Parallax Red

The fifth entry in this series takes Kane and his friends to a redoubt in the Washington DC area, then on to a space station, and even to Mars! They are introduced to some interesting weapons, like the powerfull MD gun, and the cornball "harp gun". This novel, I can only describe as FUNKY CHICKEN! Both villains in this book, Baron Sharpe, and the very interesting little man calling himself Sindri, are looney tunes. And some wierd dwarf monkey men as Sindri's helpers. Scenes taking place in zero gravity are an amusing treat in this novel. This book really went in some unexpected directions, a very imaginitive story. This isn't as good a book as the first four novels in the series, in my opinion, but even though it is rather zany, and in some parts not much action, it nevertheless answers the question "Are we having fun yet?", with a resounding "yes!". Enough entertainment to be worth rating this one as a 9.

Simply put Parallax Red is a classic sci-fi adventure novel, jumping from knife-fighting survivalist type sequences to a space station (the Parallax Red of the title) then to a long-forgotten colony on Mars. Like all the other Outlanders novels up to this point, its rich and vivid, full of fast action and great characterization with the first "on-screen" appearance of the incredibly sexy Beth Li. But this book is memorable for another reason--the introduction of Sindri, the mastermind dwarf who has fought our heroes four times up to this point--and I hope a lot more. He is a great character, full of life and ego and a sense of humor. He's also vicious and cunning and as Brigid Baptiste says about him in this book "enough ambition to challenge God." He's also, as Brigid finds out, really horny. He's actually a fairly sympathetic character beyond the fact he's their adversary. You definately get the impression he would have become a hero in his own right if not for his apartheid upbringing on the Mars colony. This is a wonderful book and I'm still happy I picked it up five years later in defiance of what some few hardcore Deathlands fnas were saying about the series at the time. It's sort of ironic because those "Some few" don't seem to be around now but Outlanders is still going strong.