This book, at 80 pages, had me really excited at the halfway point. HIs critiques of the existing systems of government- especially direct, representitive, and majoritarian democracy are deft and well formulated. I figured that as the author had presented his case against the state pretty well by page 40, he'd have a great affirmitive case for anarchism.

WRONG!! There was no case. Once he'd laid down his anti-government case, he simply repeated most of what he'd wrote one more time. Even the last sub-chapter 'Utopian Glimpses of a World Without States" didn't attempt anything. That in mind, the books title is not only misleading, it is a fabrication. AS there is no defences of anarchism here, it might best be called 'Critiques of the Idea of Government."

Well, the two stars I gave it were for amazing clarity in writing. This book, under a worse writer, could've easily been two hundred or more pages but Wolff keeps it short and energetic. Also, his critiques of the state (especially on voting procedure and inadequacies in district-representation) were great.
To Close, I must mention that there are many books similar to this one that are far superior to this one. For a great deffense of anarchism (favoring the market) read Randy Barnett's "Structure of Liberty." For a good defense of anarchism (favoring no market) read Proudhon's "What is Property" and for a book questioning the legitamacy of the state coming to a minarchist- libertarian- conclusion, the true classic is Robert Nozick's "Anarch, State and Utopia."

...not a practical argument for anarchism; which is precisely why (as a reviewer below noted) there are no specifics presented. Indeed, Wolff does not seem to even think anarchism *is* practical.

The title is misleading, as Wolff's essay is not so much apologia for anarchist ideas about social structures, it is in fact an exploration of the apparent paradox between the authority of the state and the moral autonomy of the individual. After running through the arguments for various kinds of representative and direct democracy, Wolff concludes that the only form of government which is morally acceptable (that is, which does not subvert moral autonomy) is 'unanimous direct democracy', which for obvious reasons is not a practical form of government. Wolff concludes that, from the perspective of moral philosophy, anarchism is the only acceptable social arrangement.

Wolff's treatment of the subject was rather illuminating for me, it finally revealed to me why political scientists as a whole do not regard anarchism as an ideology; it is instead considered a moral stance independent of political and economic issues, despite what some people might assert.

I've been thinking a little bit about his arguments, and they all seem sound. But I'm inclined to agree with Wolff's sentiments that even if the authority of the state truly cannot be reconciled with moral autonomy, the alternative is not practical. I was briefly considering pursuing the line of argument that societies as a whole can possess moral autonomy, and that a 'social moral autonomy' would outweigh the individual's moral autonomy. The obvious problem with this argument, though, is that if you accept it, it can make any form of government acceptable.

First, a disclaimer: this book is not about how some form of anarchism might operate. It is purely theoretical, arguing for "philosophical anarchism" based on the imperitive of not undermining personal autonomy. So don't expect it to defend anarchists in the Spanish Civil War or something. That's not what it is about.

But, the book is excellent. I am no anarchist, but the arguments set forth here are completely convincing. If we value autonomy--and almost everyone claims they do--then these are the necessary conclusions. Wolff's comments on majoritarianism vigorously ring the bell of indisputable truth. This is not what you learned in high school government class.

The book is quite short. The preface is a fun read, as Wolff talks about the how the book came into being, but once the first chapter starts, he is all business. But though it deals almost exclusively with philosophical ideas, it had no problem keeping my attention. A short 80 pages has given me a whole new understanding of the justifcation of government. Consider my philosophical cobwebs knocked out.

I have completely mixed feelings about this book. Part of me wants to celebrate anyone who brings more attention to writers such as Mac Wellman, Len Jenkin, and Suzan-Lori Parks -- some of the most exciting playwrights in America -- but another part of me is deeply uncomfortable with the clunky, jargon-filled sentences and often obtuse ideas herein.

The best element of this book is the exercises sprinkled through each chapter. In fact, it's tempting to say: Get the book for the exercises, read nothing else. They won't make you a great playwright, but they will get you thinking about the possibilities of the theatre in ways that no other handbook will.

There are some good ideas within the text itself, too, but there are far more ideas which are either unnecessarily "academic" or so reductive as to be humorous. Castagno doesn't seem to understand that the theatre is a fundamentally pragmatic art form -- he ends up trying to explain far too many things which are self-evident if you don't view them through the distorting lens of postmodern literary and cultural theory. Why do Jenkin and Wellman, for instance, use various levels of language? Not because they're trying to prove a theory of Bakhtin's, but rather because it's fun. Anyone who has seen a good production of a Len Jenkin play knows that it is first and foremost a lot of fun. Castagno is like an analyzer of comedy who is more interested in trying to explain how jokes work than in simply enjoying that they do.

The fundamental premise of the book is, in many ways, false. These are not new strategies -- most are variations on ancient strategies, and the most radical can be traced back to the early modernists (Gertrude Stein's plays are more radical than any mentioned in the book) -- the plays mentioned are, rather, new manifestations of strategies which have been around for quite a while. The idea that the writers discussed are the theatrical version of the Language Poets is also flawed -- though Wellman and others certainly value language and use it in a different way from more traditional playwrights, there are so many other elements to even the most basic theatrical production that "language playwrights" is a misnomer.

For someone who proclaims to know so much about "new" strategies, Castagno seems amazingly ignorant of a lot of current theatre -- the playwrights he discusses are all ones he apparently met at a conference. For a book such as this to ignore the techniques of writers like David Greenspan and Erik Ehn, to mention only two, is a tremendous shortcoming. Another problem is Castagno's strong desire to apparently create rules and guidelines for what is or isn't "new", which leads him to miss the most interesting thing about contemporary theatre: the grey areas. Writers use whatever techniques meet their needs, and this has led "traditional" writers to try various innovative techniques and writers known as "experimental" to write plays which are more or less traditional. In his haste to label and box the works he discusses, Castagno frequently simplifies magnificently complex writings.

At the moment, this is the only book which really looks at playwrighting from a perspective other than the tired and cliched tenets of what Mac Wellman calls "geezer theatre". I hope that more books for playwrights will explore innovative writing techniques with a bit more subtlety and nuance than this book achieves, but for the moment this is all there is. With any luck, some actual playwrights will soon decide to publish their own books. Perhaps the best thing to do right now is not to read this book, but rather to read the plays themselves.

Okay, let's clarify the title. "New Playwriting Strategies" does not mean "New Strategies for Playwriting." It means strategies for what author Paul C. Castagno calls "New Playwriting." What an awful name. Like "New Math," "New Left," and "New Jersey," it's a title that will quickly age and become its own worst parody. Unfortunately, the techniques described in this book risk following the same path.

Castagno starts with an overview of the philosophy of the Russian Formalist critics, and goes into how the writings of the playwrights he profiles have supported this philosophy. Then he tells the reader to imitate this pattern. This is putting the cart before the horse--criticism follows literature, not vice versa. An author seeking to emulate a critic's view of what literature should be is bound to create a ho-hum piece. The author also spends a lot of time on an armload of technical terms introduced early in the book. I fear for this kind of by-the-numbers writing, as it will inevitably produce a disspirited final product. And why must the same narrow handful of playwrights get the nod for use as examples? Len Jenkin and Mac Wellman in particular keep coming up often. What's the deal with this near-religious fervor for such a small number of writers?

On the other hand, the book is broken up with a few useful exercises, which shift the emphasis from the theories Castagno wants to propound, into the arena of practice. Most of the exercises won't produce anything that will actually be useful in your play, but they'll help you cultivate a creative mindset outside the commercial realism favored by too many.

The strategies in this book aren't actually new. Many were used by classical greats like Shakespeare and Sophocles, and they enjoyed a renewed popularity in the 20th century, due in part to the late writings of August Strindburg. However, they're not widely used in America, and perhaps this book will give some of them the better airing they deserve.

You'll have to work around Castagno's demeaning attitude to playwrights who don't use the techniques he espouses. His condescencion to realism, to integrated characters, and to linear narrative are almost self-parodizing. Many good playwrights pick and choose, sometimes going more realistic and sometimes less, and that includes many of the playwrights Castagno favors in this book.

This is not the best possible book on the playwriting techniques described herein. However, it's the only one out there right now. Most of the playwrights who use the style Castagno describes eschew writing books of theory, so it may be a while before a better book comes out. Until then, using this book with a clear head and careful hand will help break down the walls that may surround you as they surround most of us.

Words that stop on a dime to shift the beat of an action, characters that transform at the turn of a phrase from the sublime to the grotesque, and nouns that seemingly have no connection to each other building to provide landscapes of character, thought, and actions. These are just a few of the exercises and ideas contained within this extremely useful book.

While the joy of writing maybe the first and foremost concern of the playwrights (Mac Wellman, Len Jenkin, etc.) that Castagno uses as models in the text, it is a joy arrived at through rigorous thought and discipline. And it is this rigor of intellect along with a strong sense of theatricality that informs this book. Because in an era where many new plays bear a greater resemblance to fleshed out sitcoms or television dramas, Castagno presents strategies that remind writers of the possibilities and opportunities that writing for the stage offers over evening television. Succinctly, Castagno's book reminds the playwright that words are the ultimate weapon of choice.

The book can easily serve not only a playwrighting text for both a beginning or more advanced class but also is a useful tool for an individual writer looking for ways to make his or her text breathe free of the constraints of the traditional well made play. From a first-hand standpoint, these techniques, along with the intellectual thought that informs them, provided the final step in my development as a playwright. Furthermore, I utilized the exercises for a workshop I taught at Tulane University this summer (in conjunction with a play I was having produced) and saw immediate results.

The only value in this book might be for those who are unfamiliar with the subject is that he makes reference to some useful books on the subject. There is absolutely nothing new presented in terms of what is now known regarding the gods of old. The author repeats himself so often it is difficult to finish the book. He talks of the Real God but never manages to identify or explain what he means. Don't wast money on this book.
Desmond

If you're familiar with this type of material you might need a more detailed book like Sitchin, Daniken ect. This is a lightweight of a book.

I have read a couple of books about religion and I have to say that this is one of the best ones yet. althought it is a little repititious, its the point thats important. The idea that God and the Gods of old is one that very few like to consider. I think you would enjoy this book.

While the book was helpful in learning basic geography of eastern Europe and had many humorous comments, I had a hard time getting past the blatant sympathy for communism. The section on the Soviet Union, for example, described the "widespread discontent" brought about by Stalin's collectivization of agriculture. A cartoon showed a sad farmer wearing a barrel with little straps. There was no mention of the tens of millions who died as a result of the intentional destruction of their seed grain, nor any mention of the purges or slave labor camps. The authors implied that while communism was "unpopular", capitalism produces "unemployment, homelessness and destitution".

America was described as an empire exactly analagous to the Soviet Union and it's puppet states.

The authors did concede that Joe Stalin had corrupted the idealistic dream of Marx and Lenin.

The history of eastern Europe is extremely confusing. Some pieces of land have changed hands more times than anyone can remember, and the whole Yugoslavia thing sends most people reeling in confusion. This book gives a broad, *basic* introduction to eastern Europe: who lives there, how they got there, how various empires have played Monopoly with them, and where they're going now.

This is not a comprehensive text -- it is a summary guide! Some have tried to read more into it than appears on the surface, but I'm stumped as to how one can do that given the very basic information presented.

My biggest complaints are: 1) the authors left vast gaps in some very important periods (such as World War II), which leave one wondering how the story got from "A" to "B"; and 2) Russia gets the lion's share of attention, where the remaining eastern European countries have only a few pages (or less) devoted to them. I understand that the small size of the book made it necessary to save space, but perhaps a bit more balance could have been achieved.

Overall, a good *basic* introduction to how things got the way they did in eastern Europe. If you're like me, though, and love to have details about things, you will probably be happier with a more "scholarly" history book on the subject.

OK, I know this isn't the most in-depth and accurate book on Eastern Europe (nobody claimed it was textbook level), but it is a good overview for someone who is interested in the basics. I was given a copy due to my job (all I can say is I work for the government), and I found many interesting tidbits in it that I didn't know. I have traveled and lived throughout the region, and wish I had found this book years ago as it would be helpful for those not familiar with its history. And please don't criticize any events or issues that may have been left out, all written history has its shortcomings and inaccuracies! Overall, this book does a grand job and showing how Eastern Europe got to its present state!

Strange story of the JLA fighting a race of beings who want to get to heaven, or some such junk as only DC can do it.

I had such high hopes for this one. JLA Heaven's Ladder is about the JLA stopping a dying race of aliens from destroying Earth and other planets while on their way out. The aliens see themselves as superior beings and earthlings as insignificant, the same way that we look at insects. The concepts sounds interesting, but the execution falls of the mark completely. The art is really nice and the oversized format allows it to really shine, but the plot is just too complicated and long. There are no breaks for the readers to stop at, which is also frustrating. I found myself not caring what happens about half way through and it was a struggle to complete it. For the record, let me state that Mark Waid is one of the best comic writers out there, especially for superheros (for a really good Mark Waid JLA story, check out Tower of Babel), but he loses it here.

I have to take issue with those who would decry this book. I think it's truely a noteworthy addition to the JLA of today. I, for one, LOVE the depth and imagination that is going into today's comics. The Watchtower Era JLA is the pinicle of said depth. Just when I think they've pushed the philosophical and metaphysical boundaries to their limit, they push harder. This book, while not perfict (It doesn't quite fit on my shelf, for one) is a great example of the writing that has made this title what it is today. Much like The Matrix raised my expectations of special effects and Sci-Fi, so does today's JLA raise my expectations of a good comic book. Heaven's Ladder is a great book, with a lot of depth, good art work, and wonderful character interactions. This book really leaves you feeling good.

I, too, am disappointed in this book and will be returning it. I bought it as a gift thinking it was a collection of the Pope's prayers to God. Instead, I have a found a collection of speeches/papers/instructions to Secular Institutes asking them to "Love the Church" and "Challenge the Young." In the last chapter of the book, there were three actual prayers. Perhaps I allowed the book's title to misguide my expectations. The writing is lovely if you are looking for secular instruction, but don't expect to find the Pope's private prayers.

These are not prayers, but speaches.
You'll need to be very spiritually advanced to listen to them.
Valuable CD's under incorrect title.
I bought this based on an newspaper ad by publisher.

i found the book to be different from other Pope publications. to follow the Pope through out his journey as a great spirtual leader and the head of the vatican. To read his thoughts through out his travels and time as the Popei find to be very interesting and very englightening. i find the lay out of the book to be beautiful...........i'm glad i have it on my shelf and a bought a few for christmas presents.

It seems this book was put together in a hurry. Lots of authors contributing to the portions they may understand or use. They don't mention who wrote what but as the reader moves from chapter to chapter, the language and writing style changes dramatically.

I would not recommend this book to others.

To be fair, this is not an easy subject. However, they give a short chapter on XPath, and then thrust you into XSLT. That would not be bad IF, during their weak XSLT explanations they would also explain the XPath in their examples. Not only are the explanations weak, but the writing style of the authors is not clear and intuitive. Don't get me wrong, they do explain them, but not clearly.

I have been reading Wrox books for several years now, I have always learned a lot from them, but I have to say this is the absolute worst Wrox book I have ever read. I would suggest finding a different book.

Sorry Wrox, I normally very much enjoy your books.

I'm a developer currently working on a large-scale multi-platform project, which uses XML and XSL extensively.
The book seems to cover all aspects of XSL in great depth, with plenty of code to illustrate how to apply the techniques the authors introduce.
As a programmer used to more traditional procedural languages, I hadn't realised the paradigm shift that working with XSL entails, but this book has kick-started my enthusiasm for XSL, and has shown me what it can really do. The stylesheets I'm writing now are going down very well at work, and one in particular completes its transformation almost 50 times quicker than the code we had previously (no exageration)!

I'd have to disagree with one of the previous reviewers who says it is concerned solely with MSXML!! Although it does cover this technology in one chapter, this isn't a surprise as the book tries cover all aspects of the XSL field. Most of the book is concerned with platform-agnostic tools and techniques, based on the current W3C standards. We use a lot of java in my company, especially as servlets, and this book was pretty indispensible when I was trying to get my stylesheet to work in tandem with servlets and JSP. The one gripe I have is that the book is rather skimpy on Formatting Objects, and if that's your thing you might be disappointed.
Nevertheless, I'd recommend this book to anyone seriously working with XSL, and although it's not a book for novices, it's an excellent reference that you'll keep coming back to.

If you want a travel book about Greek Islands prefer the Fodor's Exploring of the Greek Islands. In this one, Greek history of the Alexander the Great era is completely distorted. Even though only a few sentences are used to refer to this era, the effort of the author(s) to present Macedonians as not Greeks is really obvious and at least inaccurate, since Macedonians were Greek people too. That's also why it was Greek(Hellenistic) the civilization spread througout Asia and Egypt and not Macedonian. It would be much better if they didn't mention history at all. And to be honest, I am sure that it won't be the only inaccuracy present.

This book provides a good introduction to Greece and the Greek Islands. It covers lot of topics, from Greek history to common phrases and food, and touches on practically every island in the Greek archipelago, but it covers no topic in sufficient depth. It also has hundreds of beautiful photographs and illustrations. If you are planning a trip to the islands but know nothing about Greece and would like a quick introduction, this book can be useful.

But don't solely rely on this book to plan your trip. The list of hotels in this book is very small. For example, the book gives the names of only 2 hotels in Mykanos, one of the most popular Greek islands. The maps are small and very sketchy. Be prepared to buy a local map as soon as you reach a city. The book gives timings for major attractions, but be prepapred to double check them when you reach the city. For instance, the timings provided for the Athens Acropolis in the book are not up-to-date. Finally, if you are a backpacker and are worried about ounces, remember that this book is heavier than most others.

I always buy an Eyewitness Travel Guide before I go anywhere and I have found the Greek Islands one to be very helpful - I'm about to use it on my second vacation there. The pictures and descriptions tell you so much more than a traditional guide book and it is a great help if you're trying to figure out where to go and want more than a text description. I get a better sense of the area and the attractions from the visuals in this book. That said, an Eyewitness Guide on its own is not enough - you should also get a "regular" guide book (for me, that's always Lonely Planet) for info on accommodations, dining out and the other practical stuff.

I tried running the first example in this book using the CD that came with the book and followed the directions. I could not get it to run on Windows 2000. I could not return the book since I had used the CD. That's a catch-22.

I went to Sun's web site and downloaded the J2EE tutorial, which is free. Of course there are several things to download to get a complete running environment, but if you follow their instructions very carefully, everything works! Perhaps Sun's instructions were more thorough than this book's.

So if you don't already have a Windows 2000 J2EE environment up and running, don't start with this book.

When I first looked at the used price for this book I thought this book had to be pretty bad. Nevertheless I bought it and it turned out to be a pretty good EJB book, at least for beginner and advanced levels. I haven't tried the examples though, which was one of the complaints about this book. I was just looking for additional reference on EJBs at a low price and this book was a great buy!

"Instant Enterprise JavaBeans" does an excellent job of explaining EJB technology, how to develop programs to use the technology, and how to deploy those programs. Using the reference implementation that comes with the Sun J2EE, the author covers key aspects of developing and deploying EJB applications. The author starts with a good explanation of the Java 2 Enterprise Edition including n-tier architecture and then demonstrates a basic "hello world" EJB class. Using this class, the author shows us how to use the Deploy Tool to deploy and run EJB applications. In each chapter, we are taken step-by-step through the entire process required to produce working EJB applications. The author shows us how to develop stateless and stateful session beans and entity beans using bean-managed and container-managed persistence. Several clear examples of each type of bean are discussed. He then uses the different types of beans to create a more complex example that even includes an interface to a web ready cellular phone. In later chapters, he shows us many of the additional features available in EJB servers including creating container-managed transactions, authenticating users, and customizing applications using deployment descriptors. The author finishes up with a brief discussion of performance issues. Even though the book only discusses the J2EE reference implementation, by covering the basic functions found in an EJB server we learn what to look for in other EJB servers. My one complaint is that the index is almost useless, even lacking entries for such basic topics as "transaction" and "database".

Oh dear. I really didn't like NO FUTURE at all. I didn't find it to be offensively poor, but it tried to do too many different things, and I couldn't make myself care about any of them. A scant few days after reading it, and I simply can't think of much of anything that stuck out in my mind. Everything was so underdeveloped that it just went in my brain and then just went right back out of it. Well, it will make for a short review anyway.

There's so much going on here that it's difficult for me to recall enough about any one particular item to discuss. The book begins with a punk band filled with anarchists, but they (save Danny, who becomes a bit faceless) and the rebellious spirit all but disappear part of the way through. There some interesting stuff done with the UNIT characters, but then they're replaced in favor of the Broadsword division. The Broadsword division is set up in an interesting way, but there simply isn't enough time left to give them the development that they need. NO FUTURE feels like a rough draft, or a brainstorming session.

Interestingly enough, the one thing that the book does spend a lot of time on, Ace's "murderous plans" that the back cover mentions, is actually done extremely well. If there's a single reason to read this book, then it's to see the resolution of several character storylines that had been running through the NAs for quite some time. It's a shame about the rest of the book really. It almost seems as though the entirety of the non-character sequences were written purely to place the Doctor, Ace and Benny into the situations that Cornell wanted them in. When they actually get to those places, the book is great. But the actual plodding around to get to them was too boring and too scattershot to be really enjoyable. It's like taking a long car ride to a wonderful beach in a cramped and smelly automobile, only to arrive half an hour before sunset. The reward at the end of the journey is quite good in itself, just not enough to make up for the problems encountered en route.

It's a pity that so much of the book simply doesn't work. Individually there are a lot of elements that were done better in other Cornell books. The perceived betrayal, the revamp of the Brigadier/UNIT, the interaction between the characters, and the desire to break the rules of society are almost all familiar elements. We know that Cornell can do them better because he either had done them better or would go on to do them better. They just weren't given enough of a chance, so consequently they all seem underdeveloped. Reading other books in the Cornell back-catalog would be a great way to see what he's capable of doing on these same topics. You just won't find that same greatness here.

(Oh, and the cover is hideous. For some reason, everyone except the person I assume to be Benny has weird teddy bear fur sticking out of the top of their heads. I assume that person is Benny purely based on the fact that she's obviously using the force to levitate a can of beer out of the audience. And who can blame her? If I suddenly morphed into Liza Minelli, I think I'd be driven to drink as well.)

This is quite an interesting and entertaining New Adventure in which the Doctor, Benny and Ace (who has become estranged from the Doctor because she disagrees with the moral decision he made in Blood Heat) team up with certain old companions (including one of the most popular) to stop an alien invasion. One's jaw will drop at the revelation of who the invaders and the mysterious individual tormenting the Doctor and his companions are (hint: it's *not* the Master)--for both of them one will probably say, "Who would have thought it?".

Those are the strengths of No Future. Its weakness is that Paul Cornell misuses the story, inappropriately making it as much a sequel to his earlier book Love and War as a conclusion to the *Altered Past story arc, which is what it's supposed to be. Love and War is one of the New Adventures line's finest books, but if Paul Cornell wanted to resolve the conflicts he set up there, he should have devoted a separate NA to it. It draws attention away from the matters of the invasion and the Doctor's search for his tormentor, and weakens an otherwise good novel.

*The 'Altered Past' arc consists of, in order: Blood Heat, The Dimension Riders, The Left-Handed Hummingbird, Conundrum, and No Future.

Hey, I was more than happy with this one. Actually, I was quite impressed.

It's true the book is very busy. It is the climax to an extended "unseen foe in the background" plotline that started four books back, with the novel called Blood Heat. But the revelation concerning this issue is quite fun, because there hasn't been just one mastermind behind the scenes--but, rather, one mastermind, plus one superbeing held in thrall by said mastermind, and one disguised alien race invading the Earth while being manipulated by said superbeing. And yes, this hodgepodge of foes hiding behind the scenery all relate to past Who adventures, so some random knowledge of past TV episodes is only going to help (though I'm not the biggest expert on Dr Who trivia, and I enjoyed all these old foes suddenly returning).

It's also a fact that author Cornell has some unfinished business to take care of from way back in the novel Love And War, which introduced Benny and kicked out Ace, for awhile. So if you haven't read that particular book, you may be thinking "What's all this 'Jan' stuff?", and "Wha--Where is Heaven?". And then there are references to the TARDIS stuck in tar (oops--read Blood Heat), or Ace re-creating the TARDIS from memory (oops--I think that happened back in the Cat's Cradle trilogy)...

So okay--maybe don't leap into the series with No Future. But as regards wrapping up the loose ends from Love and War, I think it's handled skillfully, does not detract from the "unseen foe" business which is the main thrust, and leads to a poignant scene where Ace must make a very tough choice, when it comes to closing literal and metaphorical doors behind her.

This leads me to more comments on Ace, who I think is actually handled quite well in this story, especially when it comes to redefining her relationship with the Doctor, which has been friction-fraught since she returned as a battle-hardened soldier (oops--ahem, me again--better read Deceit). I don't want to give away anything about Ace--heck, she's the type to come and beat me up over it--but part of this book is about showing that she has a brain, and showing that, when necessary, a Companion can be just as cunning as the Doctor...and even do a little role-reversal (Cool!! Ace playing the mindgames, and the Doctor trying to do some Companionly keeping-up! I absolutely loved that concept, this once.)

I guess I've now given the impression that the book is perhaps too busy. But there really isn't too much plot to handle; no, everything is extra-complicated here simply because everyone involved is running a scheme. The Doctor is trying to scrabble a plan together, but as indicated, Ace herself has got ten chess-moves planned, all known only to her. Then there's the Brigadier, who also has his own agenda (does it really mean he's turned against the Doctor? Say it ain't so!). Heck, Mike Yates is running a scheme! And Benny, too--she's following some of the Doctor's orders, but she starts making her own moves.

And I haven't even mentioned the bad guys!

If all of this weren't frantic enough, every group of allies seems to have a traitor in their midst! These Black Star terrorists shouldn't trust every member; the mysterious alien race in the background has a few rogue members who don't conform to the "conquer Earth" mindset, let's say; and even our malevolent mastermind has a powerful creature in thrall that would just love to turn on him.

Frankly, I love the way it all gets cleanly sorted out--like laundry, only more exciting. It's especially neato that, amongst all these supporting characters trying to play Boss, the Doctor still shines best. Of course he does. And as far as his sourpuss approach to life, in this and adjoining novels, he wouldn't be the First cranky Doctor...