Subject: NOBODY'S SON by Sean Stewart

From: "Evelyn C Leeper" <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 20 Jul 1995 21:01:41 GMT

NOBODY'S SON by Sean Stewart
             Ace, ISBN 0-441-00128-9, 1995, 273pp, US$5.50
                   A book review by Evelyn C. Leeper
		    Copyright 1995 Evelyn C. Leeper

     The blurb on this says, "'Happily ever after' is only the beginning,"
and that is a reasonable summary of the book.  The eponymous main character,
also known as Shielder's Mark, goes into a haunted forest to break the
enchantment around the Red Keep.  When he comes out with the singing sword
Sweetness, he claims as his prize the king's daughter.  But nothing after
that goes the way the old fairy tales would have it.  His wife, though she
likes him, doesn't worship him.  The king, though he had to grant the
request, doesn't much like him either.  And the rest of the court thinks
that he's "Nobody's Son" and treats him accordingly.

     There are parts of this book that are hard to get through because of
the thick dialect (including the first chapter).  And everything seems to
get wrapped up a bit too quickly and neatly at the end.  A bit ironic, given
the premise, wouldn't you say?  There is also a somewhat incongruous
discussion of God and religion stuck in the middle.  I get the impression
that Stewart finds the subject of religion interesting, since he visits it
in all his novels, but in this case it seems grafted on rather than an
integral part of the plot.  In spite of these drawbacks, however, I would
recommend this as an interesting variation on the classic fairy tale
pattern.

%T      Nobody's Son
%A      Sean Stewart
%C      New York
%D      May 1995
%I      Ace
%O      paperback, US$5.50
%G      ISBN 0-441-00128-9
%P      273pp

-- 
Evelyn C. Leeper | +1 908 957 2070 | [email-masked]
"If there were a verb meaning "to believe falsely," it would
not have any significant first person, present indicative."
-- Ludwig Wittgenstein