ISBN: 0-440-04551 Order from: Amazon.com Barnes & Noble.com
Reviewed by David on June 18, 1998
Genre: Fantasy (Sword and Sorcery, Multiple Worlds)
Synopsis: A bored man signs up with a mysterious agency and is transported to another world in search of adventure. There, he fights sword battles, encounters sorcery, bogus science and passionate and compliant women.
Short Review: Another tale in the sub-genre used notably in Edgar Rice Burroughs's Barsoom novels and Heinlein's Glory Road. It crosses pretty quickly to Conan-like adventure, except with a bit more sex and pseudo-science. In fact, the closest equivalents are the Jeffrey Lord's Blade novels, and pehaps the Gor books by John Norman, although it is much less of a soft-core porn novel.
The characters are flat, the plot pedestrian, and the dialogue primitive. Unless you enjoy the Blade-type books, leave this one sitting on the used book store shelf.
Overall: 3; Plot: 3; Characters: 2; Style: 2; World-building: 3.5; Originality: 2;
Copyright date 1976, Dell Publishing (Dell), May 1976, Mass-market, 203 pages
ISBN: 0-440-04551 Order from: Amazon.com Barnes & Noble.com