A Poul Anderson novel usually includes some action-adventure fiction whether or not it is necessary to the plot. There are some neat touches in this chapter:
when waldo-robots kidnap Sigrid, she covers her head in perfume so that the keen-nosed sha-Eyska will easily follow the trail;
the robots take her to a room where she meets her enemies, the Forsi, including the waldo operators;
some dialogue informs the reader of what is going on;
Sigrid spends a couple of pages jumping on and under the table, between the robots' legs etc;
when the door announces that someone wants to enter, she shouts the command to open before anyone else can say no;
Alexandra enters armed and shoots the waldo operators;
the Forsi attack Alexandra and her Eyzka companions;
Sigrid controls a waldo to pluck and disable the Forsi.
Not bad. We might have preferred to read more about "...motivational research among outworld cultures..." (p. 85) but, as action scenes go, this one has things going for it.
3 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
I admit I would have preferred the action adventure to a probably rather dull discussion of "...motivational research among outworld cultures..."!
Sean
Sean,
But van Rijn always makes his analyses of other species interesting.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
I agree! What I had in mind as being boring would be a discussion of "motivational research" heavy in academic jargon and technical argot. Nicholas van Rijn's conversations and analyses were never like that!
Sean
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