What Makes This Book So Great
The author is a distinguished sf and fantasy writer in her own right (write?) who, some years ago, Tor Books turned loose on their website to write a bunch of capsule reviews and critical essays on sf and fantasy—no less than 130 of them. The range is wide, going back to the nineteenth century (George Eliot and Lord Dunsany) and forward to authors so new that this volume may be the first time many readers have heard of them. Along the way she covers practically the complete works of Lois McMaster Bujold and Steven Brust, praises a number of classics by Arthur C. Clarke and Robert A. Heinlein, praises with faint damns a good many books she thinks ought to be better known, and provides broader perspective in such essays as the difference between criticism and just talking about books. She also writes clearly, avoids political hatchet jobs, and altogether highly repays a careful reading. --Roland Green