In A Perfect Vacuum (1979), Leto offered a collection of reviews of nonexistent books. Here, in a companion book of sorts, he concocts introductions to nonexistent books, complete with sample pages, plus an introduction to introductions in general. (It first appeared in Polish in 1973.) And each entry displays a different facet of the formidable Lem talent. The first introduction concerns a bizarre volume of pornographic soft-focus X-ray plates. Next, with deadpan glee, Lem presents a scientist breeding bacteria that communicate in Morse code and foretell the future. A treatise on computer-generated literature includes machine-neologisms like "horseman" (centaur) and "piglet" (a filthy rooming house). There's a wildly funny sales pitch for Vestrand's Extelopedia in 44 Magnetomes: a "Prognostic-Aim Encyclopedia with Maximal Forereach in Time" which "contains information on History as it is going to happen"; not only that, but "at the sound of your voice, the appropriate Magnetome slips off the shelf, TURNS its own pages, and STOPS at the desired entry." Lastly, at his most challenging, Lem describes Golem XIV, a super-computer commissioned by the Pentagon to handle all military matters. Golem decides it doesn't want the job ("the best guarantee of peace is universal disarmament"), and instead settles down at MIT to deliver a set of devastating lectures on humanity's shortcomings; finally, then, its intelligence having progressed beyond human comprehension, Golem destroys itself. Don't look for stories, here, or fiction in any orthodox sense—but this is weirdly satisfying entertainment, with the remarkable Lem variously at his profound, provocative, or comic best.
Pub Date: Aug. 24, 1984
ISBN: 0156441802
Page Count: 264
Publisher: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1984
Perfectly fine despite second-book syndrome.
Cerúlia must grow up and learn to fight for her destiny in Kozloff’s (A Queen in Hiding, 2020) second Nine Realms novel.
Her mother, the Queen of Weirandale, is dead, and Cerúlia isn’t a child any more. She’s left her adoptive peasant family in order to escape evil Lord Matwyck’s clutches and eventually escapes Weirandale altogether. Using her ability to talk to animals and several bird-related aliases, Cerúlia manages to trek her way over the mountains and into the nation of Oromondo. Cerúlia knows that the Oros killed her mother, and she wants to avenge her death. She’s heard of a group of raiders who work to disrupt the Oros as they invade and pillage neighboring nations. When Cerúlia finally manages to find them and convince them to let her join up, she discovers not only new friends, but a newfound sense of purpose. But is any of that enough to win back her throne or even save herself from the Oro army? Interspersed with Cerúlia’s plotline are various threads centering on the Oro army and people, Lord Matwyck’s kindhearted son, and the raiders themselves. This is the second of a four-part series, and, as such, it falls into the expected pitfalls. The self-contained plot works, but it inevitably feels more like a buildup to further books in the series than its own story. It rises above filler, though, and Kozloff is clearly laying the groundwork for something good, particularly with the very last chapter.
Perfectly fine despite second-book syndrome.Pub Date: Feb. 18, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-16856-6
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2020
Shannon’s prose style is serviceable, but her legion of fans will once again be here for the propulsive plot rather than...
Paige Mahoney, the Pale Dreamer of The Bone Season (2013), returns in this second volume of a projected seven-volume fantasy/science-fiction epic.
The novel begins with Paige’s escape to London as she eludes pursuers of all stripes and becomes public enemy No. 1. On the plus side, she’s with a gang of clairvoyants, and her cohort is headed by Jaxon Hall, one of the mime-lords of the title. (Mime-lords and mime-queens are leaders of clairvoyant gangs who form a subgroup within the various cohorts.) London becomes the main setting of the novel, and it assumes various guises, some comforting but most harrowing. Cohorts inhabit spaces that seem vaguely familiar (Covent Garden, Camden Town, Soho) yet remain mysterious and sinister. Readers of the first volume might also remember the emphasis on a specialized and arcane vocabulary applicable to the alternative universe the author creates. The glossary is again a welcome necessity. The prime mover of action here is Paige’s relentless pursuit by Scion, a governmental organization that sees her as a threat to its status and power. Eventually Paige meets up again with Arcturus Mesarthim, her Warden and a Rephaite—a physically immortal being. He has some advice for her—to be wary and to “manipulate [her] mime-lord…as he has spent his life manipulating others”—good advice for a world that is arcane, complex, multilayered and at times almost incomprehensible.
Shannon’s prose style is serviceable, but her legion of fans will once again be here for the propulsive plot rather than lyricism.Pub Date: Jan. 27, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-62040-893-3
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: Nov. 5, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2014
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