|
|
|
|
|
|
readers are in a minority, and admirers of Blish's new book will probably be likewise. (. . .) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The core of Blish's novel is the conflict within Father Ruiz-Sanches, and its ultimate spectacular resolution. That such a plot element could serve as the basis for an entire sf novelor even a short storywould have been incomprehensible twenty or ten years ago. Even today it is a distinctly uncommercial concept, and it's hard to see hundreds of thousands of paperback novel-readers deriving much satisfaction from A Case of Conscience; the book will simply be over many heads. (. . .) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
(. . .) In A Case of Conscience Blish has written that rarest of books, the intellectually exciting science-fiction novel. Captain Future fans take heed, and purchase only at your own risk. This book will give your mind a workout. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Robert Silverberg, [Review of A Case of Conscience], Infinity Science Fiction 4, No. 1 (October 1958): 10911 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The book (Black Easter) is basically a study of three characters, the white magician Father Francis Xavier Domenico Bruno Garelli, the black magician Theron Ware, and the millionaire lawyer Baines who tries to enlist the help of both for the most diabolical purposes. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The portraits of the magicians are superb; and the descriptions of the conjuring are the best I've encountered, including those in Eddison's The Worm Ouroboros. Theron Ware, the black magician, is cerebral, witty, the expert sophist. The bumbling, barefoot white magician Father Domenico is the quintessence of all I find delightful in Tolkien (though Mr. Blish might not consider this a compliment, I certainly do). The only character who remains vague for me is Baines. Perhaps if the lust of Ginsberg and the seeking-after-knowledge of Hess (Ginsberg and Hess are Baines' two human henchmen) had all been given to Baines himself, he would have been able to support his tercet of the flaming brazier. Even so, including A Case of Conscience and "Surface Tension," this is the most enjoyable Blish I've read yet. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Samuel R. Delany, [Review of Black Easter], Amazing Stories 42, No. 4 (November 1968): 75 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
He is an atheist in the sense that he feels logic provides no answer to the problems of divine creation nor to the need for |
|
|
|
|
|