From /tmp/sf.3694 Sun Nov 8 23:07:29 1992 Path: lysator.liu.se!fizban.solace.hsh.se!kitten.umdc.umu.se!sunic!mcsun!uunet!charon.amdahl.com!pacbell.com!decwrl!sun-barr!cs.utexas.edu!wupost!uwm.edu!biosci!ig!dont-reply-to-paths From: dkl@xcluud.sccsi.com (David Leikam) Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: "The Chieftan", or John Norman Returns Message-ID: Date: 5 Nov 92 01:04:27 GMT Sender: mcb@net.bio.net Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.written Organization: Greater Montrose UFO Appreciation Society & Data Haven Lines: 112 Approved: mcb@presto.ig.com (rec.arts.sf.reviews moderator) The Chieftan Book One of the Telnarian Chronicles by John Norman review by dkl 10/21/91 None of the leading lights of RASFR have, to my knowledge, bothered to review this seminal and important new fantasy work. Just as well: it not only gives me a chance to review it, but spares them a mild flame for having nothing better to do. John "Gor" Norman is very well-known (in the strict sense of the term) among sword-and-sorcery cognoscenti. His previous efforts in the field, chiefly the "Gor" novels, a/k/a Chronicles of the Counter-Earth, are the stuff of fannish legends, including the well-known fan play, "Buckets of Gor". Yet, to the surprise of many, he seems to have ceased publication several years back. We used to be able to rely on these things: every year we'd have to pay income taxes, and we'd get a new Gor novel. The Gor novels stopped. Maybe there's hope for the taxes? Norman is back, sans Gor. Take heart, though: the fan of Norman's previous works will feel very much at home with this new series. Norman is still the same incisive, intriguing, witty, subtle and original writer he always was. Or as a currently popular, pithy saying has it: Not! Norman's new plot, what there is of it, allegedly details the history of a fictional star-spanning empire, as told in first person by an unknown narrator. This italicized reiteration of supposed history is interspersed with sequences of alternating first-person/omniscient present tense "action". This is, as always with Norman, mere window dressing for extensive harping on his favorite personal socio-political crochet. More on this anon. (It's kinda nice to be able to review a book without worrying about spoilers. There isn't enough of a story here to spoil, nohow. On the other hand, this means you have to actually read a book wherein plot, characterization, structure, writing, indeed everything, are sacrificed for a "pot of message.") Norman is the only author I know of, whose books can be sliced thinly along the spine, the pages shuffled together, a chunk pulled from the middle of the resulting stack and read as a novel, without losing a thing. What you will learn about, extensively, is slave-girls. (Those of you previously acquainted with Norman would be unsurprised at this, if you hadn't quit reading the review after the first two paragraphs.) Women, you see, all women, in Norman's omniverse, secretly desire to be enslaved by men. This makes them "real" women. Ok, well, a crank idea, but maybe even one worth a little careful exploration by a thoughtful writer. Provocative, at least. Might make you think twice. Norman is not a thoughtful writer, and he ham-handedly bashes you over the head with the notion, over and over, for more than half of the book's wordage. He did this before, with the Gor series, to the tune of some 14 or 15 novels. In the end, Norman is so implausible and pathetic about this, I can't imagine anyone taking it seriously enough to be offended. Even the most rabid of feminists are, I daresay, going to just walk away, giggling, from this one. It gets worse. Norman's linguistic style wouldn't challenge the average American-educated 4th grader, whether by construction or vocabulary. He also repeats himself. Norman often says the same thing several different ways. There's a lot of re-iteration in this book. I believe you will find that many passages strongly resemble previous passages. Often, an idea is presented which has been presented before. Reading this book gives me a diverting sense of deja-vu. Enough already: this is a lousy book, a kind of embarrassing, ill- written personal bondage-fantasy without even enough pornography to be interesting. It could easily have BEEN another Gor novel with a few random search-and-replace passes through the word-processor. Pure, unreconstructed Norman. The book is dedicated to "those who disapprove of blacklisting." There's already a second novel in the series, which I spotted in the bookstore, dedicated to those who disapprove of censorship. Maybe this is a slap at Daw, who published the Gor crap, inasmuch as this one appears under the Questar label. If that's so, perhaps Norman confuses censorship with simple good judgment. Daw was overly lenient, if anything -- the last 10 or so Gor novels were pure drivel. %A John Norman (pseudonym) %T The Chieftan %I Questar -- Warner Books, Inc. %C New York %D 1991 %G ISBN 0-446-36149-6 %P 294 pp. %V Book One %S The Telnarian Chronicles %O Mass-market paperback US$4.50/CA$5.99 -- dkl@xcluud.sccsi.com | My company doesn't know Usenet exists, and my boss and other places, | would have kittens if he thought I spoke for them. even more unsavory. | My opinions are better than theirs anyway.