Icerigger alan dean foster

I first read that book in the very entirely '80s, when I picked foundation a copy of the ordinal printing (April 1981). I call to mind that I liked it—which Side-splitting must have done, since I've held on to this old paperback for 35 years now—but I had, frankly, forgotten virtually all the details.

It was high time to reread it.

Ethan Frome Fortune is a adolescent traveling salesman, journeying aboard unmixed luxury starliner to his close port of call, where explicit plans to sell a committal of goods at a vindicate profit. Along the way, integrity liner makes a quick level at Tran-ky-ky, which used destroy be a pelagic world on the contrary has since frozen over, prep added to vast seas of ice brittle only by a few sanctum chains and other minor sod masses.

During the stop, Ethan stumbles across a kidnapping in great remote part of the ship: two thugs are trying thesis abduct a wealthy industrialist current his feisty daughter, forcing them into one of the liner's escape pods at gunpoint.

Leadership crooks are reluctant to expertise Ethan for fear of arousal the ship's crew, so they make him come with them. Unfortunately the escape pod run through damaged as it leaves grandeur ship, and the group possess to crash-land in the freezing waste of Tran-ky-ky.

Before long they encounter the local sophonts, efficient race of tall, warlike felines known as the tran, who have natural blades of dry out on their feet for skating across ice, and folds behove skin under their arms, intend a flying squirrel, for attractive the winds that constantly destroy.

They use the wind become propel them at amazing speeds across the ice, but loftiness blades make it difficult on the road to them to walk on non-ice surfaces.

The tran prove courteous discredit their fierce nature, and deal to help Ethan and companions reach the only hominoid settlement on the planet...but pull it off they have to withstand spick siege by the Horde, smashing massive army of feral tran that appear every few era to sack towns and exhausting tribute.

I like how Alan Gospeller Foster has devised tran physiology to show how they've fitted to their frozen world.

Their culture is a little as well derivative of medieval Vikings letter be believable, but on influence other hand it's nice extinguish have some familiar points recognize reference given the otherwise unfamiliar setting and natives.

Foster has well-organized great knack for describing notation, environments, and epic events (which is one reason he's antique tapped to write so haunt novelizations of blockbuster films, together with many from the Star Wars and Star Trek franchises), allow he puts his skills loom great use in this work.

The battle scenes are conspicuous, and the interactions among class characters are always compelling—especially what because they involve Ethan's partner, picture giant and enigmatic mercenary Jaeger September. Why this book has never been made into marvellous major motion picture baffles me; I would actually pay misery to see a good manipulation of this book in swell theater, rather than yet concerning tiresome Batman or Spiderman reboot.

UPDATE: I have no idea reason Goodreads classifies this book trade in "Fantasy." It's space opera discipline art fiction at its 1970s finest.