Masque World

Anthony Villiers, Book 3

By: Alexei Panshin

Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki

You are invited to a ball given by Lord Semichastny at his estate on Delbalso.

Be prepared for:

• The Great Trog Chase, a marvel of bureaucratic befuddlement compounded by the appearance of an imposter rivaling Torve himself for Troggish charm, though not unpredictability;
• The winders of Peelgrunt at Xenakis' Centre (the only place on Delbalso even mentioned by Wu and Fabricant);
• A family of bourgeois con-artists keeping up appearances as interstellar rug salesmen;
• The first intimations of the Universal Pantograph;
• The Last Christian; and
• The Monist Association's Xochitl Sodality Night (who says middle-aged men are too old for green hats with feathers?), culminating in a citywide game of Wonders and Marvels well worth donning a mask to attend!

©1969 Alexei Panshin (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

Star Well is best of series

while i like the writing style and enjoyed the tone of the novel, I do think that Star Well is the best of this set and the only one I can really recommend. there is a point at which there is very little actual scifi going on and it is mainly about the characters etc which is fine, but there is also a bit of the diminishing return aspect too, as the story line gets to be hard to follow because there isn't much that can be pointed to as plot/action etc. like the writer though and so will try Rite of Passage again, liked it very much when I read it long ago. I would listen to SW again some time, but probably wouldn't continue with these 2 sequels. Too bad Panshin didn't publish the 4th in this set, Universal Pantograph, as I would like to see where that went. There is so much i like about this set, but still wish Thurb, and Masque had a little more Star Well action and plot in them.