Raymond's Reviews #188

%T Born to Run
%A Mercedes Lackey
%A Larry Dixon
%I Baen
%D March 1992
%O paperback, US$4.99
%P 317
%G ISBN 0-671-72110-0

If your idea of a good time combines elves, rock music, muscle cars, and a socially-conscious subtext about the troubles of teenage runaways, this is the book for you. Lackey returns to the world of A Knight of Ghosts and Shadows (RR#77) but with a different locale and characters. The viewpoint character is Tannim, a human mage who tools a souped-up Mustang Mach 1 around the streets of Savannah, Georgia. He's involved in the war between the Seleighe and Unseleighe courts of Elvenkind, and his life gets still more complicated when he befriends a runaway who's drifting towards a kiddie-porn ring run by the latter. Action galore ensues. Lightweight, but a fun read.

%T A Maze of Stars
%A John Brunner
%I DelRey
%D March 1992
%O paperback, US$4.99
%P 326
%G ISBN 0-345-37554-8

The viewpoint character of this grim think-piece is a gigantic starship, programmed to wander through space and time monitoring the histories of the six hundred and seventy worlds it seeded in the Arm of Stars. As it ponders the glories and horrors the diverging colonies have created and interacts with the few outcasts prermitted to know of its existence, it becomes increasingly obsessed with discovering the source of the peculiar compulsions under which it labors. As usual for JKB's work, there's plenty that's original and thought-provoking in this mix. But the atmosphere of the whole is bitter, gray and sad. The propulsive energy of much of his earlier work is missing. Brunner at the top of his form is one of the field's best writers; I hope he can find it again.

%T Suisan
%A Phyllis Carol Agins
%I Baen
%D March 1992
%O paperback, US$4.99
%P 241
%G ISBN 0-671-72112-7

This slender tale is a retelling of the "Snow White myth in which the sexual feelings of the characters -- especially the dwarves -- are openly but sensitively handled. Unfortunately, Agins's use of modern (Jungian) psychology is the only unusual twist in an otherwise unoriginal, clumsily written novel. However, the beauty of Agins's imagery, which shines despite the awkward writing, lifts this work above the rest of the slush pile and suggests that she may eventually write memorable fantasy.

RECEIVED BUT NOT REVIEWED:

The Druid Of Shannara by Terry Brooks (DelRey). Lives down to the vomitous expectations established by its prequels.

The Faithful Traitor by Robert Don Hughes (DelRey). YA fantasy sequel to a prequel I never saw.

The Squares Of The City by John Brunner (Collier). Classy reissue of a minor classic.