ORPHAN STAR

Reviewed 3/28/2018

Orphan Star, by Alan Dean Foster
Cover art by Darryl K. Sweet
ORPHAN STAR
Alan Dean Foster
New York: Del Rey Books, August 1981

Rating:

5.0

High

ISBN-13 978-0-345-29903-1
ISBN-10 0-345-29903-5 234pp. SC $2.50

Errata

Page 3: "A well-traveled individual, he knew that there was no known antidote for the poison of the Alaspin miniature dragon."
  Series continuity: In The Tar-Aiym Krang, Foster says the antidote is rare.
Page 15: "The 13,352-meter high mountain at whose base the the town had arisen and in whose bowels The Plant had been carved was replaced by a 1,200-meter-deep crater lined ith molten glass."
  Units: 13,352 meters is 43,806 feet— substantially higher than Mount Everest.
Page 62: "There, at an ancient village named Surfersparadise, many-toned humans, and not a few adaptive aliens rode the surf, borne landward in the slick wet teeth of suiciding waves."
  Extra comma: S/B "many-toned humans and". I might also quibble about "many-toned": does it mean "many-hued", implying racial diversity, or is it meant to suggest that the human surfers are physically fit, i.e. toned? In that case the hyphen should go.
Page 63: "The deep blue of the males and the rich aquamarine of the females was almost invisible against the water..."
  Number error: S/B "were".
Page 139: "According to the information, the landing strip bordered an enormous lake at the 14,000-meter level."
  Physics: That's an altitude of over 46,000 feet — hardly a convenient spot for a human outpost. Although it may be required to prevent interaction with the planet's biome. This world of Ulru-ujurr is larger than Terra but less dense, having gravity only slightly stronger than Terra's, according to the novel. But here it is said to have a denser atmosphere, with trees and waterfalls at the outpost's level.
Page 216: "The mills itself was still out of bounds for destructive weaponry."
  Number error: S/B "mill".
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