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%T A Small Colonial War
%A Robert Frezza
%I Del Rey/Ballantine
%D Feb 1990
%O paperback, US$3.95
%P 289
%G 0-345-36200-4
The Empire of Greater Nippon leaves Colonel Anton Vereschagin's rough,
tough Finno-Russian soldier boys holding the can on a planetful of angry Boers.
Will they survive? What's the native body count going to look like? How many
kinds of fancy killing hardware can the author dream up? This is generic
military SF -- better than Pournelle or Drake, not as good as Heinlein or
Bujold or the Sten novels. Fun if you like that sort of thing.
%T The Water-King's Laughter
%A Esther M. Friesner
%I Avon
%D Oct 89
%O paperback, US$3.95
%P 283
%G 0-380-75410-X
Another installment in Friesner's Chronicles Of The Twelve
Kingdoms. These books are wise, funny, a touch bawdy, and
thoroughly enjoyable. Not terribly original, but Friesner has proved
that she's capable of that elsewhere (see the loopily inventive
Druid's Blood, for example). The Chronicles get the
Raymond's Review Rubber Ducky award for wonderful bathtub or bedtime
reading, and if you've got kids they'll enjoy them too.
%T Carpe Diem
%A Steve Miller and Sharon Lee
%I Del Rey/Ballantine
%D Oct 89
%O paperback, US$3.95
%P 292
%G 0-345-36310-8
This romantic space opera is the direct sequel to Agent of
Change and closely linked to the sort-of followup A
Conflict Of Honors. Like the others, this one is good
lightweight fun (a definite Rubber Ducky Award contender).
%T The Story of the Stone
%A Barry Hughart
%I Bantam/Spectra
%D Nov 1989
%O paperback, US$4.50
%P 290
%G 0-553-28278-6
1985's astonishingly good debut Bridge Of Birds made
Barry Hughart a reputation tough to live up to, but this sequel
doesn't disappoint. The further adventures of the sage Li Kao and his
faithful assistant Number Ten Ox make a book far too funny and
brilliant for the Rubber Ducky award; you'll want to pay close
attention to the fireworks to see if you can solve the murder mystery
before our doughty protagonists do. Earns an official Raymond's Review
Rave -- fantasy very seldom gets any better than this.
CORRECTIONS AND ERRATA: (the `I goofed' department)
Up to Eric's Home Page | To Index | Thu Feb 08 12:32:20 EST 1990 |
Eric S. Raymond <esr@snark.thyrsus.com>