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frakalot's review
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
This review is for C.L. Moore's 'The Cold Gray God.'
Northwest is on Mars again, again.... again. Which is fine but I really wanted to head back to Venus. Anyway, at least it's not the same old dusty environs, here we start with a snowy setting on "Righa, pole city of Mars."
Otherwise, it's a bit of a classic start for a Northwest. He spots a beautiful woman standing out from the crowd and she asks "will you come with me?" Of course, Northwest knows what she means by this, because apparently he could tell that she was no ordinary lady of the streets, but this reader could not parse any deep meaning from the exchange. Naturally, he follows.
Well, at least to half satisfy my Venusian dreams, the lady in question is "Judai of Venus [who] had been the toast of three planets a few years past." Her songs once celebrated through to the far outposts of civilisation.
Judai offers Northwest any reward he can name if he will retrieve an item stored in a little ivory box for her. Smith heads down to the local, a bar that he knows is a safe haven for people of questionable occupation. There the barkeep doesn't just offer up information, (odd for a place that can apparently be relied upon to keep your secrets), but goes as far as to actually retrieve the damn box for him. So, I was a little unimpressed with this arrangement and hoping that it would at least be a case of the old cursed gift routine.
The real horror here has little to do with the box and a lot more to do with whatever has become of the once great vocalist. Like some of the best in this series, Northwest undergoes a battle of wills to keep his mind and body to himself.
Northwest is on Mars again, again.... again. Which is fine but I really wanted to head back to Venus. Anyway, at least it's not the same old dusty environs, here we start with a snowy setting on "Righa, pole city of Mars."
Otherwise, it's a bit of a classic start for a Northwest. He spots a beautiful woman standing out from the crowd and she asks "will you come with me?" Of course, Northwest knows what she means by this, because apparently he could tell that she was no ordinary lady of the streets, but this reader could not parse any deep meaning from the exchange. Naturally, he follows.
Well, at least to half satisfy my Venusian dreams, the lady in question is "Judai of Venus [who] had been the toast of three planets a few years past." Her songs once celebrated through to the far outposts of civilisation.
Judai offers Northwest any reward he can name if he will retrieve an item stored in a little ivory box for her. Smith heads down to the local, a bar that he knows is a safe haven for people of questionable occupation. There the barkeep doesn't just offer up information, (odd for a place that can apparently be relied upon to keep your secrets), but goes as far as to actually retrieve the damn box for him. So, I was a little unimpressed with this arrangement and hoping that it would at least be a case of the old cursed gift routine.
The real horror here has little to do with the box and a lot more to do with whatever has become of the once great vocalist. Like some of the best in this series, Northwest undergoes a battle of wills to keep his mind and body to himself.
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