This book is not meant to be thought provoking its characters are not meant to be great thinkers nor are they meant to be overly developed it is not written to become the next Great American Novel No it is meant to be a fun romp, an homage to the spy flicks that it constantly references The old spy flicks of the 60s 80s even some of the newer ones don t give us great characters, deep thinking or plot developments they give us action, conspiracies, villains and nifty gadgets And, in keeping with [...]

You humans are without a doubt the most hunch driven species in the galaxy Good story telling and plot Enough layers to protagonist, companion, and various antagonists to keep the reader guessing Frank Compton is either very lucky or very unlucky Either way, he ll be lucky to get through this alive You re making a big mistake I do it all the time I m used to it Quibble Why the clack of the Quadrail passing over expansion joints Why not ride above the rails, like maglev Especially since but that [...]

Futuristic Railway Intrigue Disgraced former intelligence agent Frank Compton steps out of New Pallas Towers to find a freshly dead guy carrying a Quadrail ticket with Frank s name on it Obviously Frank can t pass that up, and soon he s travelling on the space train, being followed by at least three people, and about to be offered a job he can t refuse He has to prevent an intergalactic war Or maybe an intragalactic one it is NEVER clear.Whatever, right The most remarkable thing about this book [...]

Fun Fairly smart but never deep Zahn loves his mastermind protagonists but weaves the clues they follow fairly well Cool central villian weak secondary characters Stand alone but got spun into a series.

I always get the impression when reading Zahn that the book showing in my head is in black and white, not colour This is less connected to any actual mentions of colours in the story, and to the from another era feel of the tale This is not to say that the story is poorly done, any than Casablanca or The Apartment are poor films The pacing is just different Oh, and I always get the impression while reading that there is no way I will ever be able to make a plot like this It s just SOOO complex [...]

Having read Timothy Zahn before, I was a sucker for s try these Kindle books teaser I picked up Night Train to Rigel after reading the sample.I mean, what s not to like Gritty, forcibly retired, ex Gman with a history of pissing off the wrong people space travel by train star spanning empires with cool technologies and the hint of war people dropping dead mysteriously betrayals mind control and Hitchcock references.Actually, it was the train I liked the most and something that played a huge part [...]

In the future we will travel throughout the galaxy on trains Trains which travel through space at superluminal speeds along fantastically long tracks powered by incomprehensible ancient technology Is this silly Profoundly If you have a problem with this, you should probably not read this book If you can get over it, it s fun, well written Zahn doing a future noir detective story.Also there are giant warrior chipmunks Just go with it.

I enjoyed this pretty well overall but the middle sagged alarmingly, slowing down to the point where I almost put it down Luckily I persevered because it picked up at the end and was quite satisfying.

What do I like about Zahn s science fiction He packs a lot of character into his characters, alien or human He builds interesting plots with intriguing premises And he s easy to read I ve already acquired the next book in the series.

A distinctly fun read Zahn has the quality of thrusting you knee deep into the story within the first few paragraphs of a story and Night Train to Rigel is no different Part political intrigue, part suspense, part mystery, and full sci fi, Zahn deliberately keeps you in the dark as the book proceeds letting you guess along with the characters where its all leading And it s just the first book in the trilogy.Harkening back to the train movie mysteries la The Lady Vanishes and Terror by Night this [...]

I just re read this book in preparation for reading the final book in the series I have a very hard time writing a book review on a re read as I think having had the anticipation removed hinders at least to some degree the enjoyment of a novel And, based on my set criteria, I rarely cannot put a book down when I know how it ends That being said, I originally read this book when it first came out and enjoyed it enough to read each succeeding book The final book in the series came out late enough [...]

3.5 Stars Frank Compton used to be an intelligence officer for the Western Alliance Intelligence He s become something of a private investigator since he s left Westali Just as he s taken on a new case, Frank finds himself entangled with a mystery involving a dead man he doesn t know, a Quadrail ticket with his name on it, and a potential enemy working from the shadows As Frank follows one lead to another, he falls into a rabbit hole and nothing is what it seems to be It s been a while since I v [...]

Ok, so i realize that the cover art looks terrible a giant beaver but it is still a really good book.

This definitely isn t my favourite of Timothy Zahn s books, though it was definitely an enjoyable read I liked the main character but the rest were rather bland I liked the concept of quadrarail, the plot itself and the wonderful combination of space opera and a noir story.As usual with this author s books I d love exposition on the setting, races etc as it were they didn t really feel that different Also I had some problems with the pace, with the reveal or one of the reveals coming too early [...]

Clever PlotThis book is driven by mystery If you love secrets and conspiracies, if you get a thrill out of things not being what they seem, then you ll love this book It is future science fiction with truly inventive tools and aliens, but the story is not tech driven It s a spy novel and a detective novel, set on space train Yes that sounds cheesy, but it s actually explained quite well in the book.

A great read Intergalactic railways, villainous coral and a cool hero My kind of mystery.Am now looking forward to reading the rest of the series The quality of Zahn s writing is first class and it s great to read a properly proofed and edited book something that is not as common with ebooks a it should be.

Whodunnit Good one, some clues a bit subtle, some energetic But a humanly rousing good tale, as well as the whole save the known universe thing nicely underplayed Oh, yeah, and a few useful thoughts on dealing with those who haven t seen the utility of developing their plays well with others skills.

Good page turnerThis is an action, detective novel in space And for that genre, it is a good read Kept me turning pages There were twists I saw coming, and a few I didn t Just don t misinterpret 4 stars as putting it into essential reading

Let s take a ride on the Quadrail the interstellar way to get around the galaxy.See strange new worlds Meet a variety of aliens Kill many of them And do all this while solving a mystery.Fun stuff.

After reading this book I m glad there is books to read

Passable detective in space stuff.

Great characters and great storyline.

A fun SF read Loved the references to classic films Plot moved along an engaging group characters that would fit right in with the heroes of those old films Looking forward to the sequels.

Science fiction at its best

Night Train to RigelWow, what a fantastic book Great story line that keeps you hooked from the beginning to the end I am sorry it took me so long to find this book.

The title was the best thing about this book.

Nice story Sometimes a bit heavy handed approach to moving the plot along but interesting worldbuilding.

A fun Neo Noir Sci Fi rump with an almost unbearably strange premise that delivers twists and turns and a healthy amount of chipmunk commandos.

I was a huge fan of Zahn s Star Wars sequel books when I was much younger, so I came into this hoping for a cracking good adventure and I was both disappointed and not.The mystery and intrigue in this novel take off to a quick start when Frank Compton sees someone murdered in front of him and finds a ticket to the human colony Yandro on him made out to Frank This ticket takes him on a path to the mysterious Spiders, who run the cross universe railway system.I found that understanding the details [...]

This is an excellent space opera adventure No great philosophical insights or incredible inventions But a fast paced, well written tale.Frank Compton, a former government agent for the Western Alliance has little time to prepare When the messenger drops dead at his feet, he has only two hours to make the shuttle to take him to the space shuttle ferry he will in turn take that ferry to the Spiders Quadrail Station.The Quadrail located in the outskirts of our Solar System is an alient train to the [...]