ISBN: 0-312-86266-0 Order from: Amazon.com Barnes & Noble.com
This less-than-average fantasy turns a potentially promising world of Indian myth to a pedestrian, wish-fulfilling but unexciting journey of sexual adventures and stereotypes.
Reviewed by David on February 28, 1999
Genre: Fantasy (India, Wish Fulfillment)
Synopsis: Hari, a young, well-born young man in an ancient Indian village decides to indulge his restless spirit and sets forth in search of wisdom. Meanwhile, a minor goddess and a loathsome demon have chosen to use the naive and well-meaning Hari to decide an argument: if the goddess Mohini manages to have Hari seduced by seven women before the brutal Ravana gets him killed, she wins. Otherwise, Mohini loses her bet, and Hari loses his life.
As the young man travels, he runs into gurus, priests, demons, rajas and farmers. He also runs into their daughters, wifes and maidservants, most of which find Hari inexplicably attractive.
Full Review: There is little to recommend itself in this tale of adventures in a mythical India, filled with demons, minor gods, magic-wielding sages and spirits of the air. There is little sense of wonder, the politics and struggles are filled with cliches. One amusing attribute of the central conceit is that long, potentially boring scenes are cut down by the divine players who get bored with long conversations and extended sojourns, thus allowing the plot to move along with an internal justification.
Perhaps most disappointing, for a book filled with sexual encounters, there is remarkable absence of romantic or erotic excitement. The women are barely sketched, and the copulations are described in coy euphemisms. The search for wisdom is a threadbare excuse, and in fact there is no semblance of wisdom or growth. While Hari himself is a fairly plausible character, the others, including Mohini and Ravana, Hari's sexual partners as well as enemies, are mere cardboard props, designed to move the plot forward.
Unless you are a great fan of Anthony, or in desperate search of reading material, you will lose little by avoiding this book.
Overall: 4; Plot: 5; Characters: 3.5; Style: 4; World-building: 3.5; Originality: 6;
Copyright date 1996, Tom Doherty Associates (Tor), December 1996, Cloth, 287 pages
ISBN: 0-312-86266-0 Order from: Amazon.com Barnes & Noble.com