Starrigger

One of my favorite sci-fi novels since I first read it back in high school, '86. Well-written, no-holds barred and realistic, one of DeChancie's more "alive" stories. Easily read, but has plot twists within plot twists. Good first book for that young, budding sci-fi reader you buy books for, mature but not over the top science is understandable, not childish and stupid. Recommended for a good, hard to put down read. First of three-part series. Can easily be a stand-alone adventure, if other two novels are unavailable.

In some distant future, this wonderful trilogy will be reprinted, and recognized as DeChancie's masterpiece. Original ideas, marvelous, awesome alien technology, well-developed characters in a strong, well paced plot and delightful wordplay make this series re-readable, and well deserving of the term =Classic=.Find these books. They are worth the effort of tracking down.

I ran across 'Starrigger' (Book One) in a second-hand store 16 years ago, read it over and over, then began my hunt for the rest of the set. The story is so imaginatively creative and colorfully interwoven with a plot line that will capture anyone's imagination that looks for timeless sci-fi that does not age. This story combines the very best of everything I could wish for in a book that can be read several times without losing it's captivating effect. I found myself lost in the book untill I was finished. A true gem. All I can say is read all three books to get the full effect. John DeChancie has my highest admiration for a story well told.

John DeChancie's "Starrigger" series, including "Red Limit Freeway" and "Paradox Alley", takes independent trucker Jake McGraw, his father Sam, who inhabits the truck itself, and beautiful hitchhiker Darla on a wild ride across several planets. They're being chased by many people with a single mission... they want the map of the interplanetary Skyway he's supposedly carrying. The Skyway is the superhighway linking dozens, possibly hundreds of planets across the galaxy. Much of it is unexplored, and the fabled Roadmap becomes the desire of several large interests, including an alien race called the Reticulans, the human government known as the Colonial Assembly, and nasty villain Corey Wilkes, head of the wildcat trucker union TATOO. Every time Jake turns a corner someone, or something, is on his tail. The Starrigger Trilogy is probably the most entertaining sci-fi story I've ever read, (including works by the biggest writers), and it remains my favorite to this day. It's a balance of classic sci-fi's dream technology and fantastic alien worlds, blended with good humor and Jake McGraw's everyman view of his life, his bizarre situation, and his attempts to unravel himself from the whole mess. Find out what awaits him "at the legendary end of the universe". I suggest this series to anyone who can get their hands on it. Also, try his 8-volume "Castle Perilous" series for humorous fantasy, monsters and magic.

Starrigger and it's two other sequels "Red Limit Freeway" "Paradox Alley" are excellent. The skyway goes all over the universe. One problem; the builders forgot to draw a map. This is no big deal for star trucker Jake McGraw until, for some reason, everybody decides that he has one. This series of books is a true serial. If you can find one then enjoy it. The best way is to get all three and take a couple days of work, shut off the radio, and tie up the wife & kids. When you are finished with them you will have been led on an odessy that makes Jason and his Argonauts look like a ferry-boat ride.