Raymond's Reviews #161

%T The Revenge of the Rose
%A Michael Moorcock
%I Ace
%D November 1991
%O clothbound,  US$17.95
%P 244
%G 0-441-71844-2

Apparently Moorcock intends to go on writing novels about Elric of Melnibone, the most popular incarnation of the Eternal Champion, as long as he can find space-time niches in which to set them (and, of course, as long as readers are willing to buy them). His latest, "The Revenge of the Rose," is a pleasant but slight tale about Elric's search for the artifact in which his father has hidden his soul. Like all the Eternal Champion stories, it is filled with bizarre landscapes and magical artifacts and hinges upon the struggle between Chaos and Law. Unlike most of them, it has a genuinely happy, if vague, ending. [CCO]

%T Twistor
%A John Cramer
%I Avon
%D November 1991
%O paperback, US$3.99
%P 338
%G ISBN 0-380-71027-7

Noted physicist and Analog columnist John Cramer's long-awaited first novel is a treat, a classic Campbellian rave-up for the hard-SF fan. When physicist David Harrison serendipitously discovers a gateway into an alternate continuum, he sees at first only the scientific bonanza it promises. Others more pragmatic and ruthless see real-world consequences and the chance of power --- and soon, only Harrison's intelligence and his mastery of physical laws stand between him and death. The spirit of Smith's Venus Equilateral and Hogan's The Genesis Machine lives on in this worthy successor. Read and enjoy!

%T The Children's Hour
%A Jerry Pournelle
%A S. M. Stirling
%I Baen
%D November 1991
%O paperback, US$4.99
%P 316
%G ISBN 0-671

Like Dean Ing's Cathouse, this piece of the popular but erratic "Man-Kzin Wars" shared universe is worthy to stand on its own. Kzinti intrigue among themselves and humans scheme against their alien conquerors; and the war for Wunderland is no less deadly when fought by hackers of both species in the Kzin networks than it is in the space battles that rage millions of miles above the planet's surface. And, light-years away, the Terrans have finally acquired the secret of the FTL drive. Have fun with this one!

RECEIVED BUT NOT REVIEWED:

A Trace Of Memory, by Keith Laumer (TOR). A reissue from 1963, back when he was fun.

Unification, by Jeri Taylor (Pocket Books). New Generation Trekfic, bletch.

Norby Down To Earth by Janet and Isaac Asimov (Ace). Juvenilia set in the "Robots" world. King's Sacrifice by Margaret Weis (Bantam). The prequels were sooo baaad...

The Rift, by Peter David (Pocket Books). More New Degeneration trekfic.

Reunion, by Michael Jan Friedman (Pocket Books). Yet more New Degeneration trekfic.

The Blood Of A Dragon by Lawrence Watt-Evans. Yet another coming-of-age fantasy. Halo by Tom Maddox (TOR). Tom Easton said it all in Analog.