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From: Tony Nance <tnusenet17@gmail.com>
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Re: Highlights and Lowlights - April 2025
Date: Tue, 6 May 2025 16:00:57 -0400
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On 5/6/25 8:42 AM, Ted Nolan <tednolan> wrote:
> In article <vvb2nv$rvl4$1@dont-email.me>,
> Tony Nance  <tnusenet17@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> Highlights and Lowlights - April 2025
> 
> Thanks as usual!
>>
>>
>>
>> ( ++ - ) The Reefs of Space - Pohl & Williamson [Starchild Trilogy #1]
>> Holds up surprisingly well for being 60+ years old. But it is clearly
>> 60+ years old. Solar-system-based, dystopian a la’ Orwell’s 1984,
>> complete with a surveillance state run by a Machine which orders
>> everyone to follow The Plan. (Fyi, these capitalized nouns are from the
>> authors, not me.) For the reader, the plot and settings carry the day,
>> as the book is populated by one-dimensional stock characters. The
>> protagonist is a mathematician who has become a Risk to the state, and
>> as such, he is fitted with an exploding collar. Like all collared
>> individuals, it will be detonated if he has too many Unplanned Thoughts.
>> Special for him, though, it will also be detonated if he doesn’t invent
>> the Jetless Drive, which only requires him to violate Newton’s Third
>> Law. Bummer dude.
>> I already finished reading #2 a few days ago, and will read the
>> third/final book at some point.
> 
> It's interesting that I can recall finding these books in the public library's
> junk basket as "stripped" copies with no cover, but can recall basicaly
> nothing else about them.
> 
> However your description recalled a "what were they thinking!?"
> moment from another series that frustrated me in several ways: M.K.
> Wren's "The Phoenix Legacy". Part of the rebellion's master plan
> requires their science guy to develop FTL technology, which may not
> even be possible.  Find another plan guys!
> 

Exactly!


>> ( ++ ) The Warden - Daniel M Ford
>> This is a series-starter, and the 2nd & 3rd are also published. Aelis is
>> a city-born-and-bred noble who has just graduated near the top of her
>> class from the Lyceum (a prestigious college of magic). To her deep
>> dismay, she has been assigned as a Warden to Lone Pine and its
>> surrounding environs, which is pretty much the most rural place in the
>> empire, as well as the most distant from the city and college. This
>> place is r-e-m-o-t-e. As we see Aelis and the villagers adapt to each
>> other, she starts to uncover some true dangers to both Lone Pine and the
>> entire Empire.  She’s an interesting character, and becomes surrounded
>> by interesting characters as well. Although I did not appreciate the
>> huge cliffhanger ending, I will read #2.
>>
> 
> This sounds like it should be exactly up my alley.  Pushed to wishlist..
> 

If you ever end up reading it, I'm curious to see what you think.


>> <snip some stuff> 
>>
>> ( ++ 1/2) Sanctuary - Ilona Andrews [Roman Chronicles #1]
>> Novella-length, set in the Kate Daniels universe, and completely focused
>> on Roman, who is a Black Volhv (empowered rep/priest) of Chernobog, God
>> of Destruction, Darkness, and Death. (This does not mean God of Evil, by
>> the way - more like being the God of the Difficult Necessities of Life.)
>> Isolated on his 15 acres way out in the sticks, Roman finds a boy near
>> death just outside his small home. When the boy specifically asks for
>> sanctuary, Roman must comply. Shortly thereafter, some mercenaries come
>> to retrieve the boy. When they fail miserably, they hire some mages to
>> help. Things get very interesting when that fails as well. Roman is dour
>> and pessimistic, but also funny, and I will read the next one.
> 
> I hope we don't have to wait too long.  As I recall the Andrews got
> a big non-Kate-related project accepted & underway.
> 

Yeah, I'm wondering about that too. Of course, I'm looking forward to 
their new project, too; but I enjoyed reading about Roman, and I hope 
they write more about him in the future.

Tony