From archive Thu Jul 30 17:01:06 MDT 1992
Subject: JASON COSMO by Dan McGirt
From: ecl@cbnewsj.ATT.COM (Evelyn C. Leeper)
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories
Date: 14 Jan 90 21:59:53 GMT




			  JASON COSMO by Dan McGirt
		   Signet, 1989, ISBN 0-451-16289-9, $3.95.
		      A book review by Evelyn C. Leeper

     JASON COSMO is a tongue-in-cheek fantasy.  It won't set the literary
world on fire, or win any Hugos, but it makes an enjoyable read.

     Jason Cosmo is a woodcutter in Hicksnittle who somehow gets tapped to
be the hero who will save everyone from the Demon Lords and assorted other
nasties.  He gets to rescue princesses, fight monsters, and do all that
other hero-type stuff.  Of course the plot isn't original--hero plots rarely
are.  But for a novel that starts out in the Festering Wart Tavern, you can
forgive a familiarity of plot.

     McGirt has a talent for coming up with humorous names, but he also has
an ear for clever dialogue.  For example:

     "If Rae City falls and the man Jason Cosmo is captured by the
     minions of the dreaded Society or the pawns of the Demon
     Lords--whichever these marauders may be--then beauty and
     truth, honor and justice, hope and peace, may be forever lost
     to the peoples of all kingdoms."

     "In other words," said Mercury.  "This is very important."

     Later, Jason asks Mercury why Mercury has come with him; is it because
he is Jason's friend?  Mercury replies, "That's true, but you loan a friend
garden tools.  You don't escort him through the Incredibly Dark Forest."
(As usual, one might wish for a better copy editor--one who would have
caught the punctuation error in the first example and the grammatical error
in the second--but heck, what do you expect for $3.95 these days?)

     There is a lot of what passes for humorous fantasy these days, but much
of it falls into the Xanth trap--what's funny the first time around is
marginal by book three and positively stupefying by book seven.  This book
is original and fun.  I hope we see more from McGirt, possibly even more
humorous novels (though he could probably do a straight fantasy if he
wished).  I just hope we don't end up with JASON COSMO VII: JASON TAKES
MANHATTAN.

Evelyn C. Leeper   |   +1 201-957-2070   |   att!mtgzy!ecl or ecl@mtgzy.att.com