Contrariwise (Ace Fantasy Special)

Rating:
Summary: Fresh and Funny, Contrariwise is a great read
Review: Contrariwise is not only well written, but Greenhaugh has developed a wonderful fantasy without all of the standard fantasy elements (wizards, unicorns, mercenaries, etc.) This book is at once funny and thought-provoking, and will keep you on your toes. I've been waiting desperately for a re-print ever since I lost my copy a few years ago!

Rating:
Summary: A brilliant unorthadox fantasy enmeshed with twisted logic
Review: Well, it's been awhile since I read this book, so any in depth review is out of the question. Suffice it to say, for a good few years now I've been looking for another book by the same author, sadly to no avail. This however has not surprised me, Contrariwise is such a gem it's difficult to imagine the author would have much material left to do anything else. At any rate, on with the story! Contrariwise is not your run of the mill fantasy, Knights in armour, damsels in distress etc. The usual theme of good and evil is tossed out the window, the main character being the "Trickster", one of a pantheon of Greatkin, whose nature is as his name. He is at once childish and omnipotent, and in true Olympian style takes great delight in meddling with the lives of mere mortals. The geographics of the world in which contrariwise is set vary greatly from our own, and are able to physically affect the natures of the people who are born into them. There are no rules which correspond with the rules of our concepts of reality, therefore anything is possible. This said, There is a very definite logic at play,and many connections with familiar cultural teachings. "So turn the inside, inside out, And go sanely mad with me. Master the Trickster's roundabout, And come to my ecstacy!"