ISBN: 0-887997-853-8
{Overall: 4.5 Order from: Amazon.com Barnes & Noble.com
A swashbuckling adventure complete with exotic worlds, weapons, and suitable villains, this rather ascience fiction is mildly pleasing but highly derivative.
Reviewed by David on March 18, 2001
Genre: Science Fiction (Multiple Worlds, ESP)
Synopsis: Harry Blakey, a restless young man, discovers a talent half-remembered since childhood—an ability to see and use hidden portals to other worlds. Attracted by adventure, he finds exotic locales, pleasant women, cruel slavemasters, stalwart companions, and plenty of fighting.
Full Review: Kenneth Bulmer, the author of numerous novels including the Dray Prescott series, has written another novel of adventure, faithful to the spirit of John Carter (A Princess of Mars and sequels). Updated for the modern world, complete with references to credit cards and Viet-Nam, this novel is not much different, with exotic monsters, evil villains and beautiful women (friendly and otherwise).
Wielding his knowledge of weapons, the skill at traveling between worlds, and his wits, Harry Blakey starts his adventures out of curiosity, and continues them out of necessity.
Not much different from the multitude of previous such novels (including many by the same author), the book provides fast, easy entertainment with little intellectual stimulation.
Plot: 4; Characters: 4.5; Style: 5; World-building: 4.5; Originality: 4.5;
Copyright date 1983, Donald A. Wollheim (DAW), August 1983, Mass market paperback, 174 pages
ISBN: 0-887997-853-8
{Overall: 4.5 Order from: Amazon.com Barnes & Noble.com