Starrise at Corrivale

No, I won't say Diane Duane's book 'Starrise at Corrivale' is a Lensman book, but it brought back strong memories of those books. Her heros are heros with no real character flaws, her aliens are praisworthy and trustworthy - except for the nebulos hidden enemies that will surely be revealed in future books. I find her plots somewhat more convoluted (not a difficult task) but all in all, there seemed to be many simularities. I always enjoyed Smith's books, even if I did find them many, many years after they were written and the same is true of Starrise. There are better books out there but here is one that resurects a lost area of the SciFi genre in a manner that is not a 'dated' rehash of previous books. You don't need to know the plot details here, its enough to know that men are men and aliens are too. Good will prevail and our hero remains a hero - one guided by higher beings (although in this case the higher being is a human justicator will unmentioned power, political and armed rather than the more highly evolved alien Mentor).

I have enjoyed Diane Duane's other novels, although I haven't read any of her "series" books (Star Trek, etc.). In Starrise at Corrivale, I found her usual enjoyable use of language, characters to care about, and a good story. The villains are murky and in places one-dimensional: perhaps this is to whet our appetites for the next volume in the series?? Bring it on!! (and keep writing the Wizard books, too - I buy them for my niece - and read them before I give them to her!!)