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Title: Harvest of Yawns
Review: I wasn't a Poul Anderson fan before I read this book, and I still am not. The last Anderson book I read was in the Ensign Flandry series in the late 80's which told a nice story but was nothing special. This book has an interesting idea: the downloads of the head of Fireball trying to outwit each other. The corrupted download is a pawn of the oppressive government while the other fights to maintain Fireball's independence and freedom. Too bad Anderson forgot to tell a story or build the characters along the way. Another author could have made this into a great book with this premise. The book is indeed a ponderous read as Kirkus Reviews indicates. Instead, of concentrating on developing a good storyline and dialogue, Anderson describes EVERYTHING is excruciating detail. If you want to be entertained, I would recommend that you read some of Anderson's earlier Flandry novels.
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