butenhof%orac.DEC@decwrl.ARPA (05/14/85)
From: butenhof%orac.DEC@decwrl.ARPA (Those who can't do, emulate)
I also just finished the new Bio Of a Space Tyrant. For the most part, I
agree with richardl@ucbmiro.berkeley (gee, it's really so much nicer to have
real names to work with).
Specifically, the parallels were overdone. I did not appreciate the train
much at all (although the scenes built around it were well done), and I felt
he was really pushing his justifications a bit far, just to make Hope's
campaign look like an old fashioned back-home whistle-stop tour. I also
wasn't too crazy about the self-sacrifice move, however it is consistent.
After all, it's not like we have J. Random Schmoe with girls chasing him
about trying to kill themselves to save him; we all know that's one of the
side effects of Hope's talent (although I could point out a few weak points
in that, I won't bother).
The two plots were woven together fairly well, and Piers did a good job of
keeping the suspense up until the end -- it came together credibly and
explosively. Which reminds me, did anybody still wonder where Hopie came
from by the end? He seemed to expect that there would be lingering mystery
(certainly Hope hadn't figured it out), but I was fairly sure about 2 pages
after she showed up and virtually certain long before the end ...
While the U.S./U.S.S.R. parallel was somewhat overdone, again the scenes
themselves were done well enough -- I liked the enemy Captains playing pool
and secretly teaching each other their native languages, and the nice byplay
that led to later in the negotiations over the "KAL" incident.
Over all, I think it reads about as well as the first two. While I have some
lingering dissatisfaction, I enjoyed it enough to wait more or less eagerly
for the next. As with the Incarnations of Immortality (arrggh! When are
those money-grubbing publishers gonna put out Bearing An Hourglass in
paperback, already?), I'll be touring bookstores frequently to check up on
the next one ...
/dave
Digital Equipment Corp.
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orac::butenhof
butenhof%orac.DEC@decwrl.ARPA
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