Farnham’s Legend (English translation)
By Helge T. Kautz
Price €9.95 (€14.45 inc. p&p to UK, £12.33 converted by paypal)
I bought this from the Egosoft online store on 30th July and it finally arrived after a fairly long delivery period on 10th August. I read it over the course of three evenings with a total reading time of roughly ten hours and felt it deserved a review here for other potential readers.
The story basically follows the synopsis of X - Beyond the Frontier, being the original game in the X series, and fills several gaps in the story connecting it to the second game: X2 - The Threat.
The story itself is well told and, as a fan of the X series of games, kept me reading even when I was supposed to be working. Whether or not it would appeal to readers previously unfamiliar with the X mythology I can only speculate, however, the book has been written as a generic work of science fiction and so doesn't necessarily depend on the reader having played the games to understand the basic concepts and plot devices.
The four main characters that are followed closely throughout the novel are well designed and remain believable.
Captain Kyle William Brennan is the stereotypical blue-eyed-boy type hero but is given some human depth in his inability to maintain complex adult relationships. The implied sexual tension between Brennan and Elena Kho is not overstated but sits firmly at the forefront of their interaction. He is given the Han Solo and Luke Skywalker role all in one but still manages to remain grounded and believable.
Major Elena Kho is displayed as a strong female character although she never seems to be able to escape from under Brennan's shadow. Even when Brennan is involved in a completely different plot sequence she appears to be the second fiddle. It is quite possible this is due to the fact that Brennan is the player character in the game but it would have been nice to see her flourish a bit more on the page.
Isemados Sibasomos Nopileos IV is the Teladi who didn't quite fit in. He is a great testament to the rebellious and indecisive nature of youth. His inability to be at ease with himself and his nervous interaction with the other characters make him feel more real to me than any of the others.
Cho t'Nnt appears at first to be the straight up villain but through the eyes of his fellow Split he is shown to be a relatively moderate member of his species. He is cunning and crafty and is quick to spot a deception but conducts himself with brutal honesty in much the same way that a scorpion's stinger is honest and to the point.
The peripheral characters have varying degrees of depth depending on their role and in most cases are left sufficiently ambiguous to advance the story without requiring a stretch of the reader's imagination.
The only real downfall with the book that I found was that the English suffered from moments of poor grammar and errors within the translation in varying degrees of inaccuracy. This in no way rendered the book difficult to read but anyone who reads to enjoy the language as much as the story may be quite disappointed by this.
I enjoyed this book for its colourful and gripping storyline and I think it is definitely worth the cost although with the delivery time I experienced I feel the postage cost is very steep.
I'd give it a confident 7 out of 10
Farnham's Legend - A Reader's Review
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Farnham's Legend - A Reader's Review
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