oung Phillip Lynx faces more than his fair share of challenges as he travels the Commonwealth in his spaceship, the Teacher. Hunted by scientists, aliens and assassins, Flinx seems to pick up a new enemy everywhere he goes. Only his empathic talents and the help of his Alaspinian
minidrag—the flying snake known as Pip—enable him to stay one step ahead of his pursuers. Complicating matters, Flinx suffers from debilitating headaches that are related to his empathic talents, headaches that are increasing in severity and may well kill him.
As if that isn't enough for one young man to worry about, Flinx is also having visions of a dark entity located far out in space behind the Great Emptiness. A self-aware void, it is approaching his home galaxy and is bent on total destruction of all life. As this phenomenon accelerates toward the Milky Way, a number of its would-be victims step up a longstanding campaign to convince Flinx that he is the key to stopping the void, preferably before it gets any closer to the Commonwealth.
As Flinx's Folly opens, Flinx is growing weary with the constant peril of his fugitive lifestyle, not to mention overwhelmed by the headaches. The enormity of the task being pushed at him—stopping an immensely powerful and largely mysterious evil—has overwhelmed him. But
instead of running blindly from the latest crop of assassins, Flinx decides to seek some advice. He looks up Clarity Held, a former lover he abandoned years earlier. Looking for support and guidance, Flinx cannot also help but hope their romantic relationship will blossom again. Unfortunately, Clarity is involved with someone already, a successful businessman with extreme
jealous tendencies.
A mid-series interlude between adventures
This latest tale of Alan Dean Foster's Commonwealth universe is one of those series novels whose primary purpose is to line up plot elements from earlier works while paving the way for great things in later installments. Many things happen to Flinx as the book progresses, but most of them are petty distractions from the adjustments being made to the greater story arc. Foster is carefully setting up the players who will feature in the coming conflict with the deadly phenomenon, in other words, putting Flinx together with allies while giving him a glimpse of the opposition.
As these small shifts are taking place in the book's background, the action centers around Flinx's relationship with Clarity and the reaction of her current boyfriend, Bill Ormann. Fans who enjoy having a little romance mixed in with their adventure may enjoy seeing Clarity again (she first appeared in Flinx in Flux), but this story lacks punch: Ormann is a powder puff compared to any of Flinx's other foes, nobody to be taken seriously. Both he and Clarity are underdeveloped as characters, and the resulting triangle is a mix with more fizzle than sizzle, especially in terms of sexual tension.
In this novel Flinx faces no convincing enemies, solves no intriguing puzzles, and doesn't even visit any particularly interesting or dangerous Commonwealth worlds. He barely interacts with Pip, whose role in the book is almost an afterthought. What Flinx does do is come to terms with his destiny. This is essentially a quiet book, one about a young man who is starting to make adult choices about the direction his life is taking. Fans will just have to hope that the course he sets for himself will draw Flinx into more exciting waters soon.
