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Humanx Commonwealth #27
Quofum
Bestselling author Alan Dean Foster’s new adventure takes place in the amazing Humanx Commonwealth, home of the ever-popular Pip & Flinx. Although the dynamic redhead and his daring minidrag do not appear in Quofum, this knockout thriller sets the stage for their explosive date with destiny in the duo’s final climactic adventure, Flinx Transcendent.The mission to planet Quofum is supposed to be a quickie for Captain Boylan and his crew. Boylan is tasked with delivering four scientists–two men, one woman, and one thranx–to the unknown world, setting up camp while the experts investigate flora and fauna, then ferrying them safely home.The first surprise is that Quofum, which regularly slips in and out of existence on Commonwealth monitors, is actually there when Boylan and company arrive. The second surprise is more about what Quofum is The planet is not logical, ordered, or rational. The team encounters three intelligent, warring species–some carbon-based, others silicate-based, all bizarre–along with thousands of unique, often unclassifiable life-forms. Quofum’s wild biodiversity doesn’t appear to be natural. But if it is by design, then by whose, and for what purpose?There are more revelations, more highly evolved species waiting to be identified, even tantalizing clues to a civilization light-years ahead of the Commonwealth’s. But the crew members are not ready for the real shockers, because none of them expect to find a killer in their midst, or to discover that their spaceship is missing and, with it, all means of communication.Of course, the marooned teammates know nothing about the Great Evil racing toward the galaxy, and they certainly have never heard of Flinx, the only person with half a chance to stop it. Nor do they know that Quofum could play a crucial role in defeating the all-devouring monster from beyond.One thing the scientists do know, however, is how to ferret out the truth. But whether that will be enough to alter the course of the oncoming catastrophe is anyone’s guess.From the Hardcover edition.
Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2008
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About the author
Alan Dean Foster
500 books2,037 followersBestselling 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, but with a twist: the new places encountered in his books are likely to be on another planet, and the people may belong to an alien race.
Foster began his career as an author when a letter he sent to Arkham Collection was purchased by the editor and published in the magazine in 1968. His first novel, The Tar-Aiym Krang, introduced the Humanx Commonwealth, a galactic alliance between humans and an insectlike race called Thranx. Several other novels, including the Icerigger trilogy, are also set in the world of the Commonwealth. The Tar-Aiym Krang also marked the first appearance of Flinx, a young man with paranormal abilities, who reappears in other books, including Orphan Star, For Love of Mother-Not, and Flinx in Flux.
Foster has also written The Damned series and the Spellsinger series, which includes The Hour of the Gate, The Moment of the Magician, The Paths of the Perambulator, and Son of Spellsinger, among others. Other books include novelizations of science fiction movies and television shows such as Star Trek, The Black Hole, Starman, Star Wars, and the Alien movies. Splinter of the Mind's Eye, a bestselling novel based on the Star Wars movies, received the Galaxy Award in 1979. The book Cyber Way won the Southwest Book Award for Fiction in 1990. His novel Our Lady of the Machine won him the UPC Award (Spain) in 1993. He also won the Ignotus Award (Spain) in 1994 and the Stannik Award (Russia) in 2000.
Foster began his career as an author when a letter he sent to Arkham Collection was purchased by the editor and published in the magazine in 1968. His first novel, The Tar-Aiym Krang, introduced the Humanx Commonwealth, a galactic alliance between humans and an insectlike race called Thranx. Several other novels, including the Icerigger trilogy, are also set in the world of the Commonwealth. The Tar-Aiym Krang also marked the first appearance of Flinx, a young man with paranormal abilities, who reappears in other books, including Orphan Star, For Love of Mother-Not, and Flinx in Flux.
Foster has also written The Damned series and the Spellsinger series, which includes The Hour of the Gate, The Moment of the Magician, The Paths of the Perambulator, and Son of Spellsinger, among others. Other books include novelizations of science fiction movies and television shows such as Star Trek, The Black Hole, Starman, Star Wars, and the Alien movies. Splinter of the Mind's Eye, a bestselling novel based on the Star Wars movies, received the Galaxy Award in 1979. The book Cyber Way won the Southwest Book Award for Fiction in 1990. His novel Our Lady of the Machine won him the UPC Award (Spain) in 1993. He also won the Ignotus Award (Spain) in 1994 and the Stannik Award (Russia) in 2000.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 44 reviews
July 20, 2021
This is one of Foster's Humanx Commonwealth universe novels, and one of the few that requires the reading of other of his books in order to appreciate. Pip and Flinx do not appear, though it's something of a set-up for Flinx Transcendent, the big one that tied up most of the loose threads from earlier works. This one is the story of a team investigating a -very- mysterious planet, rich with interesting alien life, that seems to have the disconcerting habit of popping in and out of reality. There's little in the way of character development or much of a real conclusion, but it does have very interesting descriptions of imaginative eco-systems and settings. Quofum is a good bet for Foster fans, but not a starting place for his work.
February 26, 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 it ends quite abruptly.
This aside, I still enjoyed this book. It really showcases ADF's fantastic world building abilities and takes a number of extreme twists and turns along the way. Oh, and it has a brilliant first line!
There's not much in the way of character progression here, though, and some of the central mysteries are still left unsolved at the book's end (to be revealed in later books, I'm hoping). It's not so bad that I'd recommend skipping this one but DEFINITELY don't read it as your first Alan Dean Foster book!
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 it ends quite abruptly.
This aside, I still enjoyed this book. It really showcases ADF's fantastic world building abilities and takes a number of extreme twists and turns along the way. Oh, and it has a brilliant first line!
There's not much in the way of character progression here, though, and some of the central mysteries are still left unsolved at the book's end (to be revealed in later books, I'm hoping). It's not so bad that I'd recommend skipping this one but DEFINITELY don't read it as your first Alan Dean Foster book!
April 20, 2018
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.
September 9, 2010
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, Life is good in an Alan Dean Foster novel! Particularly, those set in the Commonwealth Universe.
Take Quofum, the title of Foster's next-to-latest novel and the name of an unprecedentedly strange planet that has the unnerving habit of sometimes not being where it was recorded to be. A small team of explorer xenobiologists are sent to investigate and find the planet so chaotically covered by an out-of-control evolution, that one of the team quips, "this planet doesn't have biota it has riota." At least 8 dominate sentient races inhabit the litte bit of Quofum the team observes (and it is hinted there are hundreds more) before disaster strikes and the surviving three team members discover an even more mind-blowing subterranean realm.
This book claims to be the penultimate of the Humanx Commonwealth novels that the author has been writing over a 35 year span, his Flinx Transcendant is supposedly the final chapter of the decade spanning saga. Now, I have to find the FIRST Pip and Flinx novel to see how all this started! Joi me?
Take Quofum, the title of Foster's next-to-latest novel and the name of an unprecedentedly strange planet that has the unnerving habit of sometimes not being where it was recorded to be. A small team of explorer xenobiologists are sent to investigate and find the planet so chaotically covered by an out-of-control evolution, that one of the team quips, "this planet doesn't have biota it has riota." At least 8 dominate sentient races inhabit the litte bit of Quofum the team observes (and it is hinted there are hundreds more) before disaster strikes and the surviving three team members discover an even more mind-blowing subterranean realm.
This book claims to be the penultimate of the Humanx Commonwealth novels that the author has been writing over a 35 year span, his Flinx Transcendant is supposedly the final chapter of the decade spanning saga. Now, I have to find the FIRST Pip and Flinx novel to see how all this started! Joi me?
December 9, 2019
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. This book is like a double-stuff Oreo to me. What’s there is delicious – especially as the top and bottom of the experience. But the center feels over stuffed.
To be more specific, the book – particularly in the middle 50% - felt “padded”. There were many instances where a characters actions or reflections were effectively presented in the first paragraph, but the notion gets reworded, reexamined, and elaborated to little good extra use in the next four to five paragraphs. So I felt myself fast forwarding a lot in the book’s middle.
In fairness to the author, one of the points of the book’s mid-section is impart a sense of endless, hopeless despondency. While that’s vital to making the story work well it may have been over done in terms of pages spent to relay the feeling. However, at its core the book is a biological and geophysical mystery with educated researchers wrestling with big ideas. My kind of old school!
If you’re a reader of Foster’s Commonwealth books, it’ll come as no surprise to hear that the book has a dread-heavy epilogue of coming catastrophe. Also, unlike most of the other Commonwealth books, this one doesn’t reward it’s characters (or readers) with a final tied up in a fine ribbon. It appears that it sets the stage for the big finale in the Flinx and Pip series, which I’ve yet to get to. At least I hope that’s the case as Quofum’s characters seem be end the book with a specific and unexpected task at hand.
Foster is always easy to read and lots of fun. That was true here, but I just wish the text were tighter, delivering a more briskly related tale. The ending’s ambiguity may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but for my tastes it was the last 20-25% of the book where it really came alive and engaged my thinkie parts.
Relative to the other Commonwealth novels I may have enjoyed this less, but there are two key reasons. Read on before passing judgment. This book is like a double-stuff Oreo to me. What’s there is delicious – especially as the top and bottom of the experience. But the center feels over stuffed.
To be more specific, the book – particularly in the middle 50% - felt “padded”. There were many instances where a characters actions or reflections were effectively presented in the first paragraph, but the notion gets reworded, reexamined, and elaborated to little good extra use in the next four to five paragraphs. So I felt myself fast forwarding a lot in the book’s middle.
In fairness to the author, one of the points of the book’s mid-section is impart a sense of endless, hopeless despondency. While that’s vital to making the story work well it may have been over done in terms of pages spent to relay the feeling. However, at its core the book is a biological and geophysical mystery with educated researchers wrestling with big ideas. My kind of old school!
If you’re a reader of Foster’s Commonwealth books, it’ll come as no surprise to hear that the book has a dread-heavy epilogue of coming catastrophe. Also, unlike most of the other Commonwealth books, this one doesn’t reward it’s characters (or readers) with a final tied up in a fine ribbon. It appears that it sets the stage for the big finale in the Flinx and Pip series, which I’ve yet to get to. At least I hope that’s the case as Quofum’s characters seem be end the book with a specific and unexpected task at hand.
Foster is always easy to read and lots of fun. That was true here, but I just wish the text were tighter, delivering a more briskly related tale. The ending’s ambiguity may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but for my tastes it was the last 20-25% of the book where it really came alive and engaged my thinkie parts.
October 29, 2023
Once you've read one Alan Dean Foster book you've read a lot of them, and that can make my overly obsessive book review writing a little difficult.
I should preface this by saying that I don't hate Foster; I don't even mind him. I just find his stereotypical strand of adventure fiction a little behind me now. I enjoyed *Icerigger*, *To the Vanishing Point*, and the two Pip + Flinx books of his that I've read, but I think there's a general feel to his works that you can find throughout his oeuvre. *Quofum* is probably the "worst" of these books, if through no fault beyond what it is. As you might be able to guess, I didn't exactly pick this book out for myself; my girlfriend bought it for me for Christmas (thanks for encouraging my library expansions, by the way), so I was bound to read it one way or another.
*Quofum* is a Pip + Flinx book largely in name alone as its cast actually made up of four scientists (three humans and one thranx) along with a captain and a jack-of-all-trades mechanic who have been sent to research the planet of Quofum, a faraway world which sometimes appears to astrological scans and sometimes simply... doesn't. The crew is pleasantly surprised to see that the world is actually in existence when they finish their months in hyperspace together, and they get down to the surface in short order. While the captain and mechanic get their somewhat-premade base set up for them, the scientists are flabbergasted by the world's wide array of life. It seems like its inhabitants are based off different chemical compounds (like carbon based life versus silicone based life or something like that) and there are multiple sentient species inhabiting the small part of the planet that they've set up shop on. Apparently a couple hundred square miles shouldn't house . The plot is largely about aimless scientific discovery until, about halfway through,
The rest of the book concerns ends.
Does it plot end a bit abruptly? Yes. Can I forgive that because I've only read two Pip + Flinx novels (*Orphan Star* and *Flinx in Flux*) and might be missing out on things here? Sure I can. But was the rest of the plot any good? Well... it was alright. I do like explorations of alien worlds, so the book's most basic conceits appealed to me, and I was a little sad when characters died. The book is relatively well-paced, and while no section demanded my utmost engagement, none of it got stale or boring either.
But what about Foster's prose and ideas? Well, on prose, see my opening line; you've read one Foster, you've read them all. Actually, that's not entirely fair... comparing this to his 70's and 80's work, I'd say that this prose is a bit less stylistic and more bland while still being more readable in a *good* way since it has less of the blocky writing that I remember from *Flinx in Flux* (which, in all fairness, I could be imagining). The ideas, on the other hand, may surpass those in his other books that are under my belt; a planet filled with so many different kinds of life is fertile ground for cool stories and conceptual extrapolations. Still, we don't get that many detailed or ground-breaking ideas - if any. I prefer *Icerigger*'s depictions of aliens to *Quofum*'s because, even if they're still a little generic, they're more fleshed out than the surface-level races and ideas that we get here. Nothing offensive, just... nothing dangerously interesting.
Same goes for the characters, although to a more patronizing degree. The characters are pretty one-dimensional and don't give you anyone to actually root for, unlike Pip + Flinx; in fact, this book has made me appreciate those two characters and the likeability that they lend to their novels a lot more. This book kind of lacks those narrative tentpoles to anchor your enjoyment to.
What does this mean for *Quofum* at the end of the day? Well, that it is a "good enough" space adventure but still nothing more than a space adventure. I don't like saying that books are "nothing more than space adventures," as I strive to fight literary snobbery towards our beloved science fiction, but I really can't defend Foster too much in this particular case. Still, it gave me a break after a much heavier book, and will look pretty on my shelves even if I never remember it as anything more than a serviceable time. This equals: 6/10. I don't know when I'll get around to Alan Dean Foster again, but it'll probably happen since I'm an obsessive and comprehensive SF buyer and reader... they're short and sweet, at least. Anyways, I'm off to read some short stories which are hopefully a little bit more interesting. Check out Darnoc Leadburger here on Goodreads for some more unique science fiction insights, and as always, enjoy your reading.
I should preface this by saying that I don't hate Foster; I don't even mind him. I just find his stereotypical strand of adventure fiction a little behind me now. I enjoyed *Icerigger*, *To the Vanishing Point*, and the two Pip + Flinx books of his that I've read, but I think there's a general feel to his works that you can find throughout his oeuvre. *Quofum* is probably the "worst" of these books, if through no fault beyond what it is. As you might be able to guess, I didn't exactly pick this book out for myself; my girlfriend bought it for me for Christmas (thanks for encouraging my library expansions, by the way), so I was bound to read it one way or another.
*Quofum* is a Pip + Flinx book largely in name alone as its cast actually made up of four scientists (three humans and one thranx) along with a captain and a jack-of-all-trades mechanic who have been sent to research the planet of Quofum, a faraway world which sometimes appears to astrological scans and sometimes simply... doesn't. The crew is pleasantly surprised to see that the world is actually in existence when they finish their months in hyperspace together, and they get down to the surface in short order. While the captain and mechanic get their somewhat-premade base set up for them, the scientists are flabbergasted by the world's wide array of life. It seems like its inhabitants are based off different chemical compounds (like carbon based life versus silicone based life or something like that) and there are multiple sentient species inhabiting the small part of the planet that they've set up shop on. Apparently a couple hundred square miles shouldn't house . The plot is largely about aimless scientific discovery until, about halfway through,
The rest of the book concerns ends.
Does it plot end a bit abruptly? Yes. Can I forgive that because I've only read two Pip + Flinx novels (*Orphan Star* and *Flinx in Flux*) and might be missing out on things here? Sure I can. But was the rest of the plot any good? Well... it was alright. I do like explorations of alien worlds, so the book's most basic conceits appealed to me, and I was a little sad when characters died. The book is relatively well-paced, and while no section demanded my utmost engagement, none of it got stale or boring either.
But what about Foster's prose and ideas? Well, on prose, see my opening line; you've read one Foster, you've read them all. Actually, that's not entirely fair... comparing this to his 70's and 80's work, I'd say that this prose is a bit less stylistic and more bland while still being more readable in a *good* way since it has less of the blocky writing that I remember from *Flinx in Flux* (which, in all fairness, I could be imagining). The ideas, on the other hand, may surpass those in his other books that are under my belt; a planet filled with so many different kinds of life is fertile ground for cool stories and conceptual extrapolations. Still, we don't get that many detailed or ground-breaking ideas - if any. I prefer *Icerigger*'s depictions of aliens to *Quofum*'s because, even if they're still a little generic, they're more fleshed out than the surface-level races and ideas that we get here. Nothing offensive, just... nothing dangerously interesting.
Same goes for the characters, although to a more patronizing degree. The characters are pretty one-dimensional and don't give you anyone to actually root for, unlike Pip + Flinx; in fact, this book has made me appreciate those two characters and the likeability that they lend to their novels a lot more. This book kind of lacks those narrative tentpoles to anchor your enjoyment to.
What does this mean for *Quofum* at the end of the day? Well, that it is a "good enough" space adventure but still nothing more than a space adventure. I don't like saying that books are "nothing more than space adventures," as I strive to fight literary snobbery towards our beloved science fiction, but I really can't defend Foster too much in this particular case. Still, it gave me a break after a much heavier book, and will look pretty on my shelves even if I never remember it as anything more than a serviceable time. This equals: 6/10. I don't know when I'll get around to Alan Dean Foster again, but it'll probably happen since I'm an obsessive and comprehensive SF buyer and reader... they're short and sweet, at least. Anyways, I'm off to read some short stories which are hopefully a little bit more interesting. Check out Darnoc Leadburger here on Goodreads for some more unique science fiction insights, and as always, enjoy your reading.
September 16, 2023
Finally finished reading this today. And... well I suppose I should have expected as much when my dad saw what I was reading, recognized the author, and basically went "Oh... that guy."
Pros: The planet of Quofum itself is very imaginative and wonderfully absurd. Many of the scenes Mr. Foster describes as the scientists explore the planet remind me of the art of Genndy Tartakovsky when he did Dexter's Laboratory and Samurai Jack, delightfully quirky in a functionally abstract sort of way. There is a lot of potential here, it's a shame it was never fully utilized.
Cons: To be blunt, the plot is stupid. The plot and how it unfolds is unforgivably stupid and no, reading the other books set in this universe will not change that for me. We start with six characters but only two get enough development to really engage the reader's interest. We lose both of the interesting ones in a plot twist that was just... why? Why? That twist did nothing except create an unnecessary complication that ultimately ruined the story because out of all the ways he could have resolved the twist, the author picked the one that painted him into a corner.
Finally, the ending is ultimately a very "I have no mouth and I must scream" sort of thing that feels rushed and a bit underwhelming.
Conclusions: Do not recommend.
Pros: The planet of Quofum itself is very imaginative and wonderfully absurd. Many of the scenes Mr. Foster describes as the scientists explore the planet remind me of the art of Genndy Tartakovsky when he did Dexter's Laboratory and Samurai Jack, delightfully quirky in a functionally abstract sort of way. There is a lot of potential here, it's a shame it was never fully utilized.
Cons: To be blunt, the plot is stupid. The plot and how it unfolds is unforgivably stupid and no, reading the other books set in this universe will not change that for me. We start with six characters but only two get enough development to really engage the reader's interest. We lose both of the interesting ones in a plot twist that was just... why? Why? That twist did nothing except create an unnecessary complication that ultimately ruined the story because out of all the ways he could have resolved the twist, the author picked the one that painted him into a corner.
Finally, the ending is ultimately a very "I have no mouth and I must scream" sort of thing that feels rushed and a bit underwhelming.
Conclusions: Do not recommend.
July 15, 2019
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 spoilers, but let’s just say that if Robinson Crusoe ended with Robinson still marooned, Defoe’s classic would not be as popular as it is. Maybe the issues here will be resolved in Flinx Transcendent (2009). Let us hope. On the plus side, Foster is very inventive with alien physiology and culture, and the plot has some nice twists as it goes along.
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 spoilers, but let’s just say that if Robinson Crusoe ended with Robinson still marooned, Defoe’s classic would not be as popular as it is. Maybe the issues here will be resolved in Flinx Transcendent (2009). Let us hope. On the plus side, Foster is very inventive with alien physiology and culture, and the plot has some nice twists as it goes along.
October 19, 2021
Wow! Alan Dean Foster's lively imagination gets quite a workout in this book. First, he creates a planet that appears intermittently. It's barely detected before it vanishes and then it appears again. Before it disappears, an expedition of six explorers sets out.
As soon as they land, they're attacked by primitive sentients. Then another, completely different sentient species also attack them.
Two different sentient species of different phyla? But that's not all. All plant and animal life seems completely divergent from each other. The six explorers are overwhelmed trying to catalog it all.
Things grow worse. Three, four, five more sentient species are discovered. Past civilizations are unearthed. Will they ever get to the bottom of the mystery?
Only the reader of this book will understand in the end.
As soon as they land, they're attacked by primitive sentients. Then another, completely different sentient species also attack them.
Two different sentient species of different phyla? But that's not all. All plant and animal life seems completely divergent from each other. The six explorers are overwhelmed trying to catalog it all.
Things grow worse. Three, four, five more sentient species are discovered. Past civilizations are unearthed. Will they ever get to the bottom of the mystery?
Only the reader of this book will understand in the end.
May 8, 2023
Creatively stunning
The author's scientific knowledge and vocabulary is amazing. Every chapter of this book had me looking up words. And his creative imagination . . . so many creatures on this planet!
The more I read, the more I couldn't put the book down.
This is the second book by ADF I have read and I'm now becoming comfortable with his formal style of writing.
If you like sci-fi, know some science, and have a wide vocabulary, then this book is for you.
(I also read the short biography of the author at the end with interest. We are the same age and I have visited his birth city a number of times.)
The author's scientific knowledge and vocabulary is amazing. Every chapter of this book had me looking up words. And his creative imagination . . . so many creatures on this planet!
The more I read, the more I couldn't put the book down.
This is the second book by ADF I have read and I'm now becoming comfortable with his formal style of writing.
If you like sci-fi, know some science, and have a wide vocabulary, then this book is for you.
(I also read the short biography of the author at the end with interest. We are the same age and I have visited his birth city a number of times.)
April 15, 2023
Much as I LOVE Alan Dean Foster this is my least favorite book by this author I have ever read.
This plot was disjointed, the first plot twist was ridiculous and nothing was ever brought to any conclusion on any of the many twists and fantastical species existence. Love the Humanax Commonwealth books, loved his Spellsingers series from many years ago, love the Icerigger trilogy but Quofum just felt like a waste of time.
This plot was disjointed, the first plot twist was ridiculous and nothing was ever brought to any conclusion on any of the many twists and fantastical species existence. Love the Humanax Commonwealth books, loved his Spellsingers series from many years ago, love the Icerigger trilogy but Quofum just felt like a waste of time.
January 21, 2015
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 library. There is something to be said about a book where I can't really tell you the personalities, or even the names, of the main characters within the book, but I can tell you the unique forms of locomotion the various examples of fauna that appeared in this novel had.
This book is a perfect example of "Scenery Porn" in a science fiction novel. Ever watched a movie where the camera just sweeps over landscapes instead of moving the story? That's 80% of this book. The most fleshed-out character in this book is the planet Quofum itself, the lush, dangerous, wild xenobiological nightmare that it is with its weird sentient blob monsters and its alcoholic seas. The plot ends up taking a backseat for the descriptions in this book and the characters spend a good chunk of their time observing and cataloging over developing character relationships. Pages upon pages just describing weird alien wildlife and their exotic dietary needs and locomotion. Scientific discovery! Expeditions on rafts and integration in weird coastal alien societies! Collecting samples and cataloging their place on the evolutionary ladder!
This sounds...boring, and any attempt at describing this book will unfortunately come across as such, but it had an odd charm to its dedicated focus and I ended up seeing the book through to the end. I had read Phylogenesis prior to picking up this book (and I realize I am reading the books quite out of sequence), but I think this was the book that made me fall in love with Alan Dean Foster's style of writing. There's just something to be said with how much detail is baked into his very verbose descriptions and the words he carefully chooses. It's a very plenteous, precise vocabulary that might have you cracking your dictionary from time to time.
Which is weird for me to say this about this book in particular since, in a way, not much really happens in this book, I didn't exactly fall in love with these characters, and it's essentially a giant prologue. Ah well.
Here is a basic plot summary; a team of scientists and their supervising captain that sort of reads like a grizzled space pirate (random aside: without spoiling much, we find out he has a debt so massive that someone hired an assassin on him in one of those magical "why wasn't this a novel?" moments) land on an unexplored planet that randomly appears and disappears out of a solar system, they are stranded on this mysterious planet (which you probably would have expected going into this book, but the method in which they are stranded does take you by surprise), they occasionally hang out with the developing sentient races in this planet before and after they are stranded, and in an attempt at cracking the big mystery behind this planet, stumble upon something far greater than they could have ever imagined. Their lives are mere cosmic playthings, there is a reason this world is so odd, etc. etc.
To sum it up: Weird planet with weird things. Very weird things. Like, "couldn't have evolved in the same biosphere" kind of things.
In the end...not much of anything is resolved. It's all meant to lead into the next book in the Pip and Flinx series. This book raises a lot of questions but answers none of them, nor does it try to answer any questions so much as it dangles the answers just out of reach. The ending is sort of abrupt in that regard, in which the book doesn't so much get resolved as it does just...stop. Our heroes, after unwittingly becoming part of the great Quofum puzzle, just kind of shrug their shoulders and accept it.
One thing that did take me by surprise during the course of the novel, something that I have to take note, is the fact that one of the main scientists, one that you have been following pretty closely for the first half of the book and has a very unique design and personality compared to his companions and the lead just shifts to the remaining scientists. I will admit that I have not yet read another book that did this.
Basically, with a few twists here and there and the notion of something beyond humanity's control pulling the strings, it's by and large an exploration book with the team of xenobiologists, most of them human with one thranx, exploring a land that makes no sense from an evolutionary standpoint while dry wit comes tumbling out of the scientists' mouths at a rapid pace. They don't really connect; they just observe. Observe for pages at a time. And occasionally make a snarky comment here and there while they observe.
I can't really see myself rereading this, but I enjoyed the journey it took me nonetheless.
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 library. There is something to be said about a book where I can't really tell you the personalities, or even the names, of the main characters within the book, but I can tell you the unique forms of locomotion the various examples of fauna that appeared in this novel had.
This book is a perfect example of "Scenery Porn" in a science fiction novel. Ever watched a movie where the camera just sweeps over landscapes instead of moving the story? That's 80% of this book. The most fleshed-out character in this book is the planet Quofum itself, the lush, dangerous, wild xenobiological nightmare that it is with its weird sentient blob monsters and its alcoholic seas. The plot ends up taking a backseat for the descriptions in this book and the characters spend a good chunk of their time observing and cataloging over developing character relationships. Pages upon pages just describing weird alien wildlife and their exotic dietary needs and locomotion. Scientific discovery! Expeditions on rafts and integration in weird coastal alien societies! Collecting samples and cataloging their place on the evolutionary ladder!
This sounds...boring, and any attempt at describing this book will unfortunately come across as such, but it had an odd charm to its dedicated focus and I ended up seeing the book through to the end. I had read Phylogenesis prior to picking up this book (and I realize I am reading the books quite out of sequence), but I think this was the book that made me fall in love with Alan Dean Foster's style of writing. There's just something to be said with how much detail is baked into his very verbose descriptions and the words he carefully chooses. It's a very plenteous, precise vocabulary that might have you cracking your dictionary from time to time.
Which is weird for me to say this about this book in particular since, in a way, not much really happens in this book, I didn't exactly fall in love with these characters, and it's essentially a giant prologue. Ah well.
Here is a basic plot summary; a team of scientists and their supervising captain that sort of reads like a grizzled space pirate (random aside: without spoiling much, we find out he has a debt so massive that someone hired an assassin on him in one of those magical "why wasn't this a novel?" moments) land on an unexplored planet that randomly appears and disappears out of a solar system, they are stranded on this mysterious planet (which you probably would have expected going into this book, but the method in which they are stranded does take you by surprise), they occasionally hang out with the developing sentient races in this planet before and after they are stranded, and in an attempt at cracking the big mystery behind this planet, stumble upon something far greater than they could have ever imagined. Their lives are mere cosmic playthings, there is a reason this world is so odd, etc. etc.
To sum it up: Weird planet with weird things. Very weird things. Like, "couldn't have evolved in the same biosphere" kind of things.
In the end...not much of anything is resolved. It's all meant to lead into the next book in the Pip and Flinx series. This book raises a lot of questions but answers none of them, nor does it try to answer any questions so much as it dangles the answers just out of reach. The ending is sort of abrupt in that regard, in which the book doesn't so much get resolved as it does just...stop. Our heroes, after unwittingly becoming part of the great Quofum puzzle, just kind of shrug their shoulders and accept it.
One thing that did take me by surprise during the course of the novel, something that I have to take note, is the fact that one of the main scientists, one that you have been following pretty closely for the first half of the book and has a very unique design and personality compared to his companions and the lead just shifts to the remaining scientists. I will admit that I have not yet read another book that did this.
Basically, with a few twists here and there and the notion of something beyond humanity's control pulling the strings, it's by and large an exploration book with the team of xenobiologists, most of them human with one thranx, exploring a land that makes no sense from an evolutionary standpoint while dry wit comes tumbling out of the scientists' mouths at a rapid pace. They don't really connect; they just observe. Observe for pages at a time. And occasionally make a snarky comment here and there while they observe.
I can't really see myself rereading this, but I enjoyed the journey it took me nonetheless.
May 24, 2018
++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.++
August 31, 2024
Beautiful and well written story.
I can just imagine how many eons it took for this saga to play itself out. We will never know because the ending was just the beginning for our heroes.
I thought this book was very interesting, but it went on a completely different path than what I thought it was going to take.
All in all, I highly recommend it.
I can just imagine how many eons it took for this saga to play itself out. We will never know because the ending was just the beginning for our heroes.
I thought this book was very interesting, but it went on a completely different path than what I thought it was going to take.
All in all, I highly recommend it.
November 11, 2018
A great addition to his Commonwealth universe.
November 27, 2022
An interesting but confusing read.
February 6, 2025
Pacing was great. The story was great. The whole series has been wonderful.
Read
October 7, 2025Da hat Alan Dean Foster beim Erzählen übernommen oder sogar Verlaufen. Das Buch hat kein Ende.
May 5, 2017
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 that Foster seems to have gone along with the common misconception that scientists are a breed of dedicated, disciplined people with their emotions in check. I’ve worked with scientists for years and even lay some small claim to being one, and they’re just ordinary people who happen to work in the scientific field. The way the xenologists in Quofum are written means that every time something potentially exciting happens, Foster cites their emotional detachment and discipline and diminishes their reactions. This effectively drains the book of most of its emotional impact.
There is a lot to be excited about as Quofum turns out to be a planet of unparalleled biodiversity. This point is made again and again by every character and at every opportunity until I almost leapt out of my chair screaming ‘I know about the amazingly diverse Quofumian life forms! Aaaaaaagh!’ So much for my scientific discipline. On the positive side there are some fascinating creatures and races that display Foster’s marvellous imagination.
The blurb to the book makes the point that this novel provides vital background information to the final Pip and Flinx book due out next year. Sadly in the end the book did just feel like background material. I never really connected with any of the characters and the reason they get stranded on the planet is just illogical. A ridiculous plot device is employed with the sole purpose of stranding them for reasons that we’ll presumably find out next year.
I guess fans of Foster’s ‘Commonwealth’ series will want to read this for completeness, but if you just want to try one of his novels to get a flavour of his work then you’d do best looking elsewhere.
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 that Foster seems to have gone along with the common misconception that scientists are a breed of dedicated, disciplined people with their emotions in check. I’ve worked with scientists for years and even lay some small claim to being one, and they’re just ordinary people who happen to work in the scientific field. The way the xenologists in Quofum are written means that every time something potentially exciting happens, Foster cites their emotional detachment and discipline and diminishes their reactions. This effectively drains the book of most of its emotional impact.
There is a lot to be excited about as Quofum turns out to be a planet of unparalleled biodiversity. This point is made again and again by every character and at every opportunity until I almost leapt out of my chair screaming ‘I know about the amazingly diverse Quofumian life forms! Aaaaaaagh!’ So much for my scientific discipline. On the positive side there are some fascinating creatures and races that display Foster’s marvellous imagination.
The blurb to the book makes the point that this novel provides vital background information to the final Pip and Flinx book due out next year. Sadly in the end the book did just feel like background material. I never really connected with any of the characters and the reason they get stranded on the planet is just illogical. A ridiculous plot device is employed with the sole purpose of stranding them for reasons that we’ll presumably find out next year.
I guess fans of Foster’s ‘Commonwealth’ series will want to read this for completeness, but if you just want to try one of his novels to get a flavour of his work then you’d do best looking elsewhere.
August 20, 2013
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) between the books (my memory being what it is). And maybe that is the way it should be read, since the connection between the series is very loose, basically the same universe, but there is a very little in the way of timeline, and the same characters are never found in different books in the series.
In my opinion the books are also quite uneven, with some barely making it to 3 stars (2.5, really), and others a solid 4. I would say the series is 3.5 or so, but maybe the aforementioned reading the whole series at once lowered my estimate a bit. Still, I am thinking of lining up Pip series in the near future. And, of course I'll just read and review it as a series rather than the single books the series consists off.
In my opinion the books are also quite uneven, with some barely making it to 3 stars (2.5, really), and others a solid 4. I would say the series is 3.5 or so, but maybe the aforementioned reading the whole series at once lowered my estimate a bit. Still, I am thinking of lining up Pip series in the near future. And, of course I'll just read and review it as a series rather than the single books the series consists off.
December 19, 2025
Started out in typical solid ADF fashion - great world-building in yet another unexplored planet that wants to kill you...some really great ideas and nice mystery...why does the planet pop in and out of existence. However, as the thin plot slowly unraveled - it all fell apart.
May 2, 2021
2.0 out of 5 stars
A Book that Goes Nowhere
September 10, 2009
Alan Dean Foster's "Quofum" is a book that goes nowhere. Oh, technically, the writing's very nice. But, there's no point to the book. Outside of a whole lot of descriptive prose describing what the science team at the core of the book is doing, nothing happens. Worse, the mechanism used to leave that crew to their own devices (about the middle of the book) just comes out of the blue and is nonsensical (it's so silly that I almost stopped reading there (I wish I had)). For the coup de grace, the rest of the book consists of even more pointless descriptive prose followed by 10 pages or so of deus ex machina that fails to even tie anything up. If the writing were technically bad, I'd be happy to rate this at an Awful 1 star out of 5. But, in all honesty, I can't do that. So, I'll bump it up to a Bad 2 stars out of 5.
A Book that Goes Nowhere
September 10, 2009
Alan Dean Foster's "Quofum" is a book that goes nowhere. Oh, technically, the writing's very nice. But, there's no point to the book. Outside of a whole lot of descriptive prose describing what the science team at the core of the book is doing, nothing happens. Worse, the mechanism used to leave that crew to their own devices (about the middle of the book) just comes out of the blue and is nonsensical (it's so silly that I almost stopped reading there (I wish I had)). For the coup de grace, the rest of the book consists of even more pointless descriptive prose followed by 10 pages or so of deus ex machina that fails to even tie anything up. If the writing were technically bad, I'd be happy to rate this at an Awful 1 star out of 5. But, in all honesty, I can't do that. So, I'll bump it up to a Bad 2 stars out of 5.
February 10, 2016
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 can we measure our own advancements, aren't we automatically prejudiced in favor of our own ancestry? I think this book has made me truly think not just about how easy it is to get wrapped up in our own lives to the extent that we have become unaware of what's going on around us but about whether who,what, if and how we live really makes a difference to those affected around us
February 2, 2018
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 follow"," and most of them get tied off in unrelated ways. By the time the book finishes"," it becomes obvious the loose ends are really just spoilers for the next Pip and Flinx novel. I was disappointed.
December 13, 2011
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 if you're bored. Authors can only do so much, and it's the good ones that poke us in the right directions and leave the rest up to us.
Read
July 24, 2011Maybe 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: interesting premise; execution not so great. Not his best writing.
May 6, 2009
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.
March 27, 2012
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! ;)
September 22, 2015
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...
March 24, 2009
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...
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