From rec.arts.sf.written Fri Mar 17 11:29:33 1995 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!liuida!sunic!sunic.sunet.se!trane.uninett.no!nac.no!ifi.uio.no!sia.sics.se!eua.ericsson.se!erinews.ericsson.se!cnn.exu.ericsson.se!convex!cs.utexas.edu!uwm.edu!lll-winken.llnl.gov!venus.sun.com!rutgers!ezmail.ucs.indiana.edu!shsilver From: shsilver@indiana.edu (Steven H Silver) Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written Subject: Review Eve Forward's Villains by Necessity Date: 14 Mar 1995 06:46:27 -0500 Lines: 41 Sender: daemon@rutgers.rutgers.edu Message-ID: NNTP-Posting-Host: rutgers.edu Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Eve Forward's first novel is an ambitious attempt to overturn the conventions of epic fantasy. The story is set a century after the forces of Good have defeated the forces of Evil, not just in one country, but throughout the world. Our heroes are a band of the last evil humans on the planet, a thief, an assassin, a druid, a knight and a sorceress, who are trying to return Evil to the world to restore the balance between Good and Evil and avert the end of the world. Unfortunately, I think Forward has bitten off a little more than she can chew at this point in her career. One of the problems with writing villains as heroes is that they must be both evil and sympathetic. In the case of Forward's heroes, they are much more sympathetic than evil. In fact, much of their evilness seems to be put on for show without any real depth. Similarly, the Good guys seem to have a little evil in them. Another problem I had is that the story seems to be based on a Dungeons & Dragons campaign. This may be due to the selection of character occupations, but I think there is also a matter of characterisation v. plot. In a typical Dungeons & Dragons game, the plot is more important than characterization. I find myself feeling the same way with Forward's book. Similarly, setting suffers even more than characterisation. The characters move from point a to point b without a whole lot of sense of movement. It is almost as if Forward thought, "okay, I need them to be here, *poof*, now they have to get here *poof*" Forward does bring a sense of humor to her writing, something which is probably necessary. However at times the humor seems anachronistic and jolts the reader from the story line. Overall, the idea of Forward's book rates high. I would like, however, to see it worked over in the hands of a more accomplished and experienced storyteller. Villains by Necessity Eve Forward Tor Books Hardcover $24.95 446 pp 0-312-85789-6 From rec.arts.sf.reviews Mon Mar 20 20:52:25 1995 Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews Path: news.ifm.liu.se!liuida!sunic!sunic.sunet.se!news.funet.fi!news.eunet.fi!EU.net!howland.reston.ans.net!ix.netcom.com!netcom.com!postmodern.com!not-for-mail From: HEWETT@chemvx.tamu.edu (Kevin B. Hewett) Subject: review of _Villains by Necessity_ by Eve Forward Message-ID: <950226131616.298037cd@chemvx.tamu.edu> Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.written Sender: mcb@netcom22.netcom.com Organization: The Internet Date: Sat, 11 Mar 1995 00:19:06 GMT Approved: mcb@postmodern.com (rec.arts.sf.reviews moderator) Lines: 53 Eve Forward's first novel is set in a world where the eternal struggle between good and evil has been won by the forces of good. This unexpected victory has brought about a "Golden Age" where war, poverty, crime and other evils are no longer needed or tolerated. Thus swords have been turned into plows and peace and prosperity reigns without dispute. At least that is what the victorious forces would have the population believe. The truth is that without evil and darkness there is no place for goodness and light. Thus the world is slowing being destroyed by the light which is not balanced by darkness. This imbalace is central to the plot and is symbolised throughout the novel by the growing light. Thus shadows fade from sight during daylight and the night begins to resemble dawn, even at midnight. If the imbalance is not corrected, the world will be destroyed by the light itself. In order to save the world from destruction, a yound female Druid, Kaylana, assembles a band of heroes who will champion evil and attempt to bring darkness back into the world. Kaylana is the last of her religion since the druids, who believed in the balance between good and evil, were deemed an obstacle to the triumph of the light. The heroes she finds include the assassin Sam, the thief Arcie, a black knight who refuses to speak, a dark sorceress Valerie who wants revenge and a young Centaur Robin who is a spy for the light. Together, this fractious band of adventurers must reasseble the Spectrum Key which can unlock the portal through which the creatures of darkness were exiled. The tests which the heroes must overcome to acquire each portion of the Spectrum Key form the backbone of the tale. In addition, the characters must overcome internal strife which threatens to tear the party apart and avoid the forces of good led by the wizard Mizzamir and the impestuous knight Sir Fenwick. This unusual twist to the standard "quest to save the world" fantasy novel is enjoyable to read. The action and dialogue moves along rather quickly and althought the resolution of the quest is never really in doubt, the plot does contain several unexpected twists which makes the book stand apart from the standard tales of the genre. Eve Forward has written a well-crafted novel for her first published work and should provide readers with many equally good works in the future. %A Forward, Eve %T Villains by Necessity %I TOR %C New York %D March 1995 %G ISBN 0-312-85789-6 %P 446 pp %O hardcover, US$24.95 Kevin B. Hewett | KNOWLEDGE hewett@chemvx.tamu.edu | IS A Dept. of Chemistry | TWO-EDGED Texas A&M University | SWORD