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| Cover art by Bob Eggleton |
| THE HOWLING STONES A Novel of the Humanx Commonwealth Alan Dean Foster New York: Ballantine Books, 1997 |
Rating: 5.0 High |
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| ISBN-13 978-0-345-38375-4 | ||||
| ISBN-10 0-345-38375-3 | 330pp. | HC | $22.50 | |
Competent though he was, Commonwealth troubleshooter Pulickel Tomochelor did not stand out in a crowd. Nor did he wish to. His aim was to succeed in three months or so with the assignment on Senisran, as he had always succeeded before, then move up to a management position back in Denpasar on Earth.
Senisran held an embarrassment of mineral wealth, in the form of rare-earth elements: ores of niobium, scandium and the like. Treaty negotiations with the Seni, the native race, were moving ahead, except for one group known as the Parramati. Pulickel's assignment was to bring the Parramati on board before the competing AAnn Empire locked up the mineral rights on Senisran.
Little did he anticipate, as he stepped off the shuttle from the KK-drive ship, the distraction he met when the skimmer pilot, smirking, dropped him off on Torrelau, deep in the Parramat Archipelago: his sole human companion, the station agent, was a blonde goddess who could put Julie Newmar to shame. Nor did he imagine that the Parramati reluctance was based on a secret that could overturn the balance of power in the galaxy.
Foster is a prolific writer, having over 115 novels1 to his credit, as well as numerous short stories and non-fiction works. Since his first novel, 1972's The Tar-Aiym Krang, he's been known for his excellent imagination. That is on full display here. The native race is suitably colorful and exotic, as are the flora and fauna of their world. Dangerous beasts swarm in plenty on land and in the tropical seas. Names of people and places are aptly alien. And the secrets Foster has concocted are well developed and original.
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