From rec.arts.sf.written Wed Jan  6 23:48:52 1993
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Path: lysator.liu.se!fizban.solace.hsh.se!kitten.umdc.umu.se!sunic!mcsun!uunet!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!wupost!csus.edu!netcom.com!dani
From: dani@netcom.com (Dani Zweig)
Subject: Midori Snyder: Beldan's Fire
Message-ID: <1992Dec23.070549.2525@netcom.com>
Organization: Netcom Online Communications Services (408-241-9760 login: guest)
Date: Wed, 23 Dec 1992 07:05:49 GMT
Lines: 23

"Beldan's Fire", the third book in Midori Snyder's "Queen's Quarter"
trilogy, is probably the best written of the three.  At the same time,
I found it the least interesting.  I think Snyder wrote herself into
a corner:  There was only one possible outcome, generally speaking,
unless she was willing to throw a lot of foreshadowing out the window.
So the only real question was how much she planned to make her
characters sweat and suffer in the interim.  

It's too bad that Snyder's first 'novel' was a trilogy.  It's not
bad, but she doesn't have the skill yet to give a large cast of
characters depth.  Single-novel length would have allowed her to
cover that better.

Call it -- "New Moon", "Sadar's Keep", "Beldan's Fire" -- an
above-average fantasy trilogy.

-----
Dani Zweig
dani@netcom.com

Roses red and violets blew
  and all the sweetest flowres that in the forrest grew -- Edmund Spenser