Frontier Earth: Searcher (Frontier Earth)

Rating:
Summary: Well Done
Review: An easy read. Very elementary story line. Looking forward to the next book. I can't wait until his hottie girlfriend returns !

Rating:
Summary: SEARCHER, a hint of Good things to come from Mr. Boxleitner
Review: In Bruce Boxleitner's "Frontier Earth: Searcher", the story picks ups shortly after the end of the "Frontier Earth", the first book in this series. I write series, because it is my hope that this is a long running series. I found the first book Frontier Earth, and now the sequel Searcher to be very entertaining and well-written books. Strong character development and historical research combined with an "Alien" influence add a unique twist to events in the desert southwest of the late 1800s. My order arrived on a Friday afternoon, and I was finished with the book by Saturday evening. It's one of those books that you just don't want to put down until you are finished. I look forward to the next installment. (Mr. Boxleitner, please give us more!)

Rating:
Summary: SEARCHER, a hint of Good things to come from Mr. Boxleitner
Review: In Bruce Boxleitner's "Frontier Earth: Searcher", the story picks ups shortly after the end of the "Frontier Earth", the first book in this series. I write series, because it is my hope that this is a long running series. I found the first book Frontier Earth, and now the sequel Searcher to be very entertaining and well-written books. Strong character development and historical research combined with an "Alien" influence add a unique twist to events in the desert southwest of the late 1800s. My order arrived on a Friday afternoon, and I was finished with the book by Saturday evening. It's one of those books that you just don't want to put down until you are finished. I look forward to the next installment. (Mr. Boxleitner, please give us more!)

Rating:
Summary: Frontier Earth: Searcher
Review: More of the same. I'm saying that this book, follow-up to Frontier Earth, is a routine addition to a series that is obviously going to play it safe.

Overtly, the plot seems to take a different turn from the first entry; wave goodbye to the Earps, the Clantons, and all their assorted minions, and welcome the Apaches, who become involved in the little secret war playing out in the American Southwest, circa 1882. The loathsome invaders, the Kra'agh, happen to have set up a nest right at the top of a mountain which represents holy ground for the Apaches (or N'de...The People), and just possibly represents a new lode of silver for some greedy miners. It's up to the Monitors, agents of the interstellar Associative, to root out the reptilian Kra'agh and show them that Earth will not be invaded and turned into a game farm of sorts. Tough task, when both cowboys and Indians have a tendency to "rationalize" a hostile, man-eating extraterrestrial as an evil spirit or demon. Even tougher, when Macklin discovers he's really going solo, as the only Monitor around who can stay alive long enough to take the battle to the scaly plug-uglies.

The plot starts out having the taste of something new, but soon reveals itself to have the basic feel of what already got depicted in Frontier Earth. The Kra'agh use their holographic disguise abilities to blend into the various human societies, all in an effort to close in on Macklin (though they also spend a lot of time imitating rocks in this book). However, events show that the Kra'agh method of disguise barely ever works, making them start to come off as rather ineffective villains. Their odour gives them away, sunlight gives them away, their shadows give them away, and their holographic facade is imperfect. Boxleitner maybe should have picked one vulnerability, and come up with plots that don't involve the Kra'agh being detected by everyone so easily; their "scare factor" drops in this tale.

Meanwhile, instead of feuding historical figures of Tomstone, we have feuding Apaches and cowboys, so the various showdowns and uneasy negotiations are very similar to what has gone before, albeit with some freshness due to the N'de's wilderness skills (they could teach the hapless Kra'agh a thing or two about seemingly materializing from nowhere!). A few gripping scenes--Macklin almost lynched by an entire town, an Apache strung up to be burned at the stake by her own people--add tension, but if you read this, be prepared for a very familiar feel, if you have read Frontier Earth...or any trad SF with monsters, for that matter.