From: Mats Ohrman -exj -peter fritz <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 26 May 87 00:18:34 +0200

Path: liuida!enea!mcvax!seismo!husc6!rutgers!ames!ptsfa!hoptoad!academ!killer!elg
From: [email-masked] (Eric Green)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf-lovers
Subject: Review: _In Conquest Born (*SPOILER?*)
Keywords: C.S. Friedman
Message-ID: <[email-masked]>
Date: 21 May 87 03:39:00 GMT
Organization: The Unix(tm) Connection, Dallas, Texas
Lines: 41

Review: _In Conquest Born_, by C.S. Friedman:

     The first thing you notice is that this book has two different front
covers: One with a white-and-blue clad female, and one with a black-clad male
holding a sword. 
     Which leads you to the next picture: That of two societies, in perpetual
conflict, occupying moral extremes, built by two different types of conquest:
one, by the conquest of their fellow tribesmen via ruthlessness, duplicity,
power, and beauty, and the other, by escape from oppressors and the conquest
of a hostile planet by changing themselves to fit the planet, instead of
changing the planet to fit themselves.
     This is a large book, and sometimes, plot elements seem to get lost in
the wind, or perhaps just forgotten from the memory of weary readers :-). But
that really is nothing. The thing that drives this book is NOT the plot, but
rather, the characters. There are two main protagonists, whose character is
finely sketched in the first few pages of the book, not by the usual bludgeon
of your universal-narrator speechifying, but rather, by bringing in scenes
from their life that helped shape them into the people that they are. There is
also a large cast of secondary characters, who are no less finely drawn as the
book passes, although not in such detail. It makes the "suspension of
disbelief" very easy, to see these characters acting, in general, in a manner
fitting their unique personality.
     _In Conquest Born_ is not perfect. Both plot and characterization
sometimes have flaws, although there are no gaping holes.  It is not a
five-star rating of "a classic". But still, it is a Very Good Book, especially
from writer who apparently has little experience, and you could do worse. In
fact, after finishing the book, I almost immediately started re-reading it.
The only other two books I've done THAT to are _Dune_, and _Ender's Game_....
which puts it pretty high on the chart. I only hope that the sequel isn't as
sappy as _Speaker to the Dead_, because I'd much like to read further works by
this author. 

     Rating: Four stars: ****+
  Very Good, Much Above Average.

--
Eric Green   elg%usl.CSNET     CS student, University of SW Louisiana
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