Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.PCS 1/10/84; site mtgzz.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!cbosgd!ihnp4!mhuxn!mhuxr!mhuxt!houxm!mtuxo!mtgzz!leeper From: leeper@mtgzz.UUCP (m.r.leeper) Newsgroups: net.sf-lovers,net.books Subject: JHEREG by Stephen Brust Message-ID: <1211@mtgzz.UUCP> Date: Wed, 2-Oct-85 01:11:18 EDT Article-I.D.: mtgzz.1211 Posted: Wed Oct 2 01:11:18 1985 Date-Received: Fri, 27-Sep-85 04:11:17 EDT Organization: AT&T Information Systems Labs, Holmdel NJ Lines: 50 Xref: watmath net.sf-lovers:10281 net.books:2350 JHEREG by Stephen Brust Ace, 1983, $2.95. A book review by Mark R. Leeper (**Spoiler warning**) One of the great things about fantasy is its ability to drop you into the middle of a fully realized world completely of the author's construction. If you are dropped into the middle of an alien world, you will quickly discover that the best thing to have along is a great memory for new names and foreign terms. This is one of the reasons I do very poorly when dropped into the middle of alien worlds: I can keep straight maybe six characters in a novel without taking notes. That's why of science fiction, horror, and fantasy, fantasy is what I read the least. The last fantasy I really enjoyed was DAMIANO by R. A. MacAvoy. It has just a few characters and the supernatural beaties it deals with are unimaginative things like angels and devils. If you have a reasonably good memory, first, I envy you, and second, expect a different reaction to JHEREG than I had. The basic story is not a bad one, though I am a little surprised that it was able to make a whole novel. In a world where magic works, a man who is basically a cheap detective of the Sam Spade sort is given a single task not too different from one he might be given in our world. (I'm trying not too reveal too much.) The rest of the novel is how he discovers why he is performing the task of revenge, why the object of his revenge is doing what he is doing, what the complications are, and finally, how he accomplishes his mission. In and of itself the problem is not all that complex and somehow the solution seems too simple. So the plot is not the strong suit of JHEREG. Brust, however, has an ear for witty repartee and for characterization. Some of his dialogue is a positive joy to read. When the pacing is slow, the dialogue is what keeps the reader going. Brust has created a world where different rules work. Characters who are killed may or may not come back, characters teleport at will--there are a number of differences. But the world is self-consistent and with some substitutions not really very different from ours. Aside from the multiplicity of unfamiliar names--probably not a drawback for most other readers--the story is fairly well-written. I did, however, all too often come up confused as to who was who in the book and because of that, did not enjoy the book as much as I might have. Rate the book a +1 on the -4 to +4 scale. Mark R. Leeper ...ihnp4!mtgzz!leeper Brought to you by Super Global Mega Corp .com