perelgut@utai.UUCP (Stephen Perelgut) (12/19/85)
Bio of a Space Tyrant, Volume 4: Executive Piers Anthony Avon, 1985 (paperback) I find it very difficult to warm to a series that starts with an attempted rape, involves rape or sexual innuendo or both at least once a chapter, and where everyone (except a few main characters) dies a horrible, graphically described death. Oh yeah, it's the diary of the main character, written slightly after the fact and editted before publishing. Or so goes the plot. "Our Hero" likes to lecture, repeat himself, and pedanticize (I made that word up I think). In spite of all that, the books hang together with all the magic Piers Anthony puts into all his books. If only he kept the violence down, or at least reported it second hand. And if he didn't lecture so much. This book deals with "Our Hero" after he becomes the Tyrant of the United States of Jupiter. I wish I could tell you more about what happens, but nothing worth repeating ever does. Hope Hubris (yup, that's "Our Hero") suffers trials, tribulations, deaths of close family, etc. He sees the animation of dead people. He is an absolute ruler with the mandate to balance the budget. And the people are 2 dimensional. Except the women. Most of them are less than one dimensional, although some make it almost all the way to representations of cardboard cutouts. On my scale of -4 to +4 I give this one a -2. Some potential. Part of a mediocre series. If someone puts it in your hand, and if you have some free time, and if there's nothing better nearby, you might read it. But only if you've read all three previous books. Not one of Piers' best. Or even second best. Summary: Can you say "disappointed"? I knew you could. -- Stephen Perelgut Computer Systems Research Institute, University of Toronto