Another thrilling installment

REVIEWS BY GAVIN J. GRANT

In the 29th volume of his Discworld series (relax—you don't have to read them all), English master fantasist and humorist Terry Pratchett takes on that most moribund of government institutions: the post office. Going Postal features Moist von Lipwig, a career criminal given the choice between death and a government job. Thinking he is being given the opportunity to swindle the many instead of the few, Moist accepts the position of postmaster general. He soon discovers that the post office has gone through four postmasters in the last year, there are rooms full of 40-year-old undelivered mail, the mail is talking to him, and there is an even bigger swindler out to give him and the post office a run for their money. Then there are the golems, Moist's potential love interest, the secret brotherhood of postal workers, the ghosts . . . and Moist's strange and growing addiction to doing good. Pratchett explores the costs and benefits of the Discworld's version of e-mail (a labor-intensive mechanical semaphore system called the "clacks") versus postal mail and also takes a few potshots at the venture capitalists caught up in a financial shell game supporting the clacks. Going Postal has all the emotional weight of the recent Discworld books and is also a hilarious addition to the ongoing story.


Space pirates strike back

The second in Elizabeth Moon's tense adventure series featuring newly minted spaceship captain Kylara Vatta, Marque and Reprisal begins with a series of surprise attacks on Ky's family business, Vatta Transport. Ky survives an assassination attempt only to find that the ansibles (real-time communication devices) are down and she is cut off from her family headquarters. With a ragtag crew of followers, Ky sets out to find out who was behind the attacks and to avenge her family.

Stuck with an old ship and few resources, Ky receives a very useful package containing defensive mines and a "Marque"—a certificate legalizing her status as a government-sponsored pirateer. Unsure whether to use it or not, she finds that possession of the Marque means she is already a pirate in the minds of many.

Although the novel is set in the far future, the gender roles are from the 1950s, which makes us wonder: surely the concept of a young woman spaceship captain will not be all that surprising in distant centuries? Perhaps Moon hopes to expand her younger readers' horizons, but others may find the straitjacketed roles puzzling. Still, Moon is a smooth and skilled writer with a growing following, and it will be interesting to see where the future takes pirate captain Ky.


Ghost writer

Peter Straub's page-turner, In the Night Room, is a fascinating jumble of fantasy and reality that follows his previous novel, lost boy, lost girl. Here, Straub introduces readers to Tim Underhill, a New York-based thriller writer about to go on tour to promote his latest book, lost boy, lost girl. Willy Patrick, a New York-based children's book writer, has just won the Newbery Medal for her book In the Night Room. While it may sound complicated, Straub's writing is so clean and clear the reader will have no difficulty following his intricate path. Underhill wrote his book following the murder of his nephew; Willy wrote her book as a survivor's response to the murder of her husband and daughter. Underhill's work, in particular, has complicated and far-reaching consequences. The ghost of his sister, April, murdered 40 years before, appears and commands him to "Listen." Then he begins receiving e-mails from the recently dead. A deranged fan accosts him in a diner and harangues him for failing to write his "real" books. And an angry angel appears to him. Thankfully, there are a couple of signs of hope: the child who has grown up and stepped outside a repetitive cycle of abuse to become a pediatrician, and Underhill's cold and boring brother whose fiancée has brought him to new and unexpected life.

In the Night Room is a pleasure to read. The details, such as how characters sustain themselves when taken out of context, are wonderful, and the ending leaves the reader satisfied and hopeful that there will be more from Tim Underhill—and Peter Straub—in the near future.


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