What happend? When I was a teen, I used to love ADF's stuff. now it just feels so-so. Did he change, or did I? ( )

the first in the TAKEN trilogy. A man is kidnapped by aliens, held in a ship along with many other lifeforms, to be eventually sold as a novelty" piece of entertainment to the highest bidder. A dog has also been taken and given enhanced intelligence to boost his price. These 2, along with 2 other aliens, stage a revolt and break free. Get in contact with a good force of aliens, but have no idea where their homeworld is, so they can't go back to earth. Ends with all 4 companions vowing to leave the aliens homeworld and search for their own homeworlds. Light, but crass humor dragged it down. I ordered the trilogy omnibus from the SFBC, but I'm not sure that order made it, so if I replace the order, I'll leave the trilogy out. Not worth buying." ( )

Marcus Walker was just another young commodities trader in Chicago – until he was attacked and tossed about a starship bound for deep space. Instead of being a rich hotshot a the top of the food chain, Walker discovers he’s just another amusing novelty, part of a cargo of “cute” aliens from primitive planets destined to be sold as pets to highly advanced populations in “civilized” regions of the galaxy. Any other man might resign himself to the inevitable and hope to be sold to a kindly owner, but not Walker. This former college football star has plenty of American ingenuity and no intention of admitting defeat. Together with a group of allies from a collaboration of worlds, he forms a plan to escape their fate, only to find that the same fate can have several different definitions. While the back cover summary does little to sum up the book it encapsulates the message within. Glory to humankind, we da best! That gets a little tired. This seems like a fan of Hitchhikers’ Guide wrote something in tribute but without the humor. The reading of the book goes a bit slow though it is not painful. The first third of the text takes some wading through but after that when the story begins to develop; it is quite engaging and entertaining. It is the first in a series of books so it lends itself to keeping several plots points open but it is okay. The writing is fine, not extraordinary and not without imagination but repetitive in its descriptors and aesthetic text. Not the best in world but a well done, somewhat original look at the Sci-fi genre and one worthy of a sequel to tie up the loose ends. ( )

A book about guy who gets kidnapped by aliens. I wanted to like it but I probably wouldn't have finished reading it if I hadn't been traveling. The characters just weren't all that likeable, although Braouk was pretty cool, and the whole thing just didn't seem all that plausible. It never pulled me in to the point where I really cared whether they escaped or not. I just assumed they would and blew through the book trying to get to the end. Reading it was more of a chore than a pleasure and as I mentioned, if I hadn't been travelling I probably wouldn't have bothered. ( )

Good read. Fast moving. What you would expect from a book - a simple, page turner with no lasting impact. ( )