Raymond's Reviews #136

%T The Pixilated Princess
%A L. Sprague DeCamp
%A Catherine Crook DeCamp
%I Del Rey
%D August 1991
%O clothbound, US$17.00
%P 208
%G ISBN 0-345-36732-4

The deCamps deliver yet another example of their trademark brand of light, humorous fantasy. This one (set in the world of The Incorporated Knight, but with different characters) concerns the adventures of Thorolf Zigramson, a would-be academic doing a hitch in the army of Rhaetia, after he makes the acquaintance of the proud Countess Yvette in a manner that leaves him in little doubt of her uncommon beauty. He falls in love with her, of course; but what follows sends up all the cliches of heroic fantasy and romance and scatters them in confusion. The gentle, bawdy wit of The Honorable Barbarian (RR#54) is in full evidence here. Enjoy!

%T Way of the Clans
%S Legend of the Jade Phoenix
%V Volume 1
%A Robert Thurston
%I ROC
%D August 1991
%O paperback, US$4.50
%P 260
%G ISBN 0-451-45101-5

Yet another Battletech(tm) book. Looks like they're starting a new series with this one; a standard coming-of-age tale that wears its debt to half-a-dozen other pieces of generic military fiction rather obviously. Oh, well, it's at least competent hackery. Seems primarily to be a sort of book-length establishing shot for the further adventures of Aidan the warleader. Battletech fans will enjoy; everyone else can ignore.

CORRECTION:

Due to a slight collision in my hash tables, I recently mis-identified Fallen Angels as a Hugo nominee. The book I had in mind was Queen Of Angels by Greg Bear.

RECEIVED BUT NOT REVIEWED:

Dragonsword #2: Duel Of Dragons by Gael Baudino. Is any other explanation than the name really necessary?

Star Trek #56: Legacy by Michael Jan Friedman.

Merovingen Nights #7: Endgame, C. J. Cherryh (ed.)