I’m busy working on The Unconquered Sun, so here’s a recent review of A Bright Power Rising by a Top 1000 Amazon Reviewer.
Often, when I venture into the genre of fantasy, I am met with handwavium, or cheesy tropes within books. Some books have less of this than others, but this book manages to stand out well.
In The Food of the Gods and How It Came to Earth, two scientists (Redwood & Bensington) discover a ‘food’ which causes any creature that eats it to expand to gigantic proportions. Things go wrong at their experimental farm due to the incompetence of the couple charged with managing it. Exposed to the food, nature runs amok. However, one of the scientists commits a worse sin. Children are exposed to the Boomfood,either through error or deliberate experimentation creating a race of giants that ultimately comes in contact with disastrous results.
This book is at times satirical, whimsical, thrilling and tragic, but the transitions between these moods are sometimes jarring, and the jocularity sometimes undercuts the drama. It can be a little repetitive and drawn out, and the ending may not be to everyone’s tastes. From a modern perspective, it is hard to believe that Redwood would deliberately feed his son the Boomfood but it might have been believable to contemporary audiences given safety standards were less stringent back then.
I didn’t particularly enjoy Mr. Skinner’s lispy accent. It wath a bit thuffbcating at timeth to thtruggle through long paragraphth of ‘im thpeakin’. Fortunately, his dialogue is confined to the early part of the novel.
I was intrigued by the association of enormity with advancement. The idea had a certain quaintness about it. (It was written over a hundred years ago.) It certainly takes bigger and better to an (illogical) extreme. It puts me in mind of dinosaurs for some reason.
If you approach this book without too high expectations, you will find a lot to enjoy here despite its flaws.
Mike Robbins is a journalist turned development worker. This book consists of nine essays covering his experiences in diverse places he has lived in or visited over nearly thirty years–Sudan, Ecuador, Bhutan, Syria, Turkestan, Kyrgystan, and New York. Although there are nine chapters, there aren’t nine countries. Some countries get more than one chapter. I doubt that the book is intended to be a definitive description of the place and time (is such a thing possible?). It is simply his personal experiences, but there lies the strength of the book. As a writer, he has a keen eye for detail. The places he has visited are by now almost certainly changed beyond recognition, and I am thankful for the opportunity to see these places through his eyes.
This short story is a fairy tale for adults. It harks back to that time before our popular fairy tales were sanitized, when they inspired genuine terror. The author takes an axe (sigh) to Red Riding Hood and turns the story inside out in a new and imaginative way.
The grandmother’s actions at one point seemed a bit excessive, but I suppose her thirst for vengeance blinded her to her cruelty. And I think to a story like this, you need to apply the logic of fairy tale and myth.
The proofreading was excellent. The story was clean of errors.
The ending surprised me in a good way. It was very apt.
I received a copy of this book for an honest non-reciprocal review.
Just a very quick reminder that my book A Bright Power Rising is on Goodreads. Why not take a look?
This novel has two narrative threads. In the first, told in the past tense, the somewhat prudish Molly, trapped in a loveless marriage, attempts to turn her new neighbours in the Close into a surrogate for the loving family she has never had. The second thread, told in the present tense, picks up years later, after the Close Set has dispersed. Molly struggles to deal with their growing estrangement. The narrative gradually reveals why the perfect world Molly so desperately wanted was impossible.
Molly is a lover of Jane Austen, and, in some ways, although this is set in the eighties, this feels like a 19th century novel. The writing is excellent, as are the characterisations, mostly. Initially, it was very daunting to meet the Close Set. They were all fleshed out very well, but some made a more immediate impression than others as each couple paraded out to be introduced. However, as the book progressed, this fog of names dissipates and you get to know them intimately. Molly herself is very well drawn and entirely believable.
It is an excellent novel, and yet I never quite connected with it emotionally. The crises of the past were very much ‘told’ while the present thread, for me, lacked crisis. Though Molly dabbles in other people’s lives, she never makes a dramatic decision about her own. Circumstances choose for her. The characters outside the Close Set don’t really pull their narrative weight. Also, I wasn’t convinced by the reason Molly was writing all this down.
The author plays a dangerous game with the reader by depending on revelation to drive the drama. Some of these revelations, the ones where we share the discovery with Molly, are very effective. I liked when Molly was forced to rethink her interpretation of past events. But, there is also a certain revelation where Molly already has the answer, and she holds it back from the reader for no obvious good reason. It distanced me emotionally from the narrative.
Despite these quibbles, I still absolutely recommend this book to lovers of good literature.
I received a copy of Tiger In A Cage for an honest review.
Mac McDonnell has been sentenced to seven years in Van Diemen’s Land. His love, Deidre (‘I am affianced.’) Scott, follows him there on the same ship, Brilliant. The novel opens with the ship sinking. Can Deidre overcome the series of obstacles keeping them apart?
Years of Stone is a novel full of rich detail. Real persons from the time, such as the Franklins. are woven seamlessly into the fabric of the story, and the setting feels authentic. The story worms its way through every stratum of colonial society. It reminds me of Zola’s Rougon-Macquart novels. I felt that I, like the main characters, had been transported to another land.
It is the second novel in a series, but it feels complete in itself. I will definitely look up the first book when I get a chance.
On to the bad stuff… I can’t really think of anything to be honest. Mac was often his own worst enemy, but I suppose it is easy to have patience when you aren’t breaking rocks twelve hours a day. Years of stone, indeed.
I received a free copy of this book for an honest, non-reciprocal review.
The Last Innocent is a well-written angelic fantasy adventure. Sarah, the heroine, is a likeable character. I liked the way her strong willed nature acted sometimes as a weakness, sometimes as a strength. David is her guardian angel who must protect her from demonic forces, but his powers have their limitations. They inhabit a detailed, well-considered world which Chrisbacker gradually reveals one piece at a time, predominantly through the eyes of the main character (though her angel is also a key pov). A lot of biblical, mythical and historical references are deftly weaved into the story without weighing down the story.
The writing is crisp. The book is well plotted. There are plenty of surprises along the way. Though the ending leaves a few unanswered questions for a sequel, the main focus of the book is resolved satisfactorily.
I received a free copy for an honest review. You can learn more about K. Chrisbacher and her books at http://kchrisbacherauthor.weebly.com/.
Normally, I like to include a picture of the cover, but this book’s cover is not exactly inspiring – grey, and lined in blue like a copybook. It’s what is within the covers that makes it special. Ever read The Táin and was curious about its historical background? Cattle In Ancient Ireland examines the pivotal role that cattle raiding, and cattle in general, played in ancient Irish society, Cows were prized possessions, a measure of a man’s wealth. The book contains lots of fascinating details like mourning cows, cows in payment for poems, cow-blowing, cows in erics and fines, and the drawing of blood from living cows for food. Cattle raiding was such an accepted custom that new kings raided their people’s enemies to prove their worthiness.
The book appears to be out of print, but anyone who is interested in Celtic history, or history in general, would enjoy this book if they managed to find a copy.
ISBN 0-86314-146-3
photo credit: publicenergy via photopin cc
Roadside Picnic is one of my favorite books. Six locations around the world exhibit unearthly phenomena, presumably caused by alien intervention. Dispersed in these so-called zones are various strange objects. The function of some is understood at least superficially while others remain enigmas. Access to these Zones is restricted, but thieves called stalkers break in to poach these valuable items. The book follows the adventures of one such stalker, Red Schuhart.
Often in Science Fiction, when faced with a strange phenomenon, the main characters make educated guesses about its nature that often turn out to be surprisingly insightful. Roadside Picnic eschews this trope almost totally. There is some interesting speculation about the nature of the Zones which gives rise to the name of the book, but ultimately the reader is left to ponder their mystery. The stalkers aren’t scientists. They are more like rats in a maze, learning by trial and (fatal) error. This creates tremendous tension throughout the novel, If you like good SF, this book is a must.
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