Customer Reviews

Soothsayer

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

 

 

I was a fan of Mick Resnick well before I picked up Soothsayer, but this was one I just couldn't put down. His style reminds me very much or Heinlein because neither the topics, nor the situations are forced. Even as far fetched as sci-fi is by it's nature Resnick paints such a vivid scene with every word that I found myself falling into the plot.

I had never heard of Mr. Resnick until I found five of his books in a library sale. Now he is one of my favorite authors. Penelope Bailey is one of the most intriguing characters I have encountered in all of fiction. I loved the colorful characters: The Forever Kid, the Iceman, the Mock Turtle, etc. The only problem with the book , is it is to short, and the characters could have stayed around longer.

Me and many of my friends and family have read and re-read this entire series many times and never tire of mike resicks universe where little penelope comes slowly into the most powerful being in the entire universe. The Ice Man is truly one of best characters he has created.

Rescuing a little girl in trouble sets the thief, Mouse's, life on wild ride. Penelope is a seer, able to see all possible outcomes resulting from the choices that lie a few seconds ahead of her. This makes her valuable, dangerous and in danger. Leaving behind her mentor, Merlin, Mouse takes the girl on an intergalactic quest for safety from the bounty hunters who want her dead or imprisoned. With the help of the Forever Kid, an Immortal who seeks to either die or see others to their deaths, the young woman and child stay one step ahead of danger, until a desperate gamble takes a bad turn that forces Mouse to make a choice she never anticipated.

*** With surprising twists, Mr. Resnick presents his readers with a true moral dilema that will make them think. More in depth characterization would have made this a more fascinating novel; nonetheless, it is thought provoking and disturbing. ***

Reviewed by Amanda Killgore, Freelance Reviewer.

Penelope is a young girl with a superhuman ability, she can see a short distance into the future. She is no Fafhrd, so runs into Mouse, who becomes her protector.

A bounty hunter has been tracking Penelope for a long time, as she is seen as a threat to plans of the powerful.

Mouse the thief has probably gotten in over her head.

The story itself didn't work for me.

Yes, the characterization was pretty good.

Yes, the precog element was well thought through.

No, that's not enough.

The story was told from the Mouse's viewpoint the whole way through -- right up to the very end, and then there was an abrupt switch. It added, I suppose, to the surprise, but I thought it was a fundamentally dishonest way to deal with the reader. Come on, play fair! Anyone can think through precog and throw around intriguing characters. It's not enough. Bring it together and make it work.
Thumbs down.