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OtherRealms Issue 19 Part 06
Electronic OtherRealms #19
Winter, 1987
Part 6
Pico Reviews
Part 1
Arrows of the Queen by Mercedes Lackey [****+]
DAW, $2.95, 1987, 320 pages
This is the best first fantasy novel I've read in a good long while. I
picked up the book because Mercedes Lackey is the finest lyricist in
fandom. Her facility with words is evident in the clear, flowing prose
style. It is a fairly standard coming-of-age story: Talia, a runaway,
is chosen to become a Herald of the Queen. Talia growing up and helping
to defend the kingdom against it enemies forms the rest of the story.
What really makes this book special, however, is its characterization.
Everyone rings exceptionally true, the characters are people who have
real problems and triumphs. An excellent start for a novelist I expect
to read for some time.
-- John Wenn
wenn@gandalf.cs.cmu.edu
Arslan M. J. Engh [****]
Arbor House, 1987, $ 17.95
This is a disturbing book, not the least because it is so well written
and effective. How was it that, in a field as rife with awards and
reviewers as SF, nobody noticed this book when it first came out eleven
years ago? The book begins as the inhabitants of Kraftsville, Illinois,
learn the alarming news that General Arslan of (of all places!)
Turkistan has achieved control over the armies of the world (yes, all
of them): it is the twentieth century, and the world has been conquered
by a brilliant and ruthless man, Arslan. But this book is about the
people of Kraftsville and their reaction to Arslan's presence among
them after he decides to make his temporary headquarters there. This
reaction is characterized by the two narrators: Franklin Bond, former
school principal, who adapts to the new situation but does not accept
it, and Hunt Morgan, who both loves and hates Arslan, typifying the new
era where all value, but also much suffering, is ultimately due to
Arslan. The portrait that results is quite impressive, as ordinary
people find means to cope with quite extraordinary suffering, and with
the presence among them of a man at once fascinating and ruthless. The
two narrators are quite clearly distinguished (they do have different
writing styles: I found Hunt's hard to take), and the human aspect of
the story that they convey makes this book less bitter than it might
have been, and make it very rewarding. This is serious SF, but it is
also a good, if not always pleasant, read: not to be missed.
-- Fernando Gouvea
Atta by Francis Bellamy [**]
Pocket, 1974, 172 pages.
This story is closer to the fantasy of Wind in the Willows than true
science fiction. One man is mysteriously shrunken into the insect world
and there he meets intelligent ants with a primitive but complex
civilization. The story is told after all the events have happened and
consequently there is a great deal of foreshadowing as the story
progresses, a technique I found somewhat annoying.
russell.Wbst@Xerox.COM
Bard IV, Ravens' Gathering Keith Taylor [***]
Ace, 235 pp, $2.95, 0-441-04924-9
A good sequel with a disturbing ending. Felimid mac Fal and Gudrun
Blackhair fight their final battle together. King Arthur gets thrown in
the middle of the book, but for no more than a side trip. The story
drags down to a "why bother" ending. Maybe this was the only way out of
the current story line, but it could have been handled differently.
-- Laurie Sefton
The Blood of Ten Chiefs ed. by Richard Pini [***]
TOR, $6.95, 1986, 314 pages
This short story anthology is a set of shared-world stories based on
the comic book series Elfquest, one story for each of the ten chiefs in
the wolfriders history. The stories are linked by connecting passages
of a storyteller relating these histories/legends to give advice to
members of the tribe. Good background if you're already an Elfquest
fan, otherwise probably not too interesting.
--Mary Anne Espenshade
mae@aplvax.arpa
The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter [****]
Harper, $3.95, 1979, 164 pages
This book takes several classic fairy tales (Beauty and the Beast
[twice], Puss in Boots, Sleeping Beauty, Little Red Riding Hood
[thrice], and others) and retells them in a hazy, sensuous fashion.
This has much in common with Tanith Lee's "Red As Blood" collection,
but important differences also exist. While Tanith Lee's stories are
elegant and ironic, Angela Carter's stories are moody, atmospheric
pieces much more concerned with style then plot. One short story, "In
The Company of Wolves", was made into an underrated movie of the same
name. I found it amazing how such small tale was directly translated
into a movie; the film only added the opening and closing scenes in the
20th century, all else was directly taken from the 12 pages of the
story. Recommended.
-- John Wenn
wenn@gandalf.cs.cmu.edu
Challenge of the Clans [***]
The Dark Druid Kenneth C. Flint [**+]
Bantam Books, 326 pp,
0-553-25553-3, 0-553-26715-9
Two books about Finn Mac Cumhal, one of Eire's greatest legendary
warriors. These books break off from the earlier Flint books, while the
Celtic flavor is there, a Norman influence be peeking though. Instead
of both brave hearted female warriors, Finn's ill-fated wife is a
fading lily; she needs to be rescued. The second book is marred by a
bad cover. Technically, it's not too bad, but it's better suited for a
romance novel than a Celtic legend retold.
-- Laurie Sefton
Chess with a Dragon by David Gerrold [***-]
Walker and Company, 207pp, $15.95, 0-8027-6688-9
The third in the Millennium series of Science Fiction novels based on
traditional themes written towards the younger reader. This time,
Gerrold takes on Interstellar Empires, and Gerrold goes after it with a
vengeance, putting an Earth Diplomatic mission into the InterChange, an
information bank where you can buy and sell with other cultures. Earth,
a new entrant, is just finding out what happens when the bills start
coming due, and have to either learn to survive in an intergalactic
Ponzi scheme or be eaten. Parts of it are fascinating, but other parts
(especially some of the alien names) step over the boundary and become
too cute for their own good. Also, some of the content is probably too
intense for younger kids, since one of the cultures involved is
strongly cannibalistic.
-- chuq von rospach
Cold War in a Country Garden by Lindsay Gutteridge [***]
Pocket, 1973, 157 pages.
In this story a group of men are miniaturized as part of an elaborate
government project. They spend the first half of the book learning to
survive in a normal backyard. The second part is a rather fantastic spy
mission they are sent on behind the iron curtain. I enjoyed the first
part more than the second. There is at least one sequel, Killer Pine.
russell.Wbst@Xerox.COM
Counting the Cost David Drake [**]
Baen Books 267 Pg. $3.50
Another Hammer's Slammers novel. This is basic combat SF and is utterly
unremarkable except for the cover. That is an excellent example of bad
marketing. The format of the cover, the cover painting and even the
color scheme is so much like the previous Slammers novel, At Any Price,
that my first impression when I saw this book in the bookstore was that
it was a reprint of At Any Price. I only stop to check the book out
because it was in the new books section of the store. As it was, I had
to go home and verify that it was a new book and not a re-issue of At
Any Price. Using a fixed format for a book cover can be a very useful
marketing tool for notifying readers that this book is part of a series
that they like. But in this case, the format is so fixed that the books
in the series look too much like one another that a reader cannot
distinguish between a new book and an old book in the series. As for
the story, it is based on the palace coup that overthrew Diem's regime
in Saigon except in this case the Diem character, Delcorio, wins.
Danny Low
hplabs!hpccc!dlow
Courtship Rite by Donald Kingsbury [****]
Pocket, $3.95, 1982, 409 pages
Another type of SF is world-building. The real stars of Dune, Ringworld
or Helliconia is the worlds themselves. Courtship Rite is another
exercise in world creation, one that succeeds overall. Be warned that
this book is not for the faint of heart. An lost human colony, due to
incompatible biocultures their primary source of food is cannibalism.
You didn't expect people to eat alien foods did you? Their science is
an interesting mixture of technological and primitive. Their biology is
quite advanced (as a matter of survival), but other sciences are at a
generally medieval level. The other portions of the culture are equally
fascinating, from marriage customs to politics. Recommended for those
who don't mind the subject matter.
-- John Wenn
wenn@gandalf.cs.cmu.edu
Cvltvre Made Stvpid Tom Weller [****]
Houghton Mifflin, $7.95
ISBN 0-395-40461-4
The guy who brought us a new look at Science (and won the 1986 Hugo for
it) is back, and this time his target is art and cvltvre. Again he's
right on as he takes on Michaelangelo, Gutenberg, Opera (can you
imagine Linda Rondstat and Barry Manilow doing the Broadway version of
the Ring?) and people with pretensions or artistic bents. He doesn't
always hit, but Cvltvre Made Stvpid is on target often enough to make
this a very enjoyable piece of parody.
-- chuq von rospach
Cybernetic Samurai by Victor Milan [****]
ACE, $3.50, 1985, 337 pages
A novel of the creation of the first artificial sentient being in
post-WWIII Japan. Building on 5th generation AI computers, Dr.
Elizabeth O'Neill creates TOKUGAWA and trains him with scenarios of
feudal Japan. Interesting both as a view of a post-WWIII world and as
a SF extrapolation of computer science.
--Mary Anne Espenshade
mae@aplvax.arpa
Daughter of The Empire Raymond E. Feist and
Janny Wurts [***+]
Doubleday, 394 pp, $17.95, 0-385-23393-0
A companion piece to the Riftwar saga, this tells the story of Mara,
who becomes the Ruling Lady of the Acoma, on Kelewan, after her
brothers and father are killed in battle. She must learn to play the
deadly game of politics in Kelewan, which will decide the future of her
house and herself. Mara is able to manipulate her way to power, while
proving she isn't the frail fainting flower that many believed. The
story itself is good, as it provides another viewpoint to the Riftwar.
However, the pacing suffers from too much expository dialogue; all the
characters describe what they're going to do, when they're going to do
it, and why in painful detail. A bit of detail on the character, and
why they happen to be where they are would have sufficed. The reader
doesn't need everything spelled out to him.
-- Laurie Sefton
Deep Domain (Star Trek #33) by Howard Weinstein [****+]
Pocket, $3.50, 1987, 275 pages
Definitely the best one of these I've read in a long time: good
incidental characters that don't overrun the story, interesting aliens,
good conflict, new discoveries, teamwork, the Enterprise on a
scientific mission for once instead of meeting "a threat to the
universe" and a conflict that is resolved without an interplanetary
war. Most of the Star Trek novels have been, to me, passable SF but
poor ST, this one gets high marks on both points.
--Mary Anne Espenshade
mae@aplvax.arpa
A Distant Soil: Immigrant Song Colleen Doran [**]
Starblaze Graphics, $6.95
ISBN 0-89865-514-5
Doran has significantly reworked her B&W WArp series and published a
new, color graphic edition of the series. Her claim is that this
edition is how she has always envisioned the story. Unfortunately, she
may be a little too close to the story for her own good, because
Immigrant Song is very sketchy and bounces around all over the place
without any attempt to help a reader unfamiliar with the story follow
it. I was left confused and disappointed.
-- chuq von rospach
The Dragon Waiting by John M. Ford [****-]
Avon, $3.50, 1983, 383 pages
Every once in a while, I run across a novel that makes me wish I knew
more history. This is such a book, and the time period is middle 15th
century Europe. It is a alternate history tale, but the story sticks
close to the true history of the times (at least from what I know of
the period). The most obvious changes are the fantasy elements: the
main characters include a Welch wizard and a German vampire.
Christianity seems to have never taken root, and magic is political
fact of life. The setting is the Italian city states, London around the
time of the crowning of Richard III, and points between. The story
itself is confusing if you are unfamiliar with the period, but is well
told. I intend to re-read it after doing some research on the period.
Recommended if you are willing to do some work to follow the author.
-- John Wenn
Duncan & Mallory #2: The Bar-None Ranch
Robert Asprin and Mel. White [**]
Starblaze Graphics, $3.95,
ISBN 0-89865-506-4
I had misgivings about this series -- the first issue had potential,
but was a fairly blatant attempt to recreate the success of the Myth
Adventures series without the sharpness or the humor that makes it fly.
The second issue unfortunately continues this -- the humor is flat, the
story somewhat self-indulgent (the characters continually smirk at the
reader from the page) and it just doesn't have the edge to the material
that it really needs to be good. White is a good artist, although she
seems to be putting more energy into emulating Phil Foglio than she is
in showing her own capabilities. It doesn't look like this series is
going to go anywhere, and I have to (somewhat regretfully) give it a
Not Recommended.
-- chuq von rospach
Free Lancers Elizabeth Mitchell, ed. [****]
Baen Books, $2.95,
ISBN 0-671-65353-0
This is the fourth volume in the Alien Stars series, original
anthologies of novella length material. This time there are three
stories about mercenaries by Orson Scott Card, David Drake, and Lois
McMaster Bujold. The Card work, "West" is from an upcoming book titled
Tales of the Mormon Sea. It is also, unfortunately, the least
successful of the three. Not bad, but it could have used another draft. The
Drake story is related to the Hammer's Slammers series, and the Bujold
story, "The Borders of Infinity," is a Vorkosigan story. That story is
currently at the top of my list of Hugo novella nominations for 1987.
-- chuq von rospach
FTL: Further Than Life by Michael Lindsay Williams [*]
Avon, $3.50, 1987, 327 pages
This wins the turkey of the month award. A silly plot, absurd science,
cardboard characters, and several "in jokes" too cute to be tolerated (e.g.
robots have Asimov circuits). A definite miss.
-- John Wenn
The Guardians of the Flame: The Sleeping Dragon [****]
The Sword and the Chain
The Silver Crown
The Heir Apparent Joel Rosenberg,
Doubleday (1,2,3), Signet (4)
Would you like your Saturday night dungeon session to be real? Really?
A group of college students find out that living the life of their gaming
character isn't all they thought it would be. When you get hurt, it's for
real, not just hit points taken. And let's face it. no one thinks about
indoor plumbing when they're on a quest. Through the first four books,
the students find themselves integrated into what they thought was a
fantasy world, while trying to drag the residents, kicking and screaming,
at least into the 19th century. And technology isn't the answer to all
their problems, as there is enough questing and wizardry about. The
books aren't high literature, but they're extremely entertaining.
-- Laurie Sefton
Hardwired Walter Jon Williams [****]
Tor Books, $3.50, ISBN 0-812-55796-4
My own personal feelings about the viability of Cyberpunk as a subgenre
notwithstanding, if more of the works being touted under that banner
had the quality of this book, I'd have to rethink my position. This is
a bleak and unrelenting view of a future Earth controlled by orbital
megacorporations and a group of panzerboys -- people who work outside
the system smuggling needed good across the continent. It's good,
although the book won't be to everyone's taste.
The Isle of Glass [****]
The Golden Horn [****+]
The Hounds or God Judith Tarr [****]
Tor Fantasy, 0-812-55601-1,
0-812-55603-8, 0-812-55605-4
The three parts of The Hound and the Falcon trilogy shouldn't be
missed. Tarr is able to create a convincing land of Faerie in England
during the time of the crusades. The books follow the life of Alfred of
St. Ruan's a foundling of the fair folk and Thea Damaskena, one of the
court of the kingdom of Rhyiana. Their lives are examined beyond the
usual gloss of magics; for example. what happens when you find that you
have out-lived all your family? Or, if the fair folk live forever, what
use would be immortal souls? This is an important question in medieval
Europe--the church is strong, but the Crusades, the sacking of
Constantinople, and the constant bickering among political factions
make the existence of the people of Rhyiana a volatile situation. Tarr
is able to blend history and fantasy so well that, even though you know
what's going to happen, getting there is the best part.
-- Laurie Sefton
Insect Warriors by Rex Levie [***+]
Ace, 1965, 143 pages.
This is the story of a primitive tribe trying to survive against the
insect world. It is the one I enjoyed the most of this set of books
because it stayed on track as a simple adventure story of the struggles
of these people in a different world for most of the book. The end has
a possible explanation as to how the tribe came to be.
russell.Wbst@Xerox.COM
The Lady of Han-Gilen Judith Tarr [****]
Tor, 310 pp, 0-312-94271-0
While the second book of a trilogy is often a travelogue or a
preparation for the third book, Tarr has written a middle story that
not only managed to move the greater story along, but is a whole and
entertaining volume on its own. Elian, the Lady of Han Gilen, runs away
from her royal family, and their hopes of a political marriage. After
many troubles, she finds Mirain, only to be brought into a final battle
between him and a mad priestess of the dark, who believes that Mirain
will cause the end of the world. The world of Mirain and Elian is both
familiar of exotic; it's a refreshing change from the ante-deluvian
venues, while being comfortable enough that the reader isn't thrashing
with the scenery.
-- Laurie Sefton
Lincoln's Dreams Connie Willis [****+]
Bantam Spectra, 1987, hardcover, $ 15.95
Here is a book which centers not on plot, but on people and their
feelings. A plot summary doesn't do it justice, since it depends so
strongly on the moods it evokes and the characters the author portrays.
The story turns on Annie, who is having dreams that seem to recall the
American civil war. The dreams distress her, and she seeks help, first
from a specialist in sleep disorders, and eventually from Jeff, the book's
narrator, who is a historian currently working as researcher, assistant,
and general errand boy for a well-known historical novelist. The plot
concerns his attempts to help her and the relationship that develops
between them. Along the way, the book achieves a high level of
intensity, even though nothing much happens. One leaves it with genuine
affection for the characters; this is a book I will remember. There is
a real danger that this quiet but effective book may be lost in the
shuffle, its voice drowned out by the louder but less deep statements
that prevail in the genre. But readers who really care won't miss it.
Fernando Gouvea
The Man Who Folded Himself by David Gerrold [***+]
Popular Library, $0.95, 1973, 160 pages
What would you do with a time machine? That question occupies an entire
subgenre of SF. The obvious thing to do is sight-see throughout the
ages. But there are all those paradoxes lurking out there. Killing your
grandfather before he married you grandmother, killing yourself, saving
Lincoln, preventing the machine from being invented, etc. This book is
an examination of all the paradoxes time travel I've heard of, as well
as adding a few new ones. The style is OK, and the characterization is
irrelevant to some degree. I mean what does characterization mean when
multiple copies of the hero exist at once? An interesting reductio ad
absurdum of time travel.
-- John Wenn
Marion Zimmer Bradley Presents Sword and Sorceress IV [***]
Daw, 285 pp, 0-88677-210-9
This is a mixed bag of over the edge feminist rehashes, and some very
good stories that just happen to have women as the main characters.
Look for Dave Smed's story about gullriders and Deborah Vogel's
short-short, the first for anyone who has ever seen "saddle up and
ride" seagulls, and the second for a stunning example of how a
short-short should be written.
-- Laurie Sefton
OtherRealms #19
Winter, 1987
Copyright 1987 by Chuq Von Rospach
All Rights Reserved
One time rights have been
acquired from the contributors.
All rights are hereby assigned
to the contributors.
OtherRealms may not be reproduced in any form without written
permission of Chuq Von Rospach.
The electronic edition may be distributed or reproduced in its entirety
as long as all copyrights, author and publication information remain
intact. No individual article may be reprinted, reproduced or
republished in any way without the express permission of the author.
OtherRealms is published quarterly (March, June, September and December) by:
Chuq Von Rospach
35111-F Newark Blvd.
Suite 255
Newark, CA 94560.
Usenet: chuq@sun.COM
Delphi: CHUQ
