CaptainD's Book Reviews Blog

Book Review: The Rest of the Robots - Isaac Asimov

2009-12-19T07:09:00.000-08:00

This was in the same volume as The Caves of Steel - it's a collection of short stories about robots, intended as a complement to the semantic collection I, Robot (which, shockingly for a self-confessed Asimov fan, I still haven't read).

It's a good little anthology of robot stories, though not fantastic overall - some are humorous, some less so, but most show signs of Asimov's tendency towards slightly dry prose. The stories cover different ideas and the three laws of robotics. Each story has an introduction by Asimov explaining how it came to be written - very enlightening at times, simply fascinating as others - though Asimov is often viewed as the father of the modern robot story, he points to the roots of robotics being evident in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and even as far back as The Iliad! His personality quirks and married life are also brought out quite openly in his comments. In many ways the prefaces are more interesting than the stories themselves.

The stories are:

Robot AL-76 Goes Astray - a lunar mining robot ends up in completely the wrong place, and the person who finds it tries to turn the situation to his advantage.
Victory Unintentional - a humorous story of three robots and their efforts to broker peace with an alien species - fun but the plot twist was far too easy to spot.
First Law - an anecdote of someone's experience of teh unthinkable happening - a robot disregarding the First Law.
Let's Get Together - the Cold War may have ended, but East/West tensions certainly havne't, and Robotics becomes the prime focus of that tension in this story.
Satisfaction Guaranteed - a housewife is cajoled into having a robot help with the housework, but he (it?) ends up doing so much more...
Risk - when a hyperspace test flight goes wrong, everyone knows that it can't be the robot that's at fault - except, perhaps, the engineer who's forced to try to fix things at great personal danger
Lenny - Susan Calvin gets a new pet project, a robot whose programming has gone wrong - but is it simply faulty, or the start of a new beginning in positronic brain design?
Galley Slave - a lengthy short story about a court case involving a university, their proof-reading robot, and a professor whose book, the crowning achievement of his academic career has just been ruined... but by whom?

If you like Asimov's novels then you'll enjoy these, but by their nature they can't match up to his novels in terms of complexity of plot. Not bad, but nothing amazing.

CaptainD - Book Reviews Blog

Book Review - The Caves of Steel by Isaac Asimov

2009-12-12T05:36:00.000-08:00

I've been a big fan of Isaac Asimov's writing for two decades now, and after reading The Caves of Steel, I'm even more of a fan - it's shown me another side to his writing. Despite the characterisation being a little weak (a well-known trait of Asimov's stories), this combination of sci-fi and detective story packs an explosive punch and seemed to me to be on another level compared to his pure sci-fi novels.

The basic plot starts with a murder; particularly, a murder in Spacetown. Now Spacetown is a small city inhabited by Outworlders - people who descend from colonisers from earth in the distant past, but who have now bred themselves into what the earth residents consider to be a snooty elite caste who view themselves as inherently superior to earth's humans. The murder is strongly suspected to have been committed by an earth city dweller (almost definitely a dweller of New York, where the story is set), but the Spacers request a joint investigation with a detective from New York partnering an advanced humanoid robot from Spacetown.

This in itself presents major problems - for most humans, robots are an object of hatred - for their inferiorities, more so their superiorities, and often for taking jobs away from the men who work in the cities. These are not cities as we know them - the earth's population hitting 8 billion has forced humankind to become extremely efficient, particularly when it comes to food production and distribution, for the sake of survival. Massive yeast farms manufacturing synthetic food stuffs, rationed food and rotas for when people are allowed to eat are all part of everyday life for the inhabitants of earth. There are 80 such "mega-cities" on the earth, averaging 10 million inhabitants - hardly anyone lives outside the city. The whole system is based on a hierarchical system - how high you climb the social ladder via family connections or your job governs everything from whether you get a seat on the transport system to the size and refinement of your living space.

Elijah Barley, the plain-clothes detective assigned to the case, is desperate to clear the human city of blame for the murder in Spacetown, as is his superior Julius Enderby, the Police Commissioner. Elijah's wife Jessie and son Bentley also make appearances in the novel, along with a few other characters. Most of the time though the focus is very firmly on Barley and his partner from Spacetown, R.Daneel Olivaw.

Apparently written as a response to John W. Campbell's claim that science-fiction and mystery were incompatible genres, The Caves of Steel brilliantly bends the two into an homogenous whole. The detective work and revelations that you'd expect in a murder mystery are all there, though it turns out that the murder itself is only a secondary consideration to a bigger picture that is revealed later. The sci-fi aspect is also there in force with lots of gadgets and plausible future possibilities to flavour the scenery.

However while both of those parts of the book are good in themselves, and the plot remains interesting and has an breathless finale, there is a different reason that The Caves of Steel is such a great book. (This is taking into account some slightly weak characterisation, a smattering of typos that would shame any self-respecting proof reader, and the noticeable lack of female characters.) That reason is the fascinating exploration of the human personality - the tendency to be afraid of the unknown, the causes and effects of prejudice, the begrudging of others' success, the tendency to hang on to things that seemed unimportant or inconsequential, but suddenly represented a much greater concept when the threat of it being taken away surfaced.

With concerns about earth's burgeoning population, use of fossil fuels and climate change frequently in the headlines nowadays, the background story of earth's cramped and resource-depleted condition and how people are attempting to cope with it also hits a nerve. Not everything Asimov postulates seems reasonable or even possible, but the vast majority of the arguments made by characters in this book sound uncomfortably likely to be close to what may actually happen.

All in all, The Caves of Steel is an exceptional book and in my opinion (as someone who has read quite a number, though not all, of his novels) definitely among the best works of fiction he ever produced.

More by Isaac Asimov:

Prelude to Foundation
Foundation
Second Foundation
Foundation's Edge
Foundation and Empire
Forward the Foundation

Nightfall
The End of Eternity

CaptainD - Book Reviews Blog

The Caves of Steel by Isaac Asimov

2009-12-08T13:08:00.000-08:00

Replete with typos though it is, The Caves of Steel is an amazing book. Haven't finished it yet but it's among the best Asimov I've ever read - not just a murder mystery set in a future world, but a fascinating examination of the way people look at anyone they class as an alien or outsider, and some pretty worryingly relevant overpopulation issues dealt with too. Brilliant stuff - can't put this down for long so expect a review soon!

CaptainD - Book Reviews Blog

I've been interviewed!

2009-11-25T07:46:00.000-08:00

Fame and fortune at least? Well, probably not - but check out my interview about self-publishing on the Fan to Pro blog!

I talk about self-publishing, why to do it, why some people shy away from it, and of course my own experiences with Lulu.com and publishing my own books.

CaptainD - Book Reviews Blog

Book Review - Avengers Disassembled

2009-10-13T13:23:00.000-07:00

As comic books (sorry, graphic novels) go this is pretty standard - lots of explosions and people going aaaaaaaauurrrgggggghhhh a lot (mainly She-Hulk in this case), and a few scantily-clad heroines. It does have a pretty decent storyline too, but that tends to get lost in amongst the many action scenes.

When Dr Strange comes on the scene he explains what's been happening, and then the Avengers disband, each remembering their favourite moment of Avengers history. So basically it's a few action scenes, an explanation, another action scene and then a bungh of memories. There's not much more to it than that.

It's fairly entertaining but I was pretty disappointed with Avengers: Disassembled overall. Only for fans, methinks.

CaptainD - Book Reviews Blog

Book Review - The Forest House by Marion Zimmer Bradley

2009-10-12T14:19:00.000-07:00

Having really enjoyed Priestess of Avalon in the same series, I'd been looking forward to this book, but felt rather disappointed by it in the end. Set earlier in the series it concerns mainly Gaius, a young man of half-Roman, half-Briton heritage, and Eilan, a young girl brought up around the priestesses of The Forest House.

Though it starts of well enough, it quickly becomes bogged down by over-elaborate prose and the pacing slows almost to a standstill among several over-repetitive scenes and women sitting around complaining about men. In this mid section of the book I lost the connection I was beginning to form with some of the books' characters.

It does pick up again towards the end but again too much repetition (in the form of repeated descriptive phrases rather than locations and scenes, which was the case earlier in the book) and a disappointing ending prevented it from ever reaching the promise shown in the first fifty pages or so.

Overall I wouldn't particularly recommend The Forest House to any but devoted fans of the Avalon series; I'm hoping Lady of Avalon will be better. (In this book's defence, I do realise that reading the books out of order may not have helped!)

CaptainD - Book Reviews Blog

The Last Hero by Terry Pratchett, illustrated by Paul Kidby

2009-09-22T11:26:00.000-07:00

The Last Hero is one of the shorter Discworld novels and (possibly) the only one that's only available as an illustrated novel (not sure if you can get it without illustrations). It starts off a bit weakly - some good laughs certainly but the change of narrative viewpoint is simply too frequent. Changing between 2 or 3 main narratives to maintain suspense is something Terry Pratchett normally excels at, but he loses the plot a little here for about the first third of the book - fortunately the rest of the book is priceless.

The plot features Cohen the Barbarian and the Silver Horde who decide that, as fire was taken from the Gods and given to mankind, they want to return the favour - with interest. The wizards of Unseen University are a little against this idea as one of the side effects will be to destroy the universe. Three hapless individuals are left with the task of stopping them - Rincewind, Captain Carrot, and Leonard of Quirm - a mad wizard, a king in waiting who doesn't particularly want to be king, and a mad inventor who's hopeless as coming up with names for his inventions, but has the most brilliant - and dangerous - mind that the Disc has ever seen. The Librarian (an orang-utan, as fans of Discworld will know) also manages to end up on board - which is a little tricky as it's designed to hold a maximum of 3 people.

As the aging barbarians complete with an evil overlord who's quite a nice chap really but must keep down appearances and an old lady who is absolutely deadly with a pair of knitting needles, make their way to the top of the mountain where the deities reside, Rincewind and co. must somehow contrive a way to stop them. It's all good fun, and there are a lot of good jokes thrown into this. It's not particularly recommended for those who are very easily offended, but as with all Pratchett books, pretty much everything in site gets parodied in the name of humour.

The latter half of the book is as good as (almost) anything in the Discworld series, but the first half stutters a bit before it gets going. Still, if you've ever read a Discworld book and enjoyed it, I'm pretty certain you'll like The Last Hero a lot.

Although Paul Kidby's drawings are very good and often quite funny, I have to admit that to me that didn't add a great deal to the book - I'd probably have been happier just reading it. You'll have to decide whether you think the addition of illustrations is a good thing or not.

It might seem because of the length and illustrations that this is more a book for children, but that isn't really the case - sure they might find parts amusing and like the mad drawings, but most of the humour will be lost on them. Definitely one for adults, albeit maybe for adults who've never grown up!

CaptainD - Book Reviews Blog

Book Review - The Witch's Guide to Cooking with Children

2009-09-04T09:55:00.000-07:00

The Witch's Guide to Cooking with Children starts with a forward by the witch Fay Holaderry relates her love for eating children, how she traps them, how some parents actually ask her to get rid of their children this way and, at the end, cautions that some children are a bit too clever for their own good and actually manage not to be eaten. The rest of the book is, not surprisingly, the story of two children who were just a bit too clever for the witch...

Author Keith McGowan's first book for children, The Witch's Guide to Cooking with Children is an updated version of the Hansel and Gretel fable. It's illustrated by Yoko Tanaka who has a unique, quirky style - though since my review copy wasn't a final print, the illustrations I saw were lower quality than the finished version will be. Still they were fun and pretty strange, which was a good fit to the book and added a little to it.

The overall storyline is a bit predictable, but all the same it's a nice, modern reworking of a familiar children's tale. The main characters are Sol and Connie - Sol is a very intelligent young lad who's very interested in science and also experimenting or inventing; Connie is his younger sister, less intelligent but perhaps more shrewd (definitely more crafty). They have recently moved into a new area and are not greatly enjoying the change. Their parents are an odd couple too - in fact their father is not who he appears to be at all, and their step-mother is a nasty piece of work trying to pretend to be lovely (and failing completely). Holaderry and her dog are in the local area, as well as another witch - but is she friend or foe?

The book is full of secrets, and at pains to tell you that there are secrets to be unravelled. Connie has a secret that she's keeping from her brother (this one is pretty obvious), their father has a dark secret (that's not so obvious). There's a lot of humour in the book, most of it on a level for the book's target audience - 10-12 year olds (perhaps 8-14 depending on the child) in mind, but some that adults will enjoy on a different level. For instance Sol and Connie's real mother died while conducting experiments on an iceberg - she was proved right because the iceberg melted while she was standing on it, and she thus became one of the first victims of global warning. Sol and Connie go to see a movie, which wasn't very good but, because it was PG-13, Connie enthuses that it was the best film ever, and wants to see as many more PG-13 rated films as she can, as soon as possible.

It's nicely written, and the story's great for its target audience - at the same time being a fun, very quick read for older ones. The slightly ambiguous ending may not be to everyone's liking; since the theme of forgiveness is explored in the book and the ending is largely based on this, I would have liked to see something a little more definite, and I think some parents would too. However one of the beauties of this book is that it doesn't quite approach things in the way you'd expect, so it's not a major criticism. Perhaps more could have been done with the basic idea but it's still a very good read for younger children. There is a fair bit of repetition and some bits that seemed to me to be pointing out the obvious, but those parts will probably help children to keep on track with what's happening in the story.

I've given it a rating of 4 stars based on its suitability for the target audience; from an adults point of view, I'd give it 3 stars.

My copy (an uncorrected proof) weighed in at 180 pages, and had quite large, very easy to read text. It's not going to take even a younger child very long to read but they'll certainly enjoy it.

(Thanks Andy for arranging a review copy of this book.)

Incidentally, can I just point out that reviewing children's books when you're an adult is actually exceptionally difficult?!?

Here are a few others I've attempted (with my guess - probably completely wrong! - at the age group it's intended for)...

Esio Trot by Roald Dahl (6-9)
Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz (12-15)
The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain (10-14)
The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett (11-14)

CaptainD - Book Reviews Blog

First Thoughts - The Forest House

2009-09-03T12:59:00.000-07:00

I know, I know... I'm reading the Avalon books out of order. Still, each book is complete in its own right and, on the whole, I'm enjoying The Forest House, which is a prequel to The Mists of Avalon. It bears many of the same strengths and weaknesses as The Priestess of Avalon, though so far this book doesn't seem as good as Priestess. Mario Zimmer Bradley certainly knows how to weave a good story though, and I'm certainly getting quite intrigued as to how this one will work out. Much of the storyline seems quite similar to Priestess of Avalon so far, but I think it will be quite different after about the first quarter of the book - we shall see...

CaptainD - Book Reviews Blog

Borders Announce Used and Rare Books Service

2009-09-03T12:45:00.000-07:00

From fairy tales to cookery, education titles to the classics, Borders now have over 9 million used and rare books available at borders.co.uk.

If you’ve been struggling to find that rare copy of your favourite childhood book, a title no longer in print or in stock, or you’re simply searching for a second hand bargain, Borders may be able to help...

Borders Used & Rare book selection is now available, providing access to a huge catalogue of books that may be out of print, out of stock, or otherwise impossible to find in bookshops.

Ordering Used & Rare books is simple:

1. Simply search for the book title or author as you normally would on Borders.co.uk.
2. From the search results that are displayed, click on the 'Available used' link that will appear next to the title if we have one or more Used & Rare copies available.
3. Select the title you wish to purchase from the range available. You can check condition, price and seller location.
4. Next add your chosen item to your shopping basket and proceed to the checkout as normal.

You can also find these ‘available used’ links within product pages so even if we have a new copy, you might find it cheaper or get it more quickly from our Used & Rare section.

For more information go to our Used & Rare page or see our FAQs page.

And don’t forget to check out our top Used & Rare picks below, but remember these books have limited availability so make sure you snap up yours quickly...

Click here to start!

CaptainD - Book Reviews Blog

Bank Holiday Discount Code for Borders

2009-08-28T07:39:00.000-07:00

Borders have a fantastic generic code to shout about.
They are offering 20% off the RRP of all books on the site for the bank holiday weekend.

The code is: BORSAVE200809

End date: 31.08.2009

If books are already discounted above 20% on the site, the best discount will apply at checkout.

Click Here to view some of the offers

CaptainD - Book Reviews Blog

Star Trek: First Contact

2009-07-16T14:19:00.001-07:00

It's many years since I last read a Star Trek book - or a film novelisation, come to that. Still, on seeing this for 20p at a car boot sale recently, I thought it had to be worth a shot - and, somewhat to my surprise, it's very good.

Written by J.M.Dillard, an author I'm not at all familiar with, this book of the first Star Trek movie to feature exclusively the Next Generation cast (and, it has to be said, definitely one of the better Star Trek feature films) is a very good read. The opening couple of paragraphs are really quite powerful, getting right into Captain Picard's head as to just why the Borg are such a formidable enemy. Soon enough the Borg have attacked earth and, going against StarFleet orders, Picard heads over at maximum warp, his knowledge from when he had been assimilated by the Borg giving the Enterprise a crucial tactical advantage. However, the Borg are not about to be messed with, so it's back in time for a battle to save earth's past - and the entire Federation's future...

While the entire dialogue is, as far as I can tell, taken directly from the film's script, there are a few interesting extra details; in particular, we learn more about Lily Sloane and Zef Cochrane, pioneers of warp flight; their backgrounds and what led them to the research that would change the world (and worlds), and what made them into the people they became. Sensibly Dillard has refrained from going into too much background detail on the regular characters; after all, we know them so well. The plot usually flits between two main strands, and the tension is built up and relieved effectively.

Much as the prose draws you into the book at the beginning, however, it does become a bit too much after a while. It's just a little too wordy, too flowery, where sometimes simple explanations of the action would have worked better. There are some stills from the film int he middle of the book; I'm a little old for these to be of much value these days, and the captions are worded in a very silly way. However after the main story there is also a short "making of" essay which talks about the development of the script and making of the film itself, which was interesting and a good read.

Overall, Star Trek: TNG fans are definitely going to enjoy reading this book. Just be prepared for it making you want to watch the film again!

CaptainD - Book Reviews Blog

Book Review - Priestess of Avalon

2009-06-16T12:30:00.000-07:00

Priestess of Avalon tells the story of “Helena the Great”, mother of Emperor Constantine. Very little is actually known about her historically, though myths and legends abound. Written by Marion Zimmer Bradly and Diana L. Paxson (who completed the book after her death), it starts off the legend in the secret lands of Avalon, part of but separate from England, on the night of Helena’s birth. Initially called Eilan, the little girl grows up without a mother, who died giving birth to her, and upon entering training on Avalon comes under the authority of her aunt Ganeda, now the Lady of Avalon. Ganeda holds Eilan responsible for the death of her sister, but Eilan finds support from other priestesses and maidens in training. Throughout her childhood certain events suggest a strange power in her, and as events unfold, it seems that destiny has great things in store for her.

The story goes on to chronicle her growing up on Avalon and the power struggles that ensue, the prophecy that she becomes involved with, the man she sees in a vision and falls in love with, her rise to Empress, heartbreak, bereavement, a trip to the Holy Land... The scope of the novel is truly epic and the narrative takes place in many different locations across Europe, each time with rich descriptive prose giving you a real feel for that location. The characters are varied and always interesting, and into the plot there are woven intricate details of Helena’s life, some of which unexpectedly turn out to be important later on.

The story is told in first-person narration by Helena, and this is skilfully handled. Readers will feel as if they come to know the woman who is relating her life story, and for the most part like her. Though there are strong feminist trends to the writing, it in no way demonises men – there are good and bad, strong and weak characters of both genders throughout. While I would expect a female audience to perhaps be more receptive to this sort of book, most men should enjoy it too (certainly this reviewer, definitely male, liked it a lot!). Set in the third century A.D, a lot of research clearly went into the history and locations used in the book, though the veracity of some small points could no doubt be argued against. The historical detail helped enormously in creating the right atmosphere for the book however, so the research did its job.

Priestess of Avalon is a highly enjoyable and quite immersive read, though not without a couple of problems. There were times when it seemed in a desire to get her philosophical ideas across, there was either too much repetition of a particular point or the story took a back seat to some extent. (Albeit the philosophies are of a type that most people will largely – if not entirely – agree with, the fact that the occasionally got in the way of the story remains a problem.) The final few chapters didn’t seem quite right either, though that could have been because of the change of author when Mario Zimmer Bradley died. At any rate, overall this is a very good novel and hard to put down. The historical information is fascinating and the characters even more intriguing. If you like historical fiction, you’re sure to like this book.

CaptainD - Book Reviews Blog

Book Review - The Carpet People by Terry Pratchett

2009-05-28T08:19:00.000-07:00

The Carpet People was Terry Pratchett’s first novel, written when he was 17. It was printed, it sold, no new print run was planned. End of story.

Well, not quite. Some time passed, and Pratchett wrote Strata. This explored the idea of a planet that was actually a disc – flat. Some more time passed, and Pratchett wrote The Colour of Magic - the first Discworld novel. More time passed, more Discworld books appeared, and Pratchett’s popularity soared. And so it was that people began to say to themselves: ”Wasn’t ‘The Carpet People’ by this same author?” And thus it came about that they asked the publisher of this book. And the publishers would continually tell people that there was no demand for a reprint. But people kept asking, and eventually the publishers felt that it would be easier to just do a reprint than keep telling all these people who were interested that there was no interest.

But then a funny thing happened. Pratchett, by now a famous and successful author, wasn’t too impressed with his first novel. So he decided to extensively edit The Carpet People, refining it using his now famous brand of fantasy humour. Now at the age of his editing The Carpet People, Terry happened to be 43 years of age. And Terry saw what he had done, and was glad.

-~=~-=~-=~-=~-=~-=~-=~-=~-=~-=~-=~-=~-=~-=~-=~-=~-=~-=~-=~-=~-=~-

Or he should be, anyway. The Carpet People is a fine little book, and a hugely enjoyable read. You might have guessed the basic premise – little people living in a carpet. Well, little is perhaps an understatement – microscopic is probably more accurate, what with a major town (Ware) being about the size of a .

(In case you thought I’d cut off my sentence there, I meant the size of a full stop – that’s a period to you guys in the States who insist on calling things your own names rather than the proper ones :-P)

The story revolves around two brothers, Glurk (strong and seemingly not too bright - a natural leader) and Snibril (more of a thinker). Glurk is chief of a small nomadic tribe called the Munrungs. When it appears that the mythical force Fray is on the move again and their camp gets destroyed, they move off for the city of Ware , and safety – so they think. Tagging along are a philosopher called Pismire (not particularly true to his profession – he actually gives you answers you can understand) and a mysterious man called Bane (who is not all that he at first seems). Their adventures bring them to realise that something’s going on in the carpet – and that Fray may not be their biggest enemy after all…

Although the language and plot development in The Carpet People is rather less complex than in some of his Discworld novels, it’s not really (as I’d first imagined) a children’s book – though older children are certain to enjoy it (at least, as certain as this sort of thing ever can be). It’s written with energy and gusto, and while not complicated, Pratchett’s penchant for describing human idiosyncrasies is as obvious here as in any of his writings. It comes close to being a 5-star book but fails (marginally) because although many parts did make me laugh, it’s really not as funny as classic Pratchett, and doesn’t have quite the same kind of bite as his best satire. The characterisation was also a little shallow by his standards, but taking into account that this was his first attempt at writing a novel (albeit augmented by his later literary expertise), it’s a great achievement.

It actually suffers from being so short – though the ending suggests that it was probably set up for a sequel (or many sequels), you just get the feeling that there is so much more that could have been done with this setting than is done in the book. It is also quite interesting trying to work out if the various creatures in the carpet (they all have names given to them by the carpet people) are fleas / other tiny creatures known to us – or if they’re just completely made up. Certain objects do fall on the carpet people (not directly, one would hope) ”from above” - such as a matchstick, which forms a barricade many miles long to them. Some things are named as we would name them – like the mystical chairleg, where the Wights melt varnish in the great cauldrons. There are some very clever pieces of writing in this book, but overall it still falls slightly short of brilliance – especially the sort of brilliance that Pratchett is capable of.

Without giving too much plot away, here are some highlights from the book:

“Ware’s important,” said Snibril. “We’d just be simple hunters if it wasn’t for the empire.”

The munrungs looked at one another.

“We are simple hunters”, said Plint.

“Yes, but at least we know what we are,” said Snibril. “Anyway, we’ve got more complicated.”

“That’s true,” said Crooly Wulf, who was nearly as old as Pismire. “People don’t hit one another over the head with clubs as much as they did when I was a boy. There’s more arguing.”

“That doesn’t mean we’re better people!” said Plint.

Crooly Wulf rubbed his head. “I dunno,” he said. “People are taller now. They don’t groan so much, either.”

**************************************************

The Dumii had built their Empire with swords, but they kept it with money. They’d invented money. Before money, people had bought things with cows and pigs, which were not very efficient for the purpose because you had to feed them and keep them safe all the time and sometimes they died. And suddenly the Dumii turned up with this money stuff, which was small and easy to keep and you could hide it in a sock under the mattress, which hardly ever worked with cows and pigs. And it could be cows or pigs. Also, it had little pictures of the Emperors and things on it, which were more interesting to look at. At least, more interesting than cows and pigs.

And, Pismire had once said, that was how the Dumii kept hteir Empire. Because once you started using Dumii money, which was so easy and convenient and didn’t moo all night, you started saving up for things, and selling things in the nearest market town, and settling down, and not hitting neighbouring tribes as often as you used to. And you could buy things in the markets that you’d never seen before – coloured cloth, and different kinds of fruit, and books. Pretty soon, you were doing things the Dumii way, because it made life better. Oh, you went on about how much better life was in the old days, before there was all this money and peacefulness around, and how much more enjoyable things were when people used to get heavily-armed in the evening and go out and make their own entertainment – but no-one was anxious actually to go back there.

“Economic imperialism!” Pismire had once said, picking up a handful of coins. “A marvellous idea. So neat and simple. Once you set it going, it works all by itself. You see, it’s the Emperor who guarantees that the money will buy you things. Every time someone hands over or accepts one of these coins, it’s a little soldier defending the Empire. Amazing!”

No-one understood a word of what he meant, but they could see he thought it was important.

**************************************************

So to sum up (after a rather longer quote than usual), I can tell you that if you read this book, you will enjoy it. It’s well-written and funny. It’s not brilliantly written or hysterical, but it’s getting there. Be warned though – if this is the first Pratchett book you ever read, you may never stop reading his work…

CaptainD - Book Reviews Blog

Car Boot Sales...

2009-05-25T09:17:00.000-07:00

... can be extremely useful things, you know. The whole experience doesn't do a lot for me but picking up the novelisation of Star Trek: First Contact and Isaac Asimov's Caves of Steel / The Rest of the Robots for the princely sum of 35 pence was well worth it!

CaptainD - Book Reviews Blog

Book Review - The Horse and His Boy (from The Chronicles of Narnia)

2009-05-25T06:35:00.000-07:00

This book overlaps slightly on some of the events briefly mentioned in The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, but is a departure from those books in that the whole story is set in Narnia (or rather, the same planet, but a different part – called Calorman – and the lands between it and Narnia) – and the four main characters are all Narnian, not from our own world.

These characters are:

Shasta - a Narnian (or close) by birth, he has been brought up by a fisherman in a very harsh environment. When he gets a chance to escape his joyless life with Bree - a talking horse (from Narnia – but over in Calorman he has to pretend to be a dumb animal. The others two are (I won’t tell you when / how they enter the story as it would spoil things): Aravis - a spoilt rich brat from Calorman and her horse (also talking), Hwin. But a devious plan by the son of the Tirsoc (ruler of Calroman) threatens to ruin everything… and not just for Shasta et al.

As you would expect with a Narnia book, much of the narrative drive is given to the way the characters develop through self-realisation and an increased awareness and understanding of the world around them. However this is done in a subtler way than in The Magician’s Nephew or The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, and thus seems more a natural part of the story and less a moralistic subtext. The religious connotations are also kept down, as the story focuses more on an oppressive regime than anything else. For most of the book I was rather disappointed at the lack of symbolism, but in just a short passage near the end of the book, there’s enough symbolism to keep anyone happy for a while – instead of the normal fairly obvious approach, there’s several layers of symbolic meaning and referencing to biblical events piled on top of one another in a way that defies you to understand all of it on first reading! (Okay so this may not be your sort of thing, but I thought it was great.) This doesn’t hinder the plot development in the slightest however, so children won’t be struggling to understand it – they’ll just read it as a natural part of the story.

The characters are more fully developed here than in the previous books, with a bit more in the way of characters having both good and bad qualities. (Apart from the real baddies.... they’re just bad.) The style of prose is excellent, and while children will enjoy it as a fun story, adults will again find little nuances that make them smile inside. For instance, this passage near the start of the book, the morning after Shasta’s first attempt at horse-riding, perfectly illustrates Lewis’ wit:

” Ow, Bree,” he gasped. “I’m so sore. All over. I can hardly move.”

“Good morning, small one,” said Bree. “I was afraid you might feel a bit stiff. It can’t be the falls. You didn’t have more than a dozen or so, and it was all lovely, soft, springy turf that must have been almost a pleasure to fall on. And the only one that might have been nasty was broken by that gorse bush. No: it’s the riding itself that comes hard at first. What about breakfast? I’ve had mine.”

“Oh, bother breakfast. Bother everything, “said Shasta. “I tell you I can’t move.” But the horse nozzled at him with his nose and pawed him gently with a hoof till he had to get up.

The camaraderie between Bree and Shasta is portrayed superbly, and Bree’s little worries – such as “Do free horses in Narnia still roll in the grass?” – add to the the depth of Bree’s character which, considering he’s a horse, is pretty deep. The female characters are slightly disappointing but still perform their role in the book reasonably well - since they’re really secondary main characters it doesn’t detract from the book too much.

The plot is well developed and, for a children’s book, is actually fairly complex - I would say that younger children might need help to keep up with what’s going on (and would still lose the significance of some of the passages anyway – though this wouldn’t mar their enjoyment of the book). The ideal age group for this book is probably about 10-14, though older ones can enjoy it too!

Overall, this is better than The Magician’s Nephew (the opening passages of which had to be endured rather than enjoyed – at least by adults!), and while many will be appalled at me saying this, far better than The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. The Horse and His Boy is my third favourite Narnia book (after The Silver Chair and Voyage of the Dawn Treader).

** See The Complete Chronicles of Narnia for all seven books in one collection with links to reviews of each book. **

CaptainD - Book Reviews Blog

Book Review - The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett

2009-05-23T12:08:00.000-07:00

The Wee Free Men is Terry Pratchett second children’s books set in Discworld (the first being “The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents”) and is a Story of Discworld, but not a Novel of Discworld. Unlike his other books for children that I’ve reviewed, though, I love this one every bit as much as the best Discworld novels – it’s definitely more accessible for kids, but that doesn’t make it any less enjoyable for adults. The story is set on the Disc but on a part not visited in any of the Discworld novels – and the characters are all different, except a certain Granny, who makes a cameo appearance near the end of the book, and the eponymous little blue men (styled on the Picts [Scots], it seems) who are also called the Nac Mac Feegle. There did appear in the Discworld novel “Carpe Jugulum”, but in that I found them more annoying than funny.

The storyline goes thus: Tiffany Aching’s monster of a little brother, Wentworth (not a literal monster, you understand, just a little monster in the way that all little brothers are), has been kidnapped by the Queen of the Fairies - and Tiffany has to get her back. Before this quest starts she is visited by a Witch called Perspicacia Tick (meant to make her name sound like “Mystic”), who suspects that Tiffany may be a Witch but not know it yet. (“I see we’re going to get on like a house on fire. There may be no survivors.”)

As she sets off on her quest, she is unexpectedly aided by The Wee Free Men, who themselves lived in Fairyland – but were thrown out for being Drunk and Disorderly! They’re very small, fearsomely strong and quick, and virtually fearless – but not too smart. (“What are we good at, boys?” – “Fightin’!” – An’ drinkin’!” – “An’ thievin’!” – “And what else?” – “Er… fightin’ an’ drinkin’ an’ thievin’!!”) They also have a personal score to settle with the Queen of the Fairies – but due to her awesome powers, they are also the only person they are afraid of…

The Wee Free Men is an absolute delight to read. Although the language used is somewhat simpler than in the Discworld novels, it’s fantastically readable and the humour leaps out at you from every page – in fact, pretty much every sentence. The Wee Free men themselves are hysterical (both as a group and as individuals), and Tiffany’s pragmatic and unflustered approach to every problem makes the bizarre situations even funnier. (For instance, at the start of the book story a monster appears in the local stream – instead of being frightened, Tiffany uses Wentworth as bait for the monster and promptly whacks the monster on the head with a frying pan…) Despite her pragmatism, Tiffany is a very angaging and likeable character - and you've gotta love those Wee Free Men! Wentworth is a very funny character and the relationship Tiffany has with him is both funny, realistic, and occasionally touching. (“Why do you want to save him? You don’t even like him!” – “I know I don’t like him. But he’s my brother.”) The situations themselves are perhaps even more surreal than those in a Discworld novel, which is quite an achievement!

The storyline is extremely good for a children’s book. It borrows from practically every fairy tale ever written, but blends the elements into one very coherent storyline that as a whole owes nothing to these fairytales. The use of common ideas will no doubt help to make the experience of reading it more enjoyable for young children as it introduces things they already know about. There is no bad language used in the book (unless the word “crivens!” is a real word in some language – I think it was made up so that the Wee Free Men could use an expletive that wasn’t actually a swear word), and there is only some mild comic violence, so it’s completely kid-safe. (Unless of course the Witch aspect is something that you would not want your children to read – this is in fact a very small part of the story though.)

Anyone who’s read my book reviews for a while will know that the Discworld series is my all-time favourite series of novels. And while The Wee Free Men is not strictly speaking part of that series, I would rank it right up with the best of the Discworld novels – and believe me, that’s quite an accolade from me.

What Pratchett has done here is amazing. He has created a book that is definitely more accessible for children but which adults will absolutely love too. To me, his amazing writing is in sharper evidence here than ever – partly because I have not enjoyed his other children’s books half as much. It’s hilarious on a level that children and adults alike can appreciate, and it’s got a cracking storyline. I would recommend it to anyone who can read!

Reviews of Discworld Novels:

CaptainD - Book Reviews Blog

Book Review - The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe

2009-05-16T13:23:00.000-07:00

The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe has long been regarded as a classic of children’s literature. I just read it for the first time so obviously have a slightly different perspective than a child reading it, but I’ll do my best to be objective.

The formation of the land of Narnia and the gateways from our world to it was described in The Magician’s Nephew, which was actually written later but in the chronology of Narnia comes first. Many years have passed since evil was first introduced into that land and was vanquished, and no one from our world has since visited it. But evil has returned to that land, and since children from our world first introduced evil to Narnia (albeit unwittingly), a new gateway opens up and four children will ultimately be given the task of restoring good to that land. The gateway this time takes the form of… a wardrobe.

Peter, Edmund, Susan, and Lucy are the four children in question, and find themselves transported from London during the war into a big house in the country, owned by an old Professor (being the boy who starred in The Magician’s Nephew many years on) who largely leaves them to their own devices. Lucy, the youngest, finds the gateway by accident but when she tells the others, they naturally don’t believe her – until they get to see Narnia for themselves. From then on it’s a tale of good vs. evil (good being the lion Alsan and his followers, bad being The White Which and hers) – but Edmund, being by disposition rather bad himself, is seduced by the White Witch. What will become of him – of Narnia – and of the prophecy that Narnia would be rued by 4 “Sons of Adam” and “Daughters of Eve”?

The characters in this book are quite nicely portrayed, rather simple but then it is for children after all. There are many talking animals in Narnia, and they fall pretty directly into either the “Good” or “Evil” camps. The plot bounces along merrily and the action scenes are well described, and there are quite a few of them. The language used is kept simple most of the time, although occasionally there is use of language that today’s youngster would find hard to comprehend. (Due to today’s youth having a somewhat limited vocabulary compared to times when books were actually read by the majority of children, rather than Lewis using now outdated English, I mean.) Though I found the prose a little on the childish side (for the obvious reason that it’s meat for kids), it was not irritatingly so and was extremely comfortable to read.

The illustrations by Pauline Baynes are detailed line drawings that depict momentous or tense scenes from the book. These are very good quality but will, I fear, not be properly appreciated by the target age group. However at least for some they may instill an appreciation of art – it’s a far cry from Pokemon… The illustrations do add to the book – not greatly, but enough to make them worthwhile.

As with The Magician’s Nephew this book is very moralistic, teaching young children valuable lessons by means of the characters and events in the book, without them ever realising that they’re actually learning by reading this – especially in the way that Edmund is affected by his experience. The biblical themes are not so prominent here with the only one that really stood out being the resurrection. In general there is a lot less symbolism in this than the earlier but later-written Magician’s Nephew, and fewer flashes if wit and wisdom in the narrative. Given that Lewis’ writing style no doubt advanced over time this is hardly surprising. I may well get lynched for saying this given the high regard The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe is held in by many, but the narrative drive and prose was somewhat bland. It read like a straight children’s book rather than a children’s book with extra substance for any adults who happened to be reading. That said it was quite an enjoyable light read, but it didn’t strike me as anything special. Lewis’ ability to set the scene brilliantly is still there and the set pieces were effective, but nothing really excelled.

In fact, I appreciated Lewis’ writing more in the letter he wrote to Lucy Barfield, who he wrote the story for, and which is printed as a sort of unofficial foreword to the book:

"MY DEAR LUCY,
I wrote this story for you, but when I began it I had not realised that girls grow up quicker than books. As a result you are already too old for fairy tales, and by the time it is printed and bound you will be older still. But someday you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again. You can then take it down from some upper shelf, dust it, and tell me what you think of it. I shall probably be too deaf to hear, and too old to understand, a word you say, but I shall still be your affectionate Godfather,

C.S.LEWIS”

Overall it’s a good book for young children but, as you can see, Lewis himself admitted that it was only for younger children, not ones who’d grown up but were not yet old enough to realise they weren’t too old.

** See The Complete Chronicles of Narnia for all seven books in one collection with links to reviews of each book. **

CaptainD - Book Reviews Blog

First Thoughts - The Priestess of Avalon

2009-05-15T07:37:00.000-07:00

I was sent this book for review (along with some others in the Avalon series) quite a while ago, but have only just got round to starting reading them. My first impressions are very good - nice writing style and the obvious attention to historical detail doesn't look like it's going to get in the way of the storytelling. It's grabbed my attention so I should have finished and reviewed it before long.

It's worth mentioning that historical fiction has more or less passed me by in the past, but this book threatens to make me a fan of the genre... we shall see!

CaptainD - Book Reviews Blog

Book Review - The Book of Lost Tales, Vol.II

2009-05-11T09:41:00.000-07:00

*WARNING – if you’re not a Tolkien fan, you may find this review rather hard going! You have been warned….*

The Book of Lost Tales 2 is the second of a set of early versions of stories by JRR Tolkien compiled by his son, Christopher. The title is a little misleading as the stories for the most part made their way in a somewhat shortened format into the book The Silmarillion. (In case you’ve never heard of it, this deals with the first and second Ages of Middle Earth – that is, before both The Hobbit and The Lord of The Rings.)

There are 6 actual stories in The Book of Lost Tales 2, which are as follows:

1/ The Tale of Tinúviel
2/ Turambar and the Foalókë
3/ The Fall of Gondolin
4/ The Nauglafring
5/ The Tale of Eärendel
6/ The History of Eriol or Ælfwine of England and the end of the tales

Along with the following:

Appendix: Names in the Lost Tales – Part II
Short Glossary of Obsolete, Archaic, and Rare Words
Index

----------

1/ “Tinúviel” is more commonly known as Luthien, and this is basically a slightly extended version of “The Lay of Beren and Luthien”

2/ This is the story of Turin in The Silmarillion, and is the only version here that I actually prefer to the edited version that appears in that book. This is because there is interesting incidental detail included that is not included in the final version. Not hugely different but still something Tolkein enthusiasts will really enjoy.

3/ This tells, as you might have guessed, of the fall of Gondolin. It is rather wordy and benefited greatly from the greater brevity it was treated to in The Silmarillion.

4/ Most of the narrative of this story about the Nauglafring (Necklace of the Dwarves) failed to make it in any form into The Silmarillion, so this is the only place you’re ever likely to see it. In his commentary, Christopher Tolkein explains that much of the original text is in pencil only (meaning it was the first draft), and he is not sure why his father abandoned so much of it. As Middle Earth mythology goes, it’s certainly not all that shoddy but would almost certainly have slowed down the incredible narrative drive of the finished product.

5/ This isn’t a story as such but an outline of how the story (which was never actually written) was planned to develop. There are some poems which allude to the character Eärendel, and these are included. The pains Christopher Tolkein goes to here to explain how the intended story would fit in with all the others are quite astonishing – he really seems to take unravelling his father’s ancient texts and drafts as seriously as a devout scholar might undertake translating sacred scrolls.

6/ Although this is one of the weakest examples of storytelling I have ever seen by the great JRR, it is probably the most interesting in that he seems to be attempting to make a coherent link between Middle Earth and our own world. Sadly this just feels a little too contrived to ring true (taking into account the suspending of belief you must have when reading created mythologies, obviously), and lacks the power and passion of his true Middle Earth writings.

In general the writing is not quite up to Tolkien ’s high standards, but then that’s to be expected as these represent his mostly unedited work. The one real exception to this is in the second story in the collection, Turambar and the Foalókë, which contains staggeringly good descriptive prose and imagery together with an amazing plot. However as it is not a great deal better than the version Tolkien decided to go with in The Silmarillion, I can’t claim (as I am somewhat tempted to do) that this story alone is worth getting the book for.

The appendices etc are very well put together but I can’t imagine anyone but a real Tolkein nut being particularly interested in them. And that is the weakness of the whole book, unfortunately – while it is superbly researched and written, and the footnotes and commentary are interesting, it is only ever going to have very limited appeal. Even for myself, an affirmed Tolkien admirer, will probably never go back and read this book again (okay apart from to remind myself what it contained while reviewing it).

Because of this, and it's only recommended to dedicated fans of the Prof (who, admittedly, probably already own a copy!).

Tolkein Book Reviews

Lord of the Rings
The Silmarillion
The Hobbit

CaptainD - Book Reviews Blog

Book Review - Strata by Terry Pratchett

2009-05-10T12:22:00.000-07:00

We all know Terry Pratchett as the creator of the Discworld series (or if you don’t, it’s about time you did). But Strata is an early exploration of that idea and, while I don’t think it’s up to the standard of the majority of the Discworld novels, it’s still good and is basically required reading for Pratchett fans.

The story centres around Kin Arad, a woman over 200 years old (surgical techniques are pretty advanced and people are paid by The Company in “days” rather than cash), who works for the afore-mentioned “Company”. This organisation creates planets – they take a likely looking asteroid and terraform it into a living breathing planet, but they also add history – fossils and so on – for the new inhabitants of the planet to find so that they establish a proper identity for themselves. At the start of the book she has to reprimand two young and fairly new workers, who were found to have planted a fossilised dinosaur in the wrong stratum – holding a banner that reads: “End Nuclear Testing”.

Things get more interesting when she meets a man named Jalo, a pilot from a ship sent out in desperation many, many years earlier, all of which ships were thought lost or destroyed. He has found a previously uncharted planet – and guess what? It’s not spherical, it’s a Disc… and there’s the promise of untold riches there – he has a wallet that never runs out of credit notes as proof, and that’s just for starters…

Kin meets two other creatures (aliens, but one claims to be human as he was born on earth), Silver (a Shand – don’t let her run out of food or you could be the next meal) and Marco (a Kung – a very aggressive, 8-armed race), whose behavioural characteristics are somewhat difficult for Kin to accept at times, even though she assures herself that she should be used to them. In fact, though this is a comedy, it’s one of the most interesting studies of culture clash that I’ve read – the parallels between the different species in the book and the different races on our own planet is plain enough to see but never actually stated as such. Marcos identity struggle as he acts like one species but tries to be another leads to some very funny moments but is also quite touching at times, and anyone who’s had to try to acclimatise to a new environment will be able to sympathise with him.

In finding out about the Discworld, Kin also learns something very startling about the while universe she knows… but enough of the plot, you’ll have to find out for yourself.

Unlike the Discworld series, Strata is very much a science fiction books (albeit with a couple of fantasy elements), and while it’s a good book as is stands, it’s also easy to see why Pratchett opted to go for a fantasy setting for the eventual series. Discworld aficionados will recognise certain familiar elements – for instance, there is a pub called The Broken Drum on one of the planets. As sci-fi comedies go it is a good one, though never really touches on brilliant.

The characters are pretty well developed but this is very much plot oriented. Which is no bad thing as it is a good plot, with a few twists that I didn’t see coming, and with common sci-fi themes exploited to good effect. There’s a bit of bad language and innuendo here (when on the Discworld, Silver continually suggests that if relations with the natives get strained, Kin can take the strain away by having relations with the nearest Chieftain), though nothing terrible – it’s certainly not recommended for younger children or the very sensitive. Otherwise the humour flows steadily, never stolid but never reaching the dizzying heights of the best in the Discworld series. (Sorry to keep comparing the two but there’s really no way of avoiding it, even if I wanted to!) A knowledge of science fiction and, to an extent, fables such as Aladin is necessary to fully appreciate some of the jokes.

I find myself wondering if I would have enjoyed the book more if I hadn’t already been a fan of the Discworld series. But at the end of the day I don’t think I would – it’s similar in a few ways but different in others, and while I did compare the two in my mind while reading it, it’s still an enjoyable book in its own right. It was first published in 1981, two years before the first Discworld novel, The Colour of Magic, came out. Pratchett’s writing style was not fully developed in either book, however – personally I tend to think he truly came of age by about the fourth / fifth books in the Discworld series, Mort and Sourcery.

Okay so just round off the review…

All right then. If you’re a Pratchett fan you’ll want to read this; even if you don’t like science fiction much, you’ll be wanting to see how it compares to the Discworld series. If the fantasy setting of Discworld has put you off in the past and you like skiffy, you may well find this more to your tastes. If you like sci-fi comedy in general, you’ll probably enjoy this.

CaptainD - Book Reviews Blog

"The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, Or Gustavus Vassa, The African"

2009-05-08T08:31:00.000-07:00

I recently visited the Birmingham Art Museum and Gallery. Around the time of the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade in the UK, they put up an exhibition about Olaudah Equino, who lived through the atrocities of slavery and later became a free man of some reputation. His autobiography (extracts of which were in the museum) sounded fascinating, so I decided to look it up and found that it's listed on Project Gutenberg. So if you want to download it in ebook format, visit this page (several formats are available).

Related links:

Birmingham Art Museum and Gallery Official Site

Amazing Grace - a film featuring the character Oludah Equino, about the battle to make the slave trade illegal in the UK

CaptainD - Book Reviews Blog

Book Review - Three Men in a Boat

2009-05-08T08:28:00.000-07:00

I’m sure you’ll already have heard of Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome. I’m sure you’ll have also heard how brilliant it is. Well, if you haven’t, let me tell you. If you have, let me tell you anyway.

The narrator is a medical curiosity – when he reads the medical dictionary, he finds that he has every condition ever diagnosed – with perhaps the exception of housemaid’s knee… Along with his two friends George and William (and Montmorency, the dog), and realising that men such as they need a holiday to cope with the stresses and strains of doing nothing every day, they plan a cruise down the Thames. No sooner is that decided, of course, than they all start to argue about how, when, etc. But eventually they’re off on an adventure that promises to pull them all together in an at-each-others’-throats kind of way. (Except Montmorency.)

I guess part of the reason I like this book is because the setting is in and around the Thames area, where I lived for most of my life, so the area is very familiar to me. Another reason is the characters – particularly the narrator, who is completely psychosomatic but believes that George continually puts on being ill. But it’s really the interplay between the characters that makes it such a wonderful book – they’re all so human, and the foibles they show will be instantly familiar to everyone, whether they can see the traits in themselves or in their friends and family. Jerome brilliantly observes the way humans behave (and misbehave), and the characters are totally believable even though they’re sometimes grotesquely caricaturised. The constant arguments, tantrums, sulks, etc are all there but the three men in the boat’s friendship still wins through in the end. There’s really not a great deal of plot in this book but that’s because it doesn’t need it.

The descriptions of the English countryside along the banks of the Thames are also beautifully described and the three’s attempts at map-reading sound all to familiar to someone like me who’s no good at directions! (Their efforts at boating itself aren’t a great deal more successful, either…) Appropriately, the story moves along just like a boat drifting along a river – you don’t really notice that it’s going anywhere, but it gets there in the end anyway. The pace is unhurried and the whole book has a “gentle” feel to it, reminding the reader of the rather less stressful time in which the book is set. The grammar and language used is also rather old-fashioned, but unless you have a particular hatred for older styles of writing then it won’t trouble you. (Personally I love some writers whose writing is not what you’d call modern – Mary Shelly and Jonathon Swift, for example – while some I just can’t get into at all – Daniel Defoe and Joseph Conrad are just too wordy for my tastes – so you know where I’m coming from with that comment about the grammatical style.)

The preface to the first edition states: ”The chief beauty of this books lies not so much in its literary style, or in the extent and usefulness of the information it conveys, as in its simple truthfulness. Its pages form the record of events that really happened. All that has been done is to colour them ; and, for this, no extra charge has been made. George and Harris and Montmorency are not poetic ideals, but things of flesh and blood…” - and that really sums it up pretty well. You won’t find yourself rolling about on the floor laughing, but you’ll keep a smile on your face the whole way through and have a quiet chuckle now and again because you can relate to it. I can relate to it a little more as I know the locations they visit so well, but I don’t think it really makes a lot of difference.

Overall this is a classic and always will be because, no matter what new technological thingamajigs mankind invents, human nature will always be the same – and there’s never been a better study of it in a work of fiction than this.

CaptainD - Book Reviews Blog

Book Review - The Magician's Nephew

2009-05-06T08:55:00.000-07:00

The Magician’s Nephew is the first book of Narnia. At least, I’m not quite sure if it was chronologically the first, but certainly according to the timeline of the 7 books in the Narnia series it is the first. It does not exclusively deal with the land of Narnia but in the process of the story shows us how Narnia was created and how a gateway came into existence between that land and ours.

The main characters here are Polly and Digary, two children who start exploring near home and end up in a whole new world via the crafty machinations of Digary’s evil Uncle Andrew, who has discovered a magical way of travelling (using rings) that he fails to properly comprehend and has not the nerve to experience himself, though he’s willing to send guinea pigs out – both animal and human… Polly is fooled into putting on one of the rings and immediately vanishes, so of course Digary feels compelled to go after her…

Without going into detail about the rest of the plot, they end up in Narnia, a planet where life is only just being created by an amazing lion called Aslan. On their travels they unwittingly awoke an evil Witch-Queen, who also ends up in Narnia and thus, when the planet is still very young, evil is introduced into it. It is at this point that the story really begins to get interesting.

The parallels between the creation of Narnia and the Biblical account of the creation and the events in the Garden of Eden are obvious to those familiar with the Genesis account, but what Lewis has done is carefully craft some opposite in here as well. So certain events from Genesis are practically turned on their head while the overall moral guidance remains the same. It’s very cleverly done and very interesting to see how the similarities and differences end up blending together so well. But at the same time, it is its own story – it is not trying to copy the Bible or re-write it in a way that’s easier for children to read – it is inspired by Lewis’ Christian convictions but they’re not overpowering. Admittedly some of the things Aslan says are very pointedly condemning those who ignore God but they are still very relevant to the story of the book, they haven’t just been tagged on to give the book religious significance. I’m not an Atheist myself so I couldn’t really comment on if you would find anything about the book objectionable if you were – though you might find some parts of the book slightly condescending / irritating (as I found the long evolutionary spiel in 2001: Space Odyssey). However at the end of the day both books are works of fiction and portray aspects of the author’s beliefs or views, and at the end of the day the author is just putting across his / her point of view, not telling you that you must believe the same thing.

Okay sorry if that seems far too involved for what is, after all, a children’s book – but I’m assuming it will mainly be adults reading this review! The fact that it’s a children’s book does present something of a challenge to me as a reader – the plots and prose are usually too simple for my taste (see my review of The Hobbit, for instance). The Chronicles of Narnia is a series of books I’d been intending to read for quite some time but never got round to it – I’d seen a TV version of it, which was quite good, and read Lewis’ allegorical tale “A Pilgrim’s Regress” (which was quite an interesting read though it lacked the wit and insight of Swift’s “Gulliver’s Travels”), but never quite got round to reading the Narnia books till now. To me they’ve always seemed something that a book lover should read. Anyway that’s just to explain why I’m reading this book at the not so tender age of 27 when I don’t even have any kids (long may that state of affairs continue).

After the first pages I admit that I nearly gave up. It is written with quite young children in mind, and the very simple language, chronic over-explanation (to an adult), and the narrative technique of occasionally talking directly to his readers (which I feel is only forgivable when a book is either a comedy or written in the first-person) really put me off. But I persevered, and by about chapter 4 began to be rewarded. For although this style of prose does continue throughout, it is augmented by a sharp wit and delightful turn of phrase. There are tiny little nuances that will completely pass by any children reading it that adults will really enjoy - and they’re all the more effective for their habit of coming completely out of the blue. The little asides for children pointing out how silly adults are also made me laugh. With the afore-mentioned use of Biblical imagery both in familiar and unfamiliar ways, I must say that I really enjoyed the book and look forward to reading the second Chronicle of Narnia – “The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe”.

Overall it’s a very easy read but also very interesting, even if you’re an adult. For children it’s a very nice book and contains some strong moral messages (not only from its symbiosis with the Bible) along with surprising astute observations about the world. I personally didn’t find it absolutley brilliant throughout, but there were most definitely flashes of genuine genius lighting up section of this book. Highly recommended.

** See The Complete Chronicles of Narnia for all seven books in one collection with links to reviews of each book. **

CaptainD - Book Reviews Blog

Book Review - Monstrous Regiment

2009-05-05T08:42:00.000-07:00

What do a young girl, a vampire, a troll, and an Igor have in common?

They’re all in the Monstrous Regiment, of course. And they all have a secret reason for joining the Borogravian Army. And they all have another secret, or at least they think they have…

Borogravia is a country on a mission. The trouble is, it’s a stupid mission. Worshipping the god Nuggan, they follow – or at least try to follow – his laws, which basically consists of avoiding a lot of Abominations unto Nuggan. The trouble is, there’s a hell of a lot of these, and many of them are stupid – for example, the colour blue is an abomination unto Nuggan. No-one knows why. Some of the sillier abominations are, of course, surreptitiously side-stepped…

They are ruled by a Duchess – who has not been seen for decades and is very probably dead. They have at one point or another invaded all of their neighbouring countries (they’re abominations, after all) and thus haven’t exactly made many friends for themselves. In battle they absolutely refuse to give in under any circumstances – after all why should they, with Nuggan on their side?

The Cast

The story revolves mainly around Polly, who pretends to be a boy in order to join the army and try to rescue her brother Paul (or at least find out if he’s still alive), who enlisted of some time ago. She enlists under a Sergeant called Jackrum, who is a living legend and rumour has it that he enlisted at the age of 5, and has been discharged and re-enlisted more times than you’ve had hot dinners, whose Corporal, Strappi, views it as his main purpose in life to make the lives of new recruits as painful as possible. Among the other recruits are Wazzer, a very devout youngster who believes the Duchess talks to him personally (and is therefore carefully avoided most of the time by the rest of the squad); Maledict, a Black Ribboner Vampire who has replaced his lust for blood with an equally strong craving for coffee; and other assorted riff-raff: and Igor, a troll, runaways… They end up being led by Lt. Blouse, promoted from Filing Clerk to have his first command - but there's more to him than meets the eye...

The Borogravian’s have also managed to annoy Ankh-Morpork, courtesy of cutting down their Clacks towers (used for long-distance communication), and so Sir Stan Gimes is called in to end the war. At first he merely wants to end the war as soon as possible and views the Borogravians simply as crazy, but then something happens to change his mind…

The characters (especially Sgt. Jackrum and Lt. Blouse) are very good although not truly memorable.

The Plot

They make off for the frontline but along the way find out many disturbing things about the way the war is going, the way their country is perceived by foreigners (this is via William de Worde reporting for the Ankh-Morpork Times), and themselves. Having learned to walk, talk, and fart like a boy (I’m not joking), Polly sees a whole new version of the world she knew – will she want to revert to seeing it the old way when it’s all over, or will she be able to change it?

The plot twists and turns, albeit there’s nothing that’s going to really surprise you as such. And that’s as much as I’m going to tell you…

The Humour

Of course, Discworld novels are known for being funny. They might have a good storyline but what you really want to know is, will it make you laugh?

The simple answer is yes. But although there are plenty of laughs here and a few downright hilarious moments, this is not among the funniest of Discworld books. Due, perhaps, to it being set in the Army, there is much more bad language and crude humour than in the other books of the Discworld series. (Still not much compared to many modern writers, it has to be said.) Coming from a writer of the quality of Pratchett, and especially seeing how funny and ingenious (a word that can only be ascribed to one or two brief moments in this particular book, especially when it comes to the communications system) he has been in his other books. The end result is not as funny and comes across as being lazy for someone with his talent.

Having said that you will find yourself laughing out loud or at least smiling to yourself for a good proportion of the book. It’s not a disaster, but I expect more from a Discworld novel – and have almost never been disappointed.

Slight Niggle

This is only a slight niggle and it won’t affect people who have never read a Discworld novel before (having said that, this is not a book I’d recommend to newcomers of the series anyway). Characters such as Grimes, Death (more of a caricature here than ever before), de Worde, and Otto (the Vampire photographer of the Ankh-Morpork Times), who have appeared as the main characters in other books, always come across to me as disappointing or, on occasion, even false when they only have a small part to play. I just can’t warm to Grimes as a peripheral character, and I even found myself irritated by de Worde and Otto, while Death’s brief appearance seemed to be there just for the sake of it. This is probably unavoidable, but it irked me more in this particular books than in any other – and this is the 16th I’ve read in the Discworld series (not including The Wee Free Men, which technically isn’t part of the series although it is set on the disc, and Strata, which was a sort of prototype for the series and will be reviewed on this blog soon).

Conclusion

It’s not a terrible book, it’s not even a bad book, but it is probably the weakest book in the Discworld series. (I didn’t think that “The Colour of Magic” was up to much either, but I’m making allowances for that as it was the first one.) If you’re a Discworld fan you’re probably going to want to read this anyway but if you’re not, you’d be far better off with one of the other ones. (Except “Nightwatch” – that’s a fantastic book, but you really need to be familiar with the series before you read that one!)

More Discworld Novel Reviews:

Nightwatch

The Truth
Sourcery
Soul Music
The Last Continent

Moving Pictures

The Light Fantastic

The Colour of Magic

CaptainD - Book Reviews Blog