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Chalker, Jack L.


WARRIORS OF THE STORM by Jack L. Chalker
holloway@drivax.UUCP (Bruce Holloway)
Digitalis Research, Inc.
10 Aug 87 22:59:44 GMT




WARRIORS OF THE STORM [***+]
Jack Chalker

"Warriors of  the Storm" is the third volume (of four) in the "Rings of the
Masters" serial. The first book, "Lords  of  the Middle Dark", introduces a
future  Earth  where  every segment of the population  has  reverted  to  a
pre-technological state under the loving  guidance  of the Master System, a
computer  charged, long ago,  with  protecting  humanity  from  itself,  no
matter what the means. 

But the programmers  left  themselves  an  out  -  five  rings  which, when
brought together in a certain  place,  would give their wielders control of
the Master System. The Master System does not wish these rings to be  used,
but it is forced  by  its  core  routines  to protect the rings, and to see
that they  remain always in the hands of prominent humans, although nothing
says they should be told of their function. 

The first book follows "Walks  With  the  Night Hawks", known familiarly as
"Hawks",  as he learns about the rings, and his mission  to  find  the  one
known to be on Earth. The owner of that one sends him into  space  to  find
the others. The  second  book,  "Pirates  of  the  Thunder", concerns their
escape from the Master  System  to the colony worlds the computer set up to
handle the bulk of humanity that couldn't be reduced to savagery  (far  too
many of them!). At the end  of  "Pirates", the protagonists have survived a
battle with the Master System, and are casing a planet  to  get their first
ring... 

"Warriors"  opens  almost  immediately  after, and starts introducing  some
more of  the  standard  Chalker  plot  devices - such as shape-changing and
parodies of Earth cultures. 

But  unlike  his more recent efforts, most notably the "Soul Rider" series,
he manages to transcend  these  gimmicks  and  fit  some real plot into the
book. The characters tend to  be  a  bit  stiff,  even  characters  than in
earlier books were real  individuals.  Possibly  because  there are so MANY
minor  characters left over from the second book. Chalker  begins  focusing
on a few main  ones  again,  but  not until we're hopelessly confused. This
passes, though. 

The real hero  of  this book is Vulture, an artificially created being that
can "swallow"  another  being  and exactly duplicate it, memories included.
This character  is a walking "deus ex machina"... the group wouldn't have a
prayer of succeeding without it. 

The  characters  realize  this, and wonder why things are going so well for
them, and this leads into an intriguing subplot. 

The  book  is  well-written,  and  a good page turner.  If  Chalker  hadn't
explored  many  of  these  same  plot  devices in previous books, it'd have
gotten even higher  marks. If you haven't read the first two books, they're
necessary  for this one. I give this one a qualified  recommendation  -  if
you haven't liked previous Chalker books, you won't like  this  series. And
if you have - the trappings  that  surround  the plot devices are what make
this book good. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

FYI - Standard Chalker Plot Devices
===================================

WC = Web of the Chozen			DD = And the Devil Will Drag You Under
JS = A Jungle of Stars			WW = Well World
FL = Four Lords of the Diamond		DG = Dancing Gods
RM = Rings of the Master		SR = Soul Rider
DN = Downtiming the Night Side		IM = The Identity Matrix
MC = The Messiah Choice			GD = G.O.D. Inc.
WS = War of Shadows

o Shape-changing (WC, DD, JS, WW, FL, DG, RM, SR, DN, IM)
o Sex changing (WC, WW, FL, DG, RM, SR, DN, IM, MC)
o Body Swapping (DD, JS, WW, FL, DG, RM, SR, IM)
o Drugs causing behavior modification, usu. sexual (WW, WS, GD, RM, SR)
o Artificial Intelligences (WC, WW, RM, SR, MC)
o Parodies of Earth Cultures (WC, DD, WW, FL, RM, SR, GD)
o Consciousness as part of the body (GD, RM, SR)
o Nymphomania (WC, FL, RM, SR, GD)
o Pregnancy Compulsion (SR, RM, FL, WC)

The following are not present in the "Rings of the Masters" series - yet.

o Intelligent Microorganisms (WW, FL)
o Humans in Alien Suits (WC, JS, WW, FL, IM)
-- 
Bruce Holloway - Terminal Netnews Addict    {seismo,sun}!amdahl!drivax!holloway
ALBATROSS, ATARI*TROS @ Plink                                ALBATROSS @ Delphi
                                >>> HI, KARL! <<<

When the Changewinds Blow by Chalker
haste+@andrew.cmu.edu (Dani Zweig)
Carnegie Mellon University
27 Aug 87 19:34:48 GMT




If you like typical Chalker, you'll like "When the Changewinds Blow".  And
contrariwise.  The world is reminiscent of that of the Dancing Gods (without
the silly humor) and the characters are more reminiscent of those of the Soul
Rider books.  (Seeing as I've just given away everything but some of the
plot, I suppose I should have typed "spoilers" in 60-point font.)

-----
Dani Zweig
haste+@andrew.cmu.edu 
(arpa, bitnet, or via seismo)

   The surface of the strange, forbidden planet was roughly textured and
green, much like cottage cheese gets way after the date on the lid says it is
all right to buy it.--Scott Jones


Mats Ohrman <matoh@prefix.liu.se>
Sun, 6 Sep 87 01:26:01 +0200


Path: liuida!enea!mcvax!seismo!uunet!husc6!rutgers!ames!amdahl!drivax!holloway
From: holloway@drivax.UUCP (Bruce Holloway)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf-lovers
Subject: Re: When the Changewinds Blow by Chalker
Message-ID: <2300@drivax.UUCP>
Date: 1 Sep 87 22:33:44 GMT
References: <cVB8bMy00UhtcJY0MR@andrew.cmu.edu>
Reply-To: holloway@drivax.UUCP (Bruce Holloway)
Organization: Compact (was DRI)
Lines: 38

In article <cVB8bMy00UhtcJY0MR@andrew.cmu.edu> haste+@andrew.cmu.edu (Dani Zweig) writes:
>If you like typical Chalker, you'll like "When the Changewinds Blow".  And
>contrariwise.  The world is reminiscent of that of the Dancing Gods (without
>the silly humor) and the characters are more reminiscent of those of the Soul
>Rider books.  (Seeing as I've just given away everything but some of the
>plot, I suppose I should have typed "spoilers" in 60-point font.)

I was going to post a review of this book, but decided not to. It's TYPICAL
CHALKER (good description, Dani). There's nothing new in this book, it follows
the standard Chalker Plot Development with the Standard Chalker Fantasy
Elements (as opposed to the Standard Science Fiction Elements).

Overall impression: Some nice details. Hell, a lot of nice details. But it's
the main focus that's out. We saw most of this in the Soul Rider series...
but in this one, Suzl has been split into the two main characters. One of
the pair (and they really are to be considered one person, a point Chalker
hammers home often) is transformed into a sexy geisha girl, the other
flirts briefly with being male, then has a brush with a demon to obvious
ends.

The plot is Standard Quest - characters are set in strange surroundings,
and gradually meet other people who (for a time, at least) travel with them.
Said characters in the Quest Plot almost always know more than the main
characters (Tolkien, Eddings, et.al.), and the Quest is at some point
completed.

But not in this book. No, this is one of a series, and after a minor
climax, the book ends, with the Standard Intra-Series Hook of revealing
a little extra information to the reader. ("Pirates of the Thunder",
"Four Lords of the Diamond", "Soul Rider", et.al.)

All things considered, typical Chalker.

- Bruce
-- 
*******************************************************************************
* Bruce Holloway - Terminal Netnews Addict{seismo,sun}!amdahl!drivax!holloway *
* ALBATROSS, ATARI*TROS @ Plink                            ALBATROSS @ Delphi *
*******************************************************************************

HOTEL ANDROMEDA by Jack Chalker
Evelyn.Chimelis.Leeper@att.com (Evelyn C Leeper)
University of California, Berkeley
7 May 1994 23:07:08 GMT


                      HOTEL ANDROMEDA by Jack Chalker
               Ace, ISBN 0-441-00010-X, 1994, 248pp, US$4.99.
                     A book review by Evelyn C. Leeper
		      Copyright 1994 Evelyn C. Leeper

     If this is the kind of book you like, then you will like this book.

     Jack Chalker collects (has commissioned, one suspects) twelve stories
of alien goings-on in an intergalactic hotel.  There may be a serious story
in here, but the ones I sampled seemed of the variety that plays better as a
Marx Brothers comedy on screen than on the printed page.  The most
prestigious author included is Kristine Kathryn Rusch; other well-known
contributors include Esther M. Friesner and Janet Kagan.  The goal, so far
as I can tell, is entertainment without concern for content, or even a plot,
but it didn't grab me enough to make me plow through it.  It is, of course,
remotely conceivable that picking this up immediately after finishing JANE
EYRE was too much of a shock to my system, but it didn't seem to deliver the
sort of GRAND HOTEL story I was expecting.

     Then again, I don't read Terry Pratchett either.

%A      Chalker, Jack
%T      Hotel Andromeda
%I      Ace
%C      New York
%D      February 1994
%G      ISBN 0-441-00010-X
%O      US$4.99
%P      248pp, pb

-- 
Evelyn C. Leeper | +1 908 957 2070 | Evelyn.Leeper@att.com
"The Internet is already an information superhighway, except that ...  it is
like driving a car through a blizzard without windshield wipers or lights, and
all of the road signs are written upside down and backwards."  --Dave Barry


Linköping SF Archive / Mats Öhrman