Cowboy Feng's Space Bar and Grille [Paperback]

The main building block of this book is a rather unique restaurant that moves itself through space and time whenever a nuclear weapon is exploded in its near vicinity. Inside the restaurant is an Irish folk-song band that accidentally was caught up during the restaurant's first move. As the plot develops and the restaurant makes several moves through time and to other planets, the band begins to realize that they are part of an attempt to change future history by opposing a group that keeps going around starting nuclear wars. Not a bad concept, but it does lead to somewhat episodic patches, rather than being a linear whole.

Much of the characterization comes through as individual flash-backs to defining events in their lives; present time dialogue and interaction with others is somewhat flimsy, but overall there is certainly enough 'reality' to these characters to carry the story. Of course, as a band, their music intrudes in several places, which certainly provides some atmosphere, but I found Brust's description of some of this quite a bit over my head, not being a musician myself. I've run into this same problem with Emma Bull (who was a member of the same band as Brust) and Spider Robinson - it is simply very difficult to describe in written language what is almost totally an aural experience, but I'll give him good marks for a decent stab at trying.

While the final resolution of the story made sense and was satisfying, I found that the basic motivation/rationale behind the war starting group just did not seem adequate justification for their actions. As this is central to the basic story, this is a fairly major flaw.

Still, it's an enjoyable read, though not up to the standards he set in the Taltos set.

--- Reviewed by Patrick Shepherd (hyperpat)

Note that the very cool cover (by James Gurney) is a bit misleading as to the actual *contents* (revealing why would be a spoiler), but it did induce me to pick up the book, and it's really neat art, so Gurney (& Tor) get points for doing their jobs right. Whoever is the art director there gets a vote of thanks from me, as even minor Tor authors usually get tasteful, attractive, relevant covers. Not to mention clean and attractive interior layouts. Bravo!

Brust's comment on FENG: "Not one of my better efforts, I think, but there are bits of it I like. It started out to be funny, developed a serious side, and I was never able to get the elements to blend the way I wanted them to. Grumble grumble. It's always pleasent to run into someone who liked this book; it means that I can still do all right when I'm not on my game." --from dreamcafe.com

Happy reading!
Pete Tillman

A must for fans of Brust, this volume also works well for new-comers. Nicely done.