ecl@mtgzz.UUCP (e.c.leeper) (06/20/85)
EMERGENCE by David Palmer
Bantam, 1984, $2.95.
A book review by Evelyn C. Leeper
This book suffers from the "levitation method" of writing--whatever
corner you write your character into, he or she will turn out to have just
the right abilities to get out of it. (If the situation is bad enough, the
character will turn out to be able to levitate over the obstacle.) Well,
Palmer does make some attempt to rationalize his main character's set of
abilities. He fails. While I kept reading and was indeed interested in
finding out what was going to happen next, the moment I began to think, even
a little, about the situations that Palmer was setting up and Candy's
ability to get out of them, I realized what a patently absurd book it is.
Candy is a superman (superwoman?)--really. The product of some sort of
genetic mutation caused by the 1918 influenza epidemic, she can do
everything, even at the tender age of eleven. She is an expert at karate,
can perform basic surgery, can learn to fly an airplane by herself, etc.,
etc. R-i-g-h-t! The rest of the characters are not much better (in some
cases, they're worse).
Portions of the novel were previously published as short stories. It
shows--the second section repeats a lot of information already given in the
first, as if Palmer couldn't be bothered to do any re-writing on the parts
that had already been published. And on top of everything, the book doesn't
end neatly, but leaves some loose ends just perfect for--you guessed it--a
sequel! I can't recommend this book. While it was passable enough while I
was reading it, it left me ultimately unsatisfied. If this is all it takes
to be a Hugo nominee, it must have been a very weak year last year.
Evelyn C. Leeper
...ihnp4!mtgzz!ecl