dcn (02/11/83)
Battlefield Earth: The reviews in Analog and F&SF were both negative. The book was criticized for being too long, poorly edited, shallow characterization and using stereotypes common in space opera. The only favorable review was in the Chicago Sun-Times, but the reviewer seemed incompetent (he botched a one paragraph summary of Descent of Anansi). Life, the Universe and Everything: I just finished reading it, but I was not very impressed. After reading the first two books a year ago and watching the fast-paced TV series on PBS, this one seemed slow, boring and uninteresting. The central plot is fairly good (planet of nice guys being manipulated to destroy the universe), but it would only make a 20-30 page short story. The rest of the book is padding, and of a poor quality. Dave Newkirk ixn5h!dcn
jah (02/12/83)
Afraid that My opinion of Life, the Universe, and everything (the book, not tha universe of the same name) is similar to that of Mr. Newkirk. I liked it more than he did, but not a lot more. My office mate, on the other hand, who understands the game of cricket assures me that the book contains fine humor and is on par with the others. I assume this means I'll have to learn to play cricket before rereading the book. Cheers, Jim
leichter (02/13/83)
A dissenting vot on "Life, the Universe and Everything". I thought it started out slow - up to maybe page 50 I thought, "well, Adams has lost his touch", too bad - but it straightens out eventually and has a fine conclusion. Not quite up to the standards of his earlier books, because of the weak start - but the grand final conclusion, in which all sorts of off-the-wall stuff is ex- plained, in the tradition of many SF books, makes it worth the read. -- Jerry decvax!yale-comix!leichter