The Founder

"The Founder" starts off slow, but definitely speeds up as the book takes place off of Earth! I believe this is the first book in his series about the Fenrille. The other two being "The War For Eternity" and "The Black Ship." The plot revolves around Dane Fundan, of the Fundan Clan. He and his guardian commence building a great ship, The Founder, to explore space and find another planet to inhabit. There are invaders coming to Earth and the surrounding solar system. Funding drys up for the ship, and then Dane is forced to make an agreement with Ibrahim, the leader of the Khalifi, an outlaw group of pirates and thieves who have been at war with the Fundan Clan for a long time. The ship gets built, and they take off for deep space. During the trip, the Khalifi take over command, and keep Dane, his comrades, and the rest of the travelers under guard. They eventually arrive at the planet Fenrille, where the local fauna of the planet strongly disagrees with the invading settlers of the Founder. The book was an enjoyable read, but ended abruptly for me. There were also "leaps" forward in the book, where major events happened with very little explanation. For example, Dane leads a coupe against the Khalifi when they are orbiting Fenrille, but it is never explained how it was successful. Definitely check out the "Vang" books by Christopher Rowley.

I found that 'The Founder' was an excellent intro to the series that followed, namely; The War For Eternity, The Black Ship, The Starhammer, The Vang: The Military Form, The Vang: The Battlemaster, although I believe it was written as an afterthought. All in all, The Founder introduced me to a universe that was natural in course to our own but with some very unique plot twists and some very real aliens, especially biologically speaking. The amount of detail given to the entire series was excellent. Characters, biology, technology, and psychology were well covered so that I didn't want to put any of the books down, once started. Some of the original cover art could have been pumped up but that is the only critique I have. I found 'The Founder' and the rest of its accompanyment quite enjoyable, immensely strong and very real.

This story of a group of people escaping an Earth wallowing in its own decay and eventual doom is very good though not as much as the author's other titles. I felt the author took too much time on getting the refugees to their new planet than was necessary and does not serve any purpose. Beyond that, the book is excellant and does not bludgeon you with its message as some authors do. The message is there, you just have to realize it. All in all, this book is a worthy read.