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%T Riverrun
%A S. P. Somtow
%I Avon
%D September 1991
%O paperback, US$3.99
%P 259
%G ISBN 0-380-75925-X
Having the kind of florid, mythic, over-the-top imagination and prose
style this author does tends to make writing something of a crapshoot.
Yoked to the right premise and disciplined with a sense of proportion,
it can produce heart-stunning masterpieces of beauty. When the writer
is careless or sloppy, the result is a turgid and cloying mess.
Somtow gave us the positive extreme in the Inquestor novels and
elsewhere; in this one, sadly, we see the negative. The careful
world-building that usually underpins his gorgeous fancies is entirely
absent in this bathetic, self-indulgent fantasy of wizards dreaming
the universe into existence and a troubled human boy who holds the
balance of power brtween them. I couldn't make myself finish it.
%T Holocaust Horror
%S Multants Amok
%V Volume 4
%A Mark Grant
%I Avon
%D September 1991
%O paperback, US$2.99
%P 196
%G ISBN 0-380-76192-0
"Holocaust Horror" demonstrates that Mark Grant, whose leaden pen spouted
the hilariously purple phrases that kept us laughing through Mutants Amok
Numbers 1, 2, and 3 is finally learning how to use the English language.
Unfortunately, his sudden improvement in writing style actually detracts from
the reader's enjoyment. Without the ridiculously bad language to add needed
humor, his hackneyed plot line, sexist assumptions, and gore-splattered
descriptions of carnage merely result in a trite and revolting account of how
a handful of heroes save the world from nuclear holocaust. Do yourself a
favor and give this one a miss. [CCO]
RECEIVED BUT NOT REVIEWED: Stronghold (Melanie Rawn); Elven Star volume 2, Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman; The Mutant Season (Karen Haber); The Prime Directive (Judith and Garfield Reese-Stevens). All clearly bloody awful followups to stuff that had no redeeming value the first time around.
Up to Eric's Home Page | To Index | Fri Sep 27 22:54:24 EDT 1991 |
Eric S. Raymond <esr@snark.thyrsus.com>