Super fun space opera. I loved the alien and how at first you just thought it was a beast and how gradually you realized it was sentient then he evolved beyond his basic nature to accept that the universe was a much bigger place than he had realized. The main human hero who told the other part of the story was very well done too. I liked the flashbacks to his military service that sort of explained where he was coming from mentally. On to the next one now. ( )

If I had stopped reading this book at the 80% done point, I'd have only good things to say about it, and it would be a 4.5 star book. Unfortunately, the author carries the story on a bit too far and, to wrap it up, he chose to go "preachy". And, the salvation of the main character was deus-ex-machina... all that tension built up throughout the story only to have it never have been a problem in the first place?? huh... lazy.

I enjoyed the story while it was on Dead End - it was a sci-fi action novel with an interesting set of characters with an interesting dilemma ahead of them. It was when they left the planet (includes Miracle 1: available spaceship, Miracle 2: spaceship willing to carry the most dangerous creature in the universe) that the story became... well... ridiculous.

Dumb Act 1: guy on the run tells someone he barely knows that he is looking for a new identity (yes, of course a bounty hunter finds out, which is Miracle 3: bounty hunter is in the same point in the universe as the main character even though the character just arrived there after a very long journey). Then comes Dumb Act 2: marines shoot a rocket launcher inside a SPACESHIP - even I know not to do that and I've never even seen a gun. Here's where Miracle 4 and Miracle 5 occur: both the main character and the bounty hunter survive because there happened to be a left over forgotten emergency pod just where they were and alien monster survives the vacuum of space because the vacuum extinguished the fire that was going to burn him to death (but the vacuum of space was not fatal... hmmm).

Then we have preachy moralistic interlude where alien monster kills intelligent non-human animal.

Then Dumb Act 3 occurs: main character is nearly dead from hypothermia but chooses to go back out into the storm to save the life of the man who plans to, at best, give him up to be executed and, at worst, kill him for the bounty on him.

Sigh... as I said, I wish the story had ended on Dead End, then none of these miracles or dumb acts would have occurred and this book would have been very good. ( )