I can't say that I've
read any fantasy/science fiction for years. Primarily, I read contract
bridge books and whatever non-fiction is around.

Strangely, though, I have read seven of the books you reviewed. Since I
read them so many moons ago, perhaps there's some insight to be gained
by looking at what stands out in my mind after all these years.

I was surprised at how much of _Earth_ I remembered. There seems to be
some compelling imagery in the book. From the direct neural interfaces
to the global network weasels (not unlike an Internet search engine) to
the magnetic beams acting in coordination to wreak vast destruction, the
book seems to have tickled my fancy enough that the impression of the
whole still remains with me.

I read the first book of Glen Cook's _Black Company_, but very little
remains. I do retain some vestige of the strange shamanistic magic, but
that's all. After seeing how many books the series ran to and feeling
somewhat cheated by the dangling ending of the first book, I didn't pick
up any of the sequels.

_Chronicles of Thomas Convenant_ I read back in high school. As I
recall, you were positively foaming at the mouth about this series. Some
of the dramatic imagery of the second series really remains, as well as
an impression of the main characters, but that's all.

I wonder if I was the friend who lent you _Replay._ I was thinking about
that book a few days ago, strangely. I agree it was an interesting book.

Jennifer Roberson's _Chronicles of the Cheysuli_ I found a waste. If I
recall, its the series that contains various types of werecreatures and
contains the kind of typical theme of mysterious species unjustly put
upon that seems to typify the ossified structure that the fantasy genre
seems to suffer from. I read several of these many years ago and
remember practically nothing now.

Joel Rosenberg's _Guardians of the Flame_ series sticks out dramatically
in my mind. I read the first five books, and it is interesting to see
that two more have come out. Most fantasy novels have settings that
don't really ring true; rather, they often seem to fall into cliched
versions of your typical swords and sorcery roleplaying game. Good
writers like Tolkien, Le Guin, and Lieber have a way of vividly
depicting a world that you feel like you could touch without letting
description get in the way of the story. For all that Rosenberg's story
takes place in a roleplaying game world, the world feels incredibly
real.

Lawrence Watt-Evans _With a Single Spell_ I don't remember much of. His
world seems the typify the plague of default fantasy worldism and,
what's more, I believe his coming-of-age theme represents default
fantasy themism.

Now come the section where I've described books I've read that you
haven't reviewed:

Robert Jordan's _Wheel of Time_ series. I read the first of these, and I
read it in a strange way. I was bored one day, so I picked it up and
started reading the first book in the middle. When I finished, I turned
to the beginning and read to the middle. I understand people rave about
these, but they just seemed to me to be typical fantasy stuff and
expressed the setting and theme faults that typify the genre.

Ursula K Le Guin, _Earthsea_. I see you have reviewed these in the past
from one of your mailbag letters, and I gather the review was somewhat
critical. I, on the other hand, consider these some of the best fantasy
books of all time. The world is very vivid and rings true to me, the
character actually has faults,  makes mistakes, and grows thereby, and
the conflict is compelling. Excellent.

George MacDonald Fraser, _Flashman_. You won't find this series in the
fantasy/science fiction category. Rather, it is shelved in the fiction
category. This nine-book series chronicles the life of one
ne'er-do-well, Harry Flashman, in his exploits in the late 19th century.
Despite (or because of) Flashman's despicable character, he always seems
to come up smelling of roses through any of the amazing ordeals he lives
through--and these ordeals are only some of the most amazing historical
events of the 19th century. Knowing the way that you like the anti-hero,
I feel pretty certain you'll enjoy this series, even though I don't
recall our having the same taste in books. (Eddings? Bleah.)  I know
that after reading the first book of the series, I  had to buy them all.
I'm about midway through the fifth now.
--
Chris Pearce
cpearce@incite.com