NORBY AND THE COURT JESTER

In the tenth book about Jeff Wells and his appealing little robot, Norby, the two careen through time and space yet again. Jeff, Norby, and Admiral Boris Yobo travel to remote planet Izz, where—on the eve of the annual toy festival—trouble looms: Norby's robot-love Pera has vanished; Princess Rinda and her father are quarantined with Ickyspot; the Mainbrain One computer is acting erratic; and someone has introduced a computer game, Teenytrip, that has mesmerized the entire population into expecting major change. Suspicion centers on Ing, an Earth scoundrel exiled to Izz as court jester; worse, police chief Luka has fallen in love with him. But the villain is really beautiful singer Xeena, who turns out to be cousin to the queen, and who—using what looks like a hairpin but is actually a computer key—has awakened Mainbrain Two in a plot to take her rightful place in the royal family. All is resolved: Xeena is welcomed, Ing and Luka are united, and the expectations for change are satisfied by introducing parliamentary rule. That all clear? Part old-fashioned Saturday movie serial, part G&S operetta, and all preposterous: good, clean fun, and the loose ends can go into another book. (Fiction. 10-14)