Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Gee. Where did Zelazny stop and Lindskold start......?, 21 Aug 1998
By A Customer
This review is from: Donnerjack (Mass Market Paperback)
What a horrible disappointment! I *thoroughly* enjoyed the first third of the book, with all its interesting plots and unrelated storylines that you knew would sooner or later weave together to make an intricate Zelazny tapestry. The Virtù & Verité idea is fabulous! The writing was swift and subtle and every bit the Zelazny I have recently come to know and appreciate. However, right around that bit about the Brass Baboon (perhaps written in a foggy haze near the end of his life? Fitting, since it depicts his hero fighting Death, even if only to a "draw") things start to fall apart. A few pages later it becomes O-B-V-I-O-U-S that Ms Lindskold has taken up the fallen pen to veer off in her own direction. Didn't Zelazny leave any notes on how the story was going to wind up? Couldn't they find somebody with a less.....how shall I put it?...."feminine" style to finish up a masterpiece from this impeccably masculine author? All that dialog. All that explanation of how people were feeling and dreaming and interacting..... Uck. She immediately kills off the most interesting characters (well, they're mostly dead anyhow), introduces still more unrelated characters (she's even got the old girl-dressed-as-a-man gag... puh-leeeze!) and tries to "talk like the boys" as she bludgeons us with lurid desciptions of Sayjack's depravities. These descriptions are the most telling of all: the first time she wanders into this subplot she's a bit timid; then she's foul-mouthed and disgustingly descriptive; then the language turns into a sort of XXX-rated romance novel. *Shudder* After breezing happily through this fantastic Zelazny universe for a couple of hundred pages I am now schlogging through a muddy, trackless swamp, and I fear I won't even be able to finish the bloody thing. I no longer care how things will turn out. I am no longer interested in the suddenly shallow Virtù characters, and I never have developed any interest in "Jay". I suppose it would be fair to say the Ms Lindskold did a better job than I would have with the difficult task of finishing another man's thought, but that isn't saying much. If you liked "Children of the Jedi" you'll probably like this book. Otherwise, buy it, read the first third and then just put it down. You'll be happier that way, believe me!
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
A Crying Shame, 7 Dec 1998
By A Customer
This review is from: Donnerjack (Mass Market Paperback)
Donnerjack is best described as a crying shame-first because I was practically crying reading the beginning third of the book that was so obviously Zelazny-fast, witty, engaging, unique-full of weird characters and a new computer type of mythology which is so Zelazny-ish! It was great to be reading Zelazny again years after he had died! The shame part of the book is after the first third (ended as part one) we enter part two which is obviously not Zelazny! Wordy to the extreme-boring, stupid, stupid humor (if I read "he or she or it CHUCKLED one more time I was gonna scream!) and chocked full of explanations which is one thing Roger once stated in an interview--He hated explanations!!! No wonder the book took so long to come out--it took Jane years to write the next 400 pages! As another reviewer pointed out, read the first third of the book and then stop, you'll be glad you did--Or else do as I do and read it with a handy magic-marker, its great for blacking out all the unnecessary wordiness!
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not up to snuff!, 22 Sep 1998
By A Customer
This review is from: Donnerjack (Mass Market Paperback)
I really wanted to like this book. I was a big fan of the Amber series and thoroughly enjoyed his writing. Donnerjack had huge potential but never seemed to get were you wanted it to go. I was bored through the first third of the book but because of the writer stuck in out knowing that he'd tie it all up in the end and make it really work for us. In brief, I barely enjoyed reading this and wish I would have made another choice for my 6 bucks! However, Roger Zelaznys passing has definately left a gaping hole in a genre that has consistenly failed to grab me like it did in the old days! Maybe it's just me getting old!
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
|