Books Read in January, 2024
2024. The new year. Another year to see what my reading for the year will be like.
Thus, as is my standard usage of my blog space at or near the beginning of the month, I present the listing of my January, 2024 reads.
*****
Books Read in January, 2024
We Ride Upon Sticks by Quan Barry
The Swords of Lankhmar by Fritz Leiber (r)
The Coming of the Terrans by Leigh Brackett
Library of the Sapphire Wind by Jane Lindskold
Doctor Who: Adventures in Time and Space Roleplaying Game by David F. Chapman, Andrew Peregrine, et al (Boxed Set) (RPG) (r)
The Man from Pomegranate Street by Caroline Lawrence
Doctor Who and The Abominable Snowmen by Terrance Dicks
Doctor Who: Aliens and Creatures by David F. Chapman et al (Boxed Set) (RPG) (r)
September, 2023 Reader's Digest
Doctor Who and The Keys of Marinus by Philip Hinchcliffe
*****
And that was the start of my reading for 2024. This was a pretty good month of reads, with a good mix of new reads and re-reads, some roleplaying game material in box sets that was quite extensive, and a bit of something to scratch my tastes in various forms of speculative literature. While this month was a slightly above average month in terms of the number of reads, the quality of the books and material read was also rather high as well. Regardless, my bookcases are still stacked with a pretty large To Read Queue (TRQ). The books I enjoyed the most were:
Library of the Sapphire Wind by Jane Lindskold
Instead of mentors, they got monsters...
That's what Xerak, Vereez, and Grunwold think when three strange creatures shimmer into being within the circle of Hettua Shrine. And why shouldn't they? After all, they've never seen humans before. Margaret Blake, Peg Gallegos, and Tessa Brown - more usually known as Meg, Peg, and Teg - are equally astonished - but also, oddly enough, better prepared. A widely varied course of reading material has intellectually primed them for the idea that other worlds, even worlds where people with traits more commonly ascribed to "animals," may exist. Yet there is one overriding mystery nobody yet can answer: the meaning of the enigmatic verse that Teg speaks as they arrive - words that indicate the Shrine is responding to a request made of it, a request crucial to the survival of Xerak, Vereez, and Grunwold's world.
This novel is the first book in the Over Where series, and is a rather remarkable book. Author Jane Lindskold definitely has a handle on how to write fantasy and how to tell fantasy tales. In this novel, she blends traditional fantasy tropes while at the same time twisting some of the tropes to make the story seem fresh, yet familiar. In stories such as this, traditionally it is young teenagers who get whisked off on an adventure into a magical world (such as The Chronicles of Narnia, the Harry Potter books and so forth). In Library of the Sapphire Wind, however, it is three women who are...let's just say "older". Tessa Brown ("Teg") is a working professor somewhere in her 50s. Margaret Blake ("Meg") and Peg Gallegos ("Peg") are seemingly in their 60s or 70s. Meg is a librarian, Teg is a field archaeologist, and Peg has the most experience raising children. Furthermore, one has never married, one is divorced, and one is a widow. (And I'll not reveal more about the three women here!) Not your typical fantasy novel characters, and this creates a very unique dynamic, making these older women the protagonists of the story. On the other side of the coin, there are Xerak, Vereez and Grunwold, all teenagers in the magical world (though truthfully they are all more of what we would call college age) they inhabit, and thus the reader encounters a truly clever reversal of the classic fantasy tropes. The world that Meg, Peg and Teg find themselves in ("Over Where") is one where the inhabitants are beings with bodies that are mostly human in form, but have the heads of animals. [As a side note, I believe that the author has one of the Human ladies call the parallel world "Over Where" as an homage to the World War I anthem "Over There," where the Yankees were coming to aid the French to repay the latter country for crucial help to win the American Revolution]. Xerak, Vereez and Grunwold have gone to Hettua Shrine to summon help through a spell/ritual, but what the three "Inquisitors" have gotten are the three women. The author does away with language problems and issues by having the spell/ritual allowing the Humans to understand and speak the language of the "Inquisitors" and vice versa, and Meg, Peg and Teg learn that Xerak, Vereez and Grunwold are looking for help getting answers to various problems that they each are dealing with. While the characters of the youngsters and their world may remind readers of stories such as Disney's animated Robin Hood movie or Brian Jacques's Redwall series of books, nothing could be further from the truth. This is a novel that is more mature in the telling, the world building and style of writing, and while it does feature a "coming of age" series of tropes in the story, there is more of an emphasis on Meg, Peg and Teg that will really appeal to older fantasy readers. What starts out as a relatively simple plot, searching for the fabled Library of the Sapphire Wind that was destroyed earlier but may have answers to their questions, turns into something completely different, but familiar, to fantasy readers and was a joy to witness through the eyes of the Humans who become mentors to the youngsters. One thing I will say here is that author Lindskold does a terrific job of balancing the character development, the plot and the action sequences in the book. She also does a wonderful job of throwing in references to classic fantasy and coming of age stories that readers will appreciate (especially those who are fans of Narnia). The world building in the book is excellent as well, as we see the world of Over Where through the eyes of Meg, Peg and Teg, with the three "Inquisitors" teaching the Humans about their world and its history as well. Over Where is a rich world setting, and the reader will find lots of elements that are similar, yet different, from those in our own world. My biggest disappointment about this novel is that it ended where it did! The ending seemed so abrupt, not natural, and I really wanted it to continue at that point. Fortunately, the publishing time on the second novel in the series was quite short, so I've got the second (and third) books in the series to look forward to! I would recommend this book for anyone who enjoys fantasy fiction involving quests, but set in another world that has surprising similarities to our own, but is clearly not our world, and featuring three older (women) protagonists. Highly recommended!
The Coming of the Terrans by Leigh Brackett
A dying planet, dried up and hostile - a planet of countless years and countless mysteries. When the Terrans came, they found a world of dead sea-bottoms, lost civilizations, and secretive tribes bitterly resenting the intrusion of the Terrans on the fading glory of an ancient planet. The Earthmen looked down upon the crumbling ruins of a brilliant culture, and laughed at the stories of invincible gods and forgotten magic lingering in the forbidden cities of Jekkara, Barrakesh, Valkis... But the dangers were real - and only a few renegade Earth-born adventurers who had adopted the Martian way of life could understand the planet-wide disaster that was building up.
While there are quite a few collections of various works by Leigh Brackett, the "Queen of Space Opera," this volume that was published in 1967 by Ace Books is one of my favourites. The Coming of the Terrans is pretty much a no-frills affair consisting of some five novellas and novelettes, is around 158 pages on length, has no maps or introductions to the story, and has a single setting: The Red Planet. The book presents itself as a history of mankind's early ventures on Mars, and the story titles in the Table of Contents are followed by the year in which they supposedly occur...and these dates were not provided in the original stories themselves. And happily, for this reader, there is but one instance of overlapping between the two books. "The Coming of the Terrans," it would seem, presents itself as a history of mankind's early ventures on Mars, and the story titles in the Table of Contents are followed by the year in which they supposedly occur...dates not at all provided in the original stories themselves! Sadly, this book has only been reprinted once, which is a shame as the five stories contained within are all doozies that cover the period of 1948 to 1964. The collection starts off in a big way with the novella "The Beast-Jewel of Mars," in which a starship captain, grieving over the death of his lady love who was addicted to shanga radiation, decides to seek out the most powerful form of shanga himself. (Interestingly, shanga, which atavistically reverts its users to a temporary bestial state, with more permanent effects with longer use, was later used as a plot device in Brackett's first Eric John Stark story, "Queen of the Martian Catacombs," later expanded to novel form as "The Secret of Sinharat.") Needless to say, things are not what they seem, as he finds his lady love is still alive, captive of the depraved rulers of the evil Martian city of Valkis, where along with many other Earthlings, she is being subjected to nightly doses of shanga as an amphitheatre entertainment for the Valkis rulers. It's a colourful, exciting and pulpy story, in which the horrors of shanga addiction act as an analogue for more terrestrial drug dependencies. The story is quite wonderfully written to be honest. In the novelette "Mars Minus Bisha," a young Earthling doctor, working alone in the Martian desert, is left with an unexpected bundle one evening: a 7-year-old Martian girl, whose mother and entire tribe shun her and deem her unfit to live with. Dr. Fraser performs tests on the young girl, Bisha, and finds her to be perfectly healthy. Bisha lives with Fraser in his Quonset hut for months, and the two grow close. But then, why does the good doctor begin to suffer comatose blackouts and an increasing lethargy? This is a comparatively sweet tale, albeit one leading to a rather tragic and moving conclusion. "The Last Days of Shandakor" is a novelette in which a "planetary anthropologist" from Earth explores the ruins of the dead titular city and learns that it is populated by the spectres of its past... and by a few actual survivors. He falls in love with Duani, a young (living) Shandakor girl, leading to an unfortunate end for the entire populace. The tale is rather elegiac in tone, but is a marvellous piece of storytelling. The fourth tale is a novelette with a wonderfully pulp title, "Purple Priestess of the Mad Moon." In the story, a young, naïve Earthling who's an expert on Martian relics and artifacts arrives at the capital city of Kahora. He is quickly kidnapped and brought to another Martian city with an evil reputation, Jekkara, to witness an ancient rite. Fitting with the title, the story features as pulpy a monstrosity as ever shambled forth from the pages of Robert E. Howard or H.P. Lovecraft...one that Brackett wisely never shows clearly, but rather only subtly hints at. It's a great, fun story with wonderful prose from the author. Closing out the collection is the novelette "The Road to Sinharat," in which a seasoned Earthman, Matt Carey, a historian and member of the Rehabilitation Project for Mars, goes rogue. With the aid of an old Martian friend and a Martian woman named Arrin, he flees both Interpol and his fellows on the Project to search for the legendary desert city of Sinharat - a derelict metropolis sitting atop an island of coral in a dried-up ocean bed - where he believes lost records will convince his fellow Earthmen that the redevelopment of the dying planet is a very bad idea. (Sinharat, and the reason for its evil reputation, had naturally been delved into in that "Queen of the Martian Catacombs" story 14 years earlier, and numerous references to that earlier work are made here.) The city of Sinharat, where the winds moan eternally amongst the coral block that supports it, is the star of the show here, a character in its own right. The story is an object lesson in the inadvisability of uninformed humanitarianism, both exciting and evocative. Overall, The Coming of the Terrans may be a relatively short collection of novellas and novelettes, but it is a superior set of prose written by an author at the height of her writing in a time where each story reflects its period, and presents a window into a large oeuvre of works that chronicle a history of humanity and its relationship to the Red Planet and its own peoples. Even if the reader has never read any other Brackett stories, I highly recommend this collection of tales.
The Man from Pomegranate Street by Caroline Lawrence
September, AD 81. Flavia and her friends learn of the mysterious and sudden death of the Emperor Titus. Was his death natural? Or was it murder? As the detectives investigate, little do they dream how much their lives - as well as the future of the Roman world - will be changed as a result. Will your questions about the fates of Flavia, Jonathan, Nubia and Lupus be answered in this final thrilling volume in the Roman Mysteries series?
This is the seventeenth, and final, book in The Roman Mysteries series. And what a ride it has been! In this conclusion to the series, Flavia and her friends Nubia, Jonathan and Lupus return to Rome in AD 81 to learn of the death of Emperor Titus. The death occurred under mysterious circumstances, however, and many wonder if Titus truly died of natural causes, or if he was assassinated by one of his many enemies. This is the biggest mystery yet for Flavia, Jonathan, Nubia and Lupus, but they are determined to solve it, hoping that doing so will also clear their names with the new emperor, Domitian, who is Titus's brother. The four protagonists need to clear their names, as there is a death warrant for their arrests due to their actions in one of the earlier books, but in trying to clear their names and figure out who killed Emperor Titus, solving the mystery ends up putting the friends in even more danger, and they may not like some of the answers they find. I'm not going to go into details on the plot of The Man from Pomegranate Street as I really don't want to spoil the novel for those who are working their way towards the seventeenth book in the series. I will say that Caroline Lawrence's writing is terrific once more, her research into all things Roman, historical and societal, pays dividends once more, and the character development of the four protagonists is interesting in so many ways. For readers who've read all the books in the series, the stories of Flavia and Nubia come to a satisfying end with both characters facing tremendous upheavals and surprises in the course of the story. Lupus is...Lupus. I was surprised at his final decisions in terms of what direction he wanted to steer his life (no pun intended!) but the more I thought about it, the more his choices at the end made sense. And then there's Jonathan... Of all the protagonists in the story, Jonathan undergoes the most change, growing up, and making hard decisions. Ever since the fire in Rome for which he has suffered enormous pain and guilt, Jonathan has been making poor life decisions and heading into this book was no different. While Jonathan was a pessimist and in a bad head space for the last few books, and is even a bit more messed up in this novel as it progresses, I still can't believe that Flavia thought he could have killed Titus. His killing Titus would have made little sense, something that Flavia should have realised early on in that sub-plot, but the author was smart to add this side conflict into the story. Suffice to say, Jonathan's ending in this series isn't really satisfying, and I really do hope that he goes off in pursuit of Popo, his dead sister Miriam's child, who is fated for greatness. I will say that one element of the story here actually kind of disturbed me and made me think a bit. The Rape of the Sabine Women and the whole sexual assaulting of women and their poor treatment in ancient Rome and the matter of consent. I give author Lawrence credit for writing this part of the story realistically, and give her the benefit of the doubt because I feel that it was more acceptable in Roman times, but I won't deny that it made this reader somewhat uncomfortable. The author had Aristo romanticise rape and kidnapping, which is so wrong on so many levels, and then it becomes something along the lines of flirting with Nubia and then there's the whole business with Flavia and Flaccus. The fact that Lupus and Tranquillus are both laughing about it...wasn't right, though I understood the purpose of the scenes being written that way. Tranquillus has his own issues with consent - he kissed Flavia twice on the lips without her consent - and then there is Domitian. Author Lawrence knows her history, and Domitian is...not a nice person. He has tortured a child (Jonathan), tries to molest Nubia - something I didn't see coming and was shocked by - and is overall the nasty individual that one expects him to be. But he surprisingly has some good qualities as well, and then there's the question of whether he murdered Titus or had him murdered... Regardless, the sexual elements and aspects of this story were disturbing, as one tends to forget how old (or should that be young?) Flavia and her friends are, but that said they did fit the story and were an essential part of the tale when all was said and done. For the most part, The Man from Pomegranate Street is a wonderful conclusion to the Roman Mysteries series. It's full of adventure, danger, mystery, and for some of the characters, romance. While I suspect that I would feel differently about the series if I'd started reading it when I was in my teens, this 68-year-old reader thoroughly enjoyed the books in the series. Yes, there are some plot holes and some...inconsistencies...that nagged at me throughout the series and The Man from Pomegranate Street was no exception, but I certainly devoured this last novel in record time! The book answers most of the questions the reader might have about some of the plot threads that have been ongoing. That said, this final book cannot be read without having re-read most if not all of the earlier volumes. I highly recommend The Man from Pomegranate Street, this final book in the series, but with the caveat that for new readers or those who've read a few of the books in the series, go back and start with the first book, The Thieves of Ostia. It is well worth the read, for both adults and younger readers alike, but the story is definitely one that needs to be read from the beginning.
Doctor Who and The Abominable Snowmen by Terrance Dicks
The Doctor has been to Det-Sen Monastery before, and expects the welcome of a lifetime. But the monastery is a very different place from when the Doctor last came. Fearing an attack at any moment by the legendary Yeti, the monks are prepared to defend themselves, and see the Doctor as a threat. The Doctor and his friends join forces with Travers, an English explorer out to prove the existence of the elusive abominable snowmen. But they soon discover that these Yeti are not the timid animals that Travers seeks. They are the unstoppable servants of an alien intelligence.
This book is the novelisation of the 38th Doctor Who serial and the second serial of the Fifth Season of the Classic series. The script written by Mervyn Haisman and Henry Lincoln was one of the first (if not the first) adapted by Terrance Dicks for book publication. The Doctor is in his first regeneration, played by Patrick Troughton, and the Second Doctor is accompanied by his long-time 18th Century Scottish companion, Jamie McCrimmon, and the orphaned Victorian youngster, Victoria Waterfield, and the story introduces two of the quite popular antagonists of the Second Doctor, the Yeti and the Great Intelligence. When it comes down to it, the plot of the serial - robotic Yetis attacking a Tibetan monastery under the orders of a disembodied alien intelligence - is...insane. While one cannot watch the six episodes of this serial (as only one of them survives the BBC's purging of the episode tapes), Terrance Dicks's novelisation of "The Abominable Snowmen" is very good, as he carries the story with straight-faced brilliance, never for a single paragraph entertaining the slightest notion that this is anything other than an totally serious, scary and dangerous adventure. While Dicks's prose isn't the most exciting in the world, it's clean and crisp, moves the fast-paced adventure along in a way that is nicely unobtrusive. It's accessible, and thus perfectly suited for readers of all ages. To add to the appeal of this novelisation, the book has some nice interior illustrations by Alan Willow that add to the story, rather than distract from it, the illustrations actually appearing quite close to the story sequence they are meant to evoke. Very nicely done! The Second Doctor and his friends arrive in Tibet in 1935 and find that Yeti are terrorizing a monastery of Buddhist monks. The Doctor investigates, Jamie and Victoria get into trouble, the reader learns the Yeti are robotic, there's some alien intervention and philosophical debate(s), and the story concludes with the Doctor winning the day, as per usual, though the robotic Yeti and their master may not be completely out of the picture... When it comes down to it, there are plenty of plot holes in the television serial itself. There was no explanation as to why the Yeti were needed to bring the Great Intelligence to physical form on Earth, especially since the alien had the power to control multiple human minds as slaves. And where did the materials to build such highly technical and indestructible robots come from? Why were the monks hypnotized to build these robots only to scare away the same monks? If the Great Intelligence was intent on conquering the Earth, why did it start in one of the least populous and most isolated parts of the world when it clearly needed human slave labour? When the serial aired on September through November of 1967, I was only 12 years old, so I didn't really see any of these gaping story gaffes, Terrance Dicks didn't really do anything to enhance the story. The novel presents a quite faithful retelling of the television serial, with the most significant change being the names of the various monks at the Det-Sen Monastery. While Haisman and Lincoln had based these names on those of authentic and noteworthy from Tibetan Buddhist history, at the time that Dicks was commissioned to write the novelisation, then producer of Doctor Who Barry Letts was uncomfortable with the use of genuine names and concerned that this might cause inadvertent offence. And so Dicks made small changes to the names, with only Rinchen and Khrisong remaining unchanged. While Victoria and Jamie come across relatively well, or at least as well as they did in the original story, the Second Doctor suffers the most in the novelisation, as his dialogue doesn't have the zip and the spark that Troughton brought to his lines of dialogue in the actual serial. Overall, Doctor Who and The Abominable Snowmen is a lovely, light (I re-read the book in some two days) read based on one of the truly classic Classic Doctor Who serials. Even with the book's flaws, this is a very enjoyable read, well paced and full of the sense of adventure that the serial itself evoked. As one of the first (if not the first) novelisations of the Doctor Who serials, this story shows its age, but is still highly entertaining. I recommend it very much.
Doctor Who and The Keys of Marinus by Philip Hinchcliffe
MARINUS is a remote force-shielded island set in a sea of acid, governed by THE CONSCIENCE. The ultimate computer which rules and balances the gentle life of Marinus. It is guarded by ARBITAN THE KEEPER, the ruthless protector of a peace-loving race threatened by YARTEK. He is the Warlord of the brutal sub-human Voords, sworn enemy of Arbitan and of Marinus, who has within his grasp THE KEYS OF MARINUS - The Conscience's vital micro-circuits, the doors of good and evil. Can the Doctor and his companions find the hidden circuits in time? Arbitan's command was "Find them, OR DIE!"
This book is the novelisation of the 5th Doctor Who serial and the fifth serial of the First Season of the Classic series. This novelisation is based on the television serial (teleplay) "The Keys of Marinus" written by Terry Nation, the creator of the Daleks, that first aired back in 1964. The First Doctor, the original (as played by William Hartnell), is accompanied by his original trio of companions - his granddaughter, Susan Foreman (described as petite and chirpy),and the two school teachers, Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright - and sees the characters pn the planet Marinus, thrust into a series of mini-adventures in which they secure a group of keys to restore The Conscience, a vast computer developed as a justice machine that kept law and order across the entire planet. While the First Season of Classic Doctor Who had a mix of historical and science fiction serials in it, "The Keys of Marinus" was very much a science fiction story that took the unusual approach of being a set of interlocking stories as the TARDIS team travels to find the title keys: the city of Morphoton, which is not what it seems; a screaming jungle in which a lost temple can be found; an icy wasteland, in which a nasty trapper helps the characters and a group of Ice Soldiers, frozen in the wastes and who are released; and finally the city of Millenius, in which Ian is accused to murder and is defended by the Doctor. The final part of the story sees the Doctor and his friends, along with two Marinians (?) they found who had been sent by Arbitan in search of the keys earlier, return to Arbitan, only for things to get rather...explosive. Because of the various settings on Marinus in which the story takes place, there is a wide variety of characters, environments and sub-plots going on that kept the viewer hooked and wanting to see what happened next. The novelisation is very much in keeping with the televised serial. Author Hinchcliffe's writing is clear and concise, but it lacks the descriptive flair of other adapters of Doctor Who serials, notably Terrance Dicks. Hinchcliffe writes in a straight-forward style, but he was perhaps aiming at a younger reader. The serial is one of the faster-paced early adventures, and the varied settings provided more for the characters to do, especially Barbara. Ian is put on trial at one point, which, along with the segmented key quest, are conventions that the show would return to several times in seasons to come, as author Hinchcliffe obviously knew well from his viewpoint vantage fifteen years in the future - he was the Producer of Doctor Who from 1974 to 1977. The author does a good job of including pretty much everything from the original six episodes, within the restrictions of the 128-page format imposed by Target Books in the day. It's a story with a fast paced, somewhat hair-raising tale, that never really slows down until the travellers arrive in Millenium, and the murder investigation involving Ian begins...and even then, the pacing of the novelisation is quite solid in this regard. Overall, The Keys of Marinus is an excellent novelisation of a Classic Doctor Who story that includes the science fictional themes of societal control and altered perceptions of reality to poisonous alien worlds. While these concepts are not built on or expanded upon in the novelisation (which is a shame), the book is an entertaining, relatively fast, read. Just a shame there's no expansion on some of the material from the tv serial.
Overall, I managed to read 7 novels, 2 RPGs and RPG products, 1 magazine, 0 comics, and 0 graphic novels in January. Since this is the start of the year, it brings the year total in 2024 to a set of numbers that look like this: 7 books, 2 RPGs and RPG products, 1 magazine, 0 comics, and 0 graphic novels.
Anyway, thoughts and comments are always welcome. :)
Thus, as is my standard usage of my blog space at or near the beginning of the month, I present the listing of my January, 2024 reads.
*****
Books Read in January, 2024
We Ride Upon Sticks by Quan Barry
The Swords of Lankhmar by Fritz Leiber (r)
The Coming of the Terrans by Leigh Brackett
Library of the Sapphire Wind by Jane Lindskold
Doctor Who: Adventures in Time and Space Roleplaying Game by David F. Chapman, Andrew Peregrine, et al (Boxed Set) (RPG) (r)
The Man from Pomegranate Street by Caroline Lawrence
Doctor Who and The Abominable Snowmen by Terrance Dicks
Doctor Who: Aliens and Creatures by David F. Chapman et al (Boxed Set) (RPG) (r)
September, 2023 Reader's Digest
Doctor Who and The Keys of Marinus by Philip Hinchcliffe
*****
And that was the start of my reading for 2024. This was a pretty good month of reads, with a good mix of new reads and re-reads, some roleplaying game material in box sets that was quite extensive, and a bit of something to scratch my tastes in various forms of speculative literature. While this month was a slightly above average month in terms of the number of reads, the quality of the books and material read was also rather high as well. Regardless, my bookcases are still stacked with a pretty large To Read Queue (TRQ). The books I enjoyed the most were:
Library of the Sapphire Wind by Jane Lindskold
Instead of mentors, they got monsters...
That's what Xerak, Vereez, and Grunwold think when three strange creatures shimmer into being within the circle of Hettua Shrine. And why shouldn't they? After all, they've never seen humans before. Margaret Blake, Peg Gallegos, and Tessa Brown - more usually known as Meg, Peg, and Teg - are equally astonished - but also, oddly enough, better prepared. A widely varied course of reading material has intellectually primed them for the idea that other worlds, even worlds where people with traits more commonly ascribed to "animals," may exist. Yet there is one overriding mystery nobody yet can answer: the meaning of the enigmatic verse that Teg speaks as they arrive - words that indicate the Shrine is responding to a request made of it, a request crucial to the survival of Xerak, Vereez, and Grunwold's world.
This novel is the first book in the Over Where series, and is a rather remarkable book. Author Jane Lindskold definitely has a handle on how to write fantasy and how to tell fantasy tales. In this novel, she blends traditional fantasy tropes while at the same time twisting some of the tropes to make the story seem fresh, yet familiar. In stories such as this, traditionally it is young teenagers who get whisked off on an adventure into a magical world (such as The Chronicles of Narnia, the Harry Potter books and so forth). In Library of the Sapphire Wind, however, it is three women who are...let's just say "older". Tessa Brown ("Teg") is a working professor somewhere in her 50s. Margaret Blake ("Meg") and Peg Gallegos ("Peg") are seemingly in their 60s or 70s. Meg is a librarian, Teg is a field archaeologist, and Peg has the most experience raising children. Furthermore, one has never married, one is divorced, and one is a widow. (And I'll not reveal more about the three women here!) Not your typical fantasy novel characters, and this creates a very unique dynamic, making these older women the protagonists of the story. On the other side of the coin, there are Xerak, Vereez and Grunwold, all teenagers in the magical world (though truthfully they are all more of what we would call college age) they inhabit, and thus the reader encounters a truly clever reversal of the classic fantasy tropes. The world that Meg, Peg and Teg find themselves in ("Over Where") is one where the inhabitants are beings with bodies that are mostly human in form, but have the heads of animals. [As a side note, I believe that the author has one of the Human ladies call the parallel world "Over Where" as an homage to the World War I anthem "Over There," where the Yankees were coming to aid the French to repay the latter country for crucial help to win the American Revolution]. Xerak, Vereez and Grunwold have gone to Hettua Shrine to summon help through a spell/ritual, but what the three "Inquisitors" have gotten are the three women. The author does away with language problems and issues by having the spell/ritual allowing the Humans to understand and speak the language of the "Inquisitors" and vice versa, and Meg, Peg and Teg learn that Xerak, Vereez and Grunwold are looking for help getting answers to various problems that they each are dealing with. While the characters of the youngsters and their world may remind readers of stories such as Disney's animated Robin Hood movie or Brian Jacques's Redwall series of books, nothing could be further from the truth. This is a novel that is more mature in the telling, the world building and style of writing, and while it does feature a "coming of age" series of tropes in the story, there is more of an emphasis on Meg, Peg and Teg that will really appeal to older fantasy readers. What starts out as a relatively simple plot, searching for the fabled Library of the Sapphire Wind that was destroyed earlier but may have answers to their questions, turns into something completely different, but familiar, to fantasy readers and was a joy to witness through the eyes of the Humans who become mentors to the youngsters. One thing I will say here is that author Lindskold does a terrific job of balancing the character development, the plot and the action sequences in the book. She also does a wonderful job of throwing in references to classic fantasy and coming of age stories that readers will appreciate (especially those who are fans of Narnia). The world building in the book is excellent as well, as we see the world of Over Where through the eyes of Meg, Peg and Teg, with the three "Inquisitors" teaching the Humans about their world and its history as well. Over Where is a rich world setting, and the reader will find lots of elements that are similar, yet different, from those in our own world. My biggest disappointment about this novel is that it ended where it did! The ending seemed so abrupt, not natural, and I really wanted it to continue at that point. Fortunately, the publishing time on the second novel in the series was quite short, so I've got the second (and third) books in the series to look forward to! I would recommend this book for anyone who enjoys fantasy fiction involving quests, but set in another world that has surprising similarities to our own, but is clearly not our world, and featuring three older (women) protagonists. Highly recommended!
The Coming of the Terrans by Leigh Brackett
A dying planet, dried up and hostile - a planet of countless years and countless mysteries. When the Terrans came, they found a world of dead sea-bottoms, lost civilizations, and secretive tribes bitterly resenting the intrusion of the Terrans on the fading glory of an ancient planet. The Earthmen looked down upon the crumbling ruins of a brilliant culture, and laughed at the stories of invincible gods and forgotten magic lingering in the forbidden cities of Jekkara, Barrakesh, Valkis... But the dangers were real - and only a few renegade Earth-born adventurers who had adopted the Martian way of life could understand the planet-wide disaster that was building up.
While there are quite a few collections of various works by Leigh Brackett, the "Queen of Space Opera," this volume that was published in 1967 by Ace Books is one of my favourites. The Coming of the Terrans is pretty much a no-frills affair consisting of some five novellas and novelettes, is around 158 pages on length, has no maps or introductions to the story, and has a single setting: The Red Planet. The book presents itself as a history of mankind's early ventures on Mars, and the story titles in the Table of Contents are followed by the year in which they supposedly occur...and these dates were not provided in the original stories themselves. And happily, for this reader, there is but one instance of overlapping between the two books. "The Coming of the Terrans," it would seem, presents itself as a history of mankind's early ventures on Mars, and the story titles in the Table of Contents are followed by the year in which they supposedly occur...dates not at all provided in the original stories themselves! Sadly, this book has only been reprinted once, which is a shame as the five stories contained within are all doozies that cover the period of 1948 to 1964. The collection starts off in a big way with the novella "The Beast-Jewel of Mars," in which a starship captain, grieving over the death of his lady love who was addicted to shanga radiation, decides to seek out the most powerful form of shanga himself. (Interestingly, shanga, which atavistically reverts its users to a temporary bestial state, with more permanent effects with longer use, was later used as a plot device in Brackett's first Eric John Stark story, "Queen of the Martian Catacombs," later expanded to novel form as "The Secret of Sinharat.") Needless to say, things are not what they seem, as he finds his lady love is still alive, captive of the depraved rulers of the evil Martian city of Valkis, where along with many other Earthlings, she is being subjected to nightly doses of shanga as an amphitheatre entertainment for the Valkis rulers. It's a colourful, exciting and pulpy story, in which the horrors of shanga addiction act as an analogue for more terrestrial drug dependencies. The story is quite wonderfully written to be honest. In the novelette "Mars Minus Bisha," a young Earthling doctor, working alone in the Martian desert, is left with an unexpected bundle one evening: a 7-year-old Martian girl, whose mother and entire tribe shun her and deem her unfit to live with. Dr. Fraser performs tests on the young girl, Bisha, and finds her to be perfectly healthy. Bisha lives with Fraser in his Quonset hut for months, and the two grow close. But then, why does the good doctor begin to suffer comatose blackouts and an increasing lethargy? This is a comparatively sweet tale, albeit one leading to a rather tragic and moving conclusion. "The Last Days of Shandakor" is a novelette in which a "planetary anthropologist" from Earth explores the ruins of the dead titular city and learns that it is populated by the spectres of its past... and by a few actual survivors. He falls in love with Duani, a young (living) Shandakor girl, leading to an unfortunate end for the entire populace. The tale is rather elegiac in tone, but is a marvellous piece of storytelling. The fourth tale is a novelette with a wonderfully pulp title, "Purple Priestess of the Mad Moon." In the story, a young, naïve Earthling who's an expert on Martian relics and artifacts arrives at the capital city of Kahora. He is quickly kidnapped and brought to another Martian city with an evil reputation, Jekkara, to witness an ancient rite. Fitting with the title, the story features as pulpy a monstrosity as ever shambled forth from the pages of Robert E. Howard or H.P. Lovecraft...one that Brackett wisely never shows clearly, but rather only subtly hints at. It's a great, fun story with wonderful prose from the author. Closing out the collection is the novelette "The Road to Sinharat," in which a seasoned Earthman, Matt Carey, a historian and member of the Rehabilitation Project for Mars, goes rogue. With the aid of an old Martian friend and a Martian woman named Arrin, he flees both Interpol and his fellows on the Project to search for the legendary desert city of Sinharat - a derelict metropolis sitting atop an island of coral in a dried-up ocean bed - where he believes lost records will convince his fellow Earthmen that the redevelopment of the dying planet is a very bad idea. (Sinharat, and the reason for its evil reputation, had naturally been delved into in that "Queen of the Martian Catacombs" story 14 years earlier, and numerous references to that earlier work are made here.) The city of Sinharat, where the winds moan eternally amongst the coral block that supports it, is the star of the show here, a character in its own right. The story is an object lesson in the inadvisability of uninformed humanitarianism, both exciting and evocative. Overall, The Coming of the Terrans may be a relatively short collection of novellas and novelettes, but it is a superior set of prose written by an author at the height of her writing in a time where each story reflects its period, and presents a window into a large oeuvre of works that chronicle a history of humanity and its relationship to the Red Planet and its own peoples. Even if the reader has never read any other Brackett stories, I highly recommend this collection of tales.
The Man from Pomegranate Street by Caroline Lawrence
September, AD 81. Flavia and her friends learn of the mysterious and sudden death of the Emperor Titus. Was his death natural? Or was it murder? As the detectives investigate, little do they dream how much their lives - as well as the future of the Roman world - will be changed as a result. Will your questions about the fates of Flavia, Jonathan, Nubia and Lupus be answered in this final thrilling volume in the Roman Mysteries series?
This is the seventeenth, and final, book in The Roman Mysteries series. And what a ride it has been! In this conclusion to the series, Flavia and her friends Nubia, Jonathan and Lupus return to Rome in AD 81 to learn of the death of Emperor Titus. The death occurred under mysterious circumstances, however, and many wonder if Titus truly died of natural causes, or if he was assassinated by one of his many enemies. This is the biggest mystery yet for Flavia, Jonathan, Nubia and Lupus, but they are determined to solve it, hoping that doing so will also clear their names with the new emperor, Domitian, who is Titus's brother. The four protagonists need to clear their names, as there is a death warrant for their arrests due to their actions in one of the earlier books, but in trying to clear their names and figure out who killed Emperor Titus, solving the mystery ends up putting the friends in even more danger, and they may not like some of the answers they find. I'm not going to go into details on the plot of The Man from Pomegranate Street as I really don't want to spoil the novel for those who are working their way towards the seventeenth book in the series. I will say that Caroline Lawrence's writing is terrific once more, her research into all things Roman, historical and societal, pays dividends once more, and the character development of the four protagonists is interesting in so many ways. For readers who've read all the books in the series, the stories of Flavia and Nubia come to a satisfying end with both characters facing tremendous upheavals and surprises in the course of the story. Lupus is...Lupus. I was surprised at his final decisions in terms of what direction he wanted to steer his life (no pun intended!) but the more I thought about it, the more his choices at the end made sense. And then there's Jonathan... Of all the protagonists in the story, Jonathan undergoes the most change, growing up, and making hard decisions. Ever since the fire in Rome for which he has suffered enormous pain and guilt, Jonathan has been making poor life decisions and heading into this book was no different. While Jonathan was a pessimist and in a bad head space for the last few books, and is even a bit more messed up in this novel as it progresses, I still can't believe that Flavia thought he could have killed Titus. His killing Titus would have made little sense, something that Flavia should have realised early on in that sub-plot, but the author was smart to add this side conflict into the story. Suffice to say, Jonathan's ending in this series isn't really satisfying, and I really do hope that he goes off in pursuit of Popo, his dead sister Miriam's child, who is fated for greatness. I will say that one element of the story here actually kind of disturbed me and made me think a bit. The Rape of the Sabine Women and the whole sexual assaulting of women and their poor treatment in ancient Rome and the matter of consent. I give author Lawrence credit for writing this part of the story realistically, and give her the benefit of the doubt because I feel that it was more acceptable in Roman times, but I won't deny that it made this reader somewhat uncomfortable. The author had Aristo romanticise rape and kidnapping, which is so wrong on so many levels, and then it becomes something along the lines of flirting with Nubia and then there's the whole business with Flavia and Flaccus. The fact that Lupus and Tranquillus are both laughing about it...wasn't right, though I understood the purpose of the scenes being written that way. Tranquillus has his own issues with consent - he kissed Flavia twice on the lips without her consent - and then there is Domitian. Author Lawrence knows her history, and Domitian is...not a nice person. He has tortured a child (Jonathan), tries to molest Nubia - something I didn't see coming and was shocked by - and is overall the nasty individual that one expects him to be. But he surprisingly has some good qualities as well, and then there's the question of whether he murdered Titus or had him murdered... Regardless, the sexual elements and aspects of this story were disturbing, as one tends to forget how old (or should that be young?) Flavia and her friends are, but that said they did fit the story and were an essential part of the tale when all was said and done. For the most part, The Man from Pomegranate Street is a wonderful conclusion to the Roman Mysteries series. It's full of adventure, danger, mystery, and for some of the characters, romance. While I suspect that I would feel differently about the series if I'd started reading it when I was in my teens, this 68-year-old reader thoroughly enjoyed the books in the series. Yes, there are some plot holes and some...inconsistencies...that nagged at me throughout the series and The Man from Pomegranate Street was no exception, but I certainly devoured this last novel in record time! The book answers most of the questions the reader might have about some of the plot threads that have been ongoing. That said, this final book cannot be read without having re-read most if not all of the earlier volumes. I highly recommend The Man from Pomegranate Street, this final book in the series, but with the caveat that for new readers or those who've read a few of the books in the series, go back and start with the first book, The Thieves of Ostia. It is well worth the read, for both adults and younger readers alike, but the story is definitely one that needs to be read from the beginning.
Doctor Who and The Abominable Snowmen by Terrance Dicks
The Doctor has been to Det-Sen Monastery before, and expects the welcome of a lifetime. But the monastery is a very different place from when the Doctor last came. Fearing an attack at any moment by the legendary Yeti, the monks are prepared to defend themselves, and see the Doctor as a threat. The Doctor and his friends join forces with Travers, an English explorer out to prove the existence of the elusive abominable snowmen. But they soon discover that these Yeti are not the timid animals that Travers seeks. They are the unstoppable servants of an alien intelligence.
This book is the novelisation of the 38th Doctor Who serial and the second serial of the Fifth Season of the Classic series. The script written by Mervyn Haisman and Henry Lincoln was one of the first (if not the first) adapted by Terrance Dicks for book publication. The Doctor is in his first regeneration, played by Patrick Troughton, and the Second Doctor is accompanied by his long-time 18th Century Scottish companion, Jamie McCrimmon, and the orphaned Victorian youngster, Victoria Waterfield, and the story introduces two of the quite popular antagonists of the Second Doctor, the Yeti and the Great Intelligence. When it comes down to it, the plot of the serial - robotic Yetis attacking a Tibetan monastery under the orders of a disembodied alien intelligence - is...insane. While one cannot watch the six episodes of this serial (as only one of them survives the BBC's purging of the episode tapes), Terrance Dicks's novelisation of "The Abominable Snowmen" is very good, as he carries the story with straight-faced brilliance, never for a single paragraph entertaining the slightest notion that this is anything other than an totally serious, scary and dangerous adventure. While Dicks's prose isn't the most exciting in the world, it's clean and crisp, moves the fast-paced adventure along in a way that is nicely unobtrusive. It's accessible, and thus perfectly suited for readers of all ages. To add to the appeal of this novelisation, the book has some nice interior illustrations by Alan Willow that add to the story, rather than distract from it, the illustrations actually appearing quite close to the story sequence they are meant to evoke. Very nicely done! The Second Doctor and his friends arrive in Tibet in 1935 and find that Yeti are terrorizing a monastery of Buddhist monks. The Doctor investigates, Jamie and Victoria get into trouble, the reader learns the Yeti are robotic, there's some alien intervention and philosophical debate(s), and the story concludes with the Doctor winning the day, as per usual, though the robotic Yeti and their master may not be completely out of the picture... When it comes down to it, there are plenty of plot holes in the television serial itself. There was no explanation as to why the Yeti were needed to bring the Great Intelligence to physical form on Earth, especially since the alien had the power to control multiple human minds as slaves. And where did the materials to build such highly technical and indestructible robots come from? Why were the monks hypnotized to build these robots only to scare away the same monks? If the Great Intelligence was intent on conquering the Earth, why did it start in one of the least populous and most isolated parts of the world when it clearly needed human slave labour? When the serial aired on September through November of 1967, I was only 12 years old, so I didn't really see any of these gaping story gaffes, Terrance Dicks didn't really do anything to enhance the story. The novel presents a quite faithful retelling of the television serial, with the most significant change being the names of the various monks at the Det-Sen Monastery. While Haisman and Lincoln had based these names on those of authentic and noteworthy from Tibetan Buddhist history, at the time that Dicks was commissioned to write the novelisation, then producer of Doctor Who Barry Letts was uncomfortable with the use of genuine names and concerned that this might cause inadvertent offence. And so Dicks made small changes to the names, with only Rinchen and Khrisong remaining unchanged. While Victoria and Jamie come across relatively well, or at least as well as they did in the original story, the Second Doctor suffers the most in the novelisation, as his dialogue doesn't have the zip and the spark that Troughton brought to his lines of dialogue in the actual serial. Overall, Doctor Who and The Abominable Snowmen is a lovely, light (I re-read the book in some two days) read based on one of the truly classic Classic Doctor Who serials. Even with the book's flaws, this is a very enjoyable read, well paced and full of the sense of adventure that the serial itself evoked. As one of the first (if not the first) novelisations of the Doctor Who serials, this story shows its age, but is still highly entertaining. I recommend it very much.
Doctor Who and The Keys of Marinus by Philip Hinchcliffe
MARINUS is a remote force-shielded island set in a sea of acid, governed by THE CONSCIENCE. The ultimate computer which rules and balances the gentle life of Marinus. It is guarded by ARBITAN THE KEEPER, the ruthless protector of a peace-loving race threatened by YARTEK. He is the Warlord of the brutal sub-human Voords, sworn enemy of Arbitan and of Marinus, who has within his grasp THE KEYS OF MARINUS - The Conscience's vital micro-circuits, the doors of good and evil. Can the Doctor and his companions find the hidden circuits in time? Arbitan's command was "Find them, OR DIE!"
This book is the novelisation of the 5th Doctor Who serial and the fifth serial of the First Season of the Classic series. This novelisation is based on the television serial (teleplay) "The Keys of Marinus" written by Terry Nation, the creator of the Daleks, that first aired back in 1964. The First Doctor, the original (as played by William Hartnell), is accompanied by his original trio of companions - his granddaughter, Susan Foreman (described as petite and chirpy),and the two school teachers, Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright - and sees the characters pn the planet Marinus, thrust into a series of mini-adventures in which they secure a group of keys to restore The Conscience, a vast computer developed as a justice machine that kept law and order across the entire planet. While the First Season of Classic Doctor Who had a mix of historical and science fiction serials in it, "The Keys of Marinus" was very much a science fiction story that took the unusual approach of being a set of interlocking stories as the TARDIS team travels to find the title keys: the city of Morphoton, which is not what it seems; a screaming jungle in which a lost temple can be found; an icy wasteland, in which a nasty trapper helps the characters and a group of Ice Soldiers, frozen in the wastes and who are released; and finally the city of Millenius, in which Ian is accused to murder and is defended by the Doctor. The final part of the story sees the Doctor and his friends, along with two Marinians (?) they found who had been sent by Arbitan in search of the keys earlier, return to Arbitan, only for things to get rather...explosive. Because of the various settings on Marinus in which the story takes place, there is a wide variety of characters, environments and sub-plots going on that kept the viewer hooked and wanting to see what happened next. The novelisation is very much in keeping with the televised serial. Author Hinchcliffe's writing is clear and concise, but it lacks the descriptive flair of other adapters of Doctor Who serials, notably Terrance Dicks. Hinchcliffe writes in a straight-forward style, but he was perhaps aiming at a younger reader. The serial is one of the faster-paced early adventures, and the varied settings provided more for the characters to do, especially Barbara. Ian is put on trial at one point, which, along with the segmented key quest, are conventions that the show would return to several times in seasons to come, as author Hinchcliffe obviously knew well from his viewpoint vantage fifteen years in the future - he was the Producer of Doctor Who from 1974 to 1977. The author does a good job of including pretty much everything from the original six episodes, within the restrictions of the 128-page format imposed by Target Books in the day. It's a story with a fast paced, somewhat hair-raising tale, that never really slows down until the travellers arrive in Millenium, and the murder investigation involving Ian begins...and even then, the pacing of the novelisation is quite solid in this regard. Overall, The Keys of Marinus is an excellent novelisation of a Classic Doctor Who story that includes the science fictional themes of societal control and altered perceptions of reality to poisonous alien worlds. While these concepts are not built on or expanded upon in the novelisation (which is a shame), the book is an entertaining, relatively fast, read. Just a shame there's no expansion on some of the material from the tv serial.
Overall, I managed to read 7 novels, 2 RPGs and RPG products, 1 magazine, 0 comics, and 0 graphic novels in January. Since this is the start of the year, it brings the year total in 2024 to a set of numbers that look like this: 7 books, 2 RPGs and RPG products, 1 magazine, 0 comics, and 0 graphic novels.
Anyway, thoughts and comments are always welcome. :)