Electronic OtherRealms #21 Summer, 1988 Part 8 No Prisoners! Laurie Sefton Copyright 1988 by Laurie Sefton Journey To Memblar Burning Tears of Sassurum Sharon Baker Avon, 280pp, $3.50 each 0-380-75113-5 **+ A Fall of Princes Judith Tarr Tor, 401pp, $18.95 0-312-93063-1 **+ Wild Cards IV George R.R. Martin (Ed.) Bantam Spectra, 467pp, $4.50 0-553-27628-X ***+ Sorcery and Cecelia Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer Ace, 197pp, $2.95 0-441-77559-4 **** Sheepfarmer's Daughter Elizabeth Moon Baen, 506pp, $3.95 0-671-65416-0 ****+ The Brave Little Toaster Goes to Mars Thomas M. Disch Doubleday, 72pp, $11.95 0-385-24162-3 ****+ I'll have to admit it -- I'm a bit of an old fogey when it comes to what I like in my books. I'm generally looking for: 1. A protagonistic force 2. An antagonistic force 3. A reason for the two to meet 4. A place for them to meet In other words; I'm looking for a good guy, a bad guy, a conflict and a venue. I'm even willing to have alterations in the above: the antagonistic force doesn't even have to be sentient. A "struggle against the elements" story is just fine by me. But I am fussy about my protagonist. I want to have someone to root for, a protagonist that gives me a reason to have me want her succeed. I don't want a protagonist who just happens to be slightly less slimy than the "bad guys" in the story. This is one of the problems I have with cyberpunk; there really isn't anyone to root for. Journey to Memblar Burning Tears of Sassurum Unfortunately, this sociological bent has invaded the fantasy market. Swap out a socio-genetic experiment gone bad with the prevalent futuristic cyberpunk locale, and you have the world that Journey to Memblar and Burning Tears of Sassurum is set on. An experiment gone bad just begins to describe the world of Naphar. Two of the three races planted there are mutually antagonistic. Each considers the other worthy only to be slaves, and characteristically, they have set up religions supporting their beliefs. The soil is poisoned with selenium, so most of the indigenous fauna is poisonous. The inhabitants survive by ritualistically butchering their slave class. The third race, quite wisely, has chosen to remain hidden from the other two races; they are revered as demi-gods. The politics and social structure within the two overt races are as cruel as the ecology; most spend their lives scratching to survive, and hoping not to be sold into slavery. Even the ruling classes plot each other's downfall with astounding viciousness. In this world we find Cassia, a slave to the small manikins, her young master Jarell, and a runaway slave, Tadge. Through a series of adventures, Cassia finds out her true parentage, and Tadge's evil former master is destroyed. And throughout their adventures, the three never stop bickering at each other, distrusting each other, and falling into the wrong hands because they can't get along with each other. What is especially disturbing is that nothing changes. The two overt races still hate each other, religious and political corruption continues, and the rest of the world is still slogging it out to survive. Even Cassia, the one expected to learn and grow throughout the book, retreats into religious fundamentalism. By the end of the second book, I couldn't find a character I liked, much less a character I could root for. A Fall of Princes Judith Tarr's latest, A Fall of Princes, is the third book in the Avaryan Rising trilogy. I was looking forward to this book as the ending of one of the best fantasy trilogies yet. I was wrong. Two and one-half of books are wonderful; the last half of the third book unravels everything that the previous books created. Mirain, the son of the sun god, and the hero of the first two books, is unveiled as a charming psychotic. Most of the secondary characters, instead of being the supporters of Mirain, are shown to be in collusion to bring about his downfall. I felt as if I had been tricked; even though all the bad guys turned out to be bad guys, all the good guys turned out to be bad guys. The two protagonists in the book, Sarevan and Hirel Uverias, are the sons and heirs Mirain's kingdom of Keruvarion and the Golden Empire of Asanion. Sarevan comes upon Hirel after he has been stripped and completely shaved by his jealous brothers. Sarevan brings Hirel back to health, and is repaid when Sarevan is mortally wounded; Hirel brings Sarevan back to Mirain's court. Sarevan is an immensely likeable character. He is psychologically and physically mutilated beyond recognition by his father's enemies, who include Sarevan's grandfather. Hirel Uverias, while much more likeable by the end of the book, is still in turn victim of Mirain's enemies, and tormentor of Sarevan. At the end Mirain doesn't even gets the final dignity of dying; he enters suspended animation instead. No one wins in this book. Wild Cards IV, Aces Abroad Wild Cards IV, Aces Abroad, recounts the adventures of aces and jokers, victims of an extraterrestrial virus, on a fact-finding mission for the United Nations. A large portion of the book is the journal of Xavier Desmond, the so-called "mayor" of Jokertown. The journal, while also offering a differing view of the previous story, also gives insight to the plight of the joker. While the core group, is the same; Peregrine, Dr. Tachyon, Fortunato, Puppetman and the rest; new aces and jokers are introduced for the local stories, namely in Central America and the Middle East. An interesting trend; some of the jokers and aces introduced have personality traits that are very closely aligned with their mutation. Is this some cause-and-effect relationship? My only problem with the Wild Cards series so far is the quantity and quality of sex scenes. There are too many for the level of quality. There are not a few SF writers who have written erotica; perhaps Martin should use these writers in a future volume? Sorcery and Cecelia Sorcery and Cecelia is a lovely little work by Patricia Wrede and Carol Stevermer. The story is set in Regency England with a twist; this Regency England has sorcerers and wizards. Other than that, all is as Jane Austen would have described. The "season", the "bon", and the "Society", made up of nobles and landed gentry, are all there. The entwining plot of magic adds to the romp. I have to admit, I knew who was going to end up with whom 1/3 of the way through the novel, but the getting there was the fun. I'd love to see more of this. Sheepfarmer's Daughter This is the first of Elizabeth Moon's trilogy, The Deed of Paksenarrion. Paksenarrion, or Paks, runs away from an unwanted betrothal to join a mercenary army. She is hardened as a fighter before she goes out to battle; she survives an attempted rape andaccused of assault. The battle scenes and their aftermath are what pulls this novel beyond so many fantasy novels. People rarely die in a noble manner in this book, they either bleed to death or die from gangrene. Which, if you think about it, would be correct for a medieval milieu. Sorcerers and healing draughts are available, but they're expensive, and aren't wasted on foot soldiers. Sheepfarmer's Daughter is an excellent beginning to the trilogy. The characters ring true, and I didn't want the story to end. I'm looking forward to the rest of the trilogy. The Brave Little Toaster Goes to Mars The Brave Little Toaster Goes to Mars by Thomas Disch is a delightful, insightful delicious read. Even if you haven't read The Brave Little Toaster, sneak this charmer out of the Juvenile section for your very own. OtherRealms #21 Summer, 1988 Copyright 1988 by Chuq Von Rospach All Rights Reserved One time rights have been acquired from the contributors. All rights are hereby assigned to the contributors. OtherRealms may not be reproduced in any form without written permission from Chuq Von Rospach. The electronic edition may be distributed or reproduced in its entirety as long as all copyrights, author and publication information remain intact. No article may be reprinted, reproduced or republished in any way without the express permission of the author.