Raymond's Reviews #157

%T Radius of Doubt
%S The Patterns of Chaos
%V #1
%A Charles Ingrid
%I DAW
%D October 1991
%O paperback, US$3.50
%P 348
%G ISBN 0-88677-491-8

With this book, the author of the execrable Sand Wars series launches yet another wretched saga of space-operatic thud-and-blunder. Palaton, the protagonist, is a psychic star-pilot from a race of rather obvious cat-men. Naturally the politics of his homeworld is being manipulated by evil lizard-men as the Imperial house slides into decadence (don't you hate it when that happens?). And -- gasp -- he's Losing his Powers, seemingly doomed to end up just another burned-out starsailor left Purposeless in the Prime of Life. There's hardly a shred of originality in this mess anywhere and the writing is strictly hack city, the slum district at that. Avoid!

%T Python Isle
%S Doc Savage
%A Kenneth Robeson
%I Bantam Falcon
%D October 1991
%O paperback, US$4.50
%P 207
%G ISBN 0-533-29357-5

Yet another modern pastiche of one of the pulps' most successful and long-running series. This one lacks the originality and campy charm of Farmer's Escape From Loki (RR#146), however, so you'd best give it a miss unless you're already a fan of the series or have a technical antiquarian interest in the material.

%T Grandmaster's Choice
%E Andre Norton
%I TOR
%D October 1991
%O paperback, US$
%P 354
%G ISBN 0-812-50619-7

Yet another author's-choice anthology. As usual, it contains a bunch of first-class stories, all previously anthologized and all quite familiar to the serious fan. A reasonable introduction to classic SF for the curious.

%T The Time Patrol
%A Poul Anderson
%I TOR
%D October 1991
%O clothbound, US$21.95
%P 458
%G ISBN 0-312-85231-2

This book collects all of Poul Anderson's classic "Time Patrol" stories except the full-length novel The Shield of Time in one volume, plus one new one. If you know your SF, that's all the recommendation you need. If you don't, it should be. Enjoy!