Mathemagics

Margaret Ball is a terrific writer for so many reasons, which this book highlights to her greatest advantage. This book is (as is typical for her) fascinating, funny, intelligent, thought-provoking, emotional, and quite imaginative. As usual, she portrays women in a way that far too few authors do: unique, strong, and intelligent. Even better, she doesn't feel that she has to make the men look stupid and weak, which is a crutch that many "strong heroine" authors use. One thing that especially struck me was that the main character didn't see any need to tell her daughter "that's your father", when she met him. She didn't agonize over it, she didn't even consider it an option. Since the father would as soon sell his daughter as look at her, I think that's a wise choice. Still, I think it shows strength to be so untroubled by what I would find to be a troubling circumstance (i.e. daughter and father in the same room, when she doesn't know who he is). Being a mathematician, I naturally enjoyed all the references to math, although I find it hard to believe that an 11-year-old would have even heard of Linear Algebra, let alone understand its basic principles. Yes, even growing up with a math teacher. Both my parents are math teachers, and I didn't know about Linear Algebra until college (FYI, linear algebra is far beyond regular algebra, beyond calculus and differential equations, even.) Anyway, the chapter numbers were also a great draw for the mathematician in me. Being a great fan of sci-fi and fantasy, I also got a thrill coming across the various incarnations of my favorite books. It was a lot of fun guessing the titles before Dennis (the main character's boyfriend), especially the first one (a man with a very young face but very old eyes, who looked completely at ease, gazing around him with as much fascination with the sky as with the people who were watching him...can you guess who he is, even before he speaks?). The ones I didn't know, I searched out after reading this book, and discovered that I enjoyed them as much as Ball did. I was disturbed by the portrayal of the Star Trek characters, but it was the *books* they were characterizing, not the T.V. shows or movies, and I must agree that the books are terribly substandard. The one thing that truly disturbed me was the sexual abuse. Thankfully, she didn't go into much detail, but it was still quite disturbing to me. Most of her books do include a female character who is sexually abused, and although I understand why, how they fit into the plot, I do not like it. At least it all gets resolved in the end, and not just by revenge, which would hardly help the girl. I love that the girl finds her strength, her power, and a place where she belongs--where she's HAPPY. On a personal note...it gave me hope and inspiration. One doesn't have to travel to another dimension to find a place where she belongs, is strong, and is happy. Finally, in reference to the other reviews I've

After reading about Reva in the 'Chicks in Chainmail' books, I was glad to see that she had her adventures continued in a novel. This book is very tongue in cheek and does get a bit cliche at times. With this book, it's better not to think too much and just let it take you along. True, this book isn't the most intellectual (except maybe for the chapter numbers), but it's very entertaining. And if you study the appendix in which the chapter numbers are explained, you might learn something!

After reading the "prequel" in "Chicks in Chainmail", I had to find out what happened to Riva! The characters are engaging, the math puns are just awful (therefore VERY good), and the casual references to other books and authors in the genre give the story a solid basis in our world. Highly recommended!!! I can't wait for the sequel!

This book poked fun at every sexist aspect of our society! I couldn't put it down

This novel length sequel to one of the best stories in Esther Friesner's "Chick in Chainmail" collection is WONDERFUL. It turns many heroic fantasy stereotypes upside down and inside out. Highly recommended.