Subject: Crean: Dancer of the Sixth

From: [email-masked] (Dani Zweig)
Date: Sat, 20 Feb 1993 07:58:13 GMT

The Del Rey Discovery series can perhaps best be characterized as "watch
this author for future developments".  It seems to feature first novels
by authors who have the potential to become very good.

"Dancer of the Sixth" is by Michelle Shirey Crean, who has the potential
to become very good.  She hasn't realized that potential yet:  The book
is very much a first novel, and the best thing about it is that, now that
she's gotten it out of her system, she can get down to writing.

This isn't to say that it's not an enjoyable read.  It is.  As first novels
often are, it's an engaging wish-fulfillment fantasy.  Dancer is *the*
hottest pilot in the Confederacy, a member of *the* elite (secret) military
organization, hopelessly in love with *the* perfect man for her.  Etc.
But, again, the same elements that make it so first-novelish (essentially
a decade or two of stored-up daydreams and fantasies, hammered into novel
form, I suspect) make that novel fun to read.

She's a jet pilot, not a space ship pilot.  (As is often the case with
sf books that owe as much to the romance genre, the science is soft
enough that it would do absolutely no damage to the story if every
mention of the word "planet" were replaced by "continent".)  And the
story proper begins when a jet crashes nearby -- flown by a pilot who
looks just like her and has the same name.  Concluding that Something
Strange is happening, the Sixth service pulls a switch -- and sends
Dancer (pretending to be the person pretending to be her) back instead.

For those who like this sort of book, this is the sort of book they like...
but keep an eye out for Crean's future efforts, because once she gains
better control over her art, she may be very good.

-----
Dani Zweig
[email-masked]

   'T is with our judgements as our watches, none
   Go alike, yet each believes his own
		--Alexander Pope