Rating: 
Summary: The Einstein Intersection
Review: The Emperor has No Clothes
This is a fantasy a drunk college sophomore could have written after having taken Introduction to Greek Mythology. The book is poorly written, self-indulgent, and inelegant. The story is simplistic (a country bumpkin through trials and travelling to the big city becomes self-aware). The characters, products of a genetic pot-luck, have strange bodies and one dimensional personalities. There is only a smattering of science. The book bandies pop, historical, and literary references to no purpose except to convince gullible readers that the writer is "profound."
Rating: 
Summary: Surreal Charm
Review: The mythologies of Orpheus, the Beatles, Billy the Kid, Jean Harlow, and everyone's fave good ol' J.C. are intertwined here, replaying themselves among a race of alien wayfarers who've inherited the abandoned Earth and uneasily assumed the mantle of the vanished humanity. Told from the POV of Lobey, a "different" youth who is questing for his lost love Friza, this book deals with Delaney's usual concerns with art, Story, & the reality of events vs. the perception of events, and the complex ways in which they all interact. The engaging characters and exotic (but strangely familiar) setting, keep this from being just a rehash of familiar themes. One of Delaney's better works, the short length makes it a much less challenging read than his longer novels, but there's enough complexity here to satisfy any Delaney true believer. Love, death, redemption.. all this and dragons (decidedly non-fantastic), too- what more could you want?
Rating: 
Summary: Can you handle the differentness?
Review: This book itself was very different and weird, but it didn't bother me at all. I was drawn right into the story and was able to follow it. There are many layers of myth and symbolism and I'm sure I'd have to read this book a few more to understand them better. I liked the differentness. There was a common thread of reality through this book and a set of rules. A lot of fantasy books lack this and in my opinion this ruins the story. When anything can happen at any time for no reason, there really is no story. This is not the case with EI.This story is about an alien race dealing with the myths of humans, and is itself a myth. Every character fits many roles from many different stories. It was fun to recognize Green Eye as XXXXX and Kid Death as XXXXX. This was a story with meat on it's bones. One I will have to read again in a year or so. I will keep thinking about all the implications of this story for many books to come, just as Lobey has gone off to think about what happened.
Rating: 
Summary: Not worth the effort
Review: This seems to be the type of book that would either raise admiration or ire in the bosom of the reader. I find myself in the latter category. This novel is one of those philosophical/mythological science fiction stories. I find that such books require a large investment of time to understand (flipping through encyclopedias and dictionaries) with my physical sciences education. Then, at 150 pages, after you've invested the effort, the book ends. Perhaps someone versed in the classics would enjoy this book, but for me it was simply not worth the effort. This book is not really about anything, its about images. They come fast and furious, but there is little explained, and often times you are left wondering why a certain image is introduced at all. It seems like the author thought up a clever image and decided to write it in, heedless of its relevancy. This happens often enough to by irritating. To sum up - if you are looking for a hard science fiction novel, this is not the route to go. It's not scientific at all! If you are looking for a modern mythological tale, I would recommend something like Lord of Light (Zelazny) where I also had to invest some extra effort, but the investment was well worthwhile.
Rating:
Summary: Not worth the effort
Review: This seems to be the type of book that would either raise admiration or ire in the bosom of the reader. I find myself in the latter category. This novel is one of those philosophical/mythological science fiction stories. I find that such books require a large investment of time to understand (flipping through encyclopedias and dictionaries) with my physical sciences education. Then, at 150 pages, after you've invested the effort, the book ends. Perhaps someone versed in the classics would enjoy this book, but for me it was simply not worth the effort. This book is not really about anything, its about images. They come fast and furious, but there is little explained, and often times you are left wondering why a certain image is introduced at all. It seems like the author thought up a clever image and decided to write it in, heedless of its relevancy. This happens often enough to by irritating. To sum up - if you are looking for a hard science fiction novel, this is not the route to go. It's not scientific at all! If you are looking for a modern mythological tale, I would recommend something like Lord of Light (Zelazny) where I also had to invest some extra effort, but the investment was well worthwhile.
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