duane@anasazi.UUCP (Duane Morse) (01/31/86)
The jacket reads: "The planet the watchers from the stars called Camelot was unique among all worlds. For there, amid the trappings of medieval chivalry magic actually worked! It had stumped the secret observers from the Terran worlds for years--until Kyrie Fern brought back the startling answer. But Kyrie's work was not done, for on the heels of this triumph in leading the knights and ladies and dragonlords to victory, the gate between the universes opened. And the vangard of a super-science beyond humanity set up its conquering banner on Camelot. Knighthood may have always been in flower there but the time had come for warlock spells and high-tech strategies to combine forces...or lose first a world and then the galaxy." A fair summary, though it partly refers to goings on in two previous books, A WORLD CALLED CAMELOT and CAMELOT IN ORBIT (and a later book is also out, HOME TO AVALON). Kyrie Fern is an "Adjuster" for the Terran worlds, trained to blend into the planet's society and manipulate things from within. He is now in a position of leadership on Camelot, and he himself often feels more kinship with the people there than with Terrans. Camelot is a world of magic and chivalry, but it is being attacked by people using very high technology. Both the technology and the magic are decently explained in the book. The story is an enjoyable adventure, though it doesn't develop much tension since Kyrie always seems to be in control of things. The characters are somewhat stereotyped; for the inhabitants of Camelot, that's appropriate, since the characters are patterned after our popular notions of Camelot. On the other hand, it's somewhat grating to occasionally hear main characters making chauvinistic remarks. I give this book 3.0 stars (pretty good). I like the way it treats magic and technology; it's a good read, but it doesn't leave a lasting impression. -- Duane Morse ...!noao!terak|anasazi!duane (602) 870-3330