Subject: UNCHARTED TERRITORY by Connie Willis

From: [email-masked] (Evelyn C Leeper)
Date: 17 Jun 1994 05:37:57 GMT

UNCHARTED TERRITORY by Connie Willis
      Bantam Spectra, ISBN 0-553-56294-0, July 1994, 149pp, US$3.99.
                     A book review by Evelyn C. Leeper
		      Copyright 1994 Evelyn C. Leeper

     Quandoque bonus dormitat Homerus.

     Or, for the classically impaired, "Sometimes even good old Homer
nods."  [Horace]

     Anyone who's read my reviews knows I am a fan of Connie Willis's
writing.  So of course I looked forward to this, especially after
hearing the first part read at Boskone last year.  Alas, UNCHARTED
TERRITORY did not live up to my expectations.

     UNCHARTED TERRITORY is another of Willis's jibes at "PC"
(political correctness, not personal computers).  She can do this very
well (as in "Ado"), but here the jokes fall flat, at least for me.  It
may be that the make the novella length there had to be a bit too much
padding.  Willis can write well at any length, but I suspect here she
had to write at novella length and the story wouldn't support it.  Here
her target is those who want to preserve planetary ecosystems and
protect indigenous cultures from technological contamination--only here
the indigenous peoples know a good thing when they see one.

     But around this Willis has added a romantic triangle--well, more
like a pentagon, with three veteran surveyors, a new surveyor, and an
alien. This part seemed unnecessary to the rest of the story.

     Of course, I can't be totally negative on this.  It has its
moments, and some of the interplay is quite funny.

     And after all, one of the main characters *is* named Evelyn.

%A      Willis, Connie  
%T      Uncharted Territory
%I      Bantam Spectra
%C      New York
%D      July 1994
%G      ISBN 0-553-56294-0
%P      149pp
%O      paperback, US$3.99

-- 
Evelyn C. Leeper | +1 908 957 2070 | [email-masked]
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