Review 240: Zaftan Entrepreneurs by Hank Quense

Zaftan Entrepreneurs
by Hank Quense
CreateSpace
Copyright © January 2011
ISBN: 978-1456349387
352 Pages
$14.99 Paperback

Gundarland, a fantasy land presided over by magical Dwarves, Elves and Humans. They are in the first stages of their own industrial revolution, not very technologically advanced, therefore relying on their magic. The kingdom bathes in relative peace, disturbed only by the Defence Minister and the Secretary of Interior, who have turned the politics of the land into a turmoil of lies, spies and sabotage. They detest each other, the rest of the cabinet members being the only thing stopping them leaping for each others throats.

Unknown to the citizens of Gundarland an alien ship orbits the planet, piloted by the formidable Zaftans. Zaftans are described as being almost squid-like, slimy, weighing around four hundred pounds, seven feet high and to top it all off, they  reek of rotting fish guts. Oh, I forgot to mention that they spend their days destroying planets and killing entire species in their relentless search for minerals and precious metals.

Gundarland is their next target, being rich in precious metals and exotic minerals laden with rare elements. The Zaftan spacecraft, captained by a very aggressive Captain Yunta, orbits the planet deciding the best course of action. After kidnapping two citizens to learn the native language the Zaftans send an ambassador down to negotiate with the president. In exchange for the right to explore and mine one or two deposits of precious elements, ‘supposedly’, they will give Gundarland a solution to their pollution problem. However this is simply a disguise for what they really plan to do, suck the planet dry  and destroy anything or anyone who tries to get in their way.

After sending down robots to explore and map the terrain,  property damage occurs angering the masses. Our Dwarf hero, Drakin Gemseeker and his love interest, Leslie Higginbottom come to the fray after Drakin’s mine is trespassed upon by one of the robots. Upholding his fathers values Drakin declares war on the Zaftans and reunites with some of his old army friends to kick the Zaftans out of Gundarland. Assassination attempts, Murky politics, Romance and hilarity ensue.

Somehow Hank has managed to combine elements of politics and humor to create this epic tale. As he promised Hank has shown us an undiscovered side of Sci-Fi that has not been seen before. It’s brilliantly unique. He’s managed to cram so many opposing themes and made them flow together. Its kinda like a meal of Brussels sprouts and ice-cream and he’s managed to make it taste like chocolate. The first few sentences:

The Solar system flaunted unpretentiousness. It existed in a shabby neighbourhood at the raggedy end of an unremarkable galaxy and had a common yellow dwarf at its core with five planets in orbit.

My first thought was…quirky, unique, completely original, different, extraordinary… I could go on spewing out a torrent of synonyms but I think you get the point. I did find that this style of writing gradually faded out within the first few chapter, as if the writer had lost interest half way through and couldn’t be bothered to carry it on.

I see that this book has been quite hyped as being full of laughs and although still funny I wouldn’t say it was comedy, more like wit than anything else. It reminds me of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series and very much like Pratchett’s books I can see this coming a long way and perhaps becoming a cult favorite.

I look forward to reading Zaftan Miscreants, the next in the planned three book series, and as much as I think that it’ll be every bit as good as its predecessor I am slightly disappointed that the book is set two hundred and fifty years after the first, I would of liked to see more of the characters. With a little recognition this could go a long way and I wish Hank Quense to have continued good fortune with his writing. I did forget to mention that ZE has also picked up a Readers Favorite award. To conclude, it’s a brilliant book that shows a new side of Sci-Fi rarely seen before. Buy it!