“Ancient living machines that after millennia of stillness suddenly begin to move under their own power, for reasons that remain a mystery to men. Holati Tate discovered them – then disappeared. Trigger Argee was his closest associate – she means to find him. She’s brilliant, beautiful, and skilled in every known martial art. She’s worth plenty – dead or alive – to more than one faction in this obscure battle. And she’s beginning to have a chilling notion that the long-vanished Masters of the Old Galaxy were wise when they exiled the plasmoids to the most distant and isolated world they knew…”
It was a combination of the book cover and this summary on the back of the book that prompted me to pick it up at The Book Shelf. It even generated some funny looks from a couple of coworkers. Mission: Accomplished! Because, yes, it’s as cheesy, campy and pulpy as it sounds and looks and I love this book for it!
Legacy by James H. Schmitz was very James Bond-ish with it’s over the top and at times confusing storyline. It’s the dynamic between Trigger Argee and Major Quillan that made me think of James Bond (the Sean Connery years of course). These two have major chemistry and it’s obvious they are attracted to each other. But of course Major Quillan will say things and it’s very rakish and he’s full of himself and Trigger has to put him in his place, sound offended and when he kisses her she ends up swooning. Normally, I don’t care about this but these two make it work and it’s just… hot! (I can’t believe I just wrote that! But it’s not like I have any credibility to worry about so, there you go.)
Seriously, something is wrong with me though. First I’m all, “Look at me, I’m a big girl, swooning is so last season”, then I call out Asimov for his awkward attempt at playfulness between a married couple, now, here I am, getting all swoony over a book that had plenty of awkward moments (and a VERY awkward ogling scene)! But, in my defense, if you imagined Cupid as Major Quillan, well…
Trigger. Trigger, Trigger, Trigger. You have an awesome name! She did get knocked out one too many times, which bothered me a lot when it happened to Katniss in Mockingjay. But not so much in Legacy. Maybe because I like Trigger a lot more than Katniss. However, this book is lucky it was written in 1962 because I would not stand for someone calling my “doll” all the time! And the “Argee Lilt”! *SIGH* Trigger took it like a champ and got her zingers in. I think I’m going to have to use “ape” now in honor of Trigger whenever a man says something… man-ish (which will be all the time!). But she’s tough, will kick your ass if you try to lie to her and she saved the day!
I don’t know what else to say about this book. It’s got action, there's a mystery to be solved and for being crude at times I couldn’t put it down. I look at it, shake my head and laugh. Should I be ashamed? Nope. In fact, this is definitely a book I’ll be rereading in the future!
And look! It’s available for free on Project Guteberg: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/21510
Sounds fun!
ReplyDeleteIt definitely was :)
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