Message-ID: <1877@nsc.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 19-Nov-84 20:00:44 EST
Article-I.D.: nsc.1877
Posted: Mon Nov 19 20:00:44 1984
Date-Received: Tue, 20-Nov-84 07:29:21 EST
Distribution: net
Organization: The Bistro
Lines: 59

It's amazing how much reading you can catch up while criss-crossing this
wonderful country of ours-- airplanes and airports seem to have a purpose
after all. Anyway, onward to things I should have read months ago:

Dying of the Light - George R. R. Martin 
Pocket Books, $1.95
Rating: ***

I've seen mixed reviews of this book, but I found myself entranced and
involved in it. It isn't an easy or happy book-- this is a book for an
active reader (similar but not as well done as Wolfe's books); definitely
not a casual read. The story is set on Worlorn, a rogue planet on it's way
out of a star system and into unending darkness. Worlorn was used as a
festival planet by a federation of worlds, and now scientists are studying
it as it dies. The book studies the scientists, their societies, and how
they interact with each other. Very powerful on a gut level, especially the
characters and their strengths, faults and foibles. It made me read long
after I should have been asleep, and that is the best recommendation I can
make.

Wings of Omen -- thieves world #6 - robert lynn asprin
Ace Fantasy, $2.95
Rating: **

I was looking forward to this book after devouring 1-5, but this one left
me flat. Perhaps the new characters just aren't as interesting as the older
ones (noticably in the background in this book). Part of it may be that I
just have trouble with the Beysibs (an amphibian invasionary force from
book #5). Mostly I think it is just that I (and some of the authors) are
running out of steam on the project-- I just don't think it will sustain
itself much longer. 

Robots of Dawn - Isaac Asimov
Ballantine #3.95
Rating: *

*yawn* a 398 page short story, padded to fill. No real challenges, no real
suspense, Asimov at his most mechanical. Isaac Asimov writing about sex
reminds me of reading Gray's Anatomy-- it's all there, in perfect detail,
and I'm terribly bored. The whole book left me terribly flat, the only
reason this book seems to exist is to try to link (with understated
references to psychohistory) the robots with Foundation. Not really worth
it, in retrospect. 

hmm... only 30 books to go and I'm up to date. Time to go back east again,
I guess... *grin*

chuq



-- 
From the Department of Bistromatics:                   Chuq Von Rospach
{cbosgd,decwrl,fortune,hplabs,ihnp4,seismo}!nsc!chuqui  nsc!chuqui@decwrl.ARPA

  This plane is equipped with 4 emergency exits, at the front and back of
  the plane and two above the wings. Please note that the plane will be
  travelling at an average altitude of 31,000 feet, so any use of these
  exits in an emergency situation will most likely be futile.