Heavy Duty

30 Dec 2004
A Free Man of Color / Fever Season / Sold down the River / Wet Grave - Barbara Hambly - Bantam Books, 1998 / 1999 / 2001 / 2003
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It occurred to me the other day to wonder just what the star system I've been using at the top of these reviews actually measures. Is it an indicator of my assessment of a book's literary merit, or some attempt to quantify the amount of pleasure it gave me in reading it? The answer is a bit of both, with the emphasis on the latter. This is particularly relevant to these books, because here there is a definite divergence. There is no doubt that in terms of characterisation, plotting, setting and message they are superb. I just didnt enjoy them much, and I am very hard put to say why.
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The Perils of Fix-ups

26 Feb 2005
All My Sins Remembered - Joe Haldeman - Futura 1978
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Not much to say about this one - I read it six months ago and don't remember it well now. It is a fix-up of three novellas about an undercover agent called Otto McGavin who works for a galactic government called the Confederaçion. The twist is that for each new mission, McGavin's body is reconstructed and new skills and characteristics are implanted in his brain through hypnotic suggestion. He then infiltrates some group of nasty people by pretending to be someone known to them.
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