From rec.arts.sf.reviews Wed Mar 8 12:11:55 2000 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!feed2.news.luth.se!luth.se!logbridge.uoregon.edu!newsswitch.lcs.mit.edu!bloom-beacon.mit.edu!senator-bedfellow.mit.edu!dreaderd!not-for-mail Sender: wex@deepspace.media.mit.edu From: "Aaron M. Renn" Approved: wex@media.mit.edu Subject: Review: Ragnarock by Stephen Kenson Organization: GNU's Not Unix! Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.written Date: 06 Mar 2000 11:54:12 -0500 Message-ID: X-Newsreader: Gnus v5.5/Emacs 20.3 Lines: 42 NNTP-Posting-Host: deepspace.media.mit.edu X-Trace: dreaderd 952361654 2944 18.85.23.65 Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.sf.reviews:2628 Ragnarock by Stephen Kenson Review Copyright (c) 2000 Aaron M. Renn Conclusion: Worth Reading There are two basic kinds of X-Files episodes, those that advance the mythology of the series and those that don't. The former seem to be the ones people like the most. So it is with Shadowrun novels too. Luckily, that's the type this one is, and we get to learn a number of interesting things about the dragon Lofwyr and his ilk. Shadowrun is a role playing game that also has some accompanying novels that I'll admit I've gotten hooked on. They provide a nice, short escapist read in a cyberpunk/fantasy combat setting that I enjoy. They are definitely a great antidote to the 600+ page epic monstrosities that are way too common in SF today. Tommy Talon and his crew of shadow running mercenaries is hired by the world's largest megacorporation to recover an artifact that went missing from an excavation site. This looks to be a pretty simple run, until they find out they're not the only ones after it. If you're looking for lots of mayhem and a nice minor mystery, this book might be for you. If you're looking for something profound, definitely take a pass. PS: I did not spell the title of this book wrong. You'll have to read it to find out more. %A Kenson, Stephen %T Ragnarock %S Shadowrun %I Roc/Penguin %D 2000-02 %G ISBN 0-451-45774-9 %P 275 pp. %O mass market paperback, US$5.95 Reviewed on 2000-02-13 Aaron M. Renn (arenn@urbanophile.com) http://www.urbanophile.com/arenn/