Power of Illusion, by Christopher Anvil

Short Review:

As a fitting final story to the Sci Fi portion of the zine and a bridge introduction to the fantasy portion, this story draws strongly on the heritage of both genres.  With realistic characterization, a good sub-plot, and impressive use of all the senses to create a vivid world, this story is a must read.

Long Review:

The story struggled occasionally to integrate the sub-plot and main plot, and the bit at the end with the scout seemed to be thrown in gratuitouisly for some benefit of the writer, but Power of Illusion still ranks as either my first or second favorite story out of all those reviewed so far.  It would be competing for the luster of first with The Old Woman in the Young Woman, by Gene Wolfe.  Both stories continued to burn in my mind long after reading them and had a vitality to the characters and an authenticity to the world that stayed with me.  Of course, they are also two of the most fantasy-oriented of the sci fi tales, so perhaps I demonstrate a genre bias.

But I digress.  Some additional strong points were: the pacing of the suspense as the battle before the chief picked up, the description of the initial rescue on the part of the chief, and the march of the starmen.  Without giving away the story, I think I can say that these high points sucked me into the tale and left me feeling that good will triumph, which is always a nice feeling at the end of a tale.  I also liked the use of prophecy, despite the distinctive sci fi spin to the story.  Very well done.