Masque World

Wacky sci-fi with space travels and alien sidekicks. I'm not a big fan of "wacky" most of the time, but some people love this stuff. Most probably difficult to find in print now.

This is the third novel in Panshin's Anthony Villiers and Torve trilogy, and while the fourth book was never to be written (Universal Pantograph), these adventures are an absolute delight and worth re-reading every few years.

Let's have some fun with Anthony Villiers, and his buddy Torve the Trog. And remember, if the baddies have you surrounded in the spaceport...if you have the spaceship fuelled up...you have THEM surrounded.

Reads more like a British comedy of manners than anything else.

This is a relatively uneventful episode in the life of Anthony Villiers (Lord Charteris) and his travelling companion Torve the Trog. Things happen, to be sure, and they’re quite diverting, but they’re not particularly important; and most of the characters we’ve already met are offstage throughout. It would make an acceptable filler between the second and fourth books in this series; unfortunately, Panshin planned a fourth book but never managed to write it.

If you enjoyed the first two books, you’ll probably enjoy this one too. I think it’s not quite as good as the others; but my reaction to each book depends somewhat on the mood I’m in when reading.