clew's reviews: a book logNotes & Queriessortilege- December 12, 2007 Divination by choosing randomly from a collection; as from a deck of cards, the dictionary says; as from a MP3 collection on "shuffle", it does not yet say....http://www.tenhand.com/clew/blog/archives/000782.html A Journey in Other Worlds, J. J. Astor- December 12, 2007 Very, very bad, with brief descents into being humorously bad. It opens with a landing on Jupiter in its temperate forests: "I hope we may find some four-legged inhabitants," said Ayrault, thinking of their explosive magazine rifles. "If Jupiter is...http://www.tenhand.com/clew/blog/archives/000781.html The Fifth Elephant, Terry Pratchett- December 11, 2007 Proto-heroines cause nothing to actually occur in the plot -- they may, for instance, have outridden every cowpunch in the state in the establishing scenes, and yet get shot promptly as soon as a love-interest is there to be preëminent....http://www.tenhand.com/clew/blog/archives/000780.html Riders of the Purple Sage, Zane Grey- December 11, 2007 Another of the great geological feature adventure stories (with, e.g., Lorna Doone, The Island Stallion; also some pirate novels; when even the deus ex machina is inert, you know you have some pulp characterization...) There are a few places that...http://www.tenhand.com/clew/blog/archives/000779.html |