XI. Review of 'The Blackcollar' by Timothy Zahn.

It is a shame that many peoples first exposure to the writing of Timothy Zahn was his three cycle series of novels for the Star Wars universe. But let us thank that series for bringing Zahn into the minds of many science fiction readers who might have missed him otherwise.

For those who might not have known, Timothy Zahn had over ten years of experience writing science fiction before his Star Wars outing, first with short stories and winning the Hugo Award for best novella in 1984 with Cascade Point, then with novels starting with The Blackcollar.

The Blackcollar centers around Allen Caine who is part of a resistance against a race of aliens called the Ryqril who had defeated Earth and her colonies 30 years before. Mankind is now under the puppet rulership of humans called Collie's (short for collaborators) that are conditioned controlled to never betray the Ryqril, no matter what happens. As a result, the general population is unable to travel between the worlds once ruled by Earth. But the people of this time are also blessed with a longer life cycle thanks to a drug called Idunine.

Caine is given a task to try to travel to the former colony world of Plinry to try to gather support from the local resistance, if there is any. In doing so, he runs into a former Blackcollar commander named Damon Lathe, and by doing so is introduced to the world of the Blackcollars.

The Blackcollars are the 24th century equivalent of a cross between the US special forces and the Japanese Ninja. Using nunchakus and an advanced form of the shuriken, they are trained in close quarter combat and are conditioned with a drug called Backlash that heightens their senses, reflexes, speed and memory. It is with this force that Caine is hopeful that his mission is a success, the finding of a fleet of five Nova-class battle cruisers lost since the war. These ships could be the key in overthrowing the control of the Ryqril, and the freedom of Earth.

An authors first novel can be the one that makes or breaks a career, and this one helps Zahn's career skyrocket. The style of writing is very similar to his first Conquerors novels and has very strong characters to work with. Along the way there are turns and surprises that help the story's path that are not typical of the overused diversions that are used today, and have become very predictable.

The only compliant that I have with this novel is the handling of the possible origins of Allen Caine, and how it helps him in his undercover mission. It seems to me like a whole area of development wasn't fully touched on, or done so very hastily. I can only hope that this is dealt with a little more in the follow up novel, Blackcollar: The Backlash Mission.

The Blackcollar was published by DAW Books (ISBN: 0-87997-843-0) in 1983 and is no longer in print, but your local used book store may help you in finding a copy of this and it's follow up novel The Backlash Mission. Trust me, finding a copy is well worth your time.

Eirik Farwanderer
5 December, 2009 Anno Domini.