Customer Reviews

Callahan's Legacy: Library Edition

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Spider Robinson's Callahan's regulars once again save the world from certain destruction. No other author combines puns, palindromes, poetry and prose like Robinson. This book has it all -- sex, music, philosophy, outrageous humor, wonderful characters, and a message. Impossible to read it without having fun -- if you like words, you'll love this book.

Although not the best books in the "Callahan's" series, my money is on LSTB, Legacy is a very good read. After the initial shock of the impending doom of Mary's Place, the byplay of the characters in recounting the events was interesting and, as always, lots of fun. Wouldn't everyone like the ability to dispose of millions like Buck, or maybe be immune to pain like Acayib? "Callahan's" readers may be a bit disappointed at first, but read on and enjoy. I'm sure we've not heard the last of Jake and the gang yet.

this book is ok. Callahan stories by Spider Robinson are always fun to read and this one is no different. However, the story... the plot... its a re-tread of old Robinson stories. He uses pretty much exact story arcs from past stories.

If you like Spider Robinson, I would totally recommend old Larry Niven short stories from the 1970's. I think that Robinson based Callahan's on a re-occuring Niven character/bar.

I adore puns. Always have. Therefore, Callahan's has been a favorite place to visit. No bar to admission; the only common denominator here is that each regular has one apparent difference from humanity. These diferences all seem to mark each one as essentially the same.
All the gang is here: Jake. Ralph von Wau Wau. Mickey and Mary. Long- Drink, Eddie and Doc Webster. And, of course, Mike Callahan. Once again new people are drawn into the bar. Once more the good folk of Mary's Place have to save the world. Throughout, in their home behind the business, Jake's fiancee Zoey is expecting their first child.
This entry seemed to deal more directly with death than the books before. We hear how Eddie, Doc and Long-Drink came around.
The connection between the latter pair may explain the long-standing friendly competition.
Some of the wordplay had me laughing out loud. The chapter headings, too, were neat. The greatest pun, however, may be Zoey herself. The word zoe is Greek for Life.
"Bravery can consist of just listening to someone scream, and not willing them to die- which can be terribly hard to do."

Spider Robinson is probably best known for his Callahan's stories. Some readers stopped reading after the bar was destroyed in a nuclear explosion. But the latest book, CALLAHAN'S LEGACY, is a good reason to give the later series a better look.

This latest volume takes place in Mary's Place, Jake's new bar. Most of the usual characters are present as well as a few new ones who happened through the front door. Jake's wife is nine and a half months pregnant when the story opens. The story progresses through some of the usual tales and word games we have come to expect. Then Mary and Mickey Finn suddenly appear unconscious on the floor. Once revived it becomes clear that a terrible threat is heading towards Earth. Finn's counterpart is coming. Jake and the gang must find a way to save the Earth. During that course we learn how some of the older members first found Callahan's Place and we gain some new insights into the author.

I will not give away the ending but I will say that I found it to be one of the better books in the extended series (that includes the Sally books). While an entertaining and light-seeming read, there is plenty to stimulate the brain. Word games (and puns) are found throughout the book along with some other mental exercise equipment. If it has been a while since you last visited with the Callahan's gang you should pick up this book and drop in again, I am sure they would like to see you.

Of course, "Mary's Place" is really just a euphemism for "Callahan's Crosstime Saloon", even if the proprietor IS Jake Stonebender instead of the great one. But if Doc Webster, Eddie Costigan, Mickey Finn and company hang out there, it's really Callahan's, and as such, fans of the "Callahan's" series will not want to miss this one.

This is particularly true because in this book, we finally get the "origin stories" for Long Drink McGonnigle, Doc Webster, and Fast Eddie, and they are superb, some of the most powerful writing that Robinson has ever done, which is why I rate this book five stars IN SPITE of the fact that the main plot is kind of weak (Alien cyborg coming to destroy the earth? Gotta defeat it with one hand tied behind our collective, poor weak human backs? Been there. Done that) AND in spite of the fact that the beginning and ending subplot strikes me as involving rather more mockery of individuals based on physical appearance and speaking an unfamiliar language that "sounds funny" than I'd expect from Robinson and the Callahan's folks. The flashback origin stories are just THAT GOOD. You do NOT want to miss them.

This was the second Robinson I read, and the other one wasn't even Callahan-related. I read one review on another book that "I would nominate him as the new Robert Heinlein if I didn't think it underestimated his ability." I completely agree with this.

Only a Callahans book could manage to be tremendously funny,painfuly sad, and look wisely at the state of humanity today, all in a style that you can read in something like two hours(if you're fool enough to rush)....

Spider Robinson has done it once again. The combination of puns, Tesla, beer and computers is wonderful!

. . . but I couldn't make it past chapter three. I loved the first three Callahan's books, but this one seemed self-indulgent and flabby. I felt like every sentence of the first three chapters had at least two self-congratulatory puns, which inevitably forced Robinson to digress from anything resembling plot or character.

Reading this book (or the first three chapters) was like being trapped in the bar at a science fiction convention, listening to a bunch of people try to achieve alpha-male status by demonstrating their skill with puns, interrupted by the occasional filk-song.