Rating: 
Summary: The five-minute fix invades the Well World
Review: Well, hmmm. I would have liked to have liked this book -- I've always enjoyed the Well World books -- but this one was somewhat disappointing. It seemed very rushed, and plotlines that were introduced in the previous book were downplayed or ignored entirely. For instance, the whole "The Avenger must triumph not for revenge" plotline suggested in first book was never really used, and Kincaid's role throughout both books is reduced to that of a rarely-seen bogey-man -- in fact, he turns out to be a totally unimportant character, whose role could have been filled by any other character. The other "pivotal" character, Angel, gains extraordinary powers in order to ultimately become -- the world's most powerful librarian. Josich is present only in the last 20-pages or so of the book, and this makes the whole ending seem rather rushed. None of the actions of the characters preceding the denoument actually has any meaningful impact on the climax of the story, and the only unpredictable parts come when Chalker changes the rules on us (with hand-waving as to why Brazil & Chang might have not been called, and glossing over why the Well World didn't take more action to protect itself earlier on). Furthermore, it's as if I've seen these characters before. Granted, even in the non-Well books, the signature of all of Chalker's writing is to take characters and mangle them physically and emotionally, but even beyond that, Core is largely synonymous with Obie, Kincaid is Brazil without the screen time, Angel is a weird mix of Wuju and Vardia, and Jules is a near dead-ringer for Hain. (I will admit, however, to getting a real chuckle when O'Leary and his group actually swallow some of the bad guys... :-)Twenty pages from the end, it appeared to me like we'd need a whole other book to finish this story, which I was thoroughly engrossed in. Instead, we get a 5-minute fix as if it were some Star Trek cliffhanger, and I was left saying, "What....?"
Rating:
Summary: The five-minute fix invades the Well World
Review: Well, hmmm. I would have liked to have liked this book -- I've always enjoyed the Well World books -- but this one was somewhat disappointing. It seemed very rushed, and plotlines that were introduced in the previous book were downplayed or ignored entirely. For instance, the whole "The Avenger must triumph not for revenge" plotline suggested in first book was never really used, and Kincaid's role throughout both books is reduced to that of a rarely-seen bogey-man -- in fact, he turns out to be a totally unimportant character, whose role could have been filled by any other character. The other "pivotal" character, Angel, gains extraordinary powers in order to ultimately become -- the world's most powerful librarian. Josich is present only in the last 20-pages or so of the book, and this makes the whole ending seem rather rushed. None of the actions of the characters preceding the denoument actually has any meaningful impact on the climax of the story, and the only unpredictable parts come when Chalker changes the rules on us (with hand-waving as to why Brazil & Chang might have not been called, and glossing over why the Well World didn't take more action to protect itself earlier on). Furthermore, it's as if I've seen these characters before. Granted, even in the non-Well books, the signature of all of Chalker's writing is to take characters and mangle them physically and emotionally, but even beyond that, Core is largely synonymous with Obie, Kincaid is Brazil without the screen time, Angel is a weird mix of Wuju and Vardia, and Jules is a near dead-ringer for Hain. (I will admit, however, to getting a real chuckle when O'Leary and his group actually swallow some of the bad guys... :-) Twenty pages from the end, it appeared to me like we'd need a whole other book to finish this story, which I was thoroughly engrossed in. Instead, we get a 5-minute fix as if it were some Star Trek cliffhanger, and I was left saying, "What....?"
Rating:
Summary: An adequate book, an inadequate sequel
Review: While I found the first book of this story-line to be one of his best in years, evoking the adventure of the early Well World books, the follow-through is adequate at best. I found it extremely predictable and I had pretty much guessed the "surprise ending" soon after they went through the Zone Gate in the first book. And I never found the Straight Gate to be the terrifying doomsday weapon that Chalker tried to make it. He never sold me on the fear factor which would have added at least a little tension to the story. Again, the first book was excellent, the second was inadequate as a follow-up.
Rating:
Summary: An adequate book, an inadequate sequel
Review: While I found the first book of this story-line to be one of his best in years, evoking the adventure of the early Well World books, the follow-through is adequate at best. I found it extremely predictable and I had pretty much guessed the "surprise ending" soon after they went through the Zone Gate in the first book. And I never found the Straight Gate to be the terrifying doomsday weapon that Chalker tried to make it. He never sold me on the fear factor which would have added at least a little tension to the story. Again, the first book was excellent, the second was inadequate as a follow-up.
|
