duane@anasazi.UUCP (Duane Morse) (10/07/85)
The jacket reads: "One hundred thousand years in the future, after man has been fatally humbled by his exploration of the stars and discovery of far more intelligent beings, civilization is struggling to return to the planet's surface. After man fled the stars, he tried to explore his own genetic frontier, creating horrible races of deformed beings--some scaled, some furred, tiny, winged, and huge. Now Jask, a Pure who retains the original human genetic code, and Tedesco, a great bear with a human mind, are thrown together by their one shared and fatal trait--telepathy. Hunted like animals by the fearful populace, they go in search of The Black Presence-- which may be the key to mankind's place in the cosmos." The jacket is fairly accurate about the story. The author divides his time between Jask learning how to rethink his views on the world (and, in particular, about non-Pure creatures), and adventures on the way to The Black Presence. The story is fairly interesting, but not enough time is spent on any one thing to grab the reader. About half way through the book Jask and Tedesco meet other espers, and the reader's identification with and interest in the characters is diluted further. Still, it was an interesting two hours of reading, and I give the book 3 stars (good). By the way, the book's not new. The copyright is 1975. -- Duane Morse ...!noao!terak!anasazi!duane (602) 870-3330
scott@hou2g.UUCP (Colonel'K) (10/10/85)
> creating horrible races of deformed beings--some scaled, some furred, > tiny, winged, and huge. Now Jask, a Pure who retains the original human > genetic code, and Tedesco, a great bear with a human mind, are thrown > together by their one shared and fatal trait--telepathy. Hunted like > animals by the fearful populace, they go in search of The Black Presence-- > which may be the key to mankind's place in the cosmos." >The jacket is fairly accurate about the story. The author divides his >time between Jask learning how to rethink his views on the world >(and, in particular, about non-Pure creatures), and adventures on the >way to The Black Presence. >Duane Morse ...!noao!terak!anasazi!duane This sounds an awful lot like "Hiero's Journey" by Sterling Lanier (and its sequel, the name of which escapes me just now). These two books are decent "soft", post-holocaust SF, although their depiction of good/evil is somewhat simplistic (i.e. black-and-white, with no grey). I'd recommend 'em, however. A good rendition of psionics. "Penfold! I've GOT it! This grandfather clock is a great big time machine!" "Aren't ALL clocks time machines, DM?" "No no no, Penfold, this machine travels THROUGH time." "Oh...like that Doctor fellow." Scott J. Berry ihnp4!hou2g!scott