This novelization tells it like it was supposed to be. Better than the movie.

While the live action series episodes were translated into book form by James Blish (Star Trek 1, 2, 3, etc.) the animated series episodes are distinguished as Star Trek *Log* volumes, and were all written by Foster, who gives proper credit to the writer(s) of each original screenplay.

"The Ambergris Element" - The story opens with a chess game between Spock and M'mir, the alternate-shift communications officer - who is Caitian, and who is currently distracted from the game by a few memories. (The felinoid people of Cait are related to the Kzinti, analogous to the relationship between the Vulcans and Romulans, but much further back - M'mir is living proof that Caitian females can function in the outside world.) The memories allow us to learn something of her background and how she came to be a member of the Enterprise's bridge crew.

The Enterprise has entered a region that's only been lightly explored. Argo, the world they're about to survey, has only one apparent peculiarity. Water worlds aren't unusual, but Argo had a substantial land surface until quite recently. The tectonic activity of the planet changed all that very quickly. At least one inhabited Federation planet shows signs of resembling Argo to an uncomfortable degree, so anything Argo can teach them might save lives later on...

"The Pirates of Orion" - All the tinkering with Kirk's and Spock's biochemistry in "The Ambergris Element" ended with both of them coming down with choriocytosis. Unfortunately, while this is a nuisance for a human with iron-based blood, it is deadly within days, if untreated, for a Vulcan's different biochemistry - and Spock's mixed ancestry has given him copper-based blood. Since Enterprise is too far away from any source of strobolin, Starfleet arranges ship-to-ship transfers of the drug (can't afford to tie up more than 1 ship of the Enterprise's class at a time). Then Orion pirates hit the freighter Huron just before its rendezvous with the Enterprise.

"Jihad" - This episode is a particular favourite of mine. The Vedala have persistently declined invitations to join the Federation, or any other such empire, pleading a deep-seated need for privacy. They long ago abandoned their ancient homeworlds to wander through space - but their ships are lovely, small planets in their own right, called 'Vedalan asteroids'. When the Vedala requested the assistance of the Enterprise, the Federation was happy to oblige - a situation serious enough to threaten the free-roaming Vedala can't be any better for civilizations lacking their mobility.

The Vedala are trying to avert a holy war by the Skorr that would turn known space into a bloodbath. As with the Vulcans, the avian Skorr were once a warrior people, with the added flourish that their aggressive instinct enhances their fertility, enabling to breed huge armies in response to public outrage. Again as with Vulcan, one being - Alar - persuaded them to a path of peace. Now the 'soul of Alar' - an object sacred to the Skorr people, bearing a recording of Alar's brain patterns - has been stolen by person or persons unknown, and the Skorr are preparing to make war against all non-Skorr until the soul is returned.

The Vedala have traced the soul to a hiding place on an uninhabited, geologically unstable planet, and sent for Kirk and Spock to join a small group of specialists assembled to retrieve the soul. The other members are: M3 Green, a professional thief; Lara, a humanlike huntress with an infallible sense of direction; Sord, an immensely strong saurian from a high-gravity world; and Tchar, heriditary prince of the Skorr. But even in such a handpicked party, there may have been room for a traitor...

Mudge, in this installment goes well beyond his normal complaining self...and some of his predicaments left me rolling with laughter. The book delves far deeper into Clothahump's feelings than any in the past.

The book does start off, however, with some very confusing, and questionable points of logic...i.e. the concept of "nothingness". I'll not spoil it for you, but keep in mind, you don't have to understand that to enjoy the book.

"Swamp Planet Christmas" (1976) A series of e-mail messages, mostly between a little girl writing to Santa Claus and a government computer across the galaxy, this snafu tale is intended to be in the style of Eric Frank Russell (one of Foster's idols; I recommend his _Next of Kin_).

"Snake Eyes" (1978) - The only Pip & Flinx story in this volume, set between _The End of the Matter_ and _Flinx in Flux_.

"Bystander" (1978) Chapman was dispatched as sole crew on the rescue ship sent to evacuate the Abraxis colony to escape its flare-prone star. He's just a backup to the tertiary backups, so when the ship awakens him early, he is himself in mortal peril. As if the upcoming freak flare weren't enough, a mysterious Dhabian spacecraft is pacing his ship - those aliens who ordinarily refuse to have anything to do with humanity.

"What Do the Simple Folk Do?" (1979) Picture a future in which "plot it yourself" stories are mixed with first-class medical technology, where network execs argue that viewers expect realism to include *real* damage - after all, what are actors being paid for? No joke when one's ratings slip...

"Gift of a Useless Man" (1979) Lilliputian overtones here. When Peterson, fleeing for his life, crashed on the tiny planetoid, he was left paralyzed as well as hopelessly stranded. But when a tiny, telepathic alien befriends him, he becomes far more valuable than he ever was in his old life...

"Surfeit" (1982) A Humanx Commonwealth story, although not involving Pip and Flinx, but rather the Monsters of Dis - the dream of surfers across the galaxy.

"The Dark Light Girl" (1981) Haskell Wells decided to take the back country roads from L.A. to Dallas, seeing the untouched part of the country while changing jobs to another newspaper. Now he's seeing more of it than he bargained for, stranded for a day in Agua Caliente, New Mexico by a torn-up tire until the mechanic can get another from the next town...

"Instant with Loud Voices" (1982) Twenty years of hard work - continual design improvements integrated into the growing system - have gone into making DISRA the biggest and best computer in the world, and for 6 years it's been able to solve problems from earthquake to crop failure. The world depends on it - but it has weaknesses that no simpler system can have, and its creator is preparing to ask a dangerous question...

"Communication" (1981) Earth is about to have its first contact with aliens, wish to deal a single world leader, based on their analysis of Earth's communication broadcasts, who seems more popular and durable than any other. Who will it turn out to be?

"The Last Run" (1982) Bill "the Wisp" Switch is a genius at souping up engines, and gets a kick out of street racing (where a mere 150 mph isn't worth the gasoline it costs). But after Wisp defeated a Lambourgini and a Ferrari one night, a new challenger offered him the chance of a lifetime.

"Wu-Ling's Folly" (1982) The old West's gold was bound to attract a dragon or two - hard luck on the Butterfield stagecoach line, in a world that doesn't believe in dragons. Fortunately, "Mad Amos" Malone makes a living solving unusual problems. (See Foster's short story collection _Mad Amos_ for more of the character.)

"Village of the Chosen" (1983) Harvey Vickers has spent 20 years in Africa for UPI, and while he's been in worse places than Mogadishu, recording the endless cycle of devastation has burned him out. Until he collides with a woman in the street - knocking her veil off to reveal a face as exquisite as an emerald, and about the same color...

The main character is clever, intellegent, and above all, good. The clarity of the main character's integrity and absolute lightness of spirit is refreshing and puts a clean spin on one's outlook on the mundane world. He is thoughtful, consientious, and kind to all things (and I do mean all) whenever he's able.

The only drawback is that this series is a serial story and I fear the next book won't be out quick enough for my curiosity about what happens next.

The descriptions of the ancient alien machinery is uninspired, and the beauty of the world that comes across in the game is noticeably absent. Brink's crystal madness is understated, and instead of becoming a raving, screaming madman, as he does in the game, he sort of states that he has a problem with Boston Low and lets it go at that. I was extremely disappointed in this book.

This is an excellent novel that I, a college junior at time of writing, have read and reread numerous times. I personally feel that Foster managed to develop the characters of the Denisons to a level that even James Gurney, Dinotopia's creator, was unable to. He infuses the new characters with much three-dimensionality as well, especially the wild and wily pirate captain Brognar Blackstrap and his intellectual first mate, Priester Smiggens. And Tarqua, a character who shows up near the end of the book, is such a delight that if I tell you more about him I'll ruin some of the book's best moments.

Please, don't judge this as a "children's book." Judge it as a full-fledged novel, like I did.

Basically this novel is about humanities preconceptions about itself. Using the perspective of a race with very few inhibitions to rub our faces into ours.

I loved it when I first read it almost ten years ago. And, whenever I see/read first contact/alternative history SciFi, I compare it to 'Quozl' and wonder how a story can come across with them in it. What I'd really like to see is a sequel where a joint Shirazian/Quozl expedition arrives at Quozlene. Perhaps human ingenuity can improve the Quozl hyperspace drive and thus make the trip faster. Quite a few furry ears would pop up, I'm sure.

Foster did a great job in providing a richly detailed background and alien race. While I was able to emote somewhat with the characters, the detailed world is what got me hooked.

When I looked at the cover art and read the synopsis, I liked what I saw and bought the book. I was looking forward to a Sci-Fi comedy something akin to "Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy," or "Ded Dwarf." The last thing that I expected was the best first-contact type story that I have ever read.

The thing that struck me most about "Quozl" was Foster's attention to detail with respect to the development of this new alien race. Rather than the cuddly, bumbling, comical rabit-men, Foster created a complete culture based on a rather interesting angle. What happens to a race of intelligent, rational beings who have reproduction rates consumate with, well... rabbits. You have a race that has overpopulated its home world to the breaking point.

The story surrounds a colonization ship which is heading toward Earth... the catch, they have no idea that the planet is already inhabited until after it is too late to find a new target for colonization. The Quozl end up landing on the Earth in secret some time during the height of WWII and decide to remain underground until the human race grows up a bit.

I can't really go on without giving away much of the book and all of its wonderful suprises. Let me just reiterate that this is absolutely the most wonderful first-contact story I have ever read.

Quozl was actually the first book by Alan Dean Foster that I had read, and from that experience, I have gone on to read quite a few more. (I highly reccomend Codgerspace)

Foster definately brings a very different perspective to everything he writes. The plots are often strange, but he has yet to bore me; in fact, I can not seem to put his books down once I pick them up.

Tananda Densmore
Tananda@Javanet.com