โ Scribed by Piers Anthony
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
Despite some fresh characters and situations, the uneven third installment of Anthony's new series (after Virtual Mode and Fractal Mode ) ultimately lapses into formula. Escaping an unhappy childhood, 14-year-old Colene has discovered travel on the Virtual Mode, a buffer zone that connects Earth with thousands of alternate realities. With three companions--Darius, Nona and the telepathic horse Seqiro--she meets Burgess, a tentacled being from a world whose evolutionary development differs dramatically from that of Earth. Anthony effectively conveys Burgess's radical otherness through the creature's community-oriented vocabulary, but he is less successful with the human characters, each of whom is defined by an overly simple trait: Darius is honest, Nona beautiful, Colene intelligent but depressed. Travel along the Virtual Mode allows for several imaginative settings and encounters, including a land of giants and a world where horses keep humans as slaves. The plot lacks a strong through-line, however, and the group's adventures soon become cliched; there seems to be no problem their combined abilities can't wrap up quickly and tidily, leaving them poised for the next adventure.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
This is the third and possibly concluding volume of Anthony's Mode series, in which the characters pass freely from one universe to another in a world where all these universes rub elbows, sometimes doing so just in the nick of time. Main characters Colene and Darius continue very much as before, but the telepathic horse Seqiro definitely comes into his own this time (Anthony has always had a knack for equine characters, sometimes a greater knack than he's had for his human ones). Also, there are a well-drawn alien named Burgess and a journey back to Earth, where Colene has some hope of making peace with her none-too-functional family. The Mode series proves Anthony's versatility, at least, and to his large and devoted following it may offer more. Roland Green
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