From rec.arts.sf.reviews Mon May 15 10:52:59 1995 Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.kth.se!nac.no!Norway.EU.net!EU.net!gatech!swrinde!sgiblab!uhog.mit.edu!news!nobody From: msb@pan.as.utexas.edu (Mike Brotherton) Subject: REVIEW: Pawn's Dream Message-ID: <3ot4nm$q85@geraldo.cc.utexas.edu> Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.written Sender: news@media.mit.edu (USENET News System) Organization: McDonald Observatory, University of Texas @ Austin Date: Fri, 12 May 1995 20:21:12 GMT Approved: wex@media.mit.edu (Alan Wexelblat) Lines: 76 PAWN'S DREAM by Eric Nylund Reviewed by Mike Brotherton This impressive first novel bodes well for fans of fast-paced fantasy adventure with solid plotting and interesting magic -- Nylund may be this generation's Roger Zelazny. Definitely a writer to watch. The premise of Pawn's Dream is that there exists a family of "dreamers," who wake up in another world (Meredin) when they fall asleep in our world. The dual nature of the dreamers' existence gives them the ability to manipulate other dualities such as life and death, fire and water, earth and air, good and evil, etc., in order to produce magical effects. Nylund has created a consistent and engaging magic system that makes the reader sit back and imagine, but not for too long, because this book is a page-turner. The plot grabs and pulls and yanks, and doesn't let up. The protagonist, Roland Pritchard, is the last member of the Pritchard branch of the family and has been been raised by his mother, a non-dreamer, fearful since her husband's mysterious death. Roland is a convenience store clerk, unaware of his powers and of his relatives until he receives a letter which contains a hundred dollar bill and a note sent out to all the "Pritchards" in the state in an effort to locate blood relatives of Clay Pritchard, Roland's father. Thus he is led to Eugene Rhodes, the family of dreamers, and his legacy. On Meredin, Roland is a monk in a remote abbey where his father hid him when he was an infant. He is a translator, not yet fully committed to a lifetime of scholarship at the Abbey (a rite involving castration), and longs to depart to explore the world he has read about, but never seen. Local politics in the form of a vindictive, murdering monk named WaterStone get in his way and he attempts to escape with visiting strangers, the DeMarcos: Aesop and Smoking Bear, dreamers and magic users, family that he is not yet aware of. The plot is advanced by Roland's growing knowledge about family connections and their methods of operation, as well as his own quickly developing magical talent in the area of life and death magic. On Earth, he falls in with Eugene Rhodes and an alluring cousin, Sabrina Bishop, who teach him about the family and magic. Someone is also after Roland, and has tried to kill him, possibly seeking the Pritchard family heirloom, a treasure hidden by Roland's father with unknown capabilities. On Meredin, now a world much decayed from the Golden Age he has read about, Roland and the DeMarcos are also pursued by evil forces, demons (natives of the planet) in the employ of Morgan Bishop who seeks the DeMarcos family's lost treasure. Roland is a strong, if initially ignorant character, who, raised outside of the family politics, hopes to transcend the constant feuding that threatens the very existence of Meredin. The novel comes to a satisfactory conclusion, although the final climactic scene could be more climactic. The ending leaves room for a sequel that I hope Nylund will write. This book was a fun, fast ride. I'd rate it an 8 out of 10. %T Pawn's Dream %A Eric S. Nylund %C New York %D May 1995 %I Avon Books %O Paperback, US$4.99 %G ISBN 0-380-77887-4 %P 345pp -- Mike Brotherton msb@pan.as.utexas.edu Astronomy Dept., RLM 15.308 Clarion West 94 Grad University of Texas at Austin 7205 Hart Lane #1034, Austin, TX 78731 Austin, TX 78712 (512)471-8433(wk), 471-6016(FAX), 795-9532(hm) -- --Alan Wexelblat, Reality Hacker, Author, and Cyberspace Bard MIT Media Lab - Intelligent Agents Group finger(1) for PGP key Voice: 617-253-9833 Pager: 617-945-1842 wex@media.mit.edu http://wex.www.media.mit.edu/people/wex/ "Are we fugitives from the law?" "Yes." "Idiocy is our only option."