From rec.arts.sf.written Tue Jun  6 17:47:49 1995
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From: schulman+@pitt.edu (Christina Schulman)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Lindskold:_Brother To Dragons, Companion To Owls_
Date: 4 Jun 1995 05:13:45 GMT
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_Brother To Dragons, Companion To Owls_ by Jane Lindskold

Sarah can't talk properly, but she's great at listening, and inanimate
objects happily talk to her.  When budget cuts force her mental institution
to kick her out, she falls in with a society of street people modelled
after Kipling's tales of Mowgli.  It soon becomes apparent that the
mental institution wants Sarah back for Sinister Purposes, and Sarah
spends most of the book hiding from corporate goons with the help of
her new friends and her talking toy dragon.

_Brother To Dragons, Companion To Owls_ has all the trappings of
a cyberpunk novel:  certifiably insane characters, a ruthless society
of street refugees, Evil Corporate Conspiracies, bizarre methods of
code-breaking, and a light dose of virtual reality.  But Sarah's viewpoint
gives it a fairy-tale atmosphere that prevents it from becoming grim or
sordid, and the running commentary from her dragon is lighthearted and
amusing.  (Although the dragon(s) have the most poignant moment in the
book, IMHO.)

_Brother To Dragons, Companion To Owls_ didn't strike me as particularly
plausible; it pegged my "Yeah, right," meter a few times.  But it's a very
enjoyable read, full of memorable characters.  I recommend it.

%A Lindskold, Jane
%T Brother to Dragons, Companion to Owls
%I Avon Books
%G 0380775271
%D December 1994
%O paperback, US $4.99

-- 
Christina Schulman                                       schulman+@pitt.edu
"Good books do not leave you for your friends, staying out for who knows
 how long, coming home creased, with somebody else's crumbs in their
 fashionably colored dust jacket, or dribbling pages; and they always
 come home."  -- Lisa Chabot