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Path: utzoo!lsuc!pesnta!hplabs!felix!birtch!oleg
From: oleg@birtch.UUCP (Oleg Kiselev)
Newsgroups: net.sf-lovers
Subject: Re: Spirits of flux & anchor; Jack Chalker
Message-ID: <214@birtch.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 26-Dec-85 14:08:27 EST
Article-I.D.: birtch.214
Posted: Thu Dec 26 14:08:27 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 28-Dec-85 20:24:00 EST
References: <1978@watdcsu.UUCP> <2596@umcp-cs.UUCP> <645@calmasd.UUCP>
Reply-To: oleg@birtch.UUCP (Oleg Kiselev)
Distribution: net
Organization: The Real Estate Conspiracy
Lines: 44
Keywords: Soul Rider series
Summary: You have read only the first 1/4 of the series!!!

In article <645@calmasd.UUCP> cjn@calmasd.UUCP (Cheryl Nemeth) writes:
>I just finished _Soul Rider_.  I get the feeling that Chalker has one
>general idea and that's where most of his books come from.  This
>has the usual people being thrown into an unfamiliar world and given
>very different physical forms than what they had before.  Unfortunately,
>this was rather dry.  I could never identify with any of the characters
>and the conclusion was less than satisfying.  The details of the worlds
>of flux were interesting, but unless you like to read special effects,
>this one is not worth reading.

I disagree. True, Chalker tends to have a single general premise : people get 
transformed and adopt/struggle/survive. It's  a familiar idea to those who read
Chalker : sex change(4 Lords of Diamond), species change(Well World), mind swap
(Identity Matrix), physical change or mutilation ( Messiah Choice,  Web of 
Chosen, others), body change ( And the Devil Will Drag You Under). At the same 
time these are only devices to create a situation which would be impossible to
create otherwise.

I have just finished "The Birth Of Flux and Anchor"(book 4 of Soul Rider series)
and I find the series very coherent and much more than mere special effects.
It's a study in human depravity, warped mentality and the meaning of wars and 
revolutions. There is a number of infuriating and enraging things happening in
the book (and in real life) that can not be analyzed from a single point of view
to be understood. If only for showing how sometimes it's better to leave things 
as they are (people suffer, etc) rather than destroy them ( and kill millions of
innocents in the process) these books are worth a read.

And don't complain about a "less than satisfying" conclusion! Chalker always 
treats the first 3 volumes of Soul Rider as ONE book! YOu have NOT read the 
conclusion : it's in vol.3 - "Masters of Flux and Anchor"!

And for explainations of how thins started and how they work (what is Flux?) --
read "The Birth of Flux and Anchor", book 4 of Soul Rider (read it last in the
series!).

Over all, I found it an engrossing and entertaining series of books... As long
as you keep in mind that the end of a chapter is not the end of the story ;-)
-- 
Disclamer: My employers go to church every Sunday, listen to Country music,
and donate money to GOP. I am just a deviant.
+-------------------------------+ Don't bother, I'll find the door!
| "VIOLATORS WILL BE TOAD!"	|                       Oleg Kiselev. 
|		Dungeon Police	|...!{trwrb|scgvaxd}!felix!birtch!oleg
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