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Forever After | Rating | |
| A | |||
| Roger Zelazny | |||
| Series | Related Books | ||
| N/A | N/A | ||
The great battle between Good and Evil that crops up every millenium or so has been fought and won. Good is triumphant, thanks to the luck and skill and sacrifice of Prince Rango and his companions. That, and the four artifacts of tremendous power that won him the day. But those artifacts have proven to be a bit too powerful. Collected in one place, they're playing merry hell with the fabric of space and time. Dinosaurs and 747s are appearing throughout the area, and rock concerts split the night. The items must be seperated and hidden for a thousand years (or so) to await the next great battle. But even that might not be the end of it...
The book is comprised of four short stories written by four seperate authors, with interludes by Zelazny himself tying it all together. Thus it is in fact a braided novel, though the braid is very loose indeed. Each of the four stories is good, or even excellent, in and of itself. Most don't take themselves very seriously, and they're outright funny in spots.
Of course, some are better than others. Jane Liskold's is a well done quest tale, but it is the lone entry that is done totally straight. The few attempts at humor that I noticed fell badly flat. David Drake's portion I found more humorous, but the general concept grated on me a bit. He tried to get laughs mostly from the contrast of making fantasy elements work like modern ones - the communications wizard, for instance, utilizes a twelve-foot metal "wand" and speaks in CB lingo - and it just doesn't strike me as a good match. I must admit I did chuckle in a few places, though. Robert Asprin's story is the shortest of the lot, a mere thirty pages. It isn't trying so hard to get a giggle, and so while less successful on the humor front is a far more natural-feeling tale than Drake's.
The best of all, though, unquestionably is the first. Michael Stackpole's main character exhibits some very peculiar thought proceses regarding death and how to bring it about, and much of the dialogue is wonderfully twisted. That it is also the longest of the quests, thus letting me enjoy it that much longer, is icing on the cake.
My only complaint in this is so minor that it qualifies as picking nits. Namely, the methodology of the communications mages is inconsistant. Each author, including Zelazny, has things done in a particular manner. It doesn't actually affect anything, but it is a sour note in an otherwise fine quintet.
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