Splinter of the Mind’s Eye by Alan Dean Foster (1978)

June 7, 2012 at 7:57 am (science fiction, space opera)

Ah, nostalgia! I first read this book as a young teen, sitting on the floor of the library in the resort town we were vacationing in that summer.

Re-reading it now, I found that I remembered nothing whatsoever of the plot or even the setting – I retained only a general positive impression that I think was based partly on its exoticism and partly on the way with imagery that Foster sometimes has, and no doubt partly on the fact that Leia kicks butt.

And honestly, it doesn’t survive mature analysis very well. That clever and beautiful imagery gives it the only depth it has – it’s a straightforward adventure novel, rife with coincidence, driven by pursuit of a pseudo-scientific MacGuffin, and leading into a standard confrontation with the enemy in a collapsing ancient temple. It’s amazing that the plot works at all; that’s a testament to Foster’s basic ability as a writer (in all aspects except romance).

So I still liked it, but nowhere near as much as I did back in the day. Ah well.