Rating: 
Summary: Strange, Absurd, Excellent
Review: I read Spider Legs on the recommendation of a friend. I enjoyed it quite a bit. It seems to me that some of the other reviewers did not resonate with the quirky characters and strange situations as much as I did. The visual aspect of the book was compelling -- the setting, the monstrous spider, and so forth. If you like scary tales, sea tales, plots with some absurdity, genetic engineering, marine biology, a little romance, Benchley tales, and a host of unusual characters -- then this book is for you. But you have to keep an open mind to the oddness of the whole story.The plot revolves around sea spiders (pycnogonids) that are terrorizing a community in New Foundland, Canada. One of the lead characters is Martha, who has various genetic defects and is also a martial arts expert. The descriptions of the creature are unbeatable. Just keep an open mind and move with it. Enjoy the zany parts and the scary parts, and open your mind to absurdity -- and don't try to overanalyze the composite structure. Do this, and you'll love this book. It is definitely worth reading.
Rating:
Summary: Strange, Absurd, Excellent
Review: I read Spider Legs on the recommendation of a friend. I enjoyed it quite a bit. It seems to me that some of the other reviewers did not resonate with the quirky characters and strange situations as much as I did. The visual aspect of the book was compelling -- the setting, the monstrous spider, and so forth. If you like scary tales, sea tales, plots with some absurdity, genetic engineering, marine biology, a little romance, Benchley tales, and a host of unusual characters -- then this book is for you. But you have to keep an open mind to the oddness of the whole story. The plot revolves around sea spiders (pycnogonids) that are terrorizing a community in New Foundland, Canada. One of the lead characters is Martha, who has various genetic defects and is also a martial arts expert. The descriptions of the creature are unbeatable. Just keep an open mind and move with it. Enjoy the zany parts and the scary parts, and open your mind to absurdity -- and don't try to overanalyze the composite structure. Do this, and you'll love this book. It is definitely worth reading.
Rating: 
Summary: Novel monster and setting, but uneven development
Review: I was really intrigued by the Pycnogonid (sea spider) as the monster and Newfoundland as the setting. It reminded me of the creature features from the '50s when monsters were a product of man's ignorant use of atomic power and often were confronted in unusual regions. "The Atomic Submarine" (chasing a UFO in the Artic) and "Beast from 20,000 Fathoms" (atomic test releases dinosaur near Greenland) are examples. The ice floe fields, forests, and stone cliffs of Newfoundland offered an interesting (but underused and undervalued) backdrop for the story. In Spider Legs the theme takes a unique twist. The monster is not an atomic perversion of nature wrecking havoc among its creators as in the movies "THEM" and "The Giant Behemoth". Instead it is a planned mutation intended to take vengeance on an enviromentally ignorant mankind. Where the '50s scientist fought the monster to save the world, Spider Legs has the scientist create the monster to punish the world. Part of the wonder of the '50s was the promise of science to bring a better future, a view that usually put scientists in the role of saviour. Spider Legs reverses the image by pulling its scientist into the role of villain with the world's saviours comprising a team of more common folk (a self-educated fisheries officer and a cop) as well as a scientist. I credit the uneven delivery to the merger of the two authors' talents on reworking one author's manuscript. The novelty of the monster and the initial chapters of the book laid a great suspenseful groundwork for the rest of the story. The creature rising from the depths to attack the yacht reminded me of Benchley's great white or squid. Yet the rest of the story didn't play off the initial suspense, falling into formulaic segments that didn't quite mesh into a satisfying finish. The romance between the scientist and cop was amusing, but predictable. The physical deformity of the brother-sister characters was unique, but seemed not so much integral to the story as intended to add a touch of the grotesque. That the sister was a martial artist didn't sync with her antisocial attitudes. I couldn't imagine such a disagreeable character being welcomed in a dojo long enough to reach a black belt. I could buy the creation of the pycnogonid as an genetically-altered instrument of vengeance. But the license taken in ascribing the alterations in the book stretched credibility. Understanding the scientific foundation for the plot had better been a separate read. The '50s creature feature had a way of introducing the science as an integral part of the story; e.g., "THEM"'s giant ants as mutations from the White Sands proving grounds. The little known nature of the pycnogonid and its genetic alteration to monster-size were a large dose of science to integrate easily into the story. A more complex plot in a longer manuscript may have allowed time for it. Spider Legs as written force fed the science to the detriment of the story. Finally, I had trouble accepting the premise of sea spider as invertebrate Nautilus. Growing one to the size of a small sub, I could buy as science fiction. Riding in one using tactile manipulation of nerves as a steering column strayed into science fantasy. I tend not to like blurred plot lines of science-fiction and science-fantasy in the same work. I could not buy into the heroes going out on a ferry to pursue this creature. It telegraphed the mayhem to come like the slasher movies have done in recent years. Developing a more realistic approach to the creature's pursuit may have allowed time for more scientific explanation in a natural story setting. The ferry attack provided the captive focus as Jaws did, though with a rushing, much less comprehensible lead in. For its environmental theme, its monster founded in reality, and its Newfoundland setting, Spider Legs had a lot of promise. It's a good read that could have been better.
Rating: 
Summary: Ecological rant is right!
Review: Is this a story or a text book? I can't decide. Amid a deluge of scientific information better left inside a text book on aquatic biology, you'll find bits of story strewn throughout, seemingly aimed at grammar school children. It is very obvious within the book where Anthony and Pickover switch writing. Anthony's pieces are polished, and don't contain overwhelming detail, while Pickover's are stilted and waxy, containing more than you ever wanted to know about invertebrates. The obvious environmentalist slant is at times unbearable. For a more accurate picture of our environment, I would recommend 'The Skeptical Environmentalist: Measuring the Real State of the World' by Bjorn Lomborg - he bothers to get facts straight, and doesn't seem to 'rant'... All in all, what started out as something I expected to rival Peter Benchly, Steve Alten ('Meg') or Licoln Child and Douglas Preston turned into a disjointed, rambling tale that I cannot in good conscience recommend.
Rating:
Summary: Ecological rant is right!
Review: Is this a story or a text book? I can't decide. Amid a deluge of scientific information better left inside a text book on aquatic biology, you'll find bits of story strewn throughout, seemingly aimed at grammar school children. It is very obvious within the book where Anthony and Pickover switch writing. Anthony's pieces are polished, and don't contain overwhelming detail, while Pickover's are stilted and waxy, containing more than you ever wanted to know about invertebrates. The obvious environmentalist slant is at times unbearable. For a more accurate picture of our environment, I would recommend 'The Skeptical Environmentalist: Measuring the Real State of the World' by Bjorn Lomborg - he bothers to get facts straight, and doesn't seem to 'rant'... All in all, what started out as something I expected to rival Peter Benchly, Steve Alten ('Meg') or Licoln Child and Douglas Preston turned into a disjointed, rambling tale that I cannot in good conscience recommend.
Rating:
Summary: Incredibly bad book from two established authors.
Review: It's hard to imagine how someone as talented as Anthony had anything to do with this unbelievable mess. The humans are unrealistic, the monster completely impossible, and the details ridiculous. Doesn't ONE of those two guys know penguins live in the Southern Hemisphere only? This must have been published only because of Anthony's name: any editor not on drugs would have laughed as he threw it in the reject bin.
Rating: 
Summary: Half baked clay with gold paint slapped on..
Review: On page 60 Elmo helps convince the police that a spider killed a woman. On page 66 after a TV news report of a giant spider "He would have laughed it off.. had he not seen that woman's head" On page 250 an electrican manages to restore some battery power to the ferry. Nathan sees instrument lights come on, then dim. He then walks to the coffee shop, and on page 252 the 'air conditioner' stops running. It's not due to weak batteries: a woman is electrocuted with 'thousands of volts on page 258. These are not 'nits,' the whole book is full of logic errors. Piers has written books I happily re-read to experience golden moments again. Lately, he seems convinced that it will cost him a dollar to hire a proofreader.. If a friend asks for a recomendation, refer him to an older novel, when Anthony still put some craftmanship into his work.
Rating:
Summary: Let it Drown...
Review: Piers Anthony has written some good books (when his charcaters can keep thier clothes on), but this book isn't one of them. The story is a rather hackneyed "Oh, the environment is rising up to get its revenge!" cliche. The characters are cardboard and are unique in that they think of fish by their latin names (they walk into a pet store and see Whatchamaycallit Whateverus swimming in a tank) rather than the normal terms. The authors can't be bothered to do enough research to find out what currency is even used in the country the book is set in (twice, the characters "drop a dollar bill on the counter" to pay for whatever, despite the fact that dollar bills dropped out of the Canadian marketplace twenty years before the book was published). It's too bad the sea-spider couldn't have devoured the authors rather than the hapless characters- we would have been saved from this pile of dreck.
Rating:
Summary: Let it Drown...
Review: Piers Anthony has written some good books (when his charcaters can keep thier clothes on), but this book isn't one of them. The story is a rather hackneyed "Oh, the environment is rising up to get its revenge!" cliche. The characters are cardboard and are unique in that they think of fish by their latin names (they walk into a pet store and see Whatchamaycallit Whateverus swimming in a tank) rather than the normal terms. The authors can't be bothered to do enough research to find out what currency is even used in the country the book is set in (twice, the characters "drop a dollar bill on the counter" to pay for whatever, despite the fact that dollar bills dropped out of the Canadian marketplace twenty years before the book was published). It's too bad the sea-spider couldn't have devoured the authors rather than the hapless characters- we would have been saved from this pile of dreck.
Rating: 
Summary: Enjoyable, complex, scientific - well worth the time
Review: Spider Legs is a science fiction treatment of the potential results of mankind's use of the ocean as a garbage dump. However, it is also a warning of the potential dangers of a twisted intellect using and modifying those scientific results to force change on mankind.
Spider Legs is not easy light fiction. It makes the reader stretch to learn and remember new ideas, new terms, new information. But with the excellent pace of the novel, it keeps the reader enthralled.
If you're looking to be put to sleep, or to "zone out" with a book (instead of tv) this is not the novel you want to read. This book will make you think, and will then reward you for thinking. I recommed Spider Legs, and hope to see more fiction from Cliff Pickover in the future.
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