After a long wait, fans of the adventures of Flinx of the Commonwealth finally get to rejoin the hero and his poisonous minidrag, Pip. In Reunion, Flinx travels from earth to AAnn space trying to unlock the secrets of his past.

Flinx is on earth to hunt down classified information about the Meliorare Society, the sect of renegade eugenicists responsible for his telepathic gifts. To get into a top-secret installation, he uses his powers to charm one of the key security people so he can gain access to their AI program. However, the file with the information he's looking for has been taken, and he barely escapes.

In an effort to hunt down the file, Flinx and Pip end up on a dangerous trek across the galaxy into the heart of AAnn space. When their shuttle crashes on a desert planet, Flinx and the minidrag soon find themselves up against native dangers and a nest of reptilian AAnn soldiers. But that's only the beginning for Flinx, because before it's over he will discover an ancient mystery and face an old foe who may turn out to be his most dangerous enemy yet.

Reunion is the eighth novel in the series and it is less a complete book than a continuation of the story. It's clear that Foster has bigger things in mind for Flinx and Pip. The novel is a page-turner, with lots of action to keep things moving. Fans of the series will find revelations in the book that make Reunion a must-read. However, those new to the series will wonder why they would want to read about a hero who seems, at best, morally questionable based on his first actions in Reunion. A bigger problem still is that the entire book seems to be just a teaser for the ninth novel, and if it takes another five years to arrive, that's a long tease. --Kathie Huddleston


From Publishers Weekly
Bestseller Foster has created yet another entertaining adventure story in the far-flung reaches of a far-future outer space. Featuring the Alaspinian minidrag Pip and the intellectually enhanced Phillip Lynx (Flinx), this is the seventh in an ongoing series that began with For Love of Mother Not. There are few real surprises in this nostalgic novel, as Flinx continues to pursue all sources of knowledge of his birth parents. In his quest he runs into previously introduced nemeses like the alien AAnn and another genetically enhanced person like himself, the adolescent woman Mahnahmi, who turns out to be more closely linked and more dangerous than was previously revealed. He finds he has unsuspected allies, including intelligent vegetal life and a souped-up spaceship, all the bases of plots from earlier novels. The penultimate adventure links Flinx with a huge alien artifact on the moon of a distant planet, Pyrassis, always an appealing adventure-plot element. There, after hardship and seemingly certain extinction, he communes with the alien intelligence and plants the seeds (remember the intelligent plants?) that alert us to the possibility of future exploits. Using the traditional cliff-hangers and narrow escapes of classic SF adventure page-turners, and propelling Flinx from one crisis to another, from moral dilemma to deus-ex-machina, Foster enlists multiple formulas for a surefire, if comfortably predictable, reading experience that should appeal to space-opera fans. (May 29)Star Wars, the first three Alien pictures and Alien Nation. His novel Cyber War won the Southwest Book Award for Fiction in 1990, the first science fiction work ever to do so.Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
Using his empathic powers to infiltrate a top-security complex in search of information regarding his mysterious past, the genetically enhanced Flinx is pursued by enemies who would exploit his talents. Foster's first foray in five years into his Humanx series (Mid-Flinx) features more rollicking planet-hopping adventures by the intrepid and resourceful Flinx and his minidrag companion Pip. Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
A further adventure of Pip the Thranx and genetically altered human Philip Lynx (Flinx), who are living among aliens, proves that Foster can still tell a rollicking good tale. Because he is suffering from vicious headaches, Flinx is determined to discover the secrets of his manipulated genetic heritage. Empathically seducing a security guard, he breaks into a sophisticated artificial intelligence that holds key data and then undertakes a quest for the parties behind the genetic manipulation project that produced him. His search ends in a tension-filled, absorbing action climax on a gas giant that is not quite what it seems. Somewhat unevenly paced, this isn't, perhaps, a good book to introduce readers to either Foster or Pip and Flinx. Fans of the series, however, will loudly applaud it. Roland Green
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Review
“Bestseller Foster has created yet another entertaining adventure story in the far-flung reaches of a far-future outer space. . . . Using the traditional cliff-hangers and narrow escapes of classic SF adventure page-turners, and propelling Flinx from one crisis to another, from moral dilemma to deus-ex-machina, Foster enlists multiple formulas for a surefire . . . reading experience that should appeal to space-opera fans.”
–Publishers Weekly

“Flinx’s trek through the deadly desert and his encounters with the AAnn make for a good read.”
–Locus


Review
?Bestseller Foster has created yet another entertaining adventure story in the far-flung reaches of a far-future outer space. . . . Using the traditional cliff-hangers and narrow escapes of classic SF adventure page-turners, and propelling Flinx from one crisis to another, from moral dilemma to deus-ex-machina, Foster enlists multiple formulas for a surefire . . . reading experience that should appeal to space-opera fans.?
?Publishers Weekly

?Flinx?s trek through the deadly desert and his encounters with the AAnn make for a good read.?
?Locus


Book Description

At last, New York Times bestselling author Alan Dean Foster returns to his acclaimed Humanx universe, where a young human orphan called Flinx seeks to unlock the dangerous secrets of his past–and the uncertain prospects of his future with the aid of the formidable minidrag known as Pip. This is the most mind-bending Pip and Flinx adventure yet–a roller-coaster ride into the unknown, filled with wonder and humor, and a host of deadly adversaries.

Using his enhanced empathic abilities, Flinx finesses his way into a top-secret security installation on Earth. Once there, he bamboozles a sophisticated AI program into releasing classified information about the Meliorare Society, the sect of renegade eugenicists whose experiments with human beings had horrified the civilized universe more than twenty years ago. After all, as one of the few Meliorare experiments to survive, Flinx has a right to know about his past. Especially since his telepathic powers seem to be evolving. The question is, evolving into what? The excruciating headaches afflicting Flinx with increasing frequency make him wonder if he will be alive to find out. . . .

FIRST TIME IN PAPERBACK



From the Inside Flap

At last, New York Times bestselling author Alan Dean Foster returns to his acclaimed Humanx universe, where a young human orphan called Flinx seeks to unlock the dangerous secrets of his past–and the uncertain prospects of his future with the aid of the formidable minidrag known as Pip. This is the most mind-bending Pip and Flinx adventure yet–a roller-coaster ride into the unknown, filled with wonder and humor, and a host of deadly adversaries.

Using his enhanced empathic abilities, Flinx finesses his way into a top-secret security installation on Earth. Once there, he bamboozles a sophisticated AI program into releasing classified information about the Meliorare Society, the sect of renegade eugenicists whose experiments with human beings had horrified the civilized universe more than twenty years ago. After all, as one of the few Meliorare experiments to survive, Flinx has a right to know about his past. Especially since his telepathic powers seem to be evolving. The question is, evolving into what? The excruciating headaches afflicting Flinx with increasing frequency make him wonder if he will be alive to find out. . . .

FIRST TIME IN PAPERBACK



From the Back Cover
“Bestseller Foster has created yet another entertaining adventure story in the far-flung reaches of a far-future outer space. . . . Using the traditional cliff-hangers and narrow escapes of classic SF adventure page-turners, and propelling Flinx from one crisis to another, from moral dilemma to deus-ex-machina, Foster enlists multiple formulas for a surefire . . . reading experience that should appeal to space-opera fans.”
–Publishers Weekly

“Flinx’s trek through the deadly desert and his encounters with the AAnn make for a good read.”
–Locus


About the Author
Alan Dean Foster has written in a variety of genres, including hard science fiction, fantasy, horror, detective, western, historical, and contemporary fiction. He is the author of the Star Wars® novel The Approaching Storm. He is also the author of numerous nonfiction articles on film, science, and scuba diving, as well as the novelizations of several films, including Star Wars, the first three Alien films, and Alien Nation. His novel Cyber Way won the Southwest Book Award for Fiction in 1990, the first science fiction work to ever do so.

Foster’s love of the faraway and exotic has led him to travel extensively. He’s lived in Tahiti and French Polynesia, traveled to Europe, Asia, and throughout the Pacific, and has explored the back roads of Tanzania and Kenya. He has rappeled into New Mexico’s fabled Lechugilla Cave, eaten panfried pirhana (lots of bones, tastes a lot like trout) in Peru, white-water rafted the length of the Zambezi’s Batoka Gorge, and driven solo the length and breadth of Namibia.

Foster and his wife, JoAnn Oxley, reside in Prescott, Arizona, in a house built of brick that was salvaged from a turn-of-the-century miners’ brothel. He is presently at work on several new novels and media projects.

Visit the author at his Web site at www.alandeanfoster.com.


Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
When bad people are chasing you, life is dangerous. When
good people are chasing you, life is awkward. But when
you are chasing yourself, the most simple facts of existence
become disturbing, destabilizing, and a source of
unending waking confusion.

So it was with Flinx, who in searching for the history
of himself, found that he was once again treading upon
the hallowed, mystic soil of the spherical blue-white
womb among the stars that had given birth to his whole
species. Only, the soil he was treading presently was
being treated by those around him with something other
than veneration, and a means of sourcing the information
he hoped to uncover was still to be found.

Tacrica was a beautiful place in which to be discouraged.
Sensitive to his frustration, Pip had been acting
fidgety for days. An iridescent flutter of pleated pink-and-
blue wings and lethal, diamond-backed body, she
would rise from his shoulder to dart aimlessly about his
head and neck before settling restlessly back down into
her customary position of repose. As active as she was
colorful, the mature female minidrag was the only thing
he was presently wearing.

His nudity did not excite comment because every one
of the other sun and water worshipers strolling or lying
about on the seashore was similarly unclothed. In the
human beach culture of 554 a.a., the superfluity of wearing
clothing into the sea or along its edge had long been
recognized. Protective sprays blocked harmful UV rays
without damaging the skin, and frivolous, transitory
painted highlights decorated bodies both attractive and
past their prime. It was these often elaborate anatomical
decorations that were the focus of admiring attention,
and not the commonplace nakedness that framed them.

Flinx flaunted no such artificial enhancements, unless
one counted the Alaspinian minidrag coiled around his
neck and left shoulder. Such contemporary cultural accoutrements
were as alien to him as the primeval grains
of sand beneath his feet. Culturally as well as historically,
he was an utter and complete stranger here. Nor was he
comfortable among the throngs of people. With its still
unsettled steppes and unexplored reaches, Moth, where
he had grown up, was far more familiar to him. He was
more at home in the jungles of Alaspin, or among the
blind Sumacrea of Longtunnel, or even in the aggressive
world-girdling rain forest of Midworld. Anyplace but
here. Anywhere but Earth.

Yet it was to Earth he had finally come for a second
time, in search of himself. All roads led to Terra, it was
said, and it was as true for him as for anyone else. Beyond
Earth, the United Church had placed a moral imperative
lock, an elaborate Edict, on all information
about the Meliorares, the society of renegade eugenicists
responsible for whatever bastard mutation he had become.
Travels and adventures elsewhere had left him
with hints as to their doings, with fragmentary bits and
pieces of knowledge that tantalized without satisfying. If
he was ever going to unravel the ultimate secrets of his
heritage, it was here.

Even so, he had been reluctant to come. Not because
he was fearful of what he might find: He had long since
matured beyond such fears. But because it was dangerous.
Not only did he want to learn all the details of his
origins: so did others. Because of contacts he had been
compelled to make, the United Church was now aware
of him as an individual instead of merely as an overlooked
statistic in the scientific record. As high-ranking
an official as thranx Counselor Second Druvenmaquez
had taken a personal interest in the red-haired, bright-eyed
young man Flinx had become. The novice beach-goer
smiled to himself. He had left the irascible, elderly
thranx on Midworld, slipping away quietly when the science
counselor had been occupied elsewhere. When he
eventually discovered that the singular young human
had taken surreptitious flight, the venerable thranx would
be irked. He would have to be satisfied with what little
he had already learned, because neither his people nor
anyone else would be able to track Flinx's ship, the
Teacher, through space-plus.

Ever cautious, Flinx had decided for the moment to
hew to the hoary principle that the best place to hide was
in plain sight. What better place to do that than on one of
the Commonwealth's twin world centers of government
and religion, where he had come looking for information
years ago? It was where he needed to be anyway, if he
was ever going to find out the truth about himself. In addition
to his burgeoning curiosity, there had come upon
him in the past year a new sense of urgency. With the
onset of full adulthood looming over him, he could feel
himself changing, in slow and sometimes not-so-subtle
ways. Each month, it seemed, brought a new revelation.
He could not define all the changes, could not quarantine
and assess every one of them, but their periodic nebulosity
rendered them no less real. Something was happening
to him, inside him. The self he had known since
infancy was becoming something else.

He was scared. With no one to talk to, no one to confide
in save a highly empathetic but nonsapient flying snake,
he could look only to himself for answers--answers he
had always wished for but had never been able to acquire.
It was for those reasons he had taken the risk of coming
back to Earth. If he was going to find what he needed to
know, it lay buried somewhere deep within the immense
volume of sheer accumulated knowledge that was one of
the homeworld's greatest treasures.

But if he was home, as every human who came to
Earth was supposed to be, then why did he feel so much
like an alien? It bothered him now even more than it had
when last he had visited here some five years ago.

He tried to wean himself from the troubling chain of
thought. Belaboring the accumulated neuroses of twenty
years would solve nothing. He was here on a fact-finding
mission; nothing more, nothing less. It was important to
focus his attention and efforts, not only in hopes of securing
the information he sought, but in order to avoid
the attention of the authorities. With the exception of the
thranx Druvenmaquez and his underlings, who were
specifically looking for him, what other agencies and individuals
might also be interested in one Philip Lynx he
did not know. It did not matter. Until he left the home-world,
a little healthy paranoia would help to preserve
him--but not if he allowed his thoughts to float aimlessly,
adrift in a distraught sea of incomplete memories
and internal conflicts.

Of course, he might well secure answers to all the
questions that tormented him by the simple expedient of
turning himself in. Druvenmaquez or a specialist in some
other relevant bureau would gladly take the plunge into
the secrets of him. But once committed to such research,
he would not be allowed to leave whenever it might
please him. Guinea pigs had no bill of rights. Revealing
himself might also expose him to the scrutiny of those he
wished to avoid--the great trading houses, other private
concerns, the possible remnants of certain heretical and
outlawed societies, and others. Becoming a potentially
profitable lab subject carried with it dangers of its own--
a long, healthy, and happy future not necessarily being
among them.

Somehow he had to discover himself by himself, without
alerting to his presence the very authorities who
might help alleviate his seemingly illimitable anxieties.
And he had to do it quickly, before the changes he was
experiencing threatened to overwhelm him.

For one thing, the unpredictable, skull-pounding headaches
he had suffered from since childhood--the ones that
caused blinding flashes of light behind his eyes--were
growing worse, in intensity if not frequency. When and if
it occurred, would he be able to tell the difference between
a common headache and a cerebral hemorrhage? Would
he be able to deal with the physical as well as the mental
consequences of the changes he was undergoing? He
needed answers to all the old questions about himself, as
well as to the new ones, and he needed them soon.

Of all the billions of humans on all the settled worlds
scattered across the vast length and breadth of the Commonwealth,
no one could claim that "nobody understands
me" with the depth of veracity of a tall young
redhead named Philip Lynx, who was called Flinx.

FROM OUR EDITORS

The Barnes & Noble Review
This novel from Alan Dean Foster is a must-read for fans of his Commonwealth series. Flinx, the telepath in search of his past, and his friend Pip, the mini-dragon, are back -- and this time the adventure is wilder than ever.

Flinx and Pip come back to Earth searching for clues to Flinx's mysterious origins. After seducing an unsuspecting government worker to access classified files, he uncovers connections between his mother and a secret society. He tracks members of the group back to a remote desert planet but before he can get answers, he is captured by carnivorous Aann!

In an interview, Foster said he thought Reunion would surprise and please fans of the series -- and that's exactly what it does. There are so many unbelievable twists of fate in this book that I feel compelled to tell you about them -- but that would ruin the experience. Trust me when I say this book will drop some serious bombs into the Commonwealth universe. It's like epic adventure, science fiction, soap opera and sarcastic comedy all in one. (Paul Goat Allen)

FROM THE PUBLISHER

At last, New York Times bestselling author Alan Dean Foster returns to his acclaimed Humanx universe, where a young human orphan called Flinx seeks to unlock the dangerous secrets of his past–and the uncertain prospects of his future with the aid of the formidable minidrag known as Pip. This is the most mind-bending Pip and Flinx adventure yet–a roller-coaster ride into the unknown, filled with wonder and humor, and a host of deadly adversaries.

Using his enhanced empathic abilities, Flinx finesses his way into a top-secret security installation on Earth. Once there, he bamboozles a sophisticated AI program into releasing classified information about the Meliorare Society, the sect of renegade eugenicists whose experiments with human beings had horrified the civilized universe more than twenty years ago. After all, as one of the few Meliorare experiments to survive, Flinx has a right to know about his past. Especially since his telepathic powers seem to be evolving. The question is, evolving into what? The excruciating headaches afflicting Flinx with increasing frequency make him wonder if he will be alive to find out. . . .

FIRST TIME IN PAPERBACK

SYNOPSIS

The wait is over! At last, New York Times bestselling author Alan Dean Foster returns to his acclaimed Humanx universe, where a young human orphan called Flinx seeks to unlock the dangerous secrets of his past and the uncertain prospects of his future with the aid of the formidable minidrag known as Pip.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

Bestseller Foster has created yet another entertaining adventure story in the far-flung reaches of a far-future outer space. Featuring the Alaspinian minidrag Pip and the intellectually enhanced Phillip Lynx (Flinx), this is the seventh in an ongoing series that began with For Love of Mother Not. There are few real surprises in this nostalgic novel, as Flinx continues to pursue all sources of knowledge of his birth parents. In his quest he runs into previously introduced nemeses like the alien AAnn and another genetically enhanced person like himself, the adolescent woman Mahnahmi, who turns out to be more closely linked and more dangerous than was previously revealed. He finds he has unsuspected allies, including intelligent vegetal life and a souped-up spaceship, all the bases of plots from earlier novels. The penultimate adventure links Flinx with a huge alien artifact on the moon of a distant planet, Pyrassis, always an appealing adventure-plot element. There, after hardship and seemingly certain extinction, he communes with the alien intelligence and plants the seeds (remember the intelligent plants?) that alert us to the possibility of future exploits. Using the traditional cliff-hangers and narrow escapes of classic SF adventure page-turners, and propelling Flinx from one crisis to another, from moral dilemma to deus-ex-machina, Foster enlists multiple formulas for a surefire, if comfortably predictable, reading experience that should appeal to space-opera fans. (May 29) FYI: Foster is also known for his novelizations of such films as Star Wars, the first three Alien pictures and Alien Nation. His novel Cyber War won the Southwest Book Award for Fiction in 1990, the first science fiction work ever to do so. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

VOYA

Philip Lynx, better known as Flinx, and his Alaspinian minidrag, Pip, travel to Earth to track down more information about Flinx's past as an experiment in eugenics by the now-outlawed Meliorare Society. When he discovers a computer file that might hold the answers to his questions, the file disappears, leading Flinx on a chase across the galaxy to the empire of the reptilian Aann, a race not likely to welcome him. After a grueling trek across an arid planet, Flinx finds himself involved in something far more complicated and personal than he ever intended. Indeed, the reunion of the title is extremely personal, as Flinx confronts an old acquaintance and learns his true relationship to her. The narrative is overwritten and stilted, and the result is a story that distances the reader. Sometimes the text is so convoluted that it is funny, although there is little indication that humor is Foster's intention. Similarly, the characterization is stiff; the narrator never lets the reader near Flinx. The plot is both solid and stolid—Flinx proceeds from point A to B to C with some fortuitous rescues interspersed into the plot line. Although Foster does a fairly good job of telling the back story, readers familiar with the previous books will get more out of this title than those reading the series for the first time. Foster is popular enough that someone must be reading his books. This title is appropriate for larger collections and for libraries that own the previous titles. VOYA CODES: 2Q 2P S A/YA (Better editing or work by the author might have warranted a 3Q; For the YA with a special interest in the subject; Senior High, defined as grades 10 to 12; Adult and Young Adult). 2001,Ballantine, 329p, $24. Ages 15 to Adult. Reviewer: Donna Scanlon

Library Journal

Using his empathic powers to infiltrate a top-security complex in search of information regarding his mysterious past, the genetically enhanced Flinx is pursued by enemies who would exploit his talents. Foster's first foray in five years into his Humanx series (Mid-Flinx) features more rollicking planet-hopping adventures by the intrepid and resourceful Flinx and his minidrag companion Pip. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 2/1/01.] Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews