Rating: 
Summary: Varley's poorest work to date.
Review: Honestly I can't give a complete review of this novel, because I simply couldn't finish it. After about 100 pages I was completely bored. I skimmed through the rest of the novel looking for something interesting to happen, but it didn't. I couldn't make any sort of connection with the lead character and storyline interwoven with flashbacks failed. I come to this criticism as a big fan of Varley's work, so I was extremely disappointed. Varley is a master at the short story. His collections such as Blue Champagne, and The Persistance of Vision, and The Barbie Murders, are out of print, but worth the hunt. His best novels are Millenium and The Ophiuchi Hotline.
Rating: 
Summary: Though not prolific, Varley is a giant of the genre.
Review: I don't recall reading any John Varley for the past 10 to 15 years, but saw his name on a recent trip to the local bookstore. That and the quote by Tom Clancy on the front cover was enough for me to grab "The Golden Globe" and head for checkout. Kenneth "Sparky" Valentine, a talented, complex and somewhat tragic character, is one of the most well-developed (from a literary standpoint) character I have seen in the genre. To me he seems a 'fleshed-out' kin of Slippery Jim DeGriz, the Stainless Steel Rat, or Sir Dominic Flandry of the Diplomatique Corp. I'm sure it would be greatly entertaining to somehow weave these three characters together into some sort of warping of the space-time-fiction continuum. Unfortunately, as much as I like the characters, Slippery Jim and Sir Dominic would probably come off as animated characters similar to Roger and Jessica Rabbit, next to the well-developed and motivated persona of Sparky Valentine. Maybe it's my personal childhood or the involvement I've had over the years with the performing arts, but I found the character of Kennth Valentine compellingly believable. Perhaps some of the postulated scientific and societal developments found in the milieu of "The Golden Globe" are familiar and similar to those found in other works. Rather than detracting from the book, I felt they added credibility. Einstein stood on the shoulders of giants and built on their work. Just about every notable artist, performing and otherwise, is influenced by the works of others. This is the first time I have felt inspired to tout a book since I read "Stranger in a Strange Land" as a teenager in the 60's. And, delightful surprise, Mr. Varley..."Could I have your autograph?" ;))
Rating:
Summary: Another excellent, if too infrequent, work from Varley
Review: I find John Varley frustrating because he writes so slowly. Well, maybe not. But his books come out with huge gaps between them, which is too bad because they're all good. (Yeah, I know, another of my favorites is Harry Turtledove, who probably writes too much. Maybe these two should exchange some blood or something.) This book returns to the universe of "Steel Beach" and has some slight character overlap (Hildy Johnson, the Heinleiners) at the end. But it's a fundamentally freestanding story set in a very interesting place. The leading character, "Sparky" Valentine, is believable for those of us who've been around theatre, and has just the sort of brilliantly one-sided personality that makes for lively reading. Varley does a first-rate job of getting inside Valentine's head -- even to producing such actorly malapropisms as "coriolanus force." Well worth the money and time.
Rating: 
Summary: Okay, but not like early Varley
Review: I keep reading Varley because I liked his earlier work so much. This one is my least favorite thus far. I'd have liked Valentine a lot better if his tone (and penchant for quoting theater and film) weren't exactly Hildy's in Steel Beach--put a paragraph of each side by side and you probably won't be able to differentiate between them. The editing seemed poor--to make one small but important point, "prop" guns that fire would clearly have been forbidden on Luna in Steel Beach, but elicit no outcry in this volume. In some ways, the very end of the book recycles the end of Steel Beach. I assume Varley's next will be Heinleiners in Space.
Rating:
Summary: Who'da thunk it.
Review: I know. I can't believe it. I never thought I'd be giving John VARLEY one star. I mean, JOHN VARLEY! I've read Ophiuchi Hot line so many times that the pages are now held together with duct tape. But John Varley needs to take a long vacation from writing in first person because he just can't pull it off anymore without going off on these endless, self indulgent vents. The thing that made his earlier stories not just great reads, but great friends was his talent for creating characters who were both a product of their exotic environments, yet completely accessible. 'Show, don't tell' is a challenge for all good SF writing but Varley always pulled it off. As you read his stories you were transported into his brilliantly imagined universe through the awareness and emotions of the characters in the stories. As the reader, you were flooded with new ideas, yet were given enough room to feel like you were discovering these convincing people and their extraordinary society. Even his less likable characters were capable of moving you. Unfortunately, The Golden Globe is narrated by a character who is so self involved, you can barely see past him into the story. Is there even a story? Why should I care about this guy? He's so boring. And annoying. He's like one of those people who comes up to you at a party after one too many drinks and starts to tell you an anecdote, and then gets side tracked telling you about how smart they are, and how stupid everybody else is, and how much they know, and on and on and on and on until you just want to scream, "Get OVER yourself and get to the POINT!" There's no room in this story for the reader. I am so disappointed but I'm not giving up. I'll check out Varley's next book (well, I'll check it out of the library) because eventually all the momentum of his earlier writing has got to push him past this phase.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent story lots of twists & turns but a tedious read.
Review: I thouroughly enjoyed the book but I had a difficult time. It doesn't flow. I found it full of eddies that had me taking breaks every 15 minutes. However I found it full of entertainment with a very surprising end.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing because Varley *can* be so damned good.
Review: I've been a John Varley fan from way, way back. In particular, I've read every single Eight Worlds story that's ever seen print, including all the hard-to-find short stories. When I saw this at the bookstore, I leapt at the chance to buy it right that minute. Alas, I was disappointed. In retrospect, it wasn't so much that it was a bad novel, per se, though it certainly had more than a few hack plots, but that I've come to expect so very much more from Varley. Varley has always been one of the Big Vision writers, of the sort that Heinlein (who he's unfortunately started to emulate in style), Egan, and Niven are (or were). When I crack open a Varley book, I expect to have my sense of wonder expanded. I don't expect cutsey comments, from the protaganist to the type-setter, about the way that italics are used. I want new vistas, not "Gangsters in Space". I want to read about new social and political solutions, not warmed-over Libertarianism with a Heinleinian gloss. In short, I want something better than I got. With the exception of the segment of the book set on Oberon II (an artificial world being made from the Uranian moon Oberon where, among other things, the buildings move around over time), most of the science fiction concentrated on themes that have been done (and often done to death). Again, if this were another writer, I might be more forgiving, but dammit, John Varley is better than this and I've learned to expect more. I'd certainly recommend picking this up. Aside from the central character's sometimes over-the-top rougishness, it's a solid piece of science fiction, but it's also run of the mill in most respects.
Rating: 
Summary: A fun & eccentric outer planets adventure!!
Review: I've read many of the reviews of this book by others and I think that many people are missing the boat on this one. A Varley novel is like a ride on a brand new roller coaster. You're not quite sure where it's going or when the next twist or turn is...so you just hang on and enjoy the ride. It 's not the final destination that makes the story, it's all the fun stuff that happens along the way. Just grab hold of Spary Valentine's coat tails and hold tight. From Children's Television to Mafia hitmen, to five minute Shakespeare and the steamer trunk from hell. Don't try to figure it all out on the spot. Just enjoy the whims and fancies of a master storteller practicing his trade with style, imagination and an outrageously wicked sense of humor.
Rating:
Summary: A superlative work
Review: I've read most of Varley's work and this is neck and neck with Steel Beach for my favorite book of his. It is reminiscent of Heinlein (I especially kept thinking of Double Star) without the preachiness. Definitely a fun and thrilling read.
Rating:
Summary: A masterful story by one of sci-fi's best writers.
Review: If you have read any of Varley's previous works, it will come as no surprise that his consistent mastery of storytelling has once again produced an odd and unusual tale of superb analogy and complexity. A sweeping tale that reveals a unique character to depths that are amazingly perceptive and revealing of the human condition. Returning to his Eight Worlds universe, roughly 500 years in the future, the author creates a setting where all the universe (or at least solar system) is a stage, and Sparky Valentine, anti-hero and itinerant thespian, plies his trade just one step ahead of the law. It is a funny story, filled with pithy humour, double entendres and references that theatre afficiandos will relish. But fear not, at it's heart it is still science fiction in Varley's unique and brilliant voice. Highly recommended.
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