Customer Reviews

Irresistible Forces

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

IRRESISTIBLE FORCES is a collection of six stories from s/f and romance heavy hitters. The best story of the lot, "Winterfair Gifts," is by Lois McMaster Bujold, and features two minor characters from her Vorkosigan novels exploring a most unusual romance amidst a backdrop of mystery and intrigue.

Only caveat: I'm unsure if someone who hasn't read much of Ms. Bujold's Vorkoverse would understand this story. Since I've read every single book Ms. Bujold has ever put out, I cannot answer that question.

But I enjoyed it very much, and thought it well worth the price of the entire book. (I bought this collection solely for that story, and looked at the other stories as an "added bonus.")

Five stars, and I'd give it more if I had 'em. :)

After that, the stories get tougher to rate. I liked Catherine Asaro's story, "Stained Glass Heart," much more than I thought I would; it appears to be an outtake from her Skolian universe series, and has two young, apparently doomed lovers, a highly stratified society, and an arranged marriage. Love, family, duty, honor, and "keeping up appearances" are all themes in this story, and all worked.

The biggest problem with this story is that the protagonists are very young -- the older of the two is seventeen -- and the two youngsters are dealing with some very adult subjects. Nothing wrong with that, exactly, just a bit offputting considering that every other story in this collection deals with clear-cut adults -- most protagonists are at least twenty-five or so.

The plot is one we've seen before, with a few twists (I don't want to spoil 'em, so I won't go into 'em here). However, it's done well here, the science fictional bits are well chosen, and if it's representative of the Skolian universe as a whole, I might have to give Ms. Asaro's work another try.

I think this is the best story I've read from Ms. Asaro, and I'd give it three and a half stars, even though I still don't understand the meaning of this story's title (except for the obvious).

I enjoyed Jo Beverley's story (I forget the title) that juxtaposed Winston Churchill, the far future, and what happens when heroes return to their homes -- but it took a long, long time to develop and the language used was rather clunky and got in the way of the story. (As far as I know, this is Ms. Beverley's first-ever attempt at a science fiction/fantasy story; it does work. But I think it would have worked better as a novel.)

Because the idea was so very strong and because I could see where Ms. Beverley was going with her story, I'd give her story three and a half stars.

"The Alchemical Marriage" by Mary Jo Putney was a decent story; it didn't really move me or engage me, but it wasn't a bad effort, exactly. I think the whole subject of how the Spanish Armada was deflected was too big for one short story; perhaps this would have been better suited as a novel subject?

And the lovers got together far, far too quickly for my taste.

Still, not bad, exactly. Just not right on the money.

Two stars for that one.

"Shadows in the Wood," by Jennifer Roberson, is another really tough one to rate. I like Ms. Roberson's writing -- I like it a whole lot. I also like the subject matter, how Ms. Roberson plays it out, and what happens in the story -- but once again, the story seems just way, way too short and truncated.

I mean, Maid Marian and Robin Hood meet Merlin? In a very short story? At the very end of the book?

Why was this story given such short shrift?

At any rate, I wish this story had been much longer. It was so enjoyable, I wanted a whole lot more.

So, I'd give the idea of the story four stars, and the writing five stars, but the fact that there wasn't enough room for the idea (and not enough room to develop it either) two. I guess I'll give it overall three stars, mainly because I do like the writer and the writing so much.

Finally, we come to Deb Stover and her good, but misplaced story "Skin Deep." This is a paranormal romance; it's a good paranormal, albeit very short, and I liked the characters.

But alongside three science fiction stories and two fantasies, it doesn't work. It just doesn't. Even if you count the Putney story as historical fantasy, it still doesn't work.

I think Ms. Stover's writing is good, and her storytelling is very interesting. She made me laugh more than any other author except for Ms. Bujold (whose writing I know very well from past experience; this was the first exposure I'd ever had to Ms. Stover). I liked her story.

But it had no place here. It threw off the tone of the anthology. And it threw the other stories even further off balance (and the anthology was already rather uneven to begin with).

Because of this story, I took off one star from the overall anthology rating (because of Ms. Bujold's very strong story, I'd normally have wished to give this anthology four stars, rounding the overall stars upward rather than down as I did here) -- but I'd still recommend this particular story to paranormal romance readers.

I know that has to sound odd; in effect, I'd give the story itself a four star rating, but separate it from the other five stories, because it just does not fit.

In conclusion, this is an uneven effort, but worth reading despite the unevenness.

Three stars, recommended for people who want to branch out from romance to s/f or vice versa.

One final note: I wish this anthology hadn't been so long delayed. It was originally set to go in 2003 and was held until 2004, supposedly to make a "big splash" at Valentine's Day of this year, in order to perhaps generate bigger sales. All I know is that the so-called "big splash" didn't happen in my neck of the woods at all, and that I had a hard time finding it in the local bookstore.

Barb Caffrey

I bought this for the Bujold story, but expected more finds among the other authors. Three decent stories out of 6 is disappointing. As suggested elsewhere, there seems to be a problem of authors who are good at 400 page novels scaling stories down successfully.
Bujold's story of Armsman Roic meeting Sergeant Taura is strong on character, a romance that doesn't end 'off to be married for 50 years', and revisiting old favorite characters. She's very good in the novella length, but this one lacked the surprising plot twists of, say, Labyrinth or The Mountains of Mourning--you know what the problem will be, who the villain will be, what the outcome will be. But her well-developed characters and sense of fun still make this a good read.
I usually like Mary Jo Putney, but her story didn't work well--one dimensional characters and no time for a believable romance to develop. It might have worked better as a full-length book.
Deb Stover was a new find for me, and I really enjoyed her story of a man sent back to Earth to help his widow find new love. I laughed a lot, and will look for other books by her.
Jennifer Roberson's tale of Robin Hood and Marian was enchanting--I usually find her work lovely but rather slow, so the shorter novella length worked to advantage here.
The other two stories were by authors I hadn't read before, Asaro and Beverly, and I couldn't work up interest in either. The protaganists of Asaro's story appear to be 14, which I found a little unsettling.

IRRESISTIBLE FORCES is a compilation of six different love stories set in the worlds of fantasy and science fiction. While short stories are not my normal forte I had to try this one out primarily because it had Lois McMaster Bujold's WINTERFAIR GIFTS, the story covering Miles Vorkosigan's marriage. As a recent devotee of the Vorkosigan saga I had no choice but to pick it up and read it, I was not disappointed. While far too short for my tastes it was everything I could have hoped for. For any Vorkosigan fan this one isn't a want to, it's a have to. As far as I'm concerned it made the entire book worthwhile. Thou reader beware, unless you have read the other Vorkosigan books you won't understand half of what is going on and why. Although by writing from the perspective of a new Armsman, one who didn't know most of Mile's history, Ms. Bujold did a an excellent job of filling in pertinent information a newbe reader might need.

Not that the other five stories were a disappointment. Actually it surprised me how much I ended up enjoying them. Of course some were better than others but all in all a credible and entertaining job.

If you like short stories, especially romance and fantasy/si-fi then I think you will enjoy IRRESISTIBLE FORCES.

I RECOMMEND it.

This anthology turned out to be very good. The stories cover a range of topics and styles and are worth the read.

Winterfair Gifts: Bujold. I haven't read a lot of Bujold, but this will inspire me to read more. It is a science fiction romp and good fun. It's clear a lot is going on with the world and universe Bujold has created and many more characters to get to know. The two romantic leads, Roic and Taura, are great. I really liked the author's style in telling a story.

The Alchemical Marriage: Putney. This story is very different from the first. It is a historical fantasy with mages who fight the Spanish Armada with weather magic. Putney pulled me in right away, with the hero initially imprisoned in the Tower of London in 1588. I wanted to meet more of these two mages. I'm curious to know more about the weather magic, too.

Stained Glass Heart: Asaro. This is probably my favorite, if I had to pick. It is science fiction, though with a little the feel of fantasy. It charms in its evocation of first love, which is complicated by an unexpected arranged marriage. The turn-about is well done, with the young groom betrothed to older powerful bride. I didn't want to story to end.

Skin Deep: Stover. What fun! Another change of pace, a modern fantasy about a detective who goes undercover as a male stripper. Meanwhile, the former love of the heroine (a cad) has to earn his place in heaven by helping her straighten out her love life with the detective. To his dismay, the cad comes back as a woman. Many delightful hijinks follow.

The Trouble With Heroes: Beverley. This is a powerful story and the most in depth. What happens after the war is won and the hero wants to come home, but his people fear him? The story gripped me from the start. Beverley's portrayal of the complex responses of the towspeople works. This is the first of her science fiction I have read, and I hope to read more.

Shadows in the Woods: Roberson. Another change, like finding new delecacies in a box of Godiva chocolate. This is a fantasy about Robin Hood and Marian becoming entangled with Merlin the wizard. Roberson handles the juxtaposition of the two legends beautifully. I also liked her portrayal of the matured Robin and Marian. It is a lovely way to finish a wonderful anthology.

I give this anthology a high recommendation. If you enjoy science fiction and fantasy with romantic overtones, it is unbeatable.

This anthology includes writers of romance and of sf/fantasy contributing stories which blend the genres.

Like other reviewers, I picked it up mainly for the Bujold story. (Don't any of these other writers have fans?) But I also read the rest, and there were some interesting finds.

Bujold's entry is the first and best, with several familiar characters from Miles's Free Dendarii days showing up at Vorkosigan House as guests at his wedding. It's a blast for established fans like myself, but I have my doubts that it would work for somebody unfamiliar with the characters.

Putney's story is about a secret society of mages who work to protect England facing the Spanish Armada. The characters lacked real depth, hard to create in such a short space. But the idea was interesting. Putney is working on a novel, probably ultimately a series, on the same concept, and this was good enough that I'll want to check out the novel.

I've read one of Asaro's Skolian Empire novels and it didn't impress me, perhaps because I started in the middle of the series. But the story here, also from that universe, didn't work either. One problem was that she didn't really use the Skolian setting - with very minor changes, this could have been a traditional romance in a medieval setting. The basic story - a character from an aristocratic house flees an arranged marriage for true love - is too familiar, and there wasn't enough different in this version to make it fresh. And the main characters were too young, only about 13. That was a problem because they didn't act it - they seemed more like about 17 - and it also undermined the whole story. It really doesn't make a lot of sense for characters so young to make such huge decisions even for their own lives, much less when they could affect many others.

Deb Stover's story of a man reincarnated as a woman to repair some of the damage he did in life just didn't work for me. But Jo Beverly's story of a colony world threatened by a mysterious native life form did - it actually used SF elements more than others in the book. At least it seemed to - in retrospect, both the alien threat and the methods used against it were so vaguely explained that the story was in some ways more of a fantasy. These stories are the book's most original, going for something more innovative than the standard boy-meets-girl formula of the romance.

Jennifer Roberson was the other writer in this collection whose work I've read previously and wasn't impressed by. The story here, while it manages the tricky feat of uniting the two most famous legends of early England, Robin Hood and the Arthurian cycle, in one short story, didn't change my mind.

I bought this book solely for the Bujold story about Miles' wedding, and was disappointed to find that Miles was a minor character, the wedding was background, and the main focus was a romance between Armsman Roic and Sergeant Taura. Worthy characters, yes, but not Miles. If you are a Bujold fan, you will probably want this story, but maybe it will appear in a later Vorkosigan collection.

Reading the reviews, I can see that everyone bought this book based on one author they personally liked. Almost no one liked any of the other stories in the collection. This was true for me. Apparently, this collection afforded equal dissatisfaction for everyone.

Like other reviewers, I bought this anthology for one story - Lois McMaster Bujold's 'Winterfair Gifts' - and I'd give that story on it's own 5 stars. I'm not sure it's particularly accessible for a reader unfamiliar with the Vorkosiverse, but for Miles devotees it was deeply satisfying. While I understand another reviewer's disappointment that Miles and Ekaterin were peripheral characters in this story which centres on Roic and Taura, I don't really share that disapointment. Ms Bujold is always a 'thinking' and intelligent writer - the Vorkosigan books are mainly written from Miles' point of view and it was most illuminating (and alternately hysterically funny and deeply touching)to see him through other eyes.
I must confess that I'm more an SF/Fantasy reader than a romance reader, which is probably why I found most of the rest of the book pretty unreadable, but I don't begrudge a cent of the purchase price - the Bujold story was worth it.

In concept, Irresistible Forces, an anthology edited by Catherine Asaro, sounds like something I would avoid like the plague. The book contains six SF romances by three leading romance authors and three SF authors, all of the stories dealing heavily with emotions and various other romance genre tropes. As a reader who actively avoids the romance genre, I approached this book with caution. Sadly, the caution was justified, though the Bujold story almost makes up for it. At least half of the stories contain most of the romance stereotypes that I despite, such as the constant "one touch by him set her aflame" prose, or the overly emotional language. One of the romance authors surprised me while one of the SF authors disappointed me, making for a collection of stories that was obviously not meant for me. If you're a romance fan, however, this may be a treat for you.

I'll highlight the best and the worst and then just comment in general. "Winterfair Gifts," by Lois McMaster Bujold, is the Miles Vorkosigan story that I requested this book for, and it was well worth it (I probably should have read it last). This is the story of Miles' wedding to Ekaterin, after the almost disastrous courtship in A Civil Campaign, and it continues the wonderful humour of the series by giving us the whole story in the view of one of Miles' armsmen, Roic. It's Roic's job to guard the Vorkosigan estate at night, as well as to ferry Miles (or one of his designates) around when needed, and it's interesting to see the world of the Vor elite from the point of view of a commoner. And when the guests start showing up, it gets even worse, with the feral (but gentle when she wants to be) Sergeant Taura striking Roic's interest despite his shyness and the chaos going on around them. Of course, somebody's out to kill Miles and/or his bride to be, so everybody must still be on there toes, even as love blossoms all around. I love Bujold's prose, romantic and light, yet not overwhelmingly so. This is a story of emotions, both the happy couple's as well as Roic's, but Bujold doesn't slather it on, and she always keeps the humour front and center. Miles is the embodiment of chaos, so of course, things will be blowing up soon, and I loved every minute of it. It's also a tremendously sweet story, and if this is the last Miles story, I will be sad, but glad that I read it.

Unfortunately, I'm just sad I read Catherine Asaro's "Stained Glass Heart," which completely turned me off. On a terraformed planet a long way from Earth, young Veryl finds himself entangled in familial obligations, a young man from a well-to-do family who is betrothed without his knowledge to an older woman, the heir to a prominent family. Yes, it's the typical "forced to marry against his will for the sake of politics" story, and it's pretty predictable. He's already in love with a young woman (both of them are only fourteen, but that doesn't always mean anything in these societies) before he finds out about his obligation, and he is determined to undermine the marriage any way he can to be with his love. They run off and get married, almost causing an interstellar incident. But perhaps Veryl's passion could make things turn out all right by demonstrating what true love really is to his prospective spouse? I found both of the main characters in this story incredibly annoying, with Veryl being especially whiny. Yes, teenagers can be whiny, but that doesn't mean I want to read about them like that. There is an interesting side story, about Veryl's love of dance (which men on this planet just do not do) that forces him to make an interesting decision, but again, the outcome is thoroughly predictable and I didn't really care for the journey there.

The rest of the stories are fairly average, three by romance genre authors and one by a fantasy author who has her share of romance in her books. "An Alchemal Marriage," by Mary Jo Putney, comes the closest to being bearable, as she avoids most of the romance tropes that I hate. At least until the ending, where she falls into the pit and gives me everything that I don't like about the genre. "Skin Deep," by Deb Stover, has an intriguing story but it simply wallows in the overly emotional language that I can't stand. Every touch sets somebody on fire, sending blood rushing to some interesting places. Jared, the main male character, is almost the perfect specimen, with women falling over just when he looks at them, and of course Margo, the female lead, is destined to be with him.

The last two stories, Jo Beverley's "The Trouble With Heroes," and Jennifer Roberson's "Shadows in the Wood," aren't too bad. They certainly weren't actively annoying, but they were both missing something. "The Trouble With Heroes" was slow to start, but ultimately a great story about how war can affect people who are involved in it. "Shadows in the Wood" just didn't give me any sense of danger, which is too bad as I liked Roberson's characterization of the two leads. It's definitely Marian's story, though, with Robin taking a back seat.

All in all, the Bujold story made it all worthwhile, and I trudged through the rest of the stories. Irresistible Forces reinforced my antipathy to the romance genre, despite one of the authors surprising me a little. If you're a Bujold completist, go ahead and get the book. If you're a romance fan, you will probably like it, unless you just can't have anything out of the ordinary in your romance novels. For the rest of us, however, stay far away.

David Roy

I'm the kind of completist who'll buy an entire anthology for one story. In this case, that story was "Winterfair Gifts," Lois McMaster Bujold's short story set in her Miles Vorkosigan universe.

And I have to say, that one story was worth my eight bucks. It's a charming little piece that bridges the gap between Ms. Bujold's A CIVIL CAMPAIGN and DIPLOMATIC IMMUNITY, with the wedding of Miles and Ekaterin as seen through the eyes of Roic, a minor supporting character from previous novels. Alongside that plot, Roic's tentative courtship of Sergeant Taura is a bit "romantic comedy" (easily avoidable misunderstandings, etc.), but it still manages to be subtly touching.

I can't say the rest of the book interests me, but I'm nevertheless satisfied with my purchase.

Like so many I bought this book for Bujold's story and enjoyed it immensely. The second story by Putney almost put me off the rest of the book. Characters, storyline, writing...all bleah. Stover and Asaro's stories convinced me not to bother reading any more of their work. Roberson's was well written and enjoyable but it is Beverley who engaged my interest enough to look for more.