From /tmp/sf.4258 Tue Feb 1 03:32:36 1994 Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written Path: liuida!sunic!mcsun!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!decwrl!pacbell.com!amdahl!netcomsv!netcom.com!dani From: dani@netcom.com (Dani Zweig) Subject: Gayle Greeno: The Ghatti's Tale Message-ID: Organization: Netcom Online Communications Services (408-241-9760 login: guest) Date: Thu, 4 Nov 1993 17:19:31 GMT Lines: 29 I assume Gayle Greeno's "The Ghatti's Tale" is a first novel (okay, trilogy). It certainly has the earmarks (okay, clawmarks), including clumsy writing, poor control, and the mistaking of angst for characterization. The telepathic bond between some people and giant cats should appeal to readers who haven't been satiated by similar bonds with horses, dragons, unicorns, birds or (any day now) silkworms. The story itself? Someone's been murdering Seekers (people who form these bonds become Seekers and use telepathic powers to mediate disputes) and Ghatti (the oversized intelligent cats). Some evidence points to rogue telepaths. Other evidence points to medical researchers who might have a motivation for needing to understand how telepathy works. And still other evidence doesn't seem to make sense. So one pair is sent to follow the same route as the last pair to be attacked. It's not actively bad -- for readers who like this sort of thing, this is the sort of thing they like -- but a combination of a lack of skill and a lack of imagination relegate this to the stale-mind-candy level of reading. I read it while waiting for my car's timing belt to be replaced, which is just the sort of circumstance under which you'd want a book like this around. ----- Dani Zweig dani@netcom.com "The death of God left the angels in a strange position." --Internal documentation, programmer unknown