Book review: Star Song
Nov. 30th, 2005 02:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tigertoyToday's book review is Star Song and Other Stories by Timothy Zahn.
Last Friday, when I got to Chambanacon, I discovered that I'd left my belt pouch at home. Among other things I wanted, it contained the book I intended to read to relax before going to sleep. So I browsed over Glen Cook's table in search of another book, and I came across this collection of stories by Tim, none of which I thought I'd read. And hey, since he was the guest of honor, I could get it signed. So I bought it.
The six stories in this volume range from a just-over-four-page short-short to a 100-page novella, with original magazine publication dates from 1987 to 1997, and they are completely unrelated to each other. A couple are silly, others serious, but they all have original and unusual science fiction ideas. The writing is solid, the characters real, and (except for deliberate absurdity) the plots are believable, and all of the stories have as a hook an idea that I don't recall having encountered before that makes for a genuinely interesting story. These stories have the qualities that made me a fan of Zahn's writing in the first place, in fuller measure, frankly, than the last couple of his novels I've read.
9 out of 10.
Last Friday, when I got to Chambanacon, I discovered that I'd left my belt pouch at home. Among other things I wanted, it contained the book I intended to read to relax before going to sleep. So I browsed over Glen Cook's table in search of another book, and I came across this collection of stories by Tim, none of which I thought I'd read. And hey, since he was the guest of honor, I could get it signed. So I bought it.
The six stories in this volume range from a just-over-four-page short-short to a 100-page novella, with original magazine publication dates from 1987 to 1997, and they are completely unrelated to each other. A couple are silly, others serious, but they all have original and unusual science fiction ideas. The writing is solid, the characters real, and (except for deliberate absurdity) the plots are believable, and all of the stories have as a hook an idea that I don't recall having encountered before that makes for a genuinely interesting story. These stories have the qualities that made me a fan of Zahn's writing in the first place, in fuller measure, frankly, than the last couple of his novels I've read.
9 out of 10.