From rec.arts.sf.reviews Fri Nov 18 10:19:54 1994 Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews,rec.arts.sf.written Path: news.ifm.liu.se!liuida!sunic!pipex!howland.reston.ans.net!ix.netcom.com!netcom.com!postmodern.com!not-for-mail From: dani@telerama.lm.com (Dani Zweig) Subject: Margaret Ball: No Earthly Sunne Message-ID: <3a8pt2$m6g@asia.lm.com> Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.written Sender: mcb@postmodern.com (Michael C. Berch) Organization: Telerama Public Access Internet, Pittsburgh, PA USA Date: Thu, 17 Nov 1994 03:31:03 GMT Approved: mcb@postmodern.com (rec.arts.sf.reviews moderator) Lines: 57 Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.sf.reviews:677 rec.arts.sf.written:81342 Neither cover of Margaret Ball's "No Earthly Sunne" makes any pretense that the book is anything but a romance with a thin patina of science fiction or fantasy. Besides, I've read her earlier sf novels, so I can't claim to have expected anything else. This time it didn't work, though. For one thing, the patina wasn't just thin; it was actively painful. Consider this gem of dialogue: "Oh, yes, I remember; you got a programming job, didn't you? Poor you. How boring." "Not at all," Ellen said briskly. "KNEE happens to be *the* major artificial intelligence project of this decade. When completed, it will provide a platform for easy development of truly self-understanding, self-teaching expert systems drawing on a complete common-sense world-knowledge base. In the last year alone, my team has been specifying the base set of specialized deduction processes for the Newtonian time-space model, with specific integrity verification system-based facilities for each one. Then, to make things easier for the general user, we wrote KNEEJERK, a language translator that accepts additional rules in the predicate calculus form that everybody knows, then translates them from the generic epistimological state to the internal form required by the inferencing engine." Fortunately, not much is done with the computer side of the story -- except that towards the end the heroine uses her expert system to convince the Elves that they've completely misunderstood the nature of time and space. The core of the story is that four hundred years ago, a musical performance led to a couple's separation, when he was taken by Elves and she pined away. Now she's been reborn, and for some possibly-sinister reason, the Elves are working hard to get her to repeat the musical performance and be reunited with her lover. The story itself shifts back and forth between the basic romance -- Eleanor and Kit falling in love in Elizabethan England -- and the fantasy romance -- Ellen being maneuvered into drawing Kit back, and then dealing with the consequences. It doesn't work very well. The love story is formulaic, the characters are uninteresting, the resolution is improbable. Oh, well. %A Ball, Margaret %T No Earthly Sunne %I Baen Books %C New York %D December 1994 %G ISBN 0-671-87633-3 %P 343pp %O $5.99 ----- Dani Zweig dani@telerama.lm.com "You have the reputation of being one of the nicest guys in the field. We both know you're a hyena on its hind legs. How have you fooled everyone?" "By keeping my mouth shut when I read garbage" -- Gene Wolfe From rec.arts.sf.reviews Mon Aug 10 12:42:23 1998 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!news.solace.mh.se!news.ecn.ou.edu!news.cetlink.net!nntp.abs.net!newsfeed.internetmci.com!194.162.162.196!newsfeed.nacamar.de!news-hh.maz.net!ai-lab!news.media.mit.edu!not-for-mail From: hklaus6073@aol.com (HKlaus6073) Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: Review: Acorna's Quest by McCaffrey & Ball Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.written Date: 20 Jul 1998 16:52:28 -0400 Organization: AOL http://www.aol.com Lines: 38 Approved: wex@media.mit.edu Message-ID: NNTP-Posting-Host: tinbergen.media.mit.edu X-Newsreader: Gnus v5.3/Emacs 19.34 Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.sf.reviews:2043 ACORNA'S QUEST by Anne McCaffrey and Margaret Ball Review Copyright 1998 Harriet Klausner [This is a review of a second book in a series; as such it may be considered a spoiler for the first "Acorna" book. --AW] Acorna is now a young adult, who desperately needs questions answered about her heritage and who her people are. Years ago, three asteroid miners found the infant Acorna floating through space in an escape pod. Knowing her horn would make her the abject study of science and government, they safely hid her safety while her unique, special powers evolved. Acorna knows it is time to break out in search of her ancestry. Accompanied by one of the prospectors who raised her, she begins her journey across the universe. However, her trek is temporarily aborted when her ship malfunctions, forcing her to land on Rushima, where people are being starved to death by a dastardly group of Starfarers. Even as Acorna is caught up in the plight of Rushima, a strange people with telepathic powers have suddenly appeared in the sector. The Linyaari have come to raise the alarm concerning vicious invaders who are wrecking havoc throughout the galaxy while also seeking the whereabouts of a missing person who was lost as an infant several years ago. The second novel in the Acorna series will intrigue die-hard McCaffrey fans and readers who enjoy a clear cut good vs. evil science fiction story line. Many other readers will be turned off by the lack of subtlety that make up the various races, who easily can be classified as good or evil. Though the story line is a bit flimsy, there is the usual Anne McCaffrey trademark of plenty of action and easily identifiable races. Ms. McCaffrey and co-author Margaret Ball have a good series that needs more shades of gray to turn it into a complex, great series. Harriet Klausner %I HarperPrism %D Jul 1998 %O $23.00 %P 292 pp. %G ISBN 0-06-105297-3 From rec.arts.sf.reviews Fri Sep 4 15:06:14 1998 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!feed1.news.luth.se!luth.se!feed1.news.rcn.net!rcn!news.maxwell.syr.edu!sunqbc.risq.qc.ca!newsswitch.lcs.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!not-for-mail From: robotech@eyrie.org (Robotech_Master) Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews,rec.arts.books.reviews,alt.books.reviews Subject: REVIEW: Acorna: The Unicorn Girl, by Anne McCaffrey Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.written Date: 02 Sep 1998 18:40:42 -0400 Organization: Superguy Listserv: http://www.eyrie.org/superguy/ Lines: 52 Approved: wex@media.mit.edu Message-ID: NNTP-Posting-Host: tinbergen.media.mit.edu X-Newsreader: Gnus v5.3/Emacs 19.34 Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.sf.reviews:2099 rec.arts.books.reviews:2548 alt.books.reviews:47839 Acorna: The Unicorn Girl, by Anne McCaffrey Review Copyright 1998 Chris Meadows "Acorna: The Unicorn Girl" is a fairly solid, well-written science-fiction fantasy about a strange young girl who is found floating in a survival pod in deep space, and grows up (quickly) to become a legendary savior to a planet full of enslaved child laborers. The tale follows Acorna as she grows to young adulthood, picking up many friends and a few enemies along the way. "Acorna" is very entertaining, if somewhat predictable in places--it's hard not to guess how a book like this will end; the reading enjoyment comes from what happens along the way. The mixture of Hungarian, Oriental, and Islamic influences adds an interesting spice to the story, and the writing doesn't talk down to the reader. The pacing never falters, especially toward the middle of the book where there are at least four distinct sets of villains who come into conflict with our heroes or with each other. The characters often seem mostly black and white, with no shades of grey in between, but they're handled with sufficient panache that it never gets in the way of the story. On the downside, there are a few loose ends that are never adequately explained. If Acorna's people were far enough away from humanity that no trace of them had ever been discovered, how did Acorna's pod end up in human space? What happened to Dr. Anton Forelle, who was telegraphed early in the book as being a possible potential villain (or at least antagonist) but was never seen again after the book was 1/5 over? Perhaps "Acorna's Quest" will address these issues. All in all, "Acorna" is a diverting and enjoyable story, and I look forward to reading about her further advantures. I recommend it. [Permission granted for newsgroup distribution & associated archival, and to share with other people as long as you don't charge for it. All other rights reserved, but feel free to ask.] %A McCaffrey, Anne %A Margaret Ball %T Acorna: The Unicorn Girl %I HarperPrism %C New York %D 1997 %G ISBN 0-06-105789-4 %P 410 pp. %S The Unicorn Girl %V Book 1 %O Paperback, $6.50 US, $8.50 CDN Chris Meadows aka | Co-moderator, rec.toys.transformers.moderated Robotech_Master | Homepage: robotech@eyrie.org | PGP: robotech@jurai.net | ICQ UIN: 5477383