From rec.arts.sf.reviews Mon Nov 25 09:19:01 1991
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From: ecl@mtgzy.att.com (Evelyn C Leeper +1 908 957 2070)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews
Subject: ALIEN TONGUE by Stephen Leigh
Message-ID: <1991Nov22.204601.8009@pbhyc.PacBell.COM>
Date: 22 Nov 91 20:46:01 GMT
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                          ALIEN TONGUE by Stephen Leigh
                        A book review by Evelyn C. Leeper
			 Copyright 1991 Evelyn C. Leeper

        This second entry in Bantam Spectra's "Next Wave" series is not up to
   the first (RED GENESIS by S. C. Sykes).  Perhaps it's that the aliens are
   unconvincing--as several people have pointed out, the odds seem against a
   race which cannot lie ever achieving a high level of technology or
   sophistication.  It isn't helped by Asimov's opening essay, in which he
   claims that of course an alien race that discovered Earth would make contact
   and explore, because we always had.  1) We didn't always--the Chinese at one
   point decided to pull back, burn their navy, and give up exploring.  2)
   They're *aliens*.  The whole point of the book is that aliens are different
   from us, they have different thought processes, they have different
   priorities.  (This of course also means my first complaint may not be
   completely valid, but all I can say is that Leigh doesn't convince *me*.)
   Rudy Rucker seems to grasp Leigh's concept of alien in his afterword better,
   at any rate.  But in addition to the unconvincing aliens, the love story
   lathered on top was totally unnecessary and seemed like mere padding.

        But ALIEN TONGUE does continue "The Next Wave"'s mission of science
   fiction with ideas, having as its plot interstellar travel and first
   contact.  And Leigh, on the whole, handles the psychology of an avian race
   well.  Because of this, I would say that ALIEN TONGUE was an acceptable
   read--not great, but reasonable for a plane flight or the beach.

   %T      ALIEN TONGUE
   %A      Stephen Leigh
   %C      New York
   %D      August 1991
   %I      Bantam Spectra
   %O      paperback, US$4.99
   %G      ISBN 0-553-28875-X
   %P      300pp + 14pp + 27pp

Evelyn C. Leeper   |   +1 908 957 2070   |   att!mtgzy!ecl or ecl@mtgzy.att.com