7.8 /10 1 Votes
Cover artist Darrell K. Sweet Language English Publication date 1977 Originally published 1977 Page count 240 | 3.9/5 Goodreads Country United States Publisher Del Rey Books Media type Print (paperback) Genre Science Fiction | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Preceded by The End of the Matter, The Tar-Aiym Krang Followed by For Love of Mother-Not, The End of the Matter Similar Alan Dean Foster books, A Pip and Flinx Adventure books, Fantasy books | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Orphan Star (1977) is a science fiction novel written by Alan Dean Foster. The book is Foster's eighteenth published book, his fifth original novel, and is chronologically the third entry in the Pip and Flinx series. Bloodhype (1973) was the second novel to include Pip and Flinx, but it is eleventh chronologically in the series and the two characters had a relatively small part in that novel's plot.
Plot summary
The novel takes place in 550 A.A. (After Amalgamation in Foster’s timeline, 2950 AD). Flinx, no longer a poor orphan, is chasing a merchant to Hivehom and Terra in search of information about his parentage. Along the way Flinx is joined by Sylzenzuzex, a female Thranx member of the Commonwealth Church. His chase leads him to Ulru-Ujurr, a planet under Edict from the United Church, ostensibly because it contains a highly intelligent telepathic race. It is on Ulru-Ujurr that he discovers the mystery of his parentage and begins the childlike Ulru-Ujurrians on their "Game of Civilization".