In article <1100hrt$1mc1s$1@dont-email.me>, Lev <thresh3@fastmail.com> wrote: >>The Zelazny/Saberhagen collaboration being the lowlight is unsurprising. >>Collaborations where both authors are strong tend to produce work that >>sounds like neither of them. Each one defers to the other's style and
you end up in a no-man's-land.
Of course SF is rich with counter-examples: Pohl & Kornbluth,
Lee & Miller, de Camp & Pratt, Kuttner & Moore, Smith & Trowbridge,
Niven & Pornelle, Gaiman & Pratchett...
In article <10vvlb2$1g49g$1@dont-email.me>,
Lynn McGuire <lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> wrote:
On 6/5/2026 3:17 PM, Tony Nance wrote:
Highlights and Lowlights - April 2026
Books are rated using a very primitive rating system:
?+? are good, and more ?+? are better
?-? are not good, and more ?-? are worse
No brief descriptions this time - and probably not for the next one.
Very busy times.
But I?m happy to answer questions about anything here.
Highlight:˙ This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me - Andrews [Maggie the Undying #1] >>>
Lowlight:˙ The Black Throne - Zelazny & Saberhagen
April 2026
( ++ 1/2 ) Iron and Magic - Andrews [Kate Daniels universe]
( + - ) The Masquerades of Spring - Aaronovitch [Rivers of London
novella - 2024]
( +++ ) The Apocalypse Door - MacDonald [Re-read Project #8]
˙AND The Confessions of Peter Crossman˙ [Re-read Project #7]
( ++ ) The Village Library Demon-Hunting Society - Waggoner
( ++ 1/2 ) Dead Man?s Hand - James J Butcher [The Unorthodox Chronicles #1] >>> ( ++ 1/2˙ - ) Strange New World - Shaw [Dr Greta Helsing #4]
( + - - ) The Black Throne - Zelazny & Saberhagen
( +++ 1/2) This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me - Andrews [Maggie the Undying #1] >>>
Now Reading:
Long work - Bluebeard -Vonnegut
Collection - The Collected Stories of Arthur C Clarke [Segment #2,
stories 27-52 out of 104]
I have been trying to decide whether or not to purchase "Iron and
Magic". You may have pushed me over. Oh heck, why not? The wife has
given up trying to regulate my book purchases. But she has put her foot
down on bookshelf #8 in our bedroom.
https://www.amazon.com/Iron-Magic-Covenant-Ilona-Andrews/dp/1641970405
It's a fun book. I also loved the roll-over into the Kate books where
Hugh (her old enemy) and Elara pull up in Kate & Curran's driveway
and instead of dealing with an impending attack from K & C sit there
and bicker.
I have been tempted to buy the trade paperback of Maggie the Undying,
due out next March. The story does look awesome even if it is a ripoff
of "Replay" and "All You Need Is Kill" by Hiroshi Sakurazaka.
https://www.amazon.com/This-Kingdom-Will-Maggie-Undying/dp/1250377285
It's good. I believe the trope is a whole genre now, so it's not
a ripoff of any particular book. The Dark Lord Davi duology I
reviewed recently is in the same genre. (Much less sex in Maggie...)
In article <10vvati$1a7ri$1@dont-email.me>,
Tony Nance <tnusenet17@gmail.com> wrote:
Highlights and Lowlights - April 2026
Books are rated using a very primitive rating system:
?+? are good, and more ?+? are better
?-? are not good, and more ?-? are worse
No brief descriptions this time - and probably not for the next one.
Very busy times.
But I?m happy to answer questions about anything here.
Highlight: This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me - Andrews [Maggie the Undying #1] >>
Lowlight: The Black Throne - Zelazny & Saberhagen
April 2026
( ++ 1/2 ) Iron and Magic - Andrews [Kate Daniels universe]
( + - ) The Masquerades of Spring - Aaronovitch [Rivers of London
novella - 2024]
( +++ ) The Apocalypse Door - MacDonald [Re-read Project #8]
AND The Confessions of Peter Crossman [Re-read Project #7]
( ++ ) The Village Library Demon-Hunting Society - Waggoner
( ++ 1/2 ) Dead Man?s Hand - James J Butcher [The Unorthodox Chronicles #1] >> ( ++ 1/2 - ) Strange New World - Shaw [Dr Greta Helsing #4]
( + - - ) The Black Throne - Zelazny & Saberhagen
( +++ 1/2) This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me - Andrews [Maggie the Undying #1] >>
Now Reading:
Long work - Bluebeard -Vonnegut
Collection - The Collected Stories of Arthur C Clarke [Segment #2,
stories 27-52 out of 104]
Thanks as usual for doing these. I had been holding off replying
to this until I could do a Maggie review.
I believe the Andrews' ones are the only of yours I intersect with this time around. I thought Maggie was very good, but perhaps not as good as their UF,
and Iron & Magic was a lot of fun. It's amazing how they took Hugh from being a minor villian and failure into a new life.
It's entirely possible I may have read the Zelazny & Saberhagen as
I have read many books by both, but if so, it left no impression
at all in my mind.
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