McLendon's Syndrome

Rating:
Summary: Not bad, but could be better
Review: After reading a couple of good reviews for this book, I found a used copy and plunged in. After I was done, I wasn't really satisified with the book. While some ideas were good, others were flawed or good but weren't taken to their fullest.

The general plot is ok in the beginning of the book, but about halfway through it just begins to take some strange twists and turns. And after awhile it just gets wierd. Another reviewer complained that the book is a combination of several different styles, and I have to agree.

While this isn't a bad book, it also is not a great book. This is the kind of book that you can read and get some laughs. Avid Sci-Fi readers will get some chuckles from some in-jokes or references to other book series by other authors. It's decent, but really can't hold it's own against others in the genre.

Rating:
Summary: Unexpected and unguessable
Review: I thought I knew what I was getting into when I got this book. I can usually guess plot lines, but not here! Excellent writing with satirical wit.

Rating:
Summary: This is one of my all-time favorite books!
Review: This book is hilarious! The first person account leaves you feeling very much in the shoes of our hero (Ken McKay), who is a sane person stuck in a universe going crazy around him. A farce similar to Asprin's work (Phule's Company, M.Y.T.H. Inc.), this book and its sequel (The VMR Theory) are superior to Asprin's excellent work. If you've read any of Frezza's A Small Colonial War / Fire in a Faraway Place / Cain's Land series, don't judge by these. That series was a very serious dark-toned tragedy. McLendon's Sydrome is the exact opposite, pure comedy with a cynical tone.

Rating:
Summary: Tries to be SF/murder-mystery/vampire
Review: You know what they say about those combinations scanner/printer/photocopiers, how they don't do any one of those things quite as well as a single-purpose machine. Or think of the phrase "Jack of all trades, master of none." That's where this book falls.

It's not really a vampire story, even though the cover blurb tries to bill it that way. As murder mysteries go, it's pretty thin. As space opera, it's adequate.

The book is stronger on puns than on actual witty dialog. And it aims for a lot of its humor through references to other books, science fiction cliches, movie references, etc. If you don't already know what Callahan's Place is, for example (if you don't read Spider Robinson, in other words), then many of the allusions here will go right past you. And unless you are a rabid fan of puns, you may not want to go read all of the Callahan's stories just so you can get those allusions. (There are also references to the White Hart, Gavagan's, and the Vulgar Unicorn. And to Casablanca!)

So: if you like puns, and you already like all the bars mentioned above, you'll enjoy this book, although it won't be the best-written punny space bar story you've ever read; if you were looking for a vampire story, though, forget it.

Rating:
Summary: Tries to be SF/murder-mystery/vampire
Review: You know what they say about those combinations scanner/printer/photocopiers, how they don't do any one of those things quite as well as a single-purpose machine. Or think of the phrase "Jack of all trades, master of none." That's where this book falls.

It's not really a vampire story, even though the cover blurb tries to bill it that way. As murder mysteries go, it's pretty thin. As space opera, it's adequate.

The book is stronger on puns than on actual witty dialog. And it aims for a lot of its humor through references to other books, science fiction cliches, movie references, etc. If you don't already know what Callahan's Place is, for example (if you don't read Spider Robinson, in other words), then many of the allusions here will go right past you. And unless you are a rabid fan of puns, you may not want to go read all of the Callahan's stories just so you can get those allusions. (There are also references to the White Hart, Gavagan's, and the Vulgar Unicorn. And to Casablanca!)

So: if you like puns, and you already like all the bars mentioned above, you'll enjoy this book, although it won't be the best-written punny space bar story you've ever read; if you were looking for a vampire story, though, forget it.