Night Train to Rigel [Mass Market Paperback]

Set in a future galaxy in which interstellar travel takes place via the "Quadrail" which is a giant network of faster-than-light trains - yes, trains - running between solar systems. Spaceships are used only to travel within a solar system, e.g. between planets and the point in an inhabited system where the quadrail station is located.

The quadrail was built 600 years ago and has been operated since then by a mysterious race nicknamed the "Spiders" who are part organic and part machine. Until now they have always tried to stand aloof from politics between other races. Apart from the spiders, there are twelve other intelligent races recognised as major powers by virtue of having at least five inhabited systems: the human United Nations, with exactly five worlds, is one of the least significant of these twelve powers.

The story is told in the first person by Frank Compton, who used to be a top investigator for "Western Alliance" intelligence until he was fired for blowing the whistle on the bogus reports which had been used to justify the colonisation of Yandro, earth's fourth colony and hence the one which got UN officials the status of being a recognised empire.

Frank has just emerged from a meeting at which he was offered a new job, when he is accosted by a young man who has just enough remaining strength to utter Frank's name before dropping dead with multiple bullet wounds. The message which the man has given his life to deliver brings Frank to the Spiders, who want him to investigate a threat to both the Quadrail and the Galaxy. They tell him that someone, they don't know who, appears to have found a way to smuggle warships through the Quadrail and is preparing to launch a war.

Frank and his assigned partner, Bayta, who appears to be a human female but is very strange, begin to investigate. They soon begin to discover evidence of a vast and dangerous conspiracy which appears to threaten the entire galaxy - but is it the same as the one the Spiders warned about? And does Frank have a conflict of interest?

Frank and Bayta are soon enmeshed in a complex web of intrigue in which nobody and nothing, including Frank and Bayta themselves, is quite what they seem.

I had a little difficulty suspending disbelief in one or two of the ideas in this book - for example, how a railway network between the stars could be flexible enough to cope with the fact that stars move,and that the transfer stations would either have to orbit those stars or tend to fall into them. Once I'd got past that point and into the story I found it an entertaining and interesting read.

Most of the other plot ideas are not as original as the idea of an intragalactic railway, although they way they are put together is unusual. I didn't feel the charactisation was as good as this author usually manages.

Overall "Night Train to Rigel" is not up to the same level of brilliance as the best of Zahn's recent work such as "Warhorse", "Deadman Switch", or "The Icarus Hunt." However, I thought it had a lot more going for it than some of the strongly negative reviews here make out, and I did enjoy reading it.

UPDATE OCTOBER 2008

"Night Train To Rigel" has been followed by a number of sequels and there are now four published or expected books in the "Quadrail" series, which are:

1) "Night Train to Rigel"
2) "The Third Lynx"
3) "Odd Girl Out" and
4) "The Domino Murders."

Like some of the other reviewers, I have read and enjoyed some of Timothy Zahn's other works. So I thought I'd give this most recent book a look, but I was never really engaged. I found the early setup interesting, but as the book moved along, I never really found myself taking much interest in the characters or the plot.

The main character is Frank Compton, an ex-government agent for a futuristic Earth. He receives instructions from a messenger (murdered just after he delivers his message) to claim a ticket to ride a transit system called the "Quadrail." This amazing transportation system can transport people to various star-systems in days, but nobody except its operators understands just how it works. Mr. Compton is soon asked to participate in a mission that could determine the fate of the galaxy and assigned a partner, the mysterious Bayta.

This book has its fair number of twists and some decent action as well. The problem was, I never really felt myself feeling interested in what did or didn't happen with the various characters, or even with the plot in general. Zahn just doesn't seem to concentrate on the right aspects here to really capture the interests of the reader. It's almost as if he's "phoning it in." Sure, I enjoy a nice, light read sometimes, but I do like to feel like I can actually take an interest in the affairs of the characters.

I've followed Zahn for a while, and given good reviews to a substantial number of his other books, because I enjoy them and they seem not to get much recognition on amazon.com. I've said often how I buy each one as soon as it comes out, knowing I'll get a fairly formulaic but also extremely exciting romp with some very clever plot twists.

Well, outside of "formulaic", none of that describes this one. It seems like Zahn took the first half of The Icarus Hunt, perhaps my favorite of his, and removed all trace of humor and cleverness, then replaced the second half with something cliched and constantly, irritatingly predictable. Truly - the setup is EXACTLY the same, from the narrator having a shady job that the reader is not told, to a powerful and mysterious alien race controlling all of the transportation in the galaxy, to the main character recieving a job that is clearly more than it appears from someone with a hidden agenda, etc, etc. It does eventually go somewhere different from Icarus, but not somewhere good - instead, we're treated to a series of staggeringly easy to predict plot twists, resulting in a climax that, while somewhat enjoyable, is nowhere near Zahn's usual standards.

Also, the Big Secret hanging over the story - what the narrator's original occupation was (this is constantly referenced in little side-comments, like "Serving two masters is indeed possible, so I decided to take the second job" and "I was actually making progress on my original job, too, in a twisted way") - turns out to be nothing more than, essentially, a punchline, revealed on the last page (though I'd figured it out well before). Compared to Icarus Hunt, where this same setup produced the greatest final plot twist I've ever seen...well, calling it "disappointing" is extremely mild.

Zahn is a fantastic adventure sci-fi author. I highly reccomend Icarus Hunt or Angelmass or Warhorse, or the Conquerors Trilogy. Do not spend money on this book.

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 25 reviews  3.2 out of 5 stars