Tuf Voyaging by George R. R. Martin
Bookshop.org | Waterstones | WH Smith
Blurb
Haviland Tuf is an honest space-trader (one of the few), and he likes cats. So how is it that, despite being up against the worst villains in the universe, he has become the proud owner of the last working seedship, pride of Earth’s Ecological Engineering Corps?
We’ll leave that aside for now – just be thankful that the most powerful weapon in space is in good hands, hands which now control cellular material for thousands of outlandish creatures.
With his unique equipment and powerful spacecraft, Tuf is set to tackle the myriad problems that human settlers have created during their colonisation of far flung worlds. Hosts of hostile monsters, a population addicted to procreation, a dictator who is willing to unleash plagues to get his own way – and all that stands between the colonists and disaster is Tuf’s ingenuity, and his reputation as an honest dealer in a universe of rogues…
Review
I was really excited when I saw this book in the bookshop because I have been really enjoying Martin’s science fiction writing recently. This was one of those rare books that didn’t sit on on my TBR pile for very long before I decided to read it.
The book is a collection of Haviland Tuf short stories and this could be one of the reasons I didn’t gel as much as I expected with this book. Tuf was a space trader who, after agreeing to take on a job for a very suspicious group of people he finds himself the owner of the most powerful ship in the universe. The last seedship of the long forgotten Ecological engineer Corps.
Tuf is not your standard space hero. He doesn’t undertake dashing feats of bravery or flex his muscles at the enemy. Instead he is a somewhat overweight vegetarian who likes alcohol and cats. He hates violence in all forms, he prefers the company of his cats rather than humans. He is completely honest, polite and very intelligent. However, he doesn’t appear to be intelligent and it is one of the reasons that he can’t be beaten because nobody sees him as a threat.
He’s also in my opinion very unlikeable! Other than his fondness for cats I just didn’t like him. He lacked personality and a reason to be liked. He’s very arrogant and aloof and I just never found myself on his side. In fact I was always rooting for Tully Mune.
Tully Mune was what saved this book for me and I really liked her character. Her character jumped from the pages. She was vibrant, she was bold, she was powerful and a force to be reckoned with. There is a reason she has got to where she is in life and that is because she stands no nonsense and gets the job done. Her underlings respect and fear her.
I really wanted to learn more about the seedship and the Ecological Engineering Corps history but sadly we didn’t get much of that. I wanted to see how Tuf adapted and learned about running the seedship but instead the story went from Tuf becoming the owner of the seedship to basically becoming a god with no between. I was quite disappointed with this book and sadly only give it 3 out of 5 Dragons.
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About the author
George Raymond Richard Martin (1948) is an American novelist, screenwriter, television producer and short story writer.
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