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%T A World Lost
%A James B. Johnson
%I DAW
%D August 1991
%O paperback, US$4.50
%P 316
%G ISBN 0-88677-498-5
Rusty Wallace is one of the last spacers, an individualist anomaly
in a galactic society knitted together by the matter transmitters of
PlexNet. Somebody has vanished his homeworld --- removed the entire
solar system, lock, stock and asteroids. Now he's got a fragment of a
Mayday message, powerful enemies, and just a hundred days to find his
planet. This book gives us a new twist on the running-man plot; it's
played for laughs, gently. A fun read-once.
%T Grounded!
%A Chris Claremont
%I Ace
%D August 1991
%O paperback, US$4.95
%P 323
%G ISBN 0-441-30416-8
This sequel to Claremont's comic-book style space-opera First
Flight unfortunately lacks most of the action and energy that made the
first book such fun trash. Nicole Shea, the secret hero of Earth's first
contact with the alien Halyan't'a, has been grounded by a medical board
convinced that she has yet to recover psychologically from her ordeals.
Assigned to liaison duty with a Halyan't'a delegation, she finds herself
caught up in the intrigues surrounding the powerful Cobri family --- which may
be connected with the Wolfpack pirates who'd once almost destroyed her. But
perhaps the greatest threat to her future is her own growing doubts about her
confidence. It's understandable that Claremont is trying to add some
psychological depth to what he obviously intends to be a continuing character.
Unfortunately, he isn't very good at it yet; the result is a lot of
well-intentioned stumbling around that has neither the coherence of a real
character study nor the snazzy production values of another lasers'n'leather
space shoot-em-up. There's some nice investigation of the promises and perils
attached to "virtual reality" technology, though. Overall, I'd say this is
just barely worth reading if you liked First Flight, in hopes
that the inevitable sequel will return to action-adventure form.
Up to Eric's Home Page | To Index | Sun Jul 28 13:53:12 EDT 1991 |
Eric S. Raymond <esr@snark.thyrsus.com>