Debatable Space

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More About This Book

Overview

Flanagan (who is, for want of a better word, a pirate) has a plan. It seems relatively simple: kidnap Lena, the Cheo's daughter, demand a vast ransom for her safe return, sit back and wait.

Only the Cheo, despotic ruler of the known universe, isn't playing ball. Flanagan and his crew have seen this before, of course, but since they've learned a few tricks from the bad old days and since they know something about Lena that should make the plan foolproof, the Cheo's defiance is a major setback. It is a situation that calls for extreme measures.

Luckily, Flanagan has considerable experience in this area . . .

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

It's rarely a good sign when an author tells readers with "sad grasshopper minds" to skip ahead if they're bored, as Palmer does in this muddled debut space opera. After grabbing readers with action sequences revolving around a plan to use former President of Humanity Lena Smith against her despotic son, Peter, whom Lena tenderly calls "the most evil human being who has ever lived," a series of long, rambling "Excerpts from the Thought Diary of Lena Smith, 2004-" bring the action to a screeching halt. Lena's description of her thousand-year life and accounts of her sexual escapades and theology will weary many readers. The concepts, writing and plotting leave a great deal to be desired, and Palmer's attempt at humor centered on the notion of powerful, intelligent flame beasts addicted to bad television also falls flat. (Jan.)

Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information
Library Journal

Flanagan is a space pirate with big plans that involve kidnapping Lena, the daughter of the Cheo, who rules the known worlds, and demanding an enormous ransom for her. His plans go awry, however, when his target proves to be more than he bargained for, and her father less willing to ransom his child than Flanagan could wish. Hard sf meets action-adventure in this rapid-paced tale of a kidnapping gone wrong and the luckless anti-heroes who are more interested in surviving than in killing. Featuring cool-headed, sharp-witted characters who are neither heroes nor villains, this strong debut belongs in most sf collections.


—Jackie Cassada

Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780316068093
  • Publisher: Orbit/Yen
  • Publication date: 9/1/2008
  • Format: Mass Market Paperback
  • Edition description: Reprint
  • Pages: 560
  • Sales rank: 1,164,741
  • Product dimensions: 4.20 (w) x 6.70 (h) x 1.60 (d)

Meet the Author

Philip Palmer lives in London and is currently at work on a new book set in the same universe as DEBATABLE SPACE. He has written for film, TV and theater, but this is his first novel. Find out more about Philip Palmer at www.philippalmer.net.

Customer Reviews

Average Rating 3.5
( 8 )

Rating Distribution

5 Star

(3)

4 Star

(1)

3 Star

(0)

2 Star

(4)

1 Star

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Sort by: Showing 1 – 9 of 8 Customer Reviews

  • Posted November 13, 2009

    I Also Recommend:

    9780441011797 9780765348272

    Decent concept but poor execution

    I couldn't finish this book. I managed to get about 1/3 of the way through it before giving up. The story is disjointed and Charactarization is inconsistent.

    "oh hey, my friend died... to bad."

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted March 30, 2009

    more from this reviewer

    Just Never Got Interested in Debatable Space

    This book was not good.

    First, I'll give credit to the author, Philip Palmer for trying something new and different. Unfortunately, it didn't work. This book comes across as some sort of strange hybrid-cross of Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy, Lewis Carols Alice in Wonderland and any number of hard core sci-fi novels. It's Hitchhiker's Guide but fails to maintain that non-stop zany quality that kept fans of The Guide rivited. It's the non-sense of Lewis Carol without Carols skill to keep readers turning pages in spite of the fact that they're reading a book about nothing. Finally there are pages and pages dedicated to how things work but also huge gaps in other areas...one bit of technology is explained in vast detail, another is left with no explanation at all. T

    here's also too much cliche in a not-fun way. The half-man, half-animal character is named...Harry (hairy, of course). The half-human, half-cat character is...wait for it, ally (as in ally...cat). The major alien races we hear (little) about are the Hebbie Jebbies and the Sparklers. After awhile, it's just hard to take seriously. In the opening few pages we see the crew of Flanagan's huge pirate ship bemoan being caught up to by the vast fleet of the Cheo (millions of warships)...it's doom, it's the end. And then they easily defeat them with a few tricks and that's that. Nor any mention of how the Cheo's fleet caught them (no faster than light travel...so the book actually spans 100s of years, although this isn't covered except in a hokey "time passes!" sort of way).

    Debatable Space had it's moments, but overall it was just too much cheese without the intention of being cheesy.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted February 5, 2008

    Ugly characters

    The problem with Debatable Space as the are NO characters to root for. Lena may be one of the most vilianous characters ever, and Flanagan is a scum. Then there's the milue which gets harder to credit the longer the book goes.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted July 31, 2011

    So Boring

    Cut this book by 200 pages at least. So long-winded. Some nice thematic ideas, but like looking for needles in a haystack.

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  • Posted December 9, 2008

    more from this reviewer

    A reviewer

    Lena is traveling solo in deep space glad to get away from the perfection of thirty-first century Earth when the computer implanted in her brain informs her that a pirate ship is heading her way. The leader of the pirates Flanagan wins the battle and boards her ship telling her she is a hostage to be used in negotiations with Cheo the dictator of Earth. He knows of the special relationship that exists between the two of them and intends to exploit that.------------- Lena knows that when it looks hopeless, the Cheo will let her get killed. Flanagan has plans and one includes the liberation of his homeworld Cambria a slave colony ruled by Doppelganger Robots who are inhabited by the minds of the elite on Earth. He has a plan that would allow the crew to disconnect Cambrina from the universal web. From there he convinces the pirates from all over the galaxy to help him disconnect the beacons which would result in isolating Earth and freeing the empire. The only problem is the empire has warships in the millions and the pirates have ships in the six digit range.----------- Philip Palmer writes a terrific space opera and DEBATABLE SPACE would make a great marquee movie in the tradition of Star Wars. Alien races co-exist with humanity and the aliens are major characters so readers feel as if they actually exist. Readers ride an orbital roller coaster that takes us to various planets in the galaxy, making the audience realize how enslaved the human race is if they don¿t live on Earth.------------ Harriet Klausner

    0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted January 9, 2010

    No text was provided for this review.

  • Anonymous

    Posted January 12, 2009

    No text was provided for this review.

  • Anonymous

    Posted March 4, 2010

    No text was provided for this review.

  • Anonymous

    Posted July 29, 2011

    No text was provided for this review.

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