Dumarest 4: Kalin

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I accidentally skipped this one in my re-read through the Dumarestiverse, but this is the seminal book that brings together the elements that will keep this series moving for the next 28 books.

The story opens with Bloodtime on Logis - basically, The Purge 50 years before the movie - where Dumarest rescues the witch Kalin. Kalin can see the future, sometimes to her pain. Then, the story moves on to shipwreck, rescues by slavers and marooning on the planet Chron, where the only hope of escape is to hunt zardles for zerds (and with that one, Tubb must have been having fun.) The mystery of Kalin deepens, particularly the interest that the evil cyber-cult of Cyclans are showing in her home.

Dumarestaphiles know that Dumarest gets the secret of the “affinity twin formula”, but it will take him several books to figure out that he has this secret and what it means. The affinity twin formula puts into place the basic “pull-push” structure that moves the Dumarest series along. The “pull” is Dumarest's hunt for his home planet of Earth, while the “push” is the pursuity by the Cyclan of Dumarest. This was a very popular concept in the television shows of the 1960s whether it was the Fugitive looking for the one armed man while the police pursued him or Coronet Blue where the hero looked for the answer to the meaning of the mysterious phrase “Coronet Blue” while he was pursued by unknown assailants.

This book like series is cheesy - basically Mike Hammer in Space - but good and dependable cheese