Rating: 
Summary: Entertaining but ultimately disappointing science fiction.
Review: Timothy Zahn's THE ICARUS HUNT is, for the most part, anentertaining tale aimed at the "hard science fiction" reader-- but ultimately its ending (complete with a concealed set of facts that left this reader snarling in baffled annoyance) disappoints. Contrary to what some other reviews in this forum suggest, it is *not* like STAR WARS, save for its interweaving of humans and aliens as in the famed "Cantina bar." It has plenty of good ideas, and lots of plot twists ... and yet its resolution is at once too neat and profoundly implausible. And those pesky concealed facts make a fraud out of much of the novel's set-up, including much of what gives the book its initial charm and interest.
Rating: 
Summary: Zahn has created a universe worth "hunting"
Review: Zahn has created a fox hunt where the fox is right under your nose! Easily one of the most enjoyable SF/detective/action books I've read. Great characters and interesting villians help make the book a quick as well as enjoyable read!
Rating:
Summary: Zahn Has Done It!
Review: Timothy Zahn has successfully mixed the classic detective novel with a science fiction, action thriller. The result is a book that readers will find hard to set down!
Rating:
Summary: Uninspired mystery and adventure
Review: This is my first book by Zahn and I was pretty underwhelmed. I was surprised at the lack of creativity overall, it feels like a TV episode. The main character is cast from the Han Solo mold whose business is smuggling and comes complete with an alien co-pilot . The other characters are even shallower and you find yourself differentiating them by name alone. Although there is a murder onboard a small ship early in the novel, it takes nearly 400 pages to finally reveal the fairly obvious perpetrator and the author does unconvincing backflips to keep the mystery going this long. There really are only a couple of suspects. In the end, I really couldn't have cared less about the Icarus secret (it's a textbook MacGuffin) and I sort of giggled at some of the other revelations. I hope this isn't one of Zahn's best.
Rating:
Summary: "The Icarus Hunt"; a Timothy Zahn masterpiece!
Review: All I can say is that Timothy Zahn is perhaps among the best sci-fi authors out there, next to Isaac Asimov. His stories are all complex and detailed, the plot jampacked with twists, turns, surprises, and shockers. "The Icarus Hunt" is certainly no exception.
"The Icarus Hunt"'s main character is Jordan McKell, a star-freighter pilot who plays the role of a poor yet honest private contracter, considering that in reality he is a smuggler working for a huge crime organization. Things couldn't get worse he supposed. Or so he thought...
When he takes a job flying a strangely put-together antique ship called the 'Icarus' with a ragtag crew, little does he know that he has just landed himself in the middle of a huge conspiracy. Jordan is immediately thrust into events spiraling out of control: one of the crew is murdered, his employer seems to have disappeared, an unknown saboteur is on board, and the 'Icarus' is being wanted by the oppresive Patth who have monopolized all trade in the galaxy.
It's up to Jordan and his mechanic partner Ixil, a Kalixiri with his two ferret 'outhunters' Pix and Pax, to figure out what's going on while struggling to stay alive. The hunt for the 'Icarus' is on!
If you thought my summary was complicated, wait until you actually pick up the book! There are so many other subplots that are too numerous too count and besides, most of them are the twists and turns this book has to offer. But though seemingly 'complicated', Zahn's expertise is put to use as he deftly weaves a tale with numerous 'threads' yet makes up one intricately woven 'tapestry'. There is not one moment where the action and suspense slows down; instead, we are taken on a ride where you have no clue where it'll end!
Though written in first-person from Jordan McKell's point of view, Zahn carefully makes sure we don't know 'everything'. We do get to know most of Jordan's thoughts and theories, but there's still plenty of mystery for you to try to figure out on your own. There are lots of stories where there's such a huge build up but at the end falls flat on it's face; fortunately, "The Icarus Hunt" is not the case. The ending is just one big surprise though if you think about it, you could have seen it coming. That again is one of Zahn's talents; in that he give you so many clues, theories, details, and little surprises, you can't tell what to expect!
Unlike many of Zahn's other stories, "The Icarus Hunt" has a large dose of humor in the story. Jordan McKell's character is very sarcastic and is quite the cynic, and has a dry sense of humor which I enjoy a lot. One of my favorite part is:
"For a change, Lady Luck seemed to be smiling on me. Then again, maybe the fickle wench was just lulling me into a false sense of security while she reached for a rock."
Those two sentences sums up Jordan's character perfectly. ^_^
To sum up, "The Icarus Hunt" is something I can highly recommend to all readers who enjoys a good mix of sci-fi, mystery, suspense, action, and humor. Other good Timothy Zahn books include "The Cobra Trilogy", "The Thrawn Trilogy", and "The Conquerors Trilogy". Now, all I can say is, when are any of Zahn's books gonna be made into a movie? Now THAT is a film I'd enjoy watching if they stay true to his work!
Rating:
Summary: If you like Zahn, you'll like Icarus
Review: If you've never read Zahn's first three Star Wars novels, by all means stop reading this review and add them to your shopping cart. But if you've read Zahn before, you already kind of know what you're getting into. He's not going to wow you with Gibson-esque prose, but Icarus Hunt is entertaining, fast-paced, and good-natured sci-fi. I found myself liking the main character, Jordan McKell, and his partner Ixil. The mystery twists enough to keep you going, and the end isn't a let down.
I must be a true Timothy Zahn fan now, because I found my self actually laughing at his goofy humor (whereas I groaned through most of the "comedy" in the Star Wars novels. Why is Luke going into a bar and ordering a hot chocolate?) If you're a fan of Zahn, you'll enjoy this book.
Rating:
Summary: took a while to hook me, but it did, and did very well
Review: I'm a big fan of Timothy Zahn, first up. But I'm not a really big book reader so Actually I haven't read all of his titles, just some of his most recent and all of his Star Wars titles. Angelmass, Manta's Gift are the only other two I've read.
With that said, I really did enjoy this book. It's in first person from the a highly endebted, "small time, honest" independent shipper, Jordan McKell. What I really liked was the unwinding of the plots and schemes but also I liked the speculation, the theories, the ideas that Jordan and his partner Ixil had about what really was going on. Several ideas were shot down, several were straight up wrong, more were way off and a handful were unfortunately dead on. There's a murderer aboard the ship, is it one of the crew? Who? Why? What motivation do they have? And then what is in the Icarus's sealed cargo hold that is so precious for the shipping monopoly giant Paath to launch a galactic wide campaign against them and a murderer/saboteur to remain hidden and pass up every good attempt at actually stopping them? There is someone that will pop up early on in the book and peek your suspicions... maybe... and that one character stuck out in my mind as the ONE, I had him pegged. I was so sure it was him. I kept following him more closely as I read the book, but there was enough mistery around all other characters that it was hard to completely stick to my first suspect except by faith.
It's Sci-Fi but isn't so Sci-Fi that it's overwhelming, like Angelmass had the potential to be. Neither did it have some huge moral issue, it was just a fun book. A game of Clue, it was Nicabar in the Engine room with the Rebreather! ... Doh! But the entire thing is set around some unknown technology dug up on some planet, and it is Sci-Fi enough to keep you in that "I'll take your word for it" as far as explanations of hyperspace cutters, aliens and such goes.
Though for being a First Person written novel, there were many times you didn't feel first person. I've read other first person where it is true first person, you are aware as the main character is aware, you know what they know, you see what they see as they see it. Their perceptions of things and their understandings of things is all up front for you, which really makes first person so interesting to me. But this was not anything like that. Maybe my experience with first person books are different, but this book had too many times where the main character, first person, would realize something and you would not know how, the thought process behind it, as they did. This added to the mistery, the suspense, the action and the thrill but it was definitely not what I consider to be first person. Though this type of mistery novel is best written following one person only, but you didn't feel as if you were privy to all of Jordan's thoughts. There was a time when an entire scene unfolded and you ended up thinking "How could you?" Then you come to learn why. But Jordan knew what was going on the entire time... and later you found out as well, but you found out later. That's not very first person to me, but that's just me. It could have been just as well written in third person focused on the main character only, though the style of writing did fit right into Jordan's personality, which I thought was nifty. Never have I read a first person book where the main character decieved me so many times, but again that's probably due to my small experience.
Being a Zahn book it has, what I've come to understand after reading only 3 non-Star Wars books of Zahn, the typical Zahn ending.
Rating:
Summary: Icarus Hunt
Review: Absolutely amazing. This book has all of the well thought, devious sci-fi twists and tumbles Zahn is well known for, as well as a humerous first person hero-narrator. Very well done, definitely one of his best.
Rating:
Summary: A mystery, inside a riddle, wrapped up in an enigma.
Review: This was the first original Timothy Zahn novel I'd ever read. I say 'original,' because my only previous exposure to him was his Star Wars novels, which I fully believe should be made into movies. So, I gave it a shot.This book blew the back of my head out, and I mean that in a good way. It's a science fiction book, pretending to be a mystery novel, acting like a road trip story, masquerading as a crime book. Zahn weaves all these different styles together into a brilliant tapestry, and his first-person narrative, through the eyes of Jordan McKell, is the perfect finishing touch. Add to that this little caveat -- that no one, but NO ONE here is exactly who they appear to be -- and you've got a rollicking story that will keep you hooked until the very last page. Just try it. It's worth it.
|
