Book Reviews
Copyright (c) 1994, Heather DeRouen
All rights reserved



NIGHT RELICS
James P. Blaylock
ACE Fantasy        
$18.95 US, $23.75 CAN    


James P. Blaylock is the author of such delightful books as "The Paper Grail"
and "The Last Coin".  So, of course, I was very happy when I found that he'd
come out with a new book.  But, about 10 pages into the book, I realized that
he'd made what I consider to be a tremendous error in judgement - he'd decided
that, instead of a whimsical fantasy writer, he wanted to write horror.  This
book was one of the most disappointing books I've read this decade.  Imagine,
if you can, the writing style of H.P. Lovecraft combined with the imagination
for horror of, let's say, Barney the Dinosaur.

This is only about a 300 or so page book, but it took me almost a week of
dedicated trudging to finish it.  I don't know if Blaylock just decided that
horror novels would be more lucrative, or he's just going through a bleak
period of his life.  I do know that, before this novel, I would have bought the
hardback version of any book he wrote.  After this book, I'll read the jacket
before buying any of his work again.

My score (of a possible 10) - 2