Heroes And Villains

This is a reduction rather than an extension of life in some far future where what remains of civilization is in the few hands of some Professors while outside Barbarians roam and destroy in a feral fashion. Admirers of Miss Carter's flair for the grotesque (Honeybuzzard; The Magic Toyshop) will find it once again a source of tremendous imaginative invention and energy although the accompanying insights and intentions do seem to get lost in the fronds of her Rousseau-tableau jungle. The story per se involves Marianne, daughter of a Professor, who runs away to join the Barbarians, a tribe of monstrously tattooed and painted monsters where only an elderly Granny woman and a tippling Doctor preserve the traces of the "gone world." Not for long however - and Marianne, raped then married by Jewel, shares with him in the encroaching destruction. . . . "Nightmare incarnate" perhaps most effective on its visual terms since when heroes and villains disappear, and no one can "teach which is which. . . what can I trust it' not appearances." Startling appearances and shadowy conjectures. (Kirkus Reviews)