LAURENCE@SU-CSLI.ARPA (03/20/84)
From: Laurence R Brothers <LAURENCE@SU-CSLI.ARPA> Anubis Gates, Practice Effect ? You've got to be kidding. The Anubis Gates was one of those novels written in a deliberately obtuse style, so as to hide what is going on for as long as possible from the reader. I've seen worse attempts, I'll admit, but even besides the quality of the writing, which was only mediochre, the plot and story-ideas were pretty dumb. Really, magic being anti-terrestrial! And the Practice Effect was a pure hack; it wasn't particularly offensive, but hardly worth mentioning; both these novels are based on such bizarre premises that the writer would have to do an exceptional job of presenting the environment; in neither case was this accomplished. I liked the previous attempts of both writers much better than their latest productions. I nominate The Adversary for best novel so far of '84. This is not because The Adversary is that spectacular; it is not the best novel of the series, but I just haven't read anything very good this year. -Laurence I seem to have gone semi-colon happy in the first paragraph; oh well; no one's perfect. -------