From rec.arts.sf-lovers Mon May 27 12:02:22 1991 Path: herkules.sssab.se!isy!liuida!sunic!kth.se!eru!bloom-beacon!mintaka!think.com!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!wuarchive!uunet!munnari.oz.au!yoyo.aarnet.edu.au!sirius.ucs.adelaide.edu.au!adelphi.physics.adelaide.edu.au!iborchar From: iborchar@physics.adelaide.edu.au (Ian Borchardt) Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf-lovers,aus.sf Subject: Louise Cooper Summary: Unabashed Reccomendation Keywords: Time Master, Chaos Gate, Tarod, Aeoris, Yandros Message-ID: Date: 23 May 91 18:19:25 GMT Sender: news@ucs.adelaide.edu.au Followup-To: rec.arts.sf-lovers Lines: 56 Nntp-Posting-Host: adelphi.physics.adelaide.edu.au For those who have not discovered them yet, I would like to unashamedly reccommend the "Time Master" and "Chaos Gate" trilogies by Louise Cooper. The Time Master trilogy consists of "The Initiate", "The Outcast", and "The Master", and is a rewrite (and expansion) of an earlier novel ("The Lord of No Time", but you would have to be VERY lucky to find a copy since it hasn't been in print for a LONG time). It examines the theme of the war between the Gods of Law and the Gods of Chaos from a new and very interesting angle. The joy of these books, apart from the theme and conclusion (No Spoilers Here -- Read it yourself and find out!!!), are the characters of the major protagonists and her tight handling of their interactions. Very, very well handled. Of course all of this is IMHO. If you want to get a feel for the trilogy read the Prologue of Book One, by the time I reached the end of it (and the line "And someday Chaos shall return...") I was totally hooked ;-) The Chaos Gate trilogy is set a century after the conclusion of the Time Master trilogy. It consists of "The Deciever", "The Pretender", and "The Avenger". Books 1 & 2 have been released by Bantam Spectra in America, with Book 3 due out in December 91; I have not seen any English release yet. I found the presence of extracts from the next book in the series very irritating, mainly because in each case it was a number of months until the release of the next book. If you liked the first trilogy you will also enjoy this one. Although the story could probably stand alone, I heavily reccomend that the reader starts with the Time Master trilogy, since many of the protagonists from the first trilogy make an appearance (at least in cameo) in the second. BTW this reccommendation is due to just finishing the second book of Chaos Gate. It looks like book 3 will be very interesting (the extract in book 2 portends the gathering of all the sides at one location, and it will be very interesting how/if the peace invoked at the end of the first trilogy will be returned to the world...). As for Louise Coopers other books, the Indigo series (currently "Nemesis", "Inferno","Infanta", and "Nocturne") is much less tightly written (in a word, the series develops slowly -- IMHO I think the series will be 8 books in length; it's currently stopped at a natural resting point). It is not until book 4 that the series shows the strengths of the above two trilogies. Her solo novel "Mirage" is neither bad nor excellent, and compared to the Time master trilogy (it was published just after) it was a slight disappointment. She has also written "The Thorn Key" (a children's book) and another book which features a journey through the Tarot (the name of which escapes me, but it has also been out of print for a LONG time). The latter is an interesting idea, but, like The Lord of No Time, lacks the skill shown in her later books. -- Ian Borchardt And in the next world, iborchar@physics.adelaide.edu.au I will kill the foe a thousand times, Medical Physicist Laughing, University of Adelaide/Royal Adelaide Hospital Undefeated.