Customer Reviews

Mathemagics (Chicks in Chainmail)

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

 

 

Okay, so the characters are a little uni-dimensional, and the storyline kind of meanders, but aside from all that it's a pretty good book for light reading. I liked the subtle in-jokes about popular science fiction that Margaret Ball threw in. Some of them sailed clear over my head, thanks to my not being a rabid reader of hard sci-fi, but the ones I got had me chuckling out loud. I like Reva Konneva's live-in boyfriend Dennis and his brainy (instead of brawny) heroics and the fact that he's got a huge collection of science fiction books. I like the fact that Reva's daughter Salla is such a precocious and spunky little kid who can do just about anything with an enchanted Palm Pilot and three spare minutes. And for all their one-dimensionalness, every one of the characters is pretty darned unique. For example, Reva's friend, mother of an ADHD child, who takes it all in matter-of-fact stride on discovering Reva is a warrior woman from another dimension. Or the ADHD child (my apologies to Ball, I cannot for the life of me remember his name at the moment -- was it Jason?? -- sorry, it's been a while) who notices everything when he's off medication and consequently is able to provide Reva and Salla with crucial clues to stopping the evil bad guys. Or Reva herself, tough, no-nonsense, and naive all at the same time, who takes it as a compliment when a bunch of knife-wielding thugs try to jump her (key word here is 'try') in her own living room.
One thing that pulled the book down, however, was an odd attempt to bring more serious matters to light with an underdeveloped child sexual harassment subplot. It's a serious issue, but the rest of the book was so light and fun that that part of the story was really out of place. Aside from that, everything was fantastic.
I picked up this book because I'd read the short stories about Reva Konneva in the Chicks 'n Chainmail series and I thought the book version would prove to be as interesting. I didn't expect any greater depth or a huge amount of development; I just wanted a bigger dose of Reva Konneva and her unique perspectives on the Planet of the Paper-Pushers. I was looking for light humor, fun characters, fairly simple solutions to complicated problems, and great entertainment. And that's what I got! A+

I had high expectations for this book after reading Ball's short stories with the same characters in the 'Chicks in Chainmail' series of anthologies. That's probably why I felt so betrayed. The Riva short stories are fun to read, lighthearted romps. This one isn't any of those things.

You've got good guys: Riva, the warrior woman who commutes to Austin from another dimension for the good schools, her daughter, her teacher boyfriend. And you've got bad guys -- her wizardly ex, various bad teachers, and a Fundamentalist preacher who wants to remove pretty much everything from school textbooks. You don't have to hang around pondering who the good guys and bad guys are. The good guys have no faults, except the occasional low self-image. The bad guys, on the other hand, have no virtues. Ever. The fundie preacher especially. About midway through the book, with no motivation, he's revealed to be a felon.

It's certainly true that incest is a particularly disgusting crime which deserves public awareness and concern. However, making it the latest rubberstamp marker for villains -- the modern equivalent of twirling moustaches and tying maidens to railroad tracks -- is not a good way to raise consciousness. Especially in a book billed as light comedy, and especially when minimal contact with a fantasy universe makes the problem completely go away like, well, magic. Parent and student problems with public schools are handled with only slightly more tact and understatement. There are a few fun scenes which hark back to the short stories, but you have to sit through a lot of preaching (in the secular sense) to get to them.

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!

This one's a keeper. It's a hoot looking for all the references to other authors and characters, and the 'insider" jokes. A good story line and characters, BUT I want a sequel, and a full leagth prequel!!!!! PLEASE!!

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.

The story has a number of good things going for it. The world the author has created is interesting enough to propel the reader forward even while some of the characters are sadly left undeveloped. I read this book in high school and while it wasn't a particularly memorable novel it was engaging enough that once a year or so I check if the author has released anything similar. The only bad thing about this book is that many of the characters are underdeveloped. Really there are only about five characters who really get to be introduced to the reader and I would say that only 2 of those characters are explored in any detail.
This is not a book that claims to be high fantasy, its a sometimes tongue in cheek romp through a humorous contemporary fantasy setting. The only real problem i have with the book is that sadly it seems that there will not be any further adventures in the same world, as one of the best thing about the story is the way it develops and expands its setting.

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 read here...I just don't get where they see the characters as 2-dimensional. Except, of course, the ones who literally are 2-dimensional. Our main characters, however, are not like that at all. The heroine, for example, is a warrior, a student, a loving mother, and an amazing cook. She grew up in "the hills", thinking herself to be "dumb" when she was actually quite intelligent. There's more, but I think that's enough to dispel the "2-dimensional" rumor. As for her boyfriend, he is a mathematician/teacher (not necessarily the same thing as "math teacher"), but he is not drawn as a geek. He is drawn as sexy & sensual, with a fine sense of humor and a full range of social skills. He, too, is an amazing cook. (As an aside...I like the way he refers to Salla as "my daughter", without any conditional statements--he has accepted all the responsibilities of a father and loves her and worries about her every bit as much as her mother.) The daughter, Salla, is a brilliant mathematician and reads and writes far above her grade level, but is not snobbish about it at all, and still talks with "like" and "totally" interspersed liberally in her statements. She doesn't fit into any stereotype. I think I've made my point.

In summary, I would highly recommend this book as (a) a fun read, (b) great fantasy, (c) an interesting guessing game for sci-fi fans, (d) enjoyable for mathematicians, and (e) one of the few non-sexist books out there.

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!

It's rare in our family when a book can generate this much enthusiasm for both a 50-year old mom and a 12-year old daughter. The story was funny, witty, and articulate. The strong female characters were a relief to my daughter...of course, in most books, these characters are male. Also, there was the woman warrior aspect to it, which is very exciting to young girls now, with Xena et al. being watched. The only complaint we had was the lack of sequel or prequel (n novel length). We both want more, more, more of these characters!

This is an excellent example of fun, light reading that doesn't take itself or its genre too seriously. In this amusing book, a warrior and her daughter from another space/time place have taken up residence in Austin, TX so that the girl can get a solid education. The mother has a nice math teacher boyfriend. The two of them take on villains from the other dimension, people from a science fiction writer convention, romance novel characters, and (shudder, whimper) school bureaucrats. I gather from the reviews that some folks don't care much for this book, but I found it charming. I recommend it for a vacation book; a day of light reading; a pick-me-up when depressed.