- Paperback: 192 pages
- Publisher: Kable News Co; Reprint edition (April 1984)
- ISBN-10: 0843921005
- ISBN-13: 978-0843921007
- Product Dimensions: 17 x 10.4 x 2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,286,303 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I have very fond memories of this book and it's sequel "Children of the Night", as my first taste of space opera in my teens. Despite their flaws they remain amongst my favourite books.
Cards on the table; "The Space Mavericks" has a (perhaps deserved) reputation for being one of the most badly written books ever (trawl the SF discussion boards and you'll find it mentioned often in this context). And I have to agree there are some toe-curling moments. However, I'm as inclined to blame that on poor editing (of which this book seems to have had none) and amazingly, I'm going to recommend you read it anyway.
This book's great strengths are that it's crammed with interesting ideas and a believable space-trading background. Customs officials need bribing. Spaceships need maintenance. Space traders on shore leave make trouble, so spaceports are surrounded with a seedy strip. Cyberpunk before Gibson if you ask me.
Warp. The description of warp is by far the most interesting I've come across. It has more depth than the usual thinly disguised conceit that just allows FTL travel. It has properties and behaviour that have bearing on the plot. Criticisms on the grounds of "realism" are surely in themselves ludicrous.
Modification. This is an interesting Faustian deal, which I think Kring handles imaginatively. It does make the lead character Fripp Enos rather handy in a bust up, but then I like my heroes to be, well, heroes. And it's a long way from a carte blanche, especially when the ring starts to mess with its function in the second book.
The "magic" ring. Any advanced technology will accept the "magic" brand name from a less developed culture (what would _your_ grandparents have made of mobile phones?). The discovery of a vanished advanced civilisation and all the obvious questions that raises, is the plot arc for the trilogy.
Perhaps this is the cut. This is SF - a literature primarily of ideas - and the ideas are why I love to read SF in the first place. Great writing doesn't guarantee good ideas. "An Enduring Love" and "Lolita" come to mind. Delicious prose undoubtedly, but I hated the books. If you are a "medium, not the message" advocate, don't touch this with an 11ft barge pole. If you can ignore the odd paragraph of duff descriptive prose then there's a lot of fun to be had with the underlying story and its accompanying ideas.
P.S. Nothing of the author has been heard since the early 1980s. Sporadic web searches continue to draw blanks but I for one would love to see the third book published.
Cards on the table; "The Space Mavericks" has a (perhaps deserved) reputation for being one of the most badly written books ever (trawl the SF discussion boards and you'll find it mentioned often in this context). And I have to agree there are some toe-curling moments. However, I'm as inclined to blame that on poor editing (of which this book seems to have had none) and amazingly, I'm going to recommend you read it anyway.
This book's great strengths are that it's crammed with interesting ideas and a believable space-trading background. Customs officials need bribing. Spaceships need maintenance. Space traders on shore leave make trouble, so spaceports are surrounded with a seedy strip. Cyberpunk before Gibson if you ask me.
Warp. The description of warp is by far the most interesting I've come across. It has more depth than the usual thinly disguised conceit that just allows FTL travel. It has properties and behaviour that have bearing on the plot. Criticisms on the grounds of "realism" are surely in themselves ludicrous.
Modification. This is an interesting Faustian deal, which I think Kring handles imaginatively. It does make the lead character Fripp Enos rather handy in a bust up, but then I like my heroes to be, well, heroes. And it's a long way from a carte blanche, especially when the ring starts to mess with its function in the second book.
The "magic" ring. Any advanced technology will accept the "magic" brand name from a less developed culture (what would _your_ grandparents have made of mobile phones?). The discovery of a vanished advanced civilisation and all the obvious questions that raises, is the plot arc for the trilogy.
Perhaps this is the cut. This is SF - a literature primarily of ideas - and the ideas are why I love to read SF in the first place. Great writing doesn't guarantee good ideas. "An Enduring Love" and "Lolita" come to mind. Delicious prose undoubtedly, but I hated the books. If you are a "medium, not the message" advocate, don't touch this with an 11ft barge pole. If you can ignore the odd paragraph of duff descriptive prose then there's a lot of fun to be had with the underlying story and its accompanying ideas.
P.S. Nothing of the author has been heard since the early 1980s. Sporadic web searches continue to draw blanks but I for one would love to see the third book published.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Thanks for ruining my life. I will never know what happens to these bastard 2 dimensional characters, thanks to your failure to write the third book (after Children of the Night). This was my favourite scifi story ever, and yet I will never die a complete and happy person because of Kringster. Thanks Kringster. You could probably have written the concluding book in about a day, to be fair. Why woudln't you just finish the damned story? I like to think you were killed in some horrific writing-related accident. If not, then you are still alive, and I will hunt you down and capture you, like in Misery, and make you write the third book. I will not flinch at busting up your ankles, Kringster. Not at all. Finish what you started. Damn you. In the third book probably there is a hero called Silus, and a crossover with Kiel Randor and Batman.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
6 reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Good and Fun Book
26 Aug 2003
Format:Paperback
This is a fun book with an exciting read. It has a quick moving plot and a fun ending. Great for younger readers.
As for the nay sayer below: Hey, get a grip...its called SCIENCE FICTION!!! Things like traveling FTL and high tech fancy stuff are always without perfect explinations. That's why in real life those things haven't been built yet.....
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Slightly dated Sci-Fi, but worth a read.
26 Mar 1998
Format:Paperback
Space Mavericks was written at the beginning of the 1980s and, in style of writing, is beginning to show its age. The book combines Warp engines and ancient 'magic', the overall feel reminds me of the classic "Out of the silent planet" by CS Lewis, but a bit darker with more than a couple of nasty fight scenes. The characters are not as developed as we expect from toady's books, this leaves them appearing a little shallow. However it's worth a read, there are a couple of nice sci-fi ideas. It's a shame the author didn't carry the series on, it would have been nice to see the characters developed further.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
In Defence of Poor Writing in SF
19 July 2006
Format:Paperback
I have very fond memories of this book and it's sequel "Children of the Night", as my first taste of space opera in my teens. Despite their flaws they remain amongst my favourite books.
Cards on the table; "The Space Mavericks" has a (perhaps deserved) reputation for being one of the most badly written books ever (trawl the SF discussion boards and you'll find it mentioned often in this context). And I have to agree there are some toe-curling moments. However, I'm as inclined to blame that on poor editing (of which this book seems to have had none) and amazingly, I'm going to recommend you read it anyway.
This book's great strengths are that it's crammed with interesting ideas and a believable space-trading background. Customs officials need bribing. Spaceships need maintenance. Space traders on shore leave make trouble, so spaceports are surrounded with a seedy strip. Cyberpunk before Gibson if you ask me.
Warp. The description of warp is by far the most interesting I've come across. It has more depth than the usual thinly disguised conceit that just allows FTL travel. It has properties and behaviour that have bearing on the plot. Criticisms on the grounds of "realism" are surely in themselves ludicrous.
Modification. This is an interesting Faustian deal, which I think Kring handles imaginatively. It does make the lead character Fripp Enos rather handy in a bust up, but then I like my heroes to be, well, heroes. And it's a long way from a carte blanche, especially when the ring starts to mess with its function in the second book.
The "magic" ring. Any advanced technology will accept the "magic" brand name from a less developed culture (what would _your_ grandparents have made of mobile phones?). The discovery of a vanished advanced civilisation and all the obvious questions that raises, is the plot arc for the trilogy.
Perhaps this is the cut. This is SF - a literature primarily of ideas - and the ideas are why I love to read SF in the first place. Great writing doesn't guarantee good ideas. "An Enduring Love" and "Lolita" come to mind. Delicious prose undoubtedly, but I hated the books. If you are a "medium, not the message" advocate, don't touch this with an 11ft barge pole. If you can ignore the odd paragraph of duff descriptive prose then there's a lot of fun to be had with the underlying story and its accompanying ideas.
P.S. Nothing of the author has been heard since the early 1980s. Sporadic web searches continue to draw blanks but I for one would love to see the third book published.
Cards on the table; "The Space Mavericks" has a (perhaps deserved) reputation for being one of the most badly written books ever (trawl the SF discussion boards and you'll find it mentioned often in this context). And I have to agree there are some toe-curling moments. However, I'm as inclined to blame that on poor editing (of which this book seems to have had none) and amazingly, I'm going to recommend you read it anyway.
This book's great strengths are that it's crammed with interesting ideas and a believable space-trading background. Customs officials need bribing. Spaceships need maintenance. Space traders on shore leave make trouble, so spaceports are surrounded with a seedy strip. Cyberpunk before Gibson if you ask me.
Warp. The description of warp is by far the most interesting I've come across. It has more depth than the usual thinly disguised conceit that just allows FTL travel. It has properties and behaviour that have bearing on the plot. Criticisms on the grounds of "realism" are surely in themselves ludicrous.
Modification. This is an interesting Faustian deal, which I think Kring handles imaginatively. It does make the lead character Fripp Enos rather handy in a bust up, but then I like my heroes to be, well, heroes. And it's a long way from a carte blanche, especially when the ring starts to mess with its function in the second book.
The "magic" ring. Any advanced technology will accept the "magic" brand name from a less developed culture (what would _your_ grandparents have made of mobile phones?). The discovery of a vanished advanced civilisation and all the obvious questions that raises, is the plot arc for the trilogy.
Perhaps this is the cut. This is SF - a literature primarily of ideas - and the ideas are why I love to read SF in the first place. Great writing doesn't guarantee good ideas. "An Enduring Love" and "Lolita" come to mind. Delicious prose undoubtedly, but I hated the books. If you are a "medium, not the message" advocate, don't touch this with an 11ft barge pole. If you can ignore the odd paragraph of duff descriptive prose then there's a lot of fun to be had with the underlying story and its accompanying ideas.
P.S. Nothing of the author has been heard since the early 1980s. Sporadic web searches continue to draw blanks but I for one would love to see the third book published.
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