From rec.arts.sf.reviews Mon Feb 13 18:11:21 1995 Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews,rec.arts.books.reviews Path: news.ifm.liu.se!liuida!sunic!news.tele.fi!uunet!gatech!howland.reston.ans.net!ix.netcom.com!netcom.com!postmodern.com!not-for-mail From: ecl@mtgpfs1.mt.att.com (Evelyn C Leeper) Subject: SUMMER KING, WINTER FOOL by Lisa Goldstein Message-ID: <9501311339.ZM9484@mtgpfs1.mt.att.com> Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.written Sender: mcb@postmodern.com (Michael C. Berch) Organization: The Internet Date: Wed, 8 Feb 1995 22:51:43 GMT Approved: mcb@postmodern.com (rec.arts.sf.reviews moderator) Lines: 47 Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.sf.reviews:723 rec.arts.books.reviews:292 SUMMER KING, WINTER FOOL by Lisa Goldstein Tor, ISBN 0-312-85632-6, May 1994, 287pp, US$20.95 A book review by Evelyn C. Leeper Copyright 1995 Evelyn C. Leeper Unlike some of Goldstein's other fantasies, SUMMER KING, WINTER FOOL takes place in a never-never fantasyland rather than an unspecified country in our world. In the land ruled by the city Etrara, the people worship the gods Callabrion and Scathiel. In summer, Callabrion rules from heaven and Scathiel is here (or rather there) on earth, while in winter their positions are reversed. Etrara is your typical pre-industrial feudal kingdom, ruled by the not very good King Gobro. But at the start of the story, palace intrigues lead to social and political upheaval, while Callabrion has apparently decided to remain below and not ascend to heaven. I got into the mood from the very beginning of this book--we had had a power failure and I read part by candlelight. Even read by ordinary electric light, there is a fantasy aura throughout this book. Maybe it's that Goldstein gives the power in the book not just to mages, but to poet-mages, who weave their spells through the poems they compose. The pen, or at least the word, is indeed mightier than the sword in these battles. It's a pity therefore that Goldstein resorts to a deus ex machina resolution to resolve it all, though she does avoid the obvious pat ending. In general I am not a fan of this sort of fantasy, preferring fantasy set in our own world, but Goldstein has a certain modern sensibility that makes this more enjoyable (to me) than most others of this sort. It reminds me of such works as Ellen Kushner's SWORDSPOINT, and is part of a new, more modern branch on the fantasy tree. %A Goldstein, Lisa %T Summer King, Winter Fool %I Tor %C New York %D May 1994 %G ISBN 0-312-85632-6 %P 287pp %O hardback, US$20.95 -- Evelyn C. Leeper | +1 908 957 2070 | Evelyn.Leeper@att.com "As I stood before the gates I realized that I never want to be as certain about anything as were the people who built this place." -Rabbi Sheila Peltz Weinberg on her visit to Auschwitz From rec.arts.sf.reviews Tue Sep 24 22:02:22 1996 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!solace!eru.mt.luth.se!news.algonet.se!news.uoregon.edu!enews.sgi.com!news.sgi.com!swrinde.nde.swri.edu!howland.erols.net!bloom-beacon.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!usenet From: ecl@mtgbcs.mt.lucent.com Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews,rec.arts.books.reviews Subject: Review: WALKING THE LABYRINTH by Lisa Goldstein Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.written Date: 18 Sep 1996 17:15:37 -0400 Organization: Intelligent Agents Group Lines: 55 Sender: wex@tinbergen.media.mit.edu (Graystreak) Approved: wex@media.mit.edu Message-ID: NNTP-Posting-Host: tinbergen.media.mit.edu Keywords: author=Evelyn C. Leeper X-Newsreader: (ding) Gnus v0.94 Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.sf.reviews:1090 rec.arts.books.reviews:1989 WALKING THE LABYRINTH by Lisa Goldstein A book review by Evelyn C. Leeper Copyright 1996 Evelyn C. Leeper Lisa Goldstein is an author who does not follow the more heavily traveled roads of fantasy, but tends to set off in her own direction, sometimes along a lesser-known path, sometimes blazing her own trail. So the title of this work is perhaps as descriptive of her work as a whole as of this work in particular Molly Travers is a modern woman with modern concerns until she discovers that her family were a vaudeville act in the 1930s, doing magic. And not just illusion, it seems, but real magic. Molly travels to England to find out more, where she discovers hidden books, secret relationships, and, in the basement of an English country house, a labyrinth that is more than it first appears. My main complaint with the book is not even anything Goldstein had control over: the typeface. It's a thinner line than the "standard" typeface, hence lighter appearing and, for me at least, harder to read. It did have a light fantasy feel, probably the idea, but .... Now, given that is my main objection, you can guess I liked the book. Goldstein's work has often been called "magical realism," and I guess that description is as accurate as any. WALKING THE LABYRINTH is set more in real places--London, Oakland, and so on--than her works set in the mythical land of Ahaz. That is, unless you agree with Gertrude Stein about Oakland: that "there is no there there." But it still has that feel of being just slightly askew from reality that one finds not only in her other works, but also in those of Garcia Marquez and Amado. I am not saying she is their equal--that would be like comparing a playwright of today with Shakespeare. But she seems to be their quite worthy literary descendent, and I recommend this highly. That STARLOG magazine can say, "Goldstein's work does *not* remind the reader of other books: it is truly original and has a clear, distinct voice of its own," would seem to indicate more the narrowness of the books STARLOG knows about than Goldstein's position in literature. That she is part of such a rich literary field as magical realism is not to be considered at all a bad thing. After all, it is not just in science that "standing on the shoulders of giants" is the way new accomplishments are achieved. %T Walking the Labyrinth %A Lisa Goldstein %C New York %D June 1996 %I Tor %O hardback, US$21.95 %G ISBN 0-312-86175-3 %P 254pp Evelyn C. Leeper | eleeper@lucent.com +1 908 957 2070 | http://www.geocities.com/Athens/4824 "El sueno de la razon produce monstruos." --caption to plate 43 of Goya's "Caprichios"