By gods and Jabber! This is one pugnacious thaumaturgical book! (sorry, bad in-joke).
China Miéville an interesting and awe-inspiring author, he writesBy gods and Jabber! This is one pugnacious thaumaturgical book! (sorry, bad in-joke).
China Miéville an interesting and awe-inspiring author, he writes like an angel but looks like a football hooligan! This is the second of the New Crobuzon series. Why it is not called The Bas-Lag series I have no idea, all of the Scar is set outside the great sprawling city of New Crobuzon, though it is frequently referred to.
As with the amazing Perdido Street Station this book is full of interesting characters and peculiar creatures (some of whom are pulling double duties as interesting characters also) full of magic (thaumaturgy, natch!). Miéville is a master of world building, plots, prose and characterization. The floating city of Armada is an amazing and vivid creation, a crazy yet believable place. The main protagonist Bellis Coldwine starts out being utterly unsympathetic and cold but she is gradually humanized as the story progresses. There are always surprises around the corner and the novel is never predictable.
Interestingly, with all this weirdness going on I am surprised that the most resonant part of the book for me is the brief scene where a young cabin boy (Shekel) learns to read and discover the joy of reading. Now that is something most of us Goodreads punters can identify with.
There are numerous wonders waiting to be discovered by the unsuspecting reader, and it all ends in a somewhat optimistic yet melancholy note. I find this book endlessly fascinating and I look forward to visit Bas-Lag again in the Iron Council. ...more
I almost gave up vampire fiction in the wake of Twilight. Stephenie Meyer wrote the novel to pander to a certain demographic without any familiarity oI almost gave up vampire fiction in the wake of Twilight. Stephenie Meyer wrote the novel to pander to a certain demographic without any familiarity or respect for classic vampire fiction of the past century. Unfortunately, the Twilight saga is very commercially successful and spawned many imitators, lame wishy washy vampire books, and the entire “paranormal romance” subgenre (￢_￢;). I don't know if good "proper" vampire fiction is still being written these days, but the great ones are still around and are well worth checking out if you are a horror fan. From Bram Stoker’s Dracula to King’s Salem’s Lot, Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire, Richard Matheson's I Am Legend and several others. This book, Fevre Dream is also one of the greats.
George R.R. Martin is, of course, best known for Game of Thrones (“A Song of Ice and Fire” series) but prior to that runaway success he has written several excellent sci-fi stories and novels. Fevre Dream was published in 1982, I read it at some point in the 80s and it has stayed with me to this day. The story is set in 1857 when steamboats dominated trade on the Mississippi River. Captain Abner Marsh forms a partnership with a mysterious stranger named Joshua York whose offer to build the captain’s dream boat to co-own as a business partner. It transpires that York is a vampire who is also something of a visionary or even messiah among his kind. [image] His life mission is to redeem the vampire rate and bring about peaceful co-existence with mankind, using a steamboat as his long-distance transportation of choice to facilitate his plans. Not an easy task because humans provide the basic sustenance for vampires, and are generally referred to as “cattle” among them. Worse still there is a master vampire called Damon Julian who lives on a plantation with his human and vampire underlings in New Orleans. Julian is something of a traditionalist and views vampires as the master race and humans as cattle. When the two mega vamps meet a very bloody struggle for supremacy begins. [image]
All this and lots of steamboating! [image] Fevre Dream is a gripping and thrilling read, especially in the second half of the book where the pages just fly by. The type of vampirism presented here is what I call “sci-fi vampires”, similar to Octavia Butler’s Fledgling and Richard Matheson’s classic I Am Legend. Vampires in this book are simply a different species from humans, it is not possible to convert from one race to the other; garlic, crucifix, holy water etc. have no effect on them. Sunlight is still deadly to them, though.
Besides being a first race horror thriller Fevre Dream also partly a slave narrative, where the slaves are treated cruelly by both humans and vampires. The relations between human and the vampire race are also something of an allegory for slavery and exploitation. The main characters are very well developed, vivid and unforgettable. Interestingly both the good and the evil vampire has a human sidekick to help out with the daytime practical affairs and business. Martin makes an interesting contrast between a friendly partnership and a master and servant relationship built upon deception and false promises.
The prose style is based on the point of view of the human sidekicks from the good and the evil side. As such it is written mostly in simple colloquial style. The unlikely friendship between Captain March and Joshua York is quite touching and forms the moral bedrock of the entire book. The climax is really quite spectacular and unforgettable.
If you are in the mood for some fast-paced horror and have not been put off vampire fiction by Twilight this book is highly recommended. [image]
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Quotes: “Cynthia embraced him by the alley, and gave him a lingering wet kiss. He thrashed and struggled but could not break free of her embrace. Her pale hands brushed the back of his neck, and long nails sharp and thin as razors slid across his veins. Her mouth and tongue swallowed his scream.”
“The night is beautiful, and we can hope to find peace and nobility in its dark splendor as well. Too many men fear the dark unreasoningly.”
“Within the hour I was out on the streets. I found an alley, waited. A young woman was the first to pass. Part of me admired her beauty; it burned in me like a flame. Another part simply hungered. I almost tore her head off, but at least it was over quickly. Afterward I wept.”
“that roast you so enjoyed was once part of a living animal. Do you suppose that, if that beast could talk, he would consent to being eaten?”...more
[image] “People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but *actually* from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint - it's more lik[image] “People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but *actually* from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint - it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly... time-y wimey... stuff.” – Doctor Who
I have reviewed several time traveling novels, but this is the first time I feel the above DW quote from the fan favorite episode Blink is appropriate. The Man Who Folded Himself is stuffed to the gills with time travel paradoxes, bootstrap paradoxes even.
Time travel—as a sci-fi trope—has many different models. In some novels time is immutable ( The Time Traveler’s Wife for example,), in others changing the past will lead to catastrophic changes (Ray Bradbury’s A Sound of Thunder springs to mind). One of my favorite variants of the time-traveling trope is the “timestream” model. Basically when the time traveler changes some key event in the past he does not change the future as such, instead, he creates a sort of bifurcation of reality, an alternate timeline where the future is different. To quote from the Afterward of the book: “You cannot use the timebelt to stop the Holocaust by murdering Hitler when he was 20, you can only create a universe where the Holocaust never happened.”
The above-mentioned “timebelt” is the time traveling device used by David Gerrold in this novel. You may think “A belt, how silly”, but given that time traveling is impossible the size of shape of the time machine should not matter too much.
Daniel Eakins is the eponymous “Man Who Folded Himself”, his uncle Jim bequeathed the device to him. His first time traveling trip is just twenty minutes into the future, to verify the device works, on his second—more ambitious—trip is to his “tomorrow”, he meets his future self. To help ease confusion his future self calls himself Don, and our protagonist—for the moment—is called himself Dan. Don and Dan go to a race track and win thousands of Dollars, thanks to Don’s foreknowledge of the winners. At the end of the day Don leaves to go to the future, and the next day Dan assume the role of Don to take his past self to the race track. And so it goes… [image] Excellent cover art by AlanGutierrez
In a good time travel story, the internal logic has to make sense, causes must lead to understandable effects, even if the effects loop back to the causes. Paradoxes in this kind of story are to be expected, required even, but they have to be logical in spite of being paradoxical. The Man Who Folded Himself has paradoxes in spades, and they are very cleverly thought out. For example, there are more variants of Daniel Eakinses than you can shake a stick at, some of them diverge very far from the Daniel we started the novel with. I won't spoil the extent of their divergence but the mind boggles. There are all kinds of Daniels from different stages of their lives, they often meet up and even have Gatsby style of all night parties.
One side of The Man Who Folded Himself is the fun thought experiment of the implications of time traveling and meeting oneself, but a different aspect of the book is Gerrold’s exploration of homosexuality; a theme close to his heart, based on his own sexual orientation. Daniel’s bizarre romance with his male partner gives a new meaning to that cliché platitude “Learn to love yourself”. His (their) initial hesitation and eventual acceptance of who and what he (they) are. Daniel also has a stab at a heterosexual relationship with even more mind-blowing consequences. [image] I love this cover, it is the edition I first read decades ago.
The Man Who Folded Himselfliterally* breaks my brain with its timey wimey weirdness, but there is also a surprising degree of sadness, pathos, and philosophical musings. The first person narrative initially seems fairly ordinary but later in the book the narrator changes to different variants of Daniel and some of them are quite bizarre. The twist at the end literally knocked me for a loop**. This is my personal favorite time travel novel, it may be a little weird, uncomfortable and even kinky to some, but it blows my mind over and over again. This is actually my second reading and it is unlikely to be the last.
________________ * A bee in my bonnet! (╯°□°)╯︵ ┻┻ ** (view spoiler)[There is only one character in the entire book! (hide spoiler)]
Notes: • “The Man Who Shagged Himself” would be a very on the nose alternate title for this book. • The paradoxes in this book are similar to Heinlein’s short story All You Zombies, and also By His Bootstraps by the same. Even the cover art rings a bell: [image] I suspect Heinlein’s stories predate The Man Who Folded Himself . • The Bootstrap Paradox explained by the Doctor.
________________ Quotes:
“You don’t understand. You won’t understand until you’re me.”
“If they didn’t exist to warn me, then I wouldn’t have been warned and I would have made the mistake they would have warned me against, realized it was a mistake and gone back to warn myself. Hence, I am the result of an inevitable”
“Time travel is only subjective to the traveler, not the timestream. Each time I’d made a change in the timestream, it was like a new layer to the painting.”...more
When I came across this book and read the synopsis I wondered if it was a rip off of Stephen King's epic The Stand. However, I gave McCammon the benefWhen I came across this book and read the synopsis I wondered if it was a rip off of Stephen King's epic The Stand. However, I gave McCammon the benefit of the doubt and bought the book any way because I like his previous novels. Best decision ever! This book is just terrific entertainment. While the post-apocalyptic theme and the basic plot are similar to The Stand I actually like Swan Song better. It feels less bloated and better paced. Also, I normally don't like keeping track of several different groups of characters because I tend to forget who is who and what they are up to. However, with this book the multi- plot stands structure is very well done and all the wll developed characters are doing something interesting. Best of all, the book has a very satisfying epic ending. So if you like The Stand, or even if you don't, read this book!
(As of today this has the highest average rating by Goodreads members on my Top 20 shelf)....more
“It's the Final Countdown do do do doo do do dododo!”
I've always wanted to start an Agatha Christie review with a bit of cheesy Swedish hair metal. An“It's the Final Countdown do do do doo do do dododo!”
I've always wanted to start an Agatha Christie review with a bit of cheesy Swedish hair metal. And Then There Were None has been declared the world's favourite Agatha Christie novel, not to mention the bestselling crime novel of all time (same Guardian source). Considering she wrote hundreds of books, including iconic titles like Murder on the Orient Express and Murder at the Vicarage, this is clearly the definitive Christie. Her ace detective Hercules Poirot is not even in this one.
The story is based on a morbid nursery rhyme which I have quoted after the review in case you want to refer to it (and can be conveniently ignored if you don't, positioning is everything). The setup is simple yet ingenious. Ten people from all walks of life (including a couple of service staff) receive an invitation from a mysterious U.N. Owen who claims to be a friend of a friend (or relative), to visit an Indian Island for a nice, all expenses paid holiday, or to do a job. The island is very pleasant but isolated. Just when a good time is about to be had by all, one of the guests drops dead, apparently a suicide. “OK…” they think, “that's weird, what's for dinner?” Then the next morning the butler's wife snuffs it. Something (besides the smoke salmon) is beginning to develop a piscine odor. Soon the guests are offed one by one, and their dwindling number is represented by the similarly dwindling number of figurines on the dining table. It's the Final Countdown! do do do doo (sorry) [image]
To make matters worse—or better, for the readers—there is nowhere to hide on the island so the murderer must be one of them! With this realization the remaining guests begin to give each other funny looks: “And all of them, suddenly, looked less like human beings. They were reverting to more bestial types.” [image] (from the recent BBC adaptation)
I tell you I almost guessed the identity of the murderer (a serial killer really, but the term hasn’t yet been coined during Christie’s time), but the lady’s sleight of hand threw me off the scent and led me up the garden path (to bark up the wrong tree). While there is no supernatural agency at work in And Then There Were None, the murderer does seem as if he/she has some unearthly abilities, teleporting especially.
I have not read any Agatha Christie for decades, but I suspect most Goodreadsters, like myself, must have read a few during our formative years as readers. Her writing is always clear, smooth and elegant, also extremely accessible, I think I first read one of her books while I was around 13 or 14. Like in a lot of her books, characterization is somewhat perfunctory, while the plot reigns supreme. In the context of her books, this is quite understandable as they tend to be quite short and there are many plot twists and turns to navigate. With this book, it is better not to know too much about these characters, it makes the reveals at the end of all the more effective.
If you think Agatha Christie is now old hat and too light weight you may want to consider this quote from Mathew Prichard, Ms. Christie's grandson: “It's just entertainment. There are so many things these days aiming to educate, provide a message. She is just aiming to give you a good time. It becomes its own little world.”
The Indian Island is even more “its own little world” than most of her books. A world well worth visiting, as long as you are not in danger of pushing up the daisies....more
“Everything here was deadly to man— from the smallest insect to the largest plant.”
Deathworld is basically about a world that wants to kill you at ev“Everything here was deadly to man— from the smallest insect to the largest plant.”
Deathworld is basically about a world that wants to kill you at every opportunity. Harry Harrison is a dab hand at old-school sci-fi adventures, not a lot of nuances or anything to contemplate after you are done, just a ripping yarn and a good time. Generally, this works for me, I seldom look for enlightenment when I am reading for leisure. Anyway, the most important thing I have to tell you at this point is that this book is in the public domain (first published in 1960) and is free to read online or download as an e-book or an audiobook (links after the review). [image] The setting is Pyrrus, a habitable but inhospitable human-colonized planet with a 2 G gravity and horrendous weather. For some reason, every life form, including plants, appears to have it in for humanity. The human colonists live in a walled city with sealed off buildings. Each colonist is never without a weapon even indoors, and always armed to the teeth when they venture outside. Through centuries of living in constant danger the people of Pyrrus are all very strong with deadly reflexes and highly skilled with weapons. Even so the human population on this planet is dwindling. What they need is an outside perspective, someone off-world, to help to find a solution.
[image]
Deathworld is basically just a high octane monster blasting fun with no literary ambition. It is fast-paced and quite short (about 150 pages in the paperback edition), there are themes about adjusting to a new environment, empathy and tolerance but the emphasis is on the action and the priority is to entertain. The protagonist Jason is likable enough but there is not a lot of depth to him, the other characters even less so. This is fine in a novel this short and fast-paced. The world building is where this book really shines, Pyrrus is a great setting for an old-school sci-fi adventure with danger and monstrosities lurking in every corner, even in a sealed building something can slip through and take your leg off. The writing is clear and the descriptions are vivid, the dialogue seems somewhat dated, clearly a product of its time. A free, entertaining, action-packed book, what’s not to like? Go grab a copy today.
• There are some very nice Illustrations by van Dongen scattered through the book, even in the free e-book editions.
• Deathworld is actually the first volume of a trilogy, followed by the brilliantly titled Deathworld 2 and Deathworld 3. Only the first book is in the public domain and, if I remember correctly, the remaining volumes are not so great. This first book is also a self-contained narrative, no hanging plot threads or cliffhangers to worry about.
Quotes: “Hundreds of thousands of years of genetic weeding-out have produced things that would give even an electronic brain nightmares. Armor-plated, poisonous, claw-tipped and fanged-mouthed. That describes everything that walks, flaps or just sits and grows. Ever see a plant with teeth— that bite? I don't think you want to. You'd have to be on Pyrrus and that means you would be dead within seconds of leaving the ship.”
“Two G's don't seem that bad— at first. Walking required the same exertion as would carrying a man of his own weight on his shoulders. When Jason lifted his arm to unlatch the door it was heavy as two arms.”
“Wasn't it true that both ends of the artistic scale were dominated by simplicity? The untutored aborigine made a simple expression of a clear idea, and created beauty. At the other extreme, the sophisticated critic rejected over-elaboration and decoration and sought the truthful clarity of uncluttered art. At which end of the scale was he looking now?”
John Steinbeck's East of Eden is one of my all-time favorite novels, the late great Harry Harrison’s West of Eden is another one. So whether you choosJohn Steinbeck's East of Eden is one of my all-time favorite novels, the late great Harry Harrison’s West of Eden is another one. So whether you choose to go east or west of Eden you would be on to a very good thing in either direction.
The following paragraph is lifted entirely from Wikipedia:
“In the parallel universe of this novel, Earth was not struck by an asteroid 65 million years before the present. Consequently, the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event which wiped out the dinosaurs and other reptiles never happened, leaving the way clear for an intelligent species to eventually evolve from mosasaurs, a family of Late Cretaceous marine lizards closely related to the modern monitor lizards.
The intelligent reptiloid species is called the Yilanè.” [image]
OK, that saves me at least 45 minutes of trying to think of a coherent description. What the above quote does not state clearly though is that the Yilanè are dinosaur people!. It is would not be accurate to say they are descended from dinosaurs as these creatures are still around in the universe of this book. No, the Yilanè are a species of dinosaur. A sentient one that walk upright, has developed language, culture, social organization and science. That is very nice for them but they make the Homo sapiens seem rather shabby in comparison. In this book humanity is not much in advance of cavemen in term of technology, and most are still living the lives of nomadic tribes. Fortunately they really know how to kick ass. The two species do have one thing in common though, an instinctive hatred for the other sentient species from the first encounter. An itch that can only be scratched by genocide.
The first half of the book tells the story of young Kerrick, a human boy captured by the Yilanè for research purposes, in order to find the most effective way of annihilating mankind. They are amazed to find that a dirty mammal (“ustouzou”) is able to learn to speak their language. It also tells of Kerrick’s loss of his humanity through a sort of Stockholm Syndrome. The second half of the book tells of the aftermath of Kerrick’s escape and warfare between the two species. [image] Why West of Eden is not better known is beyond me. It is an astonishing feat of world building and storytelling. The Yilanè’s mastery of biotechnology is very richly imagined. Where we (in the real world) use machines for transportation, weaponry, healthcare etc. the Yilanè use bioengineered creatures all these. For example their equivalent of guns is a squeezy creature that expels poison darts, their boats are creatures that need to be grown and instructed instead of steer, their manacles are animals engineered swallow their own tails etc. If you love the biotech of China Miéville’s Embassytown as I do, you will have a field day with this book (with much easier neologisms to figure out too). The Yilanè’s language includes voice, body and tail movements, plus skin colour changes, the very sort of thing I read sci-fi for. To be astonished. Even more astonishing is Kerrick’s adaptation of this language for which he must compensate for a lack of tail and inability to change skin colours.
The second half of the book is less fascinating than the first as the story leaves the exploration of the Yilanè’s language and culture, but the pacing of the story is quite rapid in this part and there is not really time for anything to drag. The central Yilanè and human characters are very well developed enabling the reader to appreciate both species’ perspectives. The only snag is that the human women characters are completely flat, though the Yilanè females are all badasses (theirs being the dominant sex). I kind of wish the Yilanè and humanity would learn to get along and coexist and perhaps they will do in the sequels which I have not read yet. In any case if both species get along like a house on fire right off the bat we would not have much of a story.
Harry Harrison is one of sci-fi’s best storytellers. His most popular work is the Stainless Steel Rat series. Comical sci-fi adventures which are not really my thing. He also wrote the classic dystopian Make Room Make Room, before the subgenre became fashionable. For my money though West of Eden is his best work. There are two sequels to this book that I will surely get around to before long.
John Wyndham is often described in rather disparaging term as the main proponent of cosy catastrophe. This based on the allegation that his protagonisJohn Wyndham is often described in rather disparaging term as the main proponent of cosy catastrophe. This based on the allegation that his protagonists tend to be English middle class white males who are not much inconvenienced by the apocalypse, somehow continuing to live it up while the rest of the populace suffer. Having read three of his books I find that while the allegation is not entirely unwarranted it is also not quite fair. I hope to write more about this issue when I get around to reviewing The Day of the Triffids.
However, there can be no justification in calling The Chrysalids a cosy catastrophe or cosy anything. There is even a quote in the novel that addresses this issue:
“This isn't a nice cosy world for anyone—especially not for anyone that's different,' he said. 'Maybe you're not the kind to survive it, after all”
David Strorm, the telepathic protagonist and his telepathic friends certainly do not have a good time lording it up to anybody. They live in a rural region called Labrador ruled by fascistic religious zealots. In this post apocalypse world the “Tribulation” (nuclear holocaust) has caused wide spread mutations among all life forms, and mutations of any kind are regarded as blasphemies:
“And any creature that shall seem to be human, but is not formed thus is not human. It is neither man nor woman. It is blasphemy against the true Image of God, and hateful in the sight of God.”
Even minor ones like a small extra toe will lead to exile or death. The discovery of mental deviation (telepathy) practically causes panic among the ruling zealots and the telepaths are immediately regard as a threat to humanity and pursued.
While The Day of the Triffids is Wyndham’s best known work, The Chrysalids is often cited as his best. It is not hard to see why. Beside being a fast paced thrilling story the underlying message of the story is also heartfelt. The book is clearly a metaphor for the plight of ethnic minorities and the disenfranchised. Compared to the other Wyndhams that I have read The Chrysalids is the most compassionate. The plea for tolerance is already evident early on in the book where the narrative focuses on a charming innocuous friendship between the outwardly normal David Strorm and a nice little girl called Sophie. Sophie is almost normal except for a small extra toe on each foot. Once her “deviancy” is discovered the friendship has to come to an abrupt end and she has to go on the run with her family.
The Chrysalids is a wonderful and highly readable little novel (around 200 pages). It reads a little like a YA book due to the age of the central characters, however, in spite of the fairly straightforward plot it is quite profound and moving. The prose is very nicely written, the narrative compelling and highly readable. This book can be an ideal gateway for new readers to the genre, and a must-read for fans of “old school” science fiction. ________________________
Note: [image] This mutant chickens book cover is pretty cool, but this Mark Salwowski represents the book better. Really puts the Wow in Salwowski!...more
I first read this book decades ago under the title of Tiger! Tiger! (British edition). I just reread it recently for the purposes of writing this reviI first read this book decades ago under the title of Tiger! Tiger! (British edition). I just reread it recently for the purposes of writing this review. Fortunately I have memory like a sieve so I enjoy this reread just as much as the first time.
The Stars My Destination is one of the few sf books that is included in almost every all-time best sf books I have ever seen, and I have seen many. If I see such a list without this book I will probably dismiss it.
The story is centered upon Gully (Gulliver) Foyle a vengeful anti-hero protagonist who thinks nothing of whacking all and sundry with a sledgehammer. It is set in a universe where practically everybody can teleport, the part where teleportation ("jaunting") is discovered by accident and developed into a normal mode of transportation is brief yet brilliant, and the social and cultural ramifications are very well thought out. Foyle is not exactly likable but you have to feel sorry for the ordeals he goes through in this book. Abandoned, marooned, kidnapped, tortured, and imprisoned, no wonder he is so bitter and vengeful all the time; at no point does anybody offer him a nice cup of tea or a manicure. Foyle stoically goes through all this ill treatment with a snarl and a promise of payback. Bester's witty and intelligent prose contrast nicely with the gutter language spoken by Foyle in the first half of the book. The author has cited The Count of Monte Cristo as an influence for this book but the similarity is not noticeable until Foyle reinvented himself with an extreme makeover in the second half of the book, the breakneck pace of the book also slows down for the elaborate revenge plan at this point.
As this is one of the most beloved sf books ever recommendation is not usually necessary for regular sf readers, readers new to the genre will find this an ideal starting point.
The last couple of chapters are wonderfully trippy, surreal, philosophical and cosmic! I suspect these last chapters play a large part in pushing the book to its classic status.
Anne Rice has a lot to answer for. Those damn sycophantic useless Cullen vampires probably wouldn't exist without her dynamic duo of Lestat and Louis.Anne Rice has a lot to answer for. Those damn sycophantic useless Cullen vampires probably wouldn't exist without her dynamic duo of Lestat and Louis. That said Interview with the Vampire is a great book, so great Sting wrote a song about it. The next book The Vampire Lestat is equally good then it's downhill all the way!
Way back then the idea of romantic melancholy vampires looking for redemption was a novel one. Nowadays they have devolved into unbearable well-coiffed whiners. Any way, this is a wonderful book, atmospheric, gothic, sad, exciting and riveting (poor Claudia). Forget the sequels, just read this one (OK, and the next one)....more
Previously Goodreads listed this book as “Anansi Boys (American Gods #2)”, this has since been fixed by Raven the ace GR librarian. Anyway, Anansi BoyPreviously Goodreads listed this book as “Anansi Boys (American Gods #2)”, this has since been fixed by Raven the ace GR librarian. Anyway, Anansi Boys is not American Gods #2, the character Anansi does, however, appears in American Gods (as Mr. Nancy) so the two books are related but there is no need to read one to follow the other.
Anansi Boys is about Anansi’s two sons, the absence of an apostrophe-S after Anansi’s name notwithstanding. The first one we are introduced to is Charles Nancy, usually called “Fat Charlie” in spite of not being fat. The other is called Spider who is a god and can do magic. When Spider enters Fat Charlie’s life he promptly turns it upside down because that is the sort of guy he is:
“He would not have recognized guilt if he had an illustrated guide to it with all the component parts clearly labeled. It was not that he was feckless, more that he had simply not been around the day they handed out feck.” [image] Basically, Spider moves into Charlie’s apartment, steals his fiancé, unintentionally gets him in trouble with the law and causing him to lose his job. He does all this by impersonating Charlie without even bothering to look like him; he is just amazingly persuasive. Charlie’s attempt to get rid of him backfires and exponentially exacerbates the situation. It leads to a bird goddess sending massive flocks of multi-species birds after them, and a tiger-god coming after their blood for the alleged sins of their father. [image] Anansi from the American Gods TV series
Anansi Boys is a tremendously fun wild ride. It is not as complex or nuanced as American Gods but, for my money, it is more fun. As always, Gaiman is overflowing with ideas and his prose tend to have a light, whimsical touch that often made me laugh (out loud even). He is a dab hand at characterization, the book’s main antagonist Graham Coats is absatively particularly vivid and hilarious but also very dangerous. Anansi himself is based on a popular West African folklore character, a fun-loving trickster god who loves to steal other gods’ stories and make them his own; hence Gaiman’s theme of the power of storytelling, which he connects to the theme of storytelling through music. I love the musical references in this book, after I read a certain chapter I suddenly had an irresistible urge to listen to Under The Boardwalk, which I have not heard for years, what a lovely, evocative song (even though I’ve never been under one). The prose style of this book is generally lighthearted and humorous but Gaiman switches into a fable or folklore style when the narrative is told from a god’s point of view.
Anansi Boys is not objectively better than American Gods, which is indeed great, but I personally enjoy it more and it is my favorite Gaiman book. [image][image][image][image][image]
Notes: • Here Neil Gaiman explains that Anansi Boys is not a sequel to American Gods. Thank you Raven for the link.
• Besides being inspired by African Folklore Gaiman also seems to have been inspired by Terry Pratchett’s witches books. There are several comical witches in this book.
• There was a radio play adaptation of Anansi Boys in 2005 which Gaiman hated as it was abridged into a one hour play! This led him to write his own movie screenplay. Hopefully there will be a movie one day. Anansi Boys is not objectively better than American Gods, which is indeed great, but I personally enjoy it more and it is my favorite Gaiman book. [image][image][image][image][image] Quotes: “Daisy looked up at him with the kind of expression that Jesus might have given someone who had just explained that he was probably allergic to bread and fishes, so could He possibly do him a quick chicken salad: there was pity in that expression, along with almost infinite compassion.”
“Some hats can only be worn if you’re willing to be jaunty, to set them at an angle and to walk beneath them with a spring in your stride as if you’re only a step away from dancing. They demand a lot of you.”
“He had arrived , at the age of ten , with an American accent , which he had been relentlessly teased about , and had worked very hard to lose , finally extirpating the last of the soft consonants and rich Rs while learning the correct use and placement of the word innit . He had finally succeeded in losing his American accent for good as he had turned sixteen , just as his schoolfriends discovered that they needed very badly to sound like they came from the ’ hood .”
“Of course , everyone’s parents are embarrassing . It goes with the territory . The nature of parents is to embarrass merely by existing , just as it is the nature of children of a certain age to cringe with embarrassment , shame , and mortification should their parents so much as speak to them on the street .” [image] Fat Charlie and Spider...more
Most reviews I write just for the hell of it, for my own records and if some people like them I am just happy as a lark. For Watership Down however, IMost reviews I write just for the hell of it, for my own records and if some people like them I am just happy as a lark. For Watership Down however, I am just a little bit more ambitious. I would like to convince people who feel averse to reading a novel for children about rabbits to drop their preconception and give this book a chance. This is not a book about cute little bunnies running around eating carrots and being adorable 24/7. This is one of the most badass books I have ever read, and I have read books by Joe Abercrombie and George R.R. Martin. More importantly this is simply one of the all time great reads (in my humble estimation of course) that will stay with the readers for the rest of their days. Why, I have a memory like a sieve and I still remember it after all these years (OK, I have just reread it so that helps!)
It all starts with a psychic bunny (stop laughing back there!) called Fiver who has a vague premonition of impending death and destruction coming to his warren. He convinces his best friend Hazel and a few other rabbits to leave the warren for a safer place to live (their attempt to start a total evacuation is quickly nixed by the Chief Rabbit). The first half of the book tells the story of the rabbit motley crew’s (or mötley crüe if you prefer) difficult journey from their warren to find a safe location to start a new warren. The second half is about their defence of their new warren against an older bigger warren ruled by a despotic dictator called Woundwort who is something of a monstrous mutant mega rabbit. Interspersed between the chapters are charming and wonderful folk tales about the adventures of a legendary hero called El-ahrairah.
Plot, world building and characterisation are brilliantly balanced in this book. Even at almost 500 pages there is never a dull moment. Those looking for action adventures should really check out this book. There are hair raising chase scenes, espionage scenes, interspecies alliances, and a bloody fight scene that should be read with Survivor’s "Eye of the Tiger" playing in the background. [image] Again credit LadyFiszi
On the characterisation side it is worth noting that the rabbits in this book are not anthropomorphized animals, they do not wear clothes, drive cars, watch TV etc. Yet there is also much humanity in their rabbitry, they can be compassionate, loving, kind, cruel, egotistical, melancholy etc. These humans traits are believably portrayed as rabbit traits through the incredible talent of Richard Adams. The prose is absolutely beautiful with wonderful metaphors like “an indestructible flood of rabbitry”. I can pick a great passage out of almost every page. Here is one awe-inspiring example:
Many human beings say that they enjoy the winter, but what they really enjoy is feeling proof against it. For them there is no winter food problem. They have fires and warm clothes. The winter cannot hurt them and therefore increases their sense of cleverness and security. For birds and animals, as for poor men, winter is another matter.
To further distinguish rabbits from other species a little neologism is employed throughout the book, most of the words can be understood from the context they are used, if you want some extra help with these you can check out this Lapine_Glossary. You can even gloss over them without missing a beat of the book.
Reading this book is a little like taking a magic potion and transforming into a wee rabbit. I am not normally all that interested in cute animals but after reading this book I really developed a huge respect for these little guys, the odds are really stacked against them yet they manage to survive and even thrive. Even though the book was written primarily for children, it is certainly sophisticated enough to be enjoyed by adults. I certainly prefer it to all the YA books I have read.
Definitely worth more stars than the Goodreads system can accommodate. Briiiight eeeyes buuurning like fire...
[image] Notes: • I don’t remember much about the 1978 animated film, I could not have liked it very much otherwise I would at least remember liking it (terrible sentence I know). I thought the artwork and animation were a bit crude, though. Whether the film captures the spirit of the book I could not tell you, but when Channel 5 (in the UK) screened the film on Easter Sunday 2016, some viewers were so outraged at the violence they tweeted their complaints and demanded the responsible programmers to be fired. Sounds like a recommendation to me!
• Update Dec 30, 2016: Richard Adams died just a few days ago, and I am so grateful to him for this book which is one of my all-time favorites. R.I.P. Richard Adams....more
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