Android at Arms by Andre Norton
This year Tantor Media has been producing audio editions of the Baen omnibus collections of Andre Norton’s science fiction stories. Gods and Androids (2004 in print, 2021 in audio) contains the two novels Android at Arms (1971) and Wraiths of Time (1975). I am reviewing the novels separately because that’s how they were originally released, and that’s usually been our practice here at Fantasy Literature. Each of these stories stands alone.
April 27th, 2021. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3 | Andre Norton | Audio, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Pastel City by M. John Harrison
Viriconium sits on the ruins of an ancient civilization that nobody remembers. The society that was technologically advanced enough to create crystal airships and lethal energy weapons is dead. These Afternoon Cultures depleted the world’s metal ores, leaving mounds of inscrutable rusted infrastructure with only a few odds and ends that still work. The current citizens of Viriconium are baffled by what they’ve dug up, but they have no idea what any of it is for.
tegeus-Cromis, “who fancies himself a better poet than swordsman,” used to be Viriconium’s best fighter until he left the Pastel City after King Methven died.
May 16th, 2017. Kat Hooper and Stuart Starosta´s rating: 3.5 | M. John Harrison | SFF Reviews | 4 comments |
The Knight of the Swords by Michael Moorcock
I started reading Michael Moorcock only a few years ago, and already he is one of my favorite authors. And the six-book CORUM series, for me, is second only to the ELRIC saga. In some ways I like better that Corum’s story is complete within these six volumes, unlike Elric’s, which never ends as Moorcock continues to add new stories (though he has, at least, written the story that tells of Elric’s end as a character).
July 27th, 2016. Brad Hawley´s rating: 5 | Michael Moorcock | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty
Sometimes I wish there weren’t so many amazing books to read. Because every once in a while I come across a book so intricate, so subtle, and so intense, that without a second, slower, read, I know there is zero chance that I capture a true understanding the book in its entirety.
William Peter Blatty‘s The Exorcist is that kind of a book. It’s creepy, crude and scary. On more than one evening while reading in bed,
April 14th, 2016. Jason Golomb´s rating: 5 | William Peter Blatty | Horror | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
To Your Scattered Bodies Go by Philip Jose Farmer
After he died, the famous 19th century explorer Sir Richard Francis Burton wasn’t surprised to find that what the Christian priests had taught about the Resurrection wasn’t true. But he was totally bewildered by what actually happened. He woke up young, hairless, naked, and turning in midair (as if on a spit) in the middle of 37 billion other young, hairless, naked and rotating humans. Soon after waking, the bodies — all the people over the age of five who had ever lived — plunged to the ground and began their new lives together in a giant river valley…
February 8th, 2011. Kat Hooper´s rating: 4.5 | Philip Jose Farmer | Audio, Hugo Award | SFF Reviews | no comments |
We’re in total agreement David!
I felt just the same. The prose and character work was excellent. The larger story was unsatisfying, especially compared to…
Hmmm. I think I'll pass.
COMMENT Was I hinting that? I wasn't aware of it. But now that you mention it.... 🤔
So it sounds like you're hinting Fox may have had three or so different incomplete stories that he stitched together,…