Accessory - Dragon Magazine #111.pdf - Index of

uncomfortably close resemblance to Anne to be members of the wealthy jet set, as they
McCaffrey’s Pernese dragons. claim.
What’s more frustrating about all this is It takes Barney some snooping next door,
that Lee’s writing isn’t actively bad, only a bit of detective work, and a sailboat trip to
undistinguished. Given a tougher plot or the island to figure out just how strange the
more memorable characters, The Unicorn neighbors are. On the island, he finds the
Quest could have been a passable adven- real Interstellar Pig and rapidly becomes
ture. As it stands, however, the novel’s best involved in a deadly high-stakes contest
recommendation is that it isn’t about
against aliens who want the Piggy for them-
dragons, and that’s not enough to lift it
selves.
above its neighbors on the bookstore
The Piggy then tells Barney it has the
shelves.
“hiccups,” and the game’s rules seem to
change. Each hiccup equals a 100-megaton
nuclear blast so that only the Piggy’s owner
INTERSTELLAR PIG
dies at game’s end. Which explanation of
William Sleator
the game is right? Barney must decide, with
Bantam Spectra 0-553-25564-9 $2.95 Earth’s future riding on his choice.
According to Barney’s summer neighbors William Sleator expertly juggles several
at the beach, “Interstellar Pig” is a brand- levels of conflict in Interstellar Pig and
new science-fiction game about to hit the creates at least three fascinating games
retail market. The object? To capture and along the way. There are elements of board
hold the Pig at the end of the game, when games, role-playing games, and tactical
only its possessor and his or her homeworld wargames in the various sets of rules, and
will survive while the rest of the universe readers following Barney’s adventures will
goes up in smoke. And Barney’s neighbors almost certainly wish that at least one ver-
just happen to have an advance copy. . . . sion really was on the market. They may
Barney’s neighbors also happen to be a also begin to realize, however, that the aura
little strange. They show unusual interest in of ruthlessness coloring many real science-
the house his parents have rented for the fiction and fantasy games loses some of its
summer — it’s said to be haunted, and a attractiveness when it’s extrapolated into
madman is supposed to have been locked in reality.
Barney’s bedroom for twenty years. (The That makes the novel a valuable lesson in
stories began after an unexplained ship- perspective as well as a fast-paced tale of
wreck occurred in the ocean beyond a
alien invasion. And that makes Interstellar
nearby island.) They also seem too relaxed Pig doubly rewarding.
38 JULY 1986
RECURRING ROLES
The Hounds of God (Bluejay, $15.95)
brings Judith Tarr’s trilogy about an elven
healer and wizard to a powerful climax. As
a singlework, it’s a fast-moving blend of
magic, intrigue, and deadly danger. The
series as a whole, however, may be one of
the few epic adventures of recent years with
real literary merit lurking behind the fireworks.
Less ambitious, but nearly as absorbing,
is Dervish Daughter (Tor, $2.95), Sheri
Tepper’s second novel in the third True
Game trilogy. This will send fans of these
tales scurrying to reread the previous books,
as odds and ends long since disposed of
begin to rearrange themselves in preparation
for a climax of major proportions in the
final volume.
M. Coleman Easton, meanwhile, has
turned to the East with Iskiir (Questar,
$3.50), the story of a sorcerer’s nephew who
alone may be able to save a might city from
destruction. As with Masters of Glass, the
magic is intriguing, but the execution occasionally
falters.
It may be wise to reread the short story in
DRAGON® Magazine issue #100 before
tackling Artifact of Evil (TSR, $3.95), the
second of Gary Gygax’s novels about Gord
of Greyhawk. Unlike its predecessor, this
one doesn’t have space for a travelogue.
The action is constant, and the plot machinations
are almost complicated enough to
warrant keeping a scorecard.