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Running From The Deity
01/02/2006 . Source: Donna Jones 
Unfortunately for Flinx and his companion Pip, more pressing matters have to be attended to before they can resume their mission. Flinx's ship, Teacher, reports that major servicing repairs need attending to. Buy from Amazon US - Buy from Amazon UK
nb: US titles may only be available from Amazon US, and UK titles from Amazon UK. Buy Running From The Deity in the USA - or Buy Running From The Deity in the UK  check out website: www.delreydigital.com
Flinx has been sent on a mission to find an ancient weapons platform that is so big it resembles a small planet. The hope is that it can be used against a mysterious void that is swallowing the universe at an alarming rate. The only problem is that the weapons platform has not had orders and without them it is seeking new ones making it a considerably large loose cannon.
Unfortunately for Flinx and his companion Pip, more pressing matters have to be attended to before they can resume their mission. Flinx's ship, Teacher, reports that major servicing repairs need attending to and Pip and Flinx have to touch down on a suitable sustaining planet for them to be carried out.
Teacher finds a planet but, contravening the Commonwealth's directives for first contact, it is inhabited by sentient life. Inevitably, Flinx can't help himself and in the very first exploration he encounters the inhabitants of Arrawd and frantically tries to dig himself out of the problems he has made for himself.
In the meantime, the Dwarra - the planet's inhabitants, have taken him and placed him upon the highest pedestal. Propelled into the position of the head of a new cult, Flinx has to do the only thing he can. Undo the mess and get the hell out of there before he makes more!
'Running From The Deity' is the eleventh book in the 'Pip And Flinx' series of adventures. Having never read one of these before my experience of the overall storyline is limited but this book pretty much brings you up to speed. No need to read back unless your curiosity about the beginnings of this series pull you in!
Don't expect that the alien minidrag, Pip, will be all that much of a priority. She is kind of a novelty character that becomes relevant in the most climactic moments. Maybe in earlier episodes she has been used to full effect.
The story is quite a well used one. Intelligent life lands on a less advanced one and basically with the help of their technology serve to bring a miracle or two to the population. In this case, it is Flinx's ability to heal using the instruments and medicine from the ship. His intentions are quite noble, even if the resident Dwarra who are helping him have seen an opportunity to make some extra money.
The nice tweak on an old storyline was that Flinx's ability to register emotions of others was a widely used ability by the natives through two 'Sensitives' on their heads. He finds this a blessing because, up until this point, emotions just bombarded him from all corners. Flinx believes he has found a haven for one that has had their genome meddled with in the way he has, but eventually the corruption of power and an upper hand in war take over his new-found Utopia.
I found the initial Dwarra, Ebbanai to be enchanting. His character has to be one of the nicest in the Dwarran community and perhaps the fact that his mate, Storra, is so determined to abuse the situation makes the couple's relationship quite interesting to read.
I suppose the strangest part of this book is that it starts on one story and completely changes before it can get going. It doesn't really matter much in the grand scheme of things except when we return to the original thread and that makes for more interesting and compelling reading than the driving storyline. It does because of this make the whole book seem like a stop-gap between the last book and the next after 'Running From The Deity', which bothered me but may not register on other readers' radars!
For SF, this isn't a particularly bad book at all but then again it's not the best one I have read. If you're thinking of reading Alan Dean Foster, then I would pick this series over the +Taken series that is also available right now.
Donna Jones
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