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%T TekLords
%A William Shatner
%I Ace
%D January, 1991
%O paperback, US$4.99
%P 293
%G ISBN 0-441-80010-6
The amazing thing about TekWar (RR#79) was that it worked at all. Now it turns
out that Shatner can't write much better than he can act; these books
were ghosted by Ron Goulart. In this one the novelty's worn off and
all we've got is a routine jaunt through cop-novel cliches and a bunch
of Goulart's camp-erratic robots. T.J. Hooker on Murdstone. No
thanks.
%T The Sapphire Rose
%S The Elenium
%V Book Three
%A David Eddings
%I Del Rey
%D January 1992
%O clothbound, US$22.00
%P 467
%G ISBN 0-345-37474-6
Though I greatly enjoyed The Belgariad, I've had a pretty low
opinion of Eddings since the beginning of the Malloreon books, one
which the first two books of The Elenium did little to raise.
Honesty compels me to admit that this third volume is significantly
better, and I think I now understand the pattern of variation in
Eddings's work. He's quite good at character and dialogue, especially
when he plays ironically with the conventions of the fantasy form.
But he's poor at world-building, action, and the sorts of things one
has to do well to make traditional epic fantasy come off. Thus, the
intrigues and romantic scenes and church politics this book is
dominated by work well; the epic confrontation scenes work much less
well, and the battle sequences and everyday-life scenes don't work at
all. Caveat reader.
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Eric S. Raymond <esr@snark.thyrsus.com>