Raymond's Reviews #124

One bit of old business and the beginning of June reviews...

%T Death's Gray Land
%S The Destiny Makers
%V Book 4 of 5
%A Mike Shupp
%I Del Rey
%D March 1991
%O paperback, US$4.95
%P 322
%G 0-345-32552-4

%T The Last Reckoning 
%S The Destiny Makers
%V Book 5 of 5
%A Mike Shupp
%D April 1991
%O paperback, US$4.95
%P 371
%G 0-345-37098-8

With these two novels, Mike Shupp completes his series about a war fought by telepaths, ordinary humans, and time-travelers to alter the history of a far, far future America. As with the earlier three books of the series (With Fate Conspire, Morning Of Creation, and Soldier of Another Fortune), Shupp's handling of characterization and language in these books show promise. But his plot is, at times, difficult to follow, and the series as a whole is marred by pitilessly explicit descriptions of gruesome, sadistic and violent behavior. Only if you agree with Shupp and Thomas Hobbes that life is doomed to be nasty, brutish, and short should you bother to tackle this series. [CCO]

%T Hawk's Flight
%A Carol Chase
%I Baen
%D June 1991
%O paperback, US$4.95
%P 437
%G 0-671-72064-3

This competently written fantasy begins with merchant Taverik Zandro's discovery that his best buddy and protege is a masquerading woman...as if he didn't already have enough troubles, trying to shake the reputation his crooked family has made for double-dealing. And his home country is menaced by an evil warlord. No points for guessing that all his troubles are related, and this is the story of how he surmounts them, growing in the process. This book won't surprise any genre fan, but it won't disappoint either.

%T Threshold
%A Janet & Chris Morris
%I ROC
%D June 1991
%O paperback, US$4.50
%P 250
%G 0-451-45804-1

This, on the other hand, is pretty wretched -- a random jumble of half-developed subplots set on a space habitat, garnished with thriller trimmings, and left to percolate to unsatisfactory ends. I hope the Morrises did this one for the money, 'cause art it is not.