[net.sf-lovers] Jhereg mini-appreciation

rick@uwmacc.UUCP (the absurdist) (09/23/85)

In article <1200@mtgzz.UUCP> leeper@mtgzz.UUCP (m.r.leeper) writes:
> I will get around to reviewing JHEREG
>soon.  It has some good prose too, but it requires too darn much memory
>to keep straight what is happening in what ultimately turns out to be a
>simple story.  

Really?  For me, Jhereg's story (i.e., the plot end of it) was much
better than that of most novels.  A non-spoiler summary is :

    Everyone agrees that Person X is a wart and a louse, and that 
the world will be a better place without him:

	Person X has to die.  Otherwise A Bad Thing will happen.
	But if Person X dies ... The Bad Thing will happen.

Our hero is the assassin appointed to cut this Gordian
knot.  Brust plays fair with his puzzle:  all the rules
of what will cause the Bad Thing to happen are laid out,
and the solution to the paradox is one that the reader
could legitimately have thought of his/herself ... but
almost certainly didn't.
-- 
"What if they gave a net.flame ... and nobody came?"
Rick Keir -- MicroComputer Information Center, MACC
1210 West Dayton St/U Wisconsin Madison/Mad WI 53706
{allegra, ihnp4, seismo}!uwvax!uwmacc!rick