Dragaera

Brust books you didn't like (was: Where did you begin?)

Thu Dec 19 14:36:17 PST 2002

There are two Brust books I would say I don't like:

_To Reign in Hell_, which was an exercise in clever retconning but which
struck me (as an atheist) as somewhat pointless.

_Cowboy Feng's Space Bar and Grille_.  I've read it once, when it first
came out.  I don't remember all that much about it, except that halfway
through, when one of the characters died, I realized that I had no idea
who that character was.  This struck me as a failure of characterization.
There was also a point where the characters drew a bunch of inferences
on really scanty data, and turned out to be absolutely correct on every
point.  At the end of the book it turned out that there was some excuse
for this, but it didn't retroactively redeem my previous annoyance.  Just
in general there were some good bits but it didn't work for me.

On the other hand, every other Brust book I've read, I've really liked,
*and* he is one of the few authors I buy on sight in hardcover.  

-- 
   David Goldfarb       <*>|"You realize you're insane, don't you?"
goldfarb at ocf.berkeley.edu  |     "*hahahaha*. Don't change the subject." 
goldfarb at csua.berkeley.edu |               -- _Zot!_ #3