Related Subjects: Author Index Reviews Page 1 2
Book reviews for "Sucharitkul,_Somtow" sorted by average review score:

The Dawning Shadow: Part One, Light on the Sound (Inquestor Series)
Published in Paperback by Bantam Books (1986)
Author: Somtow Sucharitkul
Amazon base price: $3.50
Used price: $1.00
Collectible price: $6.00
Buy one from zShops for: $9.95
Average review score:

Imagination deluxe
This was probably one of the most intriguing authors of science fiction of the 1980's. Anything he wrote during that time, including this series, along with Mallworld, Starship and Haiku, was brilliant. The writing is witty, cynical, literate, and bold. The plots are fantastic and original. It's like Vonnegut on steroids. Unfortunately, his fascination with death has now seemingly grown to an obsession, and today he writes only gothic horror. In this genre his dark side is no longer a contrast, but the only color visible. So skip anything written by him about vampires, and read this book, or other SF written while the nova burned brightly.

Excellent
I feel that this is one of the best books that I have read and feel that the entire series is equally good. Sucharitkul creates a world with a blend of Science fiction and fantisy and spins a wonderful tale. If you can get a copy of this book, Read It.


The Darkling Wind
Published in Hardcover by Tigereyes Press (1985)
Authors: Theodore Sturgeon, Ronald Leik, and Somtow Sucharitkul
Amazon base price: $20.00
Average review score:

neglected masterpiece of SF
sad to see this series out of print. certainly prone to excessive rhetoric and some strange characterisatoin, but the inquestor concept and stories remain among the more impressive SF universes. highly recommended


Forgetting Places
Published in Hardcover by St. Martin's Press (1987)
Authors: Somtow Sucharitkul and S. P. Somtow
Amazon base price: $14.95
Used price: $4.20
Collectible price: $9.94
Average review score:

A Brothers death sends a boy looking for answers.
Struggling to deal with his brothers death, a boy takes a strange trip across the country. Forgetting Places is an excellent novel that deals with the pain of growing beyond the loss of a loved one. Somtow is a master storyteller who never talks down to the reader, which happens far to often with books for young people.


Utopia Hunters
Published in Paperback by Bantam Books (1984)
Authors: Somtow Suchartikul and Somtow Sucharitkul
Amazon base price: $2.95
Used price: $1.55
Collectible price: $2.12
Average review score:

Obscure masterpieces
This anthology introduces the universe and characters of the Inquest series, which is one of the few works of fiction that truly deserves to be described as "epic." It is the saga of the fall of a galactic empire, but don't let that summarization fool you. This is no cliche. The universe of the Inquest is as rich as Dune, and more sweeping and majestic than Foundation. The Inquestors present a godlike facade to their subjects, but are tragically human and fallible behind this facade. They have Clarke's "science which is indistinguishable from magic," and can indulge their every whim, whether for beauty or evil. Worlds rise and fall as the Inquestors' egos clash. This is the story of a small band of heretical Inquestors determined to restore humanity and freedom to the human race, and the civil war that ensues as the corrupt Inquestors strive to maintain their 20,000 year old tyranny. The author has a gift for the sounds of language, and words and phrases from the stories will resound through your mind for months. The ideas and images will stay with you even longer. These books have been inexplicably out of print for years, but are treasures worth the seeking. The other books in the series are: The Light on the Sound: The Dawning Shadow, The Light on the Sound: The Throne of Madness, and Darkling Wind.


Mallworld
Published in Paperback by Tor Books (1984)
Author: Somtow Sucharitkul
Amazon base price: $2.95
Used price: $0.90
Collectible price: $0.85
Average review score:

A clever sendup of consumer culture

So, you've survived the presidential elections. You know to "Just Don't Do It!" and that Bob Dole is a war hero from World War II. You've learned all about how bad "big government" is. And we've learned about how much we miss the '80s.

Now, this Thai import--occasional avant-garde composer, horror film director, and mildly prolific science-fiction author (http://www.primenet.com/~somtow/)--is here to bring back everything we loved about the 1980s.

Consumer culture. Conspicuous consumption. Noise, music, and decadence. The ultimate Big Government--hyperintelligent aliens watching over the solar system, locking humanity away from the stars, and providing incredible technology. The book describes the Mall of the Future: the size of a planet, and caters to every possible consumer of anything, human and alien alike. A series of smoothly-written, clever short stories, punctuated by advertisements for the wonderful products available in the mall.

Feast your eyes on the Mallworld Vampire, reduced to a sideshow at the Way-Out Suicide Club. Check out the daring youth, who refuse be decently nude like their parents are, and instead wear shapeless, indecent potato sacks. Join the Cult-of-the-Month Club. Try a dose of Levitol, and bounce off the ceiling. Forget that useless literacy, and interact with salesdroids. Live at the very center of solar commerce.

This book, published in 1984, is vaguely out of print. I found it in a used bookstore a few years ago and loved it; it seems that even this site is having some problems with it. The pages are well-leafed, passages are underlined to read to friends.

(c) 1996 Danyel Fishe

One of the funniest books I've ever read
Somtow Sucharitkul is both entertaining and insightful...sorta reminds me of Rudy Rucker that way, though Sucharitkul is much darker and weirder than Rucker. His understanding of other cultures is also amazing. This book is very diverse in its references, probably his best book though I have yet to find and read the rest of his novels. I would recommend it to anyone with an open mind who wants to be entertained.

Mallworld a gem amidst obscure sci-fi

Anyone who really liked Kevin J. Anderson's STAR WARS "Tales from Jabba's Palace", Alan Dean Foster's "Glory Lane", Spider Robinson's "Callahan's Cross-Time Saloon", or any other collection of bizzare science fiction, aliens, and the fringes of humanity is the perfect audience of Mallworld.

In an ever-more crowded solar system confined by alien overlords, the humans living in the rural Belt as well as urbanites all flock to Mallworld to find EVERYTHING and ANYTHING.
Mallworld is the shopping mall the size of a planet, open 24/7/365, with hordes of spree-shoppers and tourists, aliens and freaks, stair-well kids, mall workers, etc.

The characters and settings are as dark as the Twilight Zone, esoteric as William Gibson, innovative as Philip K Dick and utterly intense.

I loved every story in the book and have read it several times, recommended it to many friends (I have to loan them my copy autographed by the author himself because it is SO hard to find!).
It's a shame this book is out of print and largely unknown because it truly is a gem that needs fresh publicity.


The Fallen Country
Published in Paperback by Bantam Books (1986)
Authors: Somtow Sueharitkul and Somtow Sucharitkul
Amazon base price: $2.95
Used price: $0.50
Collectible price: $3.75
Average review score:

Good Fare for a Fantasy Starter.
You really want to like these characters. I found this book when I was really starting to get into the various genres of Fantasy. It has the requisite Dragon, with a twist, a Princess to be saved, and a hero that needs to find himself. And more twists than a pretzel factory...At least to a 12yo mind. I would recommend this book for anyone looking for a light read that is highly entertaining.


Starship and Haiku
Published in Paperback by Ballantine Books (1988)
Authors: Somtow Sucharitkul and S. P. Somtow
Amazon base price: $3.50
Used price: $0.72
Collectible price: $3.75
Average review score:

Deeply flawed, but still worthwhile
This may be one of the more obscure books that I've ever read, and it, more than anything, validates my insistence on shopping at used bookstore. It's by no means a masterpiece, but Sucharitkul's vision of post-apocalyptic Japan is more alive and original than most mass-produced heroic fantasies and repackaged techno-thrillers. If you can't understand how Darwin's Radio won the Nebula, this novel is for you.

I admit that you'll have trouble seeing this novel as the book that rekindled my faith in science fiction if you only read these next two paragraphs. The characters are mostly one-dimensional: Takahashi is the ultimate Dark Lord Foulness character, and his fate at the end is a cheat. I had to keep reminding myself that Josh Nakamura was thirty years old; he would have been a more interesting fifteen-year-old. The only interesting character, Akiro Ishida, only appears for half the book.

The plot itself leaves much to be desired; plot holes abound, and, as I said before, the villain's final fate, and the lessons learned, were incredibly unsatisfying. Not only that, but the characters think in exclamation points, and sometimes the revelations can be too obvious. So you'll have to trust me when I say that, despite the numerous flaws in narrative, Suchartikul's vision is so compelling that I'd recommend it anyway.

I always got the sense that he was busting at the seams with ideas about the tension between art and life, about beauty, about courage and honor and ecology and a dozen other things, and if he wasn't subtle enough, that's because this is a labor of love. His triumph is in a tour of a suicide colony; the mixture of the grotesque and the serene, culminating in an cruel mockery of artistry, is simply astounding, and absolves a good many literary sins on its own accord.

I understand that not everyone will be willing to ignore the book's flaws as I was, so take this for a limited recommendation (or possibly damning with faint praise). It was unique, and I derived enjoyment out of it; if you're looking for something other than the near-identical novels clogging up the Science Fiction section, you may like it too.


Annual of the Year's Best Science Fiction, 6th
Published in Paperback by Holiday House (1981)
Authors: Judith Merril and Somtow Sucharitkul
Amazon base price: $2.50
Used price: $0.73
Collectible price: $3.75
Average review score:
No reviews found.

The Aquilliad
Published in Paperback by Pocket Books (1983)
Author: Somtow Sucharitkul
Amazon base price: $2.95
Used price: $0.88
Collectible price: $2.64
Average review score:
No reviews found.

The Darkling Wind: Chronicles of the High Inquest
Published in Paperback by Bantam Books (1985)
Author: Somtow Sucharitkul
Amazon base price: $3.50
Used price: $0.01
Collectible price: $2.12
Buy one from zShops for: $9.95
Average review score:
No reviews found.

Related Subjects: Author Index Reviews Page 1 2

Reviews are from readers at Amazon.com. To add a review, follow the Amazon buy link above.