Star Griffin

This is a surprising book: it's not like any of the other Kurland books that I've read. I suspect he read [b:Stand on Zanzibar 41069 Stand on Zanzibar John Brunner https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1360613921s/41069.jpg 2184253] not long before writing it, because the style seems very much Michael Kurland under the influence of [a:John Brunner 23113 John Brunner https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1336955014p2/23113.jpg]. It's interesting that Kurland is capable of writing like that, which he does well enough, but I find it a bit off-putting, especially at the beginning, when it was hard to tell whether I was going to like the book or not.It gradually turns into a decent, competent, imaginative, rather oddball book, which I'm quite pleased to have discovered. But it's not a contender for a major award, and the plot and characters don't quite have the charming likeability of some of his other books, so I can't bring myself to give it four stars at this point.For me it is at least a successful book, in its way, and not some dud dug out of his back catalogue, which it might have been. There is more to Michael Kurland than I realized when I started reading his books.