Helpful Score: 2
An interesting meld of sf/cyberpunk and fantasy. Exciting and well-plotted.
In a near-future Earth, government control has produced a strict caste society. Hari Michaelson has struggled up from a Labor position, with the help of a rich patron, to become one of the most famous men on Earth - but he is still only an Actor, subservient to those above him. But when he is performing as Caine, sent through a breakthrough in physics to the Otherworld of Ankhana, where elves, ogres, wizards and thieves abound, he can almost be free. And he can take out his aggressions in bloody hand-to-hand combat, murdering for the entertainment of his audience, linked-in to sense his every feeling...
But now his estranged wife, also an Actor, is lost in Ankhana, and the time clock is running out before she dies a horrible death. Can Caine succeeed over the political and magickal intrigues of Ankhana, and the even more diabolical plots of his Studio back home, who keep trying to create a more entertaining story, and save the woman he loves?
In a near-future Earth, government control has produced a strict caste society. Hari Michaelson has struggled up from a Labor position, with the help of a rich patron, to become one of the most famous men on Earth - but he is still only an Actor, subservient to those above him. But when he is performing as Caine, sent through a breakthrough in physics to the Otherworld of Ankhana, where elves, ogres, wizards and thieves abound, he can almost be free. And he can take out his aggressions in bloody hand-to-hand combat, murdering for the entertainment of his audience, linked-in to sense his every feeling...
But now his estranged wife, also an Actor, is lost in Ankhana, and the time clock is running out before she dies a horrible death. Can Caine succeeed over the political and magickal intrigues of Ankhana, and the even more diabolical plots of his Studio back home, who keep trying to create a more entertaining story, and save the woman he loves?
-----DAY OF THE JACKAL meets LORD OF THE RINGS-----
Renowned throughout the land of Ankhana as the Blade of Tyshalle, Caine has killed his share of monarchs and commoners, villains and heroes. He is relentless, unstoppable, simply the best there is at what he does. At home on Earth, Caine is Hari Michaelson, a superstar whose adventures in Ankhana command an audience of billions. Yet he is shackled by a rigid caste society, bound to ignore the grim fact that he kills men on a far-off world for the entertainment of his own planet.
But now Michaelson has crossed the line. His estranged wife, Pallas Rill, has mysteriously disappeared in the slums of Ankhana. To save her he must confront the greatest challenge of his life: a lethal game of cat and mouse with the most treacherous rulers of two worlds.
Renowned throughout the land of Ankhana as the Blade of Tyshalle, Caine has killed his share of monarchs and commoners, villains and heroes. He is relentless, unstoppable, simply the best there is at what he does. At home on Earth, Caine is Hari Michaelson, a superstar whose adventures in Ankhana command an audience of billions. Yet he is shackled by a rigid caste society, bound to ignore the grim fact that he kills men on a far-off world for the entertainment of his own planet.
But now Michaelson has crossed the line. His estranged wife, Pallas Rill, has mysteriously disappeared in the slums of Ankhana. To save her he must confront the greatest challenge of his life: a lethal game of cat and mouse with the most treacherous rulers of two worlds.
