Books Read in May, 2024
The start of a new month. Thus, as is my standard usage of my blog space at or near the beginning of the month, I present the listing of my May, 2024 reads.
*****
Books Read in May, 2024
Pym by Mat Johnson (r)
Lies Sleeping by Ben Aaronovitch
Doctor Who: The Aztecs by John Lucarotti
November, 2023 Locus
October, 2023 Reader's Digest
November, 2023 Reader's Digest
Invisible Things by Mat Johnson
World's Finest: Teen Titans Vol 1 #6 (Comic)
Wesley Dodds: The Sandman #3-4 (Comics)
Jay Garrick: The Flash #3-4 (Comics)
Batman/Superman: World's Finest Vol 1 #22-23 (Comics)
Justice Society of America #8 (Comic)
Alan Scott: The Green Lantern #3-4 (Comics)
Batman/Superman: World's Finest Vol 1 Annual (Comic)
*****
And that was my reading for May, 2024. This was a pretty good month of reading, both in terms of the quantity and the quality of material read, especially given the fact that I was somewhat focused on getting material ready for the games I was going to run at CanGames 2024. It was not the least books I've read in a month by far. Nothing particularly dominated my reading this past month stylistically, and there was a good variety in what I read. However, as I've always maintained in these monthly book reading reports, it's all about the quality of the books, not the quantity, and this was true of May's reads once more. Regardless, my bookcases are still stacked with a pretty large To Read Queue (TRQ), despite the fact that I've started to sell off some of my books. The books I enjoyed the most were:
Lies Sleeping by Ben Aaronovitch
Martin Chorley, aka the Faceless Man, wanted for multiple counts of murder, fraud and crimes against humanity, has been unmasked and is on the run. Peter Grant, Detective Constable and apprentice wizard, now plays a key role in an unprecedented joint operation to bring Chorley to justice. But even as the unwieldy might of the Metropolitan Police bears down on its foe, Peter uncovers clues that Chorley, far from being finished, is executing the final stages of a long-term plan. A plan that has its roots in London's two thousand bloody years of history, and could literally bring the city to its knees. To save his beloved city, Peter's going to need help from his former best friend and colleague - Lesley May - who brutally betrayed him and everything he thought she believed in. And, far worse, he might even have to come to terms with the malevolent supernatural killer and agent of chaos known as Mr Punch...
The seventh novel in the Rivers of London or Peter Grant series, and the eighth book overall including the novella The Furthest Station. To be perfectly honest, I don't know where to even begin about this seventh novel in the series, as there is just so much going on in the story. I haven't read a Rivers of London novel since October of 2023, and to be honest there is a lot to digest in this novel. The book starts innocently enough, with the Met officially looking for Martin Chorley, who was revealed to be the Faceless Man in the previous book (The Hanging Tree). The pressure is on Chorley, and thus also on Lesley May (of whom we see much more in this book). I'll get back to this in a moment or two, but... Suffice it to say that even as the Met and the Folly close in on Martin Chorley, he is unfolding a long-term plan that will bring London (and perhaps much of the world) crashing to its knees. And for most of the book, Chorley is seemingly one or two steps ahead of the Folly and the Met in both his grand design and everything else. The story runs from one scene and encounter to the next, clues being scattered all over the place, with meetings with both Lesley May if not also Martin Chorley - only for them to slip through Peter's and his allies' fingers. Things come to an interesting head when Peter is taken and imprisoned in an oubliette that Chorley has created specially for him...and well, what happens from that point will remain unsaid here, as I don't want to spoil the story for potential readers! :) This is one of the most special, if not *the* best, urban fantasy series currently being published, and a lot of that is down to the main character, Peter Grant. It is his commitment to community and policing, and more critically, his fundamental belief in both, that makes Peter such a delightful character. His point of view can be wry, but he has such a deep belief in the fundamental rightness of what he's doing that it makes him a protagonist that you can't help but like. This is in sharp contrast to his former partner Lesley May, who fails not because she isn't capable, but because she doesn't share Peter's unshakeable faith in his core values. This is not to say that Lesley isn't a fantastic character, as author Aaronovitch has developed her into a character that the reader either hates with venom or loves and hopes can be redeemed. Here, she comes across as arrogant, prone to tantrums, and not all that likeable. She's a character that one wants to hate but can't, especially since the reason for her betrayal wasn't her wanting her face back (we knew that much) but the actual reason (revenge on Mr. Punch) isn't any more noble than her wanting her face back would have been, no matter how she tried to sell it. That said, Peter is now a Detective Constable, not that that's going to help him all that much; he's also seriously advanced as a magic practitioner, but that's not going to help him, either, because Chorley's plan here is...ambitious, to say the least. The reader is left wondering what King Arthur has to do with it all? Was he real? Was his sword? And how would that help Chorley? For answers to those questions, the reader needs to know what Chorley *WANTS* (it's quite bonkers, when one does learn what Chorley's plan is), but the reveal doesn't come until the final chapters of the book. For all that this novel is about the final confrontation with Faceless Man Martin Chorley, the book nicely illustrates that even with the might of the entire police force, it often takes months to find a culprit and confront them. Thus, author Aaronovitch also provides the reader with very nice private moments, and lets the reader meet interesting fae/deities and learn quite a bit about London's ancient past. While the book is fast-paced and there's plenty of action as well as more (for lack of a better term) "battle magic", Aaronovitch also tugged the heart strings, such as when Molly and Foxglove meet and it turns out to be a reunion, the tale of how Mr. Punch was created and later, finding out that his daughter is not only alive but who she is (no spoilers here!). Some of my favourite moments in the book are stuff featuring Beverly Brook, whose character is developing at a nice rate, even if much of it is seen through Peter's eyes, and whose revelation at the end of the novel was an interesting development that should make for a unique part of the next arc in the Peter Grant series. I'm also developing a fondness for Sahra Guleed, Peter's current partner in solving crimes, who is learning to use a sword, has some fancy, new moves and seems to always be prepared with her baton. Peter's superior, Seawoll, has also come so far from the first book's "weird bollocks" to actually saying the world "supernatural" in the context of an investigation. Abigail, Peter's cousin, is moving very fast through her magical studies. As the short story also provided in my copy of the book, "Favourite Uncle", shows, she has a good instinct for interviewing. I look forward to seeing more of Abigail in future books, and have to wonder how her role at the Folly will proceed. Finally, the new character introduced in the novel, Foxglove, is a fascinating character and her ties to Molly make the character even more mysterious and this reader hopes that she plays a role in future novels and novellas in the series. Overall, Lies Sleeping is a terrific novel that wraps up the Folly's operation against the Faceless Man, and concludes the current storyline in the Rivers of London series. However, because of its bringing the first arching tale to a conclusion, it's not a book that can be read as a stand-alone novel, and potential readers are advised to read earlier books in the series. While the series could end here, there are enough new sub-plots raised in the book to keep the series ongoing, and more stories of Peter and various other characters the reader has met seem...likely. (There are at least two other novels and several novellas following this book, as I write this review.) I highly recommend this novel, with the caveat that new readers do pick up some of the earlier volumes to catch up on the story.
Doctor Who: The Aztecs by John Lucarotti
The TARDIS materialises in Mexico during the Aztec civilisation. The Doctor and his companions step outside to discover they are inside a tomb - the tomb, it turns out, of Yetaxa, once High Priest of the Aztecs. Barbara is hailed as Yetaxa's reincarnation by Autloc, High Priest of Knowledge, and Tlotoxl, High Priest of Sacrifice, when they find her in the precincts of the tomb wearing the bracelet of the deceased Priest, now revered as a god. And she takes advantage of her position of unaccustomed power to try and dissuade the Aztecs from practicing human sacrifice...
This book is the novelisation of The Aztecs, the sixth serial of the First Season of Doctor Who, featuring the First Doctor, as portrayed by William Hartnell, and his original companions - his granddaughter Susan, Ian Chesterton, and Barbara Wright. This novelisation is penned by John Lucarotti, based on the television serial (teleplay) by the author that first aired back in 1964. I have to admit that I'm a little bit biased about this serial to begin with, as I have a soft spot for the Aztecs and their culture and consider this to be probably the best of the pure historical Doctor Who serials from the original, classic series. This serial focuses very much on Barbara Wright, the history teacher who is also quite fond of the Aztec time period and culture, though she has a somewhat biased, perhaps rosy-eyed view of it from the history books, but very much disapproves of the Aztec ritual sacrifices of human beings. This is a solid story in which Barbara is set on changing history by moving the Aztecs away from human sacrifice and on to more peaceful pursuits. The serial and the novelisation have the classic line from the Doctor to Barbara about the matter:
"But you can't rewrite history! Not one line!"
In a series of conversations, that could be called arguments or debates, throughout the story the Doctor explains that she cannot accomplish this, and even to try is nonsense. This is the first time in Doctor Who the viewer and reader sees anyone actually try to change the past based on their own views. It's laudable, of course, but also sets a precedent for the future in the tv series. The discussions between the Doctor and Barbara are magnificent, and come across really well in the book. While the story focuses on Barbara, the rest of the TARDIS crew have enough to do. The Doctor attempts to find a way back into Yetaxa's tomb and has something of a humourous love story over the course of the serial with an older Aztec woman, Cameca, who may be able to help him with his task of getting back into Yetaxa's tomb. Cameca is a marvellous character, and the romance between the two is simply superb, the making of cocoa symbolizing love and commitment, and the scene of the Doctor making the cocoa is wonderfully expanded on in the novelisation. The tv serial hinted at the Doctor having true feelings for Cameca, and this is solidly reinforced in the novelisation of the story. Ian, on the other hand, has to deal largely with Ixta, his rival for the leadership of the Aztec armies. Ixta makes no bones about his rivalry with Ian and that he will kill him at some point, though Ian bests him in hand-to-hand combat. The story itself gives a nice look at the Aztec culture and give each character a bit of the action to themselves. Susan gets a bit of the short end of the stick, by being relegated to a seminary for a good portion of the latter third of the book, but she makes some fun points and introduces Autloc and Tonila, a lesser Priest of Knowledge, to feminism and some of its ways. The four central Aztec characters of the serial come across quite nicely in the novelisation. Autloc is a priest of knowledge who disapproves of the sacrifice of human beings, but is shown as being truly conflicted both in terms of the Aztec culture and its ways and his belief in Barbara as the reincarnation of Yetaxa, which he finally realises is fiction. Tlotoxl, on the other hand, represents all that is bad about Aztec culture as the High Priest of Sacrifice, but he is portrayed as a man driven to preserve his status and position, and this means he must prove that Yetaxa is a false goddess. He uses all those around him to prove Barbara is a false goddess, going so far as trying to poison her and even uses the Doctor when he attempts to help Ixta in combat against Ian with the Doctor's (and Cameca's) knowledge of herb lore. Ixta, the commander of the Aztec armies until Ian's arrival, is a man motivated by keeping his position as well, but he is much more straight forward in his dealings with others, telling Ian where he stands, but he falls victim to Tlotoxl's evil influence and this proves to be his downfall. Cameca is an interesting character as well, though she has much less of a role in the story, but gets more detail in her story in the novelisation. Her scenes with the Doctor are wonderfully written, and add a good deal of depth to the novelisation and bring across the true romantic nature of her relationship with the Doctor. Doctor Who: The Aztecs is a novelisation that sticks fairly close to the televised story, with a few added details about Aztec culture. The descriptions of clothes, furniture, and other elements set the scene, but the novelisation cannot, of course, create atmosphere with visuals; however, Lucarotti's writing is good enough to convey something of the original. However, this reader cannot help feeling that an opportunity was missed to explore Aztec culture a little more deeply. Author Lucarotti does make an attempt to create a balanced portrayal of the Aztecs, but he can't get away from his European Christian perspective - and this straight adaptation of the TV script shows up some of the flaws in the characterisation. Despite how well the character comes across in Doctor Who: The Aztecs, Tlotoxl is presented as a cookie-cutter baddie; in the TV serial, John Ringham's acting makes the character seem more interesting than he actually is. Susan is somewhat infantilized here even more than in other stories. Barbara is, of course, the main focus of the story, but from a modern perspective she comes across as a naive white saviour type, trying to correct perceived deficiencies in Aztec culture in order to save them when the European colonists turn up to judge them. And of course, she cannot change them or save them from their fate. For the most part, the novel is identical to the television serial until the reader heads toward the climax and escape. It doesn't deviate from the major plot events, just subtle variations on how things play out. Susan's punishment for refusing the marriage to the Perfect Victim is set out in Aztec law in the televised version, but in the book there is no set punishment which is why Tonila and Tlotoxl consult Barbara on what should happen to Susan for violating Aztec law. Ian's trip up the water passage into the tomb is expanded on much more in the book; he goes swimming and even finds the bones of Ixta's father on the way. The biggest difference by far, however, is the final encounter between Ian and Ixta. In the televised episode, it's a battle with shields and clubs that Ian wins. In the novelisation, Ian fends off the Aztecs with the Doctor's pen torch in a fine display of Clarke's Law. The whole escape process is much expanded on from what occurs in the televised version. These changes make for a vast improvement on the tv serial episode. A Coal Hill school teacher defeating the top Aztec warrior in combat using weapons the warrior has trained with most of his life isn't entirely credible, but does look good on screen; holding off a bunch of warriors by waving a pen torch around would look silly on screen, but from the perspective of the novelisation, it's actually more believable. Doctor Who: The Aztecs is a novelisation that is an excellent purely historical (even with all its inaccuracies) tale that suffers a little bit from being one of the early adaptations by John Lucarotti of his own Doctor Who scripts, but is a very enjoyable tale with some thought provoking moments, some good action scenes, and shows the beginnings of the true respect and friendship established between the Doctor and Barbara Wright. It's a very good read, and I highly recommend this book to potential readers.
Invisible Things by Mat Johnson
When sociologist Nalini Jackson joins the SS Delany for the first crewed mission to Jupiter, all she wants is a career opportunity: the chance to conduct the first field study of group dynamics on long-haul cryoships. But what she discovers instead is an entire city encased in a bubble on Europa, Jupiter's largest moon. Even more unexpected, Nalini and the rest of the crew soon find themselves abducted and joining its captive population, forced to start new lives in a place called New Roanoke. New Roanoke is a city riven by wealth inequality and governed by a feckless, predatory elite, its economy run on heedless consumption and income inequality. But in other ways, it's different from the cities we already know: it's covered by an enormous dome, it's populated by alien abductees, and it happens to be terrorized by an invisible entity so disturbing that no one even dares acknowledge its existence. Albuquerque chauffeur Chase Eubanks is pretty darn sure aliens stole his wife. People mock him for saying that, but he doesn't care. So when his philanthropist boss funds a top-secret rescue mission to save New Roanoke's abductees, Chase jumps at the chance. The plan: Get the astronauts out and provide the population with the tech they need to escape this alien world. The reality: Nothing is ever simple when dealing with the complex, contradictory, and contrarian impulses of everyday earthlings.
Usually when I finish reading a novel and prepare my short review of it, I always have an idea of how I feel about the book. While I have read both Pym, which I rather enjoyed (and recently re-read), and Loving Day, which I wasn't all that partial to, I don't think I liked Invisible Things but definitely appreciated it for what it was and is. Mat Johnson's Invisible Things is a book that left me pretty confused in a lot of ways, though well entertained until the ending. As the blurb on the dust jacket states, it's a sharp allegorical novel about a hidden human civilization, a crucial election, and a mysterious invisible force that must not be named. It is a madcap, surreal adventure into a Jovian mirror world, one that is grappling with the same polarized politics, existential crises, and mass denial that obsesses and divides our own. While I'm not going to spoil the plot of the book for potential readers, I will say that this book, while being fun, engaging, fast, with a riveting and often hilarious plot, is also a clarion call for political revolution in the age of fascism. However, to give the book an interesting twist, let alone its view on fascism (and various other "-isms"), the author presents it through the lens of an African American research scientist, Dr. Nalini Jackson, aboard an interstellar cryoship heading toward Europa, one of Jupiter’s moons, for scientific study. The author never mentions fascism in the book (though I could be wrong about this), but what he is describing is the particular brand of fascism that is sadly and tragically thriving in the United States, a fascism dictated by greed, the war on truth, racism and classism, and the cultist seduction of the masses. The thing is author Johnson describes all of this so lucidly and cleverly, that the ideas make the (potential) reader stop and think quite often as one reads the book. It is particularly clever that the book is called Invisible Things because there are "invisible things in the book, but they are there almost stealthily, as behoove "invisible things". The author does not make a huge big deal about them, at least not until the end, yet they are central. And the aptness of the title and the "invisible things" in the novel is that fascism thrives on invisibility and the collective agreement to not see, not notice, not do anything about it. Invisible Things is a very good novel, perhaps too short for its subject matter, and is totally satirical in style and feel. The various characters, other than Nalini, come across as a bit too extreme, yet sensible, for my taste. The first third of the book is just plain weird, as it's unclear to the reader exactly what is going on, but once that is cleared up, a mountain of other questions are raised which go unanswered. I will say here that an element of absurdity in political satire is important, and author Johnson gets this pretty well and it comes across in the story. There are moments where this reader laughed out loud at something, but the novel is not meant to be humourous but more absurd. Sadly, for its length, the book attempts to accomplish too much. While it contains some fascinating elements of science fiction, the world building is never developed, and there as no...texture...to some of the scenes where that would have added depth. The characters in the book are presented as stereotypes with little depth to them, other than Nalini and Chase, but if nothing else the novel does keep the reader's attention for the most part. This novel delivers wit, some uncanny insights, and social commentary via quirky characters and the humourous, nay, absurd situations they find themselves in. I recommend this book to those who are fans of Mat Johnson's work and those the story might be of interest to.
Overall, I managed to read 4 novels, 0 RPGs and RPG product, 3 magazines, 11 comics, and 0 graphic novels in May. This brings the year total in 2024 to a set of numbers that look like this: 32 books, 7 RPGs and RPG products, 5 magazines, 37 comics, and 0 graphic novels.
Anyway, thoughts and comments are always welcome. :)
*****
Books Read in May, 2024
Pym by Mat Johnson (r)
Lies Sleeping by Ben Aaronovitch
Doctor Who: The Aztecs by John Lucarotti
November, 2023 Locus
October, 2023 Reader's Digest
November, 2023 Reader's Digest
Invisible Things by Mat Johnson
World's Finest: Teen Titans Vol 1 #6 (Comic)
Wesley Dodds: The Sandman #3-4 (Comics)
Jay Garrick: The Flash #3-4 (Comics)
Batman/Superman: World's Finest Vol 1 #22-23 (Comics)
Justice Society of America #8 (Comic)
Alan Scott: The Green Lantern #3-4 (Comics)
Batman/Superman: World's Finest Vol 1 Annual (Comic)
*****
And that was my reading for May, 2024. This was a pretty good month of reading, both in terms of the quantity and the quality of material read, especially given the fact that I was somewhat focused on getting material ready for the games I was going to run at CanGames 2024. It was not the least books I've read in a month by far. Nothing particularly dominated my reading this past month stylistically, and there was a good variety in what I read. However, as I've always maintained in these monthly book reading reports, it's all about the quality of the books, not the quantity, and this was true of May's reads once more. Regardless, my bookcases are still stacked with a pretty large To Read Queue (TRQ), despite the fact that I've started to sell off some of my books. The books I enjoyed the most were:
Lies Sleeping by Ben Aaronovitch
Martin Chorley, aka the Faceless Man, wanted for multiple counts of murder, fraud and crimes against humanity, has been unmasked and is on the run. Peter Grant, Detective Constable and apprentice wizard, now plays a key role in an unprecedented joint operation to bring Chorley to justice. But even as the unwieldy might of the Metropolitan Police bears down on its foe, Peter uncovers clues that Chorley, far from being finished, is executing the final stages of a long-term plan. A plan that has its roots in London's two thousand bloody years of history, and could literally bring the city to its knees. To save his beloved city, Peter's going to need help from his former best friend and colleague - Lesley May - who brutally betrayed him and everything he thought she believed in. And, far worse, he might even have to come to terms with the malevolent supernatural killer and agent of chaos known as Mr Punch...
The seventh novel in the Rivers of London or Peter Grant series, and the eighth book overall including the novella The Furthest Station. To be perfectly honest, I don't know where to even begin about this seventh novel in the series, as there is just so much going on in the story. I haven't read a Rivers of London novel since October of 2023, and to be honest there is a lot to digest in this novel. The book starts innocently enough, with the Met officially looking for Martin Chorley, who was revealed to be the Faceless Man in the previous book (The Hanging Tree). The pressure is on Chorley, and thus also on Lesley May (of whom we see much more in this book). I'll get back to this in a moment or two, but... Suffice it to say that even as the Met and the Folly close in on Martin Chorley, he is unfolding a long-term plan that will bring London (and perhaps much of the world) crashing to its knees. And for most of the book, Chorley is seemingly one or two steps ahead of the Folly and the Met in both his grand design and everything else. The story runs from one scene and encounter to the next, clues being scattered all over the place, with meetings with both Lesley May if not also Martin Chorley - only for them to slip through Peter's and his allies' fingers. Things come to an interesting head when Peter is taken and imprisoned in an oubliette that Chorley has created specially for him...and well, what happens from that point will remain unsaid here, as I don't want to spoil the story for potential readers! :) This is one of the most special, if not *the* best, urban fantasy series currently being published, and a lot of that is down to the main character, Peter Grant. It is his commitment to community and policing, and more critically, his fundamental belief in both, that makes Peter such a delightful character. His point of view can be wry, but he has such a deep belief in the fundamental rightness of what he's doing that it makes him a protagonist that you can't help but like. This is in sharp contrast to his former partner Lesley May, who fails not because she isn't capable, but because she doesn't share Peter's unshakeable faith in his core values. This is not to say that Lesley isn't a fantastic character, as author Aaronovitch has developed her into a character that the reader either hates with venom or loves and hopes can be redeemed. Here, she comes across as arrogant, prone to tantrums, and not all that likeable. She's a character that one wants to hate but can't, especially since the reason for her betrayal wasn't her wanting her face back (we knew that much) but the actual reason (revenge on Mr. Punch) isn't any more noble than her wanting her face back would have been, no matter how she tried to sell it. That said, Peter is now a Detective Constable, not that that's going to help him all that much; he's also seriously advanced as a magic practitioner, but that's not going to help him, either, because Chorley's plan here is...ambitious, to say the least. The reader is left wondering what King Arthur has to do with it all? Was he real? Was his sword? And how would that help Chorley? For answers to those questions, the reader needs to know what Chorley *WANTS* (it's quite bonkers, when one does learn what Chorley's plan is), but the reveal doesn't come until the final chapters of the book. For all that this novel is about the final confrontation with Faceless Man Martin Chorley, the book nicely illustrates that even with the might of the entire police force, it often takes months to find a culprit and confront them. Thus, author Aaronovitch also provides the reader with very nice private moments, and lets the reader meet interesting fae/deities and learn quite a bit about London's ancient past. While the book is fast-paced and there's plenty of action as well as more (for lack of a better term) "battle magic", Aaronovitch also tugged the heart strings, such as when Molly and Foxglove meet and it turns out to be a reunion, the tale of how Mr. Punch was created and later, finding out that his daughter is not only alive but who she is (no spoilers here!). Some of my favourite moments in the book are stuff featuring Beverly Brook, whose character is developing at a nice rate, even if much of it is seen through Peter's eyes, and whose revelation at the end of the novel was an interesting development that should make for a unique part of the next arc in the Peter Grant series. I'm also developing a fondness for Sahra Guleed, Peter's current partner in solving crimes, who is learning to use a sword, has some fancy, new moves and seems to always be prepared with her baton. Peter's superior, Seawoll, has also come so far from the first book's "weird bollocks" to actually saying the world "supernatural" in the context of an investigation. Abigail, Peter's cousin, is moving very fast through her magical studies. As the short story also provided in my copy of the book, "Favourite Uncle", shows, she has a good instinct for interviewing. I look forward to seeing more of Abigail in future books, and have to wonder how her role at the Folly will proceed. Finally, the new character introduced in the novel, Foxglove, is a fascinating character and her ties to Molly make the character even more mysterious and this reader hopes that she plays a role in future novels and novellas in the series. Overall, Lies Sleeping is a terrific novel that wraps up the Folly's operation against the Faceless Man, and concludes the current storyline in the Rivers of London series. However, because of its bringing the first arching tale to a conclusion, it's not a book that can be read as a stand-alone novel, and potential readers are advised to read earlier books in the series. While the series could end here, there are enough new sub-plots raised in the book to keep the series ongoing, and more stories of Peter and various other characters the reader has met seem...likely. (There are at least two other novels and several novellas following this book, as I write this review.) I highly recommend this novel, with the caveat that new readers do pick up some of the earlier volumes to catch up on the story.
Doctor Who: The Aztecs by John Lucarotti
The TARDIS materialises in Mexico during the Aztec civilisation. The Doctor and his companions step outside to discover they are inside a tomb - the tomb, it turns out, of Yetaxa, once High Priest of the Aztecs. Barbara is hailed as Yetaxa's reincarnation by Autloc, High Priest of Knowledge, and Tlotoxl, High Priest of Sacrifice, when they find her in the precincts of the tomb wearing the bracelet of the deceased Priest, now revered as a god. And she takes advantage of her position of unaccustomed power to try and dissuade the Aztecs from practicing human sacrifice...
This book is the novelisation of The Aztecs, the sixth serial of the First Season of Doctor Who, featuring the First Doctor, as portrayed by William Hartnell, and his original companions - his granddaughter Susan, Ian Chesterton, and Barbara Wright. This novelisation is penned by John Lucarotti, based on the television serial (teleplay) by the author that first aired back in 1964. I have to admit that I'm a little bit biased about this serial to begin with, as I have a soft spot for the Aztecs and their culture and consider this to be probably the best of the pure historical Doctor Who serials from the original, classic series. This serial focuses very much on Barbara Wright, the history teacher who is also quite fond of the Aztec time period and culture, though she has a somewhat biased, perhaps rosy-eyed view of it from the history books, but very much disapproves of the Aztec ritual sacrifices of human beings. This is a solid story in which Barbara is set on changing history by moving the Aztecs away from human sacrifice and on to more peaceful pursuits. The serial and the novelisation have the classic line from the Doctor to Barbara about the matter:
"But you can't rewrite history! Not one line!"
In a series of conversations, that could be called arguments or debates, throughout the story the Doctor explains that she cannot accomplish this, and even to try is nonsense. This is the first time in Doctor Who the viewer and reader sees anyone actually try to change the past based on their own views. It's laudable, of course, but also sets a precedent for the future in the tv series. The discussions between the Doctor and Barbara are magnificent, and come across really well in the book. While the story focuses on Barbara, the rest of the TARDIS crew have enough to do. The Doctor attempts to find a way back into Yetaxa's tomb and has something of a humourous love story over the course of the serial with an older Aztec woman, Cameca, who may be able to help him with his task of getting back into Yetaxa's tomb. Cameca is a marvellous character, and the romance between the two is simply superb, the making of cocoa symbolizing love and commitment, and the scene of the Doctor making the cocoa is wonderfully expanded on in the novelisation. The tv serial hinted at the Doctor having true feelings for Cameca, and this is solidly reinforced in the novelisation of the story. Ian, on the other hand, has to deal largely with Ixta, his rival for the leadership of the Aztec armies. Ixta makes no bones about his rivalry with Ian and that he will kill him at some point, though Ian bests him in hand-to-hand combat. The story itself gives a nice look at the Aztec culture and give each character a bit of the action to themselves. Susan gets a bit of the short end of the stick, by being relegated to a seminary for a good portion of the latter third of the book, but she makes some fun points and introduces Autloc and Tonila, a lesser Priest of Knowledge, to feminism and some of its ways. The four central Aztec characters of the serial come across quite nicely in the novelisation. Autloc is a priest of knowledge who disapproves of the sacrifice of human beings, but is shown as being truly conflicted both in terms of the Aztec culture and its ways and his belief in Barbara as the reincarnation of Yetaxa, which he finally realises is fiction. Tlotoxl, on the other hand, represents all that is bad about Aztec culture as the High Priest of Sacrifice, but he is portrayed as a man driven to preserve his status and position, and this means he must prove that Yetaxa is a false goddess. He uses all those around him to prove Barbara is a false goddess, going so far as trying to poison her and even uses the Doctor when he attempts to help Ixta in combat against Ian with the Doctor's (and Cameca's) knowledge of herb lore. Ixta, the commander of the Aztec armies until Ian's arrival, is a man motivated by keeping his position as well, but he is much more straight forward in his dealings with others, telling Ian where he stands, but he falls victim to Tlotoxl's evil influence and this proves to be his downfall. Cameca is an interesting character as well, though she has much less of a role in the story, but gets more detail in her story in the novelisation. Her scenes with the Doctor are wonderfully written, and add a good deal of depth to the novelisation and bring across the true romantic nature of her relationship with the Doctor. Doctor Who: The Aztecs is a novelisation that sticks fairly close to the televised story, with a few added details about Aztec culture. The descriptions of clothes, furniture, and other elements set the scene, but the novelisation cannot, of course, create atmosphere with visuals; however, Lucarotti's writing is good enough to convey something of the original. However, this reader cannot help feeling that an opportunity was missed to explore Aztec culture a little more deeply. Author Lucarotti does make an attempt to create a balanced portrayal of the Aztecs, but he can't get away from his European Christian perspective - and this straight adaptation of the TV script shows up some of the flaws in the characterisation. Despite how well the character comes across in Doctor Who: The Aztecs, Tlotoxl is presented as a cookie-cutter baddie; in the TV serial, John Ringham's acting makes the character seem more interesting than he actually is. Susan is somewhat infantilized here even more than in other stories. Barbara is, of course, the main focus of the story, but from a modern perspective she comes across as a naive white saviour type, trying to correct perceived deficiencies in Aztec culture in order to save them when the European colonists turn up to judge them. And of course, she cannot change them or save them from their fate. For the most part, the novel is identical to the television serial until the reader heads toward the climax and escape. It doesn't deviate from the major plot events, just subtle variations on how things play out. Susan's punishment for refusing the marriage to the Perfect Victim is set out in Aztec law in the televised version, but in the book there is no set punishment which is why Tonila and Tlotoxl consult Barbara on what should happen to Susan for violating Aztec law. Ian's trip up the water passage into the tomb is expanded on much more in the book; he goes swimming and even finds the bones of Ixta's father on the way. The biggest difference by far, however, is the final encounter between Ian and Ixta. In the televised episode, it's a battle with shields and clubs that Ian wins. In the novelisation, Ian fends off the Aztecs with the Doctor's pen torch in a fine display of Clarke's Law. The whole escape process is much expanded on from what occurs in the televised version. These changes make for a vast improvement on the tv serial episode. A Coal Hill school teacher defeating the top Aztec warrior in combat using weapons the warrior has trained with most of his life isn't entirely credible, but does look good on screen; holding off a bunch of warriors by waving a pen torch around would look silly on screen, but from the perspective of the novelisation, it's actually more believable. Doctor Who: The Aztecs is a novelisation that is an excellent purely historical (even with all its inaccuracies) tale that suffers a little bit from being one of the early adaptations by John Lucarotti of his own Doctor Who scripts, but is a very enjoyable tale with some thought provoking moments, some good action scenes, and shows the beginnings of the true respect and friendship established between the Doctor and Barbara Wright. It's a very good read, and I highly recommend this book to potential readers.
Invisible Things by Mat Johnson
When sociologist Nalini Jackson joins the SS Delany for the first crewed mission to Jupiter, all she wants is a career opportunity: the chance to conduct the first field study of group dynamics on long-haul cryoships. But what she discovers instead is an entire city encased in a bubble on Europa, Jupiter's largest moon. Even more unexpected, Nalini and the rest of the crew soon find themselves abducted and joining its captive population, forced to start new lives in a place called New Roanoke. New Roanoke is a city riven by wealth inequality and governed by a feckless, predatory elite, its economy run on heedless consumption and income inequality. But in other ways, it's different from the cities we already know: it's covered by an enormous dome, it's populated by alien abductees, and it happens to be terrorized by an invisible entity so disturbing that no one even dares acknowledge its existence. Albuquerque chauffeur Chase Eubanks is pretty darn sure aliens stole his wife. People mock him for saying that, but he doesn't care. So when his philanthropist boss funds a top-secret rescue mission to save New Roanoke's abductees, Chase jumps at the chance. The plan: Get the astronauts out and provide the population with the tech they need to escape this alien world. The reality: Nothing is ever simple when dealing with the complex, contradictory, and contrarian impulses of everyday earthlings.
Usually when I finish reading a novel and prepare my short review of it, I always have an idea of how I feel about the book. While I have read both Pym, which I rather enjoyed (and recently re-read), and Loving Day, which I wasn't all that partial to, I don't think I liked Invisible Things but definitely appreciated it for what it was and is. Mat Johnson's Invisible Things is a book that left me pretty confused in a lot of ways, though well entertained until the ending. As the blurb on the dust jacket states, it's a sharp allegorical novel about a hidden human civilization, a crucial election, and a mysterious invisible force that must not be named. It is a madcap, surreal adventure into a Jovian mirror world, one that is grappling with the same polarized politics, existential crises, and mass denial that obsesses and divides our own. While I'm not going to spoil the plot of the book for potential readers, I will say that this book, while being fun, engaging, fast, with a riveting and often hilarious plot, is also a clarion call for political revolution in the age of fascism. However, to give the book an interesting twist, let alone its view on fascism (and various other "-isms"), the author presents it through the lens of an African American research scientist, Dr. Nalini Jackson, aboard an interstellar cryoship heading toward Europa, one of Jupiter’s moons, for scientific study. The author never mentions fascism in the book (though I could be wrong about this), but what he is describing is the particular brand of fascism that is sadly and tragically thriving in the United States, a fascism dictated by greed, the war on truth, racism and classism, and the cultist seduction of the masses. The thing is author Johnson describes all of this so lucidly and cleverly, that the ideas make the (potential) reader stop and think quite often as one reads the book. It is particularly clever that the book is called Invisible Things because there are "invisible things in the book, but they are there almost stealthily, as behoove "invisible things". The author does not make a huge big deal about them, at least not until the end, yet they are central. And the aptness of the title and the "invisible things" in the novel is that fascism thrives on invisibility and the collective agreement to not see, not notice, not do anything about it. Invisible Things is a very good novel, perhaps too short for its subject matter, and is totally satirical in style and feel. The various characters, other than Nalini, come across as a bit too extreme, yet sensible, for my taste. The first third of the book is just plain weird, as it's unclear to the reader exactly what is going on, but once that is cleared up, a mountain of other questions are raised which go unanswered. I will say here that an element of absurdity in political satire is important, and author Johnson gets this pretty well and it comes across in the story. There are moments where this reader laughed out loud at something, but the novel is not meant to be humourous but more absurd. Sadly, for its length, the book attempts to accomplish too much. While it contains some fascinating elements of science fiction, the world building is never developed, and there as no...texture...to some of the scenes where that would have added depth. The characters in the book are presented as stereotypes with little depth to them, other than Nalini and Chase, but if nothing else the novel does keep the reader's attention for the most part. This novel delivers wit, some uncanny insights, and social commentary via quirky characters and the humourous, nay, absurd situations they find themselves in. I recommend this book to those who are fans of Mat Johnson's work and those the story might be of interest to.
Overall, I managed to read 4 novels, 0 RPGs and RPG product, 3 magazines, 11 comics, and 0 graphic novels in May. This brings the year total in 2024 to a set of numbers that look like this: 32 books, 7 RPGs and RPG products, 5 magazines, 37 comics, and 0 graphic novels.
Anyway, thoughts and comments are always welcome. :)