Nerds That Geek Book Review: 'Tuf Voyaging'

Written by Scott Edwards

Four profiteers are looking for safe passage on to what has become to be known as the Plague Star, which has earned its name based on the destruction it has left in its path. The group is low on funds and looking for any way to get to this location and make their fortune. They are able to book passage on the Cornucopia of Excellent Goods at Low Prices, Haviland Tuf’s ship. Tuf, a small time trader who is short on funds himself is more than happy to take the fare with promise of a decent payoff when the destination is reached.                            

Arriving to the Plague Star’s coordinates, the group discovers they are in over their heads further than expected since the Star turns out to be an ancient space craft that is the size of a planet. With Tuf’s ship being damaged on the first attempt to reach this relic, the group separates for survival and dominance of their new find. ‘Absolute power corrupts absolutely,’ as the group breaks apart, battles and kills for control of the ship, now referred to as the ‘Ark.’ Tuf, who has alternative motives at first when he takes part in the revolt early on, uses  presence of mind and a load of patience, to wait it out and take command of the Ark and bolster his abilities as a top trader.

The Ark, although having great defense systems, has something more valuable to Tuf and the worlds he will soon visit, a cloning facility. With the power of creating whatever was stored in the Ark’s cell library at his fingertips, Tuf would be able to become a true profiteer, an Ecological Engineer as he calls it. Visiting different worlds and hearing of their different problems, Tuf is able to provide them all with a great alternative via his cloning techniques. As he is able to leave most worlds in a better place than they were when he arrived, the Ark is truly a valuable commodity and Tuf needs to stay at the top of his game to maintain possession of it.

Tuf Voyaging is a collection of stories that takes you though a long ten year period of Haviland Tuf’s life. Tuf is a humble individual and does not crave the attention of other people, much less others touching him. He's a vegetarian with a love for his cats (for cats used to be worshiped on Old Earth) and each one  of his felines has a little bit of mind reading ability. Tuf is overly trusting, which is what gets him in deep trouble on his adventures, but he is also very strategic with his moves and motives and is able to outwit his opponents. Whether it’s securing the Ark for his own survival, saving people from sea monsters, creating monsters for a profit, or producing an alternate lifestyle style for a doomed world, Tuf is never shaken. Working at his own pace to make sure what he produces will do these worlds more good than harm, Tuf and his motives are noble, but are his own.  

Haviland Tuf is just a fantastic character, he is more than willing to help, very trusting, but wonders why no one else will ever trust him back. Tuf seems to be incorruptible and never wants to abuse his ‘god like’ power that the Ark has given to him.  It is just a joy when Tuf is able to come up with his plan to save a planet and how easy he really makes it sound. Martin nailed another character with this book and although I am allergic to cats, I sneezed only a couple times when reading about Tuf’s, since he has more than a few.

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