Since I stubbornly refuse to stop reading a book no matter how bad it is, I suffered through the whole thing. Between the ridiculous premise that's completely unbelievable, the lousy writing style, and the lack of anything remotely resembling a plot, the book easily rates instant-dumpster status

Egads, these reviews are appallingly negative. "Steal this book and then burn it"? This must be one crap-fest, this wacky Indian book here. It must suck something fierce, no? I admit, the summary is probably turning you off. I felt the same way; I found it in a used bookstore and giggled. Indians in space on birchback canoes?

However, that summary and most of the reviews here can't tell you how good this book is. They don't mention the sheer inventiveness of the novel; Daniel has half a dozen good ideas weaved in and out, along with themes of imperialism and cultural sensitivity, and a sly satire of secular humanism to boot. On the surface, it seems like a future-western, with white folk facing off with Native Americans, but to be so simplistic does the novel a disservice.

Now, it is true that sometimes it seems like Daniel is stringing his book along more on pathos and cool sf ideas than by actual plot, but my enjoyment never suffered for it. I loved the exhilaration of creativity; why should mere logic come into the picture? Daniel is brilliant, and should he ever control and direct that brilliance, you can be assured that nothing less than a masterpiece will result.

I will admit that Warpath forces a tighter suspension of disbelief than many S.F. novels.

The writing, however, is superior!

I would much rather have a off-beat, or even odd, alternate universe written tightly and with a very enjoyable style than most of the poorly-written, but straight-line extrapolation, SF novels one runs across.

Daniels writes fluidly, engagingly, and I felt very connected to the characters, the plot, and the alternate universe he created. I'll admit that some fo the universe conceptualizations were hard to accept, but have you every tried analyzing the universe A.E. Van Vogt created in "Slan"? It's got more inconsistencies than one could shake a cliche at, but in the end it doesn't matter because you enjoy how it's written, and you have a good time reading it. Warpath and Daniels writing affected me that way. I want to read more, and have two Danniels books on pre-publish order here at Amazon based on his entertaining and professional writing style.

Remember when Nasa Held a press briefing 2 years ago decribing an "interplanetary highway" charted by mapping the projected positions of planetary and solar gravity wells? This "highway" charts the least fuel costs needed for interplanetary travel by using gravity assists to send space probes to their intended destinations.

Tony Daniel took the report literally, and his characters travel through physical highways strung between the earth and mars, earth and the moon, earth to mercury, etc etc. Nevermind that such planets spin around the sun, and the cables between planets would plunge into the sun when the planets they are connected to are in solar opposition. All these plot problems are solved by the modern magic of nanotechnology!

Tis a shame, as the rest of the book's ideas about the civil rights of artificial intellegences are sort of interesting.

_Doug

This book contains work by many comics creators, both American and abroad. Be aware that it's only 48 pages in hardcover! It was originally published by Editions Carabas in Europe, but this particular version was released in the US by Dark Horse Comics (its first English translation). This is a collection of pin-ups and short stories all focusing on vampires. The stories are very much like what you'd find in Heavy Metal: great artwork, with plots ranging from decent to confusing. The lineup includes Bryan Talbot, Philippe Caza, Benoît Springer, David Lloyd, Mike Mignola (pin-up), Tommy Lee Edwards, Richard Marazano, Gary Gianni (pin-up), Yoann and Sfar (hilarious Batman parody), and others. The book is topped off by a great cover by Matthieu Lauffray. Basically, the book looks great but is lacking in coherent storylines and content. Still, if you're a comic art afficionado, this is a good deal.