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%T Alien Blues
%A Lynn S. Hightower
%I Ace
%D January 1992
%O paperback, US$4.50
%P 251
%G ISBN 0-441-64460-0
This attempt at a blend of SF with the Ed McBain-style police procedural
doesn't quite come off -- too many things in the protagonist's world are
obviously set up for plot convenience, without much attention to their
implications for other aspects of the background. As one example critical
to the plot, we're expected to believe the visiting alien Elaki have
learned enough human neurochemistry to produce cures for all manner of
mental illnesses, but that there's still a drug-addiction problem. In
general, the future shows none of the radical differences from here-and-now
that its technological level certainly ought to imply. And nothing else
about this book is remarkable enough to make these problems worth ignoring.
Give it a miss and wish the author better craft next time.
%T Operation Chaos
%A Poul Anderson
%I Baen
%D January 1992
%O paperback, US$
%P 282
%G ISBN 0-671-72102-X
Baen continues its praiseworthy program of putting out handsome reprints of
oldies-but-goodies. This fixup novel by Poul Anderson was originally a series
of novellettes and novellas written between 1955 and 1970, but has become a
minor classic of `hard fantasy' --- the Unknown Worlds tradition
of `technology-of-magic' stories like Heinlein's Magic, Inc. and
the Pratt/DeCamp Incomplete Enchanter stories. If you haven't
read this one, you've a treat in store; enjoy the adventures of Steve and
Virginia Matuchek as they contend with various esoteric evildoers. The
climactic final episode, in which they harrow Hell itself to rescue their
daughter and encounter a towering evil from our history, still yields
some of the most eerie and gripping moments in modern fantasy.
Up to Eric's Home Page | To Index | Mon Feb 10 16:27:34 EST 1992 |
Eric S. Raymond <esr@snark.thyrsus.com>