From archive (archive)
From: jcc@MIMSY.UMD.EDU (John Cherniavsky)
Subject: Book Review - Chantry - G.Dickson - Spoilers
Date: 26 Sep 88 16:40:34 GMT




                               The Chantry Guild
                               Gordon R. Dickson
                             Ace Books, New York
                                    $17.95

       A Review by John C. Cherniavsky - Copyright 1988

       The Chantry Guild is the 8th novel in the Childe Cycle series  (I
       list  the  other  seven  plus  a  companion, in alphabetic order,
       below). It continues the saga of Hal Mayne and Amanda  Morgan  in
       the  struggle of Old Earth and Splinter societies against the ma-
       chinations of Bleys Ahrens and the Others. It begins three  years
       after the end of The Final Encyclopedia.

       Hal is depressed with three years of failure trying to enter  the
       "Creative  Universe".  Amanda convinces Hal to travel with her to
       the Exotic world Kultis and it is here that most  of  the  action
       takes  place. Amanda brings Hal to a reincarnation of the Chantry
       Guild; the original force  behind  the  founding  of  the  Exotic
       worlds.  In  a  sortie  reminiscent  of the triumphs of Cletus in
       "Tatics of Mistake", Hal saves the Guild from discovery  by  sol-
       diers  sent  to  find  and  destroy them.  Hal then discovers the
       secret of entering the  Creative  Universe  and  confronts  Bleys
       Ahrens. The novel ends with hope, but no final resolution, of the
       battle between the Others and Old Earth. We need to wait  to  the
       ninth novel in the Childe Cycle to see if resolution is coming.

       I liked the novel enough to gobble it up in a few hours. The best
       parts,  for  me anyhow, consisted of the description of the mili-
       tary actions taken by Hal.  It  was  classic  Dickson  presenting
       Dorsai tactics at their best. My biggest difficulty with the nov-
       el was the injection of what amounts to  magic  into  the  story.
       Entering  the  Creative Universe allows one, literally, to reform
       the external universe  in  any  form  that  you  desire.  Such  a
       universe  becomes "real" provided the formation is shared amongst
       many individuals. This very solipistic view of the  universe  re-
       quired   a  considerable  suspension of belief on my part, and it
       was key to the story.

                       Books in the Childe Cycle Series

       Dorsai!
       Lost Dorsai!
       Necromancer
       Soldier, Ask Not
       The Spirit of Dorsai
       Tactics of Mistake
       The Final Encyclopedia
       The Chantry Guild
       The Dorsai Companion