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%T The Fleet #5: Total War
%A David Drake & Bill Fawcett (editors)
%I Berkeley/Ace
%D September 1990
%O paperback, US$3.95
%P 278
%G 0-441-24093-3
Bletch. This is low-end generic military fiction -- just the kind of
tepid mess you'd expect from a series that'd outlived its time and wasn't
very interesting or original to begin with (I checked; I went out and
bought "The Fleet #1" and forced myself through it). Makes a funny
contrast with...
%T The Vor Game
%A Lois McMaster Bujold
%I Baen
%D September 1990
%O paperback, US$4.50
%P 345
%G 0-671-72014-7
Ms. Bujold just copped the novella Hugo award for The
Mountains Of Mourning (see RR#12),
and with The Vor Game demonstrates yet again why she's
been the focus of such popular and critical acclaim. The first part of
this novel appeared in Analog as The
Weatherman, chronicling Miles Vorkosigan's first assignment out
of the Academy. After the confrontation with mad General Metzov
triggers a career-wrecking scandal, Miles is assigned to Intelligence
under Simon Illyan. During a routine evaluation mission at Hegen Hub
he encounters a runaway Emperor and is forced (yes, forced) back into
command of the Dendarii Mercenaries. And then there's the little
matter of a Cetagandan invasion fleet...this is seriously fun stuff,
abetted by Bujold's usual ironic humor and intelligence. It even
includes a timeline of Miles's career to date and a (sadly, not well
executed) map of the wormhole net near Barrayar. Don't miss.
%T New Destinies IX
%E Jim Baen
%I Baen
%D September 1990
%O paperback, US$3.50
%P 286
%G 0-671-72016-3
Jim Baen's pet bookazine continues to serve up a thought-provoking mix of
hard SF and science fact. I think it's in bad taste for him to hype himself on
the back cover as the new John W. Campbell, but it is surely the case that the
material is squarely in the hard-sf tradition of the old
Astounding/Analog. Highlights in this issue include Michael Flynn's
Werehouse, a revival of Pournelle's old A Step Farther
Out column from Galaxy, and a very stimulating piece on
energy budgets and history from S. M. Stirling.
%T The Ice Beast
%A Frank A. Javor
%I DAW
%D September 1990
%O paperback, US$3.95
%P 224
%G 0-88677-443-8
This sequel to Scor-Sting (see RR#40) isn't quite as likeable; maybe Javor
ought to quit while he's ahead. This time Eli Pike lands on a very
cold desolate rockball, seeking the racing beasts his dead
buddy Harry Judd had passed him rumors of. He finds it -- and, of
course, a whole load of trouble. Because the people who keep the
beasts definitely don't want to be found. More competently
executed first-person-gritty, with lots of cartoony violence among the
high snowfields of Thul. A read-once for adventure-SF fans.
Up to Eric's Home Page | To Index | Tue Sep 11 14:15:29 EDT 1990 |
Eric S. Raymond <esr@snark.thyrsus.com>