesting, but the author was not the best choice to write this tale.
May 19, 2014
after I read it, I understand how I could have a 13 year old paperback that looks new. I will never read it again.
November 30, 2014
Nicely paced, witty and funny in places. While the characters are spot on with the way they act etc...the perfect thing for a Sunday night. A strange ending and epilogue though to be honest.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews