Quatermass' Book Reading Blog 3: Revenge of the Sequel

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Book 26...

REVIEW: Frost at Christmas by RD Wingfield

Although I don't watch it all the way through, I do enjoy what I have seen of A Touch of Frost. To me, David Jason is an excellent dramatic actor rather than a comedian. So I have decided to go back to where it all began, the novel that started the DI Jack Frost series of books by RD Wingfield, and which subsequently led to the TV series which recently ended.

Detective Inspector Jack Frost is scruffy, disorganised, insubordinate, and allergic to paperwork. But he is also one of the better investigators in the police force of the small British town of Denton, and when Detective Constable Clive Barnard, nephew of the Chief Constable, arrives trying to do his best, he is taken under Frost's wing. And already, there are many crimes to investigate, even with Christmas just around the corner, like the disappearance of the eight year-old daughter of a local prostitute, an electronics theft, and a thirty year-old robbery mystery...

I'm ambivalent about mystery novels at best, unless they have something of a twist about them, but I guess that seeing parts of the TV series has paved the way for this book. From my limited experience with mysteries, RD Wingfield writes well, threading together about four threads of crime investigation, reflecting the bustle of criminal investigation, although whether a small town like Denton would have that much crime going on simultaneously around Christmas, I have no idea.

RD Wingfield once said that, although he doesn't have anything against David Jason, he isn't Wingfield's idea of Frost. I find that a little hard to believe, although this may be the viewpoint of someone coming into the novels from the TV shows. Frost in the novels is very much like the one in the TV show, only somewhat cruder. And the other characters all seem to fit the setting, and are all fairly fleshed out for the most part.

If I had to make complaints about this story, well, it seems ludicrous, even given the in-story justification, for the onus on four criminal investigations to be laid onto one man. Maybe I didn't pay enough attention to any other justifications. And the ending, while open-ended, is rather bleak. Not to mention the ending of the abduction case, while possible and far from far-fetched or illogical, seems dissatisfying.

Overall, Frost at Christmas was enjoyable. A British mystery that, while bleak and unforgiving, has depth and a sardonic touch that is enjoyable.


8.5/10

First words: The 999 call came through just before midnight.

Last words: Outside it started to snow again.

Book 27...

REVIEW: Monster volume 4, 'Ayse's Friend' by Naoki Urasawa

Many people (myself amongst them) hail Watchmen as the defining work of literature in Western comic book history. And if I had to choose an equivalent work in Japanese manga, it would not be Death Note or Neon Genesis Evangelion or Ghost in the Shell, as excellent as those works are. Time and time again, I am impressed by what I am reading in the manga thriller Monster by Naoki Urasawa. And now, I come to the fourth volume of this excellent work...

While fugitive neurosurgeon Dr Tenma struggles to find those responsible for the notorious 511 Kinderheim orphanage, and the creation of monstrous serial killer Johan Liebert, his ex-fiancee Eva Heinemann is spiralling downwards into an obsession with bringing Dr Tenma down, even though she is sure of his innocence. But Dr Tenma himself is getting into more than he bargained for, as does Johan's good twin sister, Nina. Both are brought into the custody of a Neo-Nazi group led by the criminal known as the Baby in Frankfurt who want to make Johan the next Hitler, Nina as bait for Johan, and Tenma in order to get rid of his nusiance ways. But Tenma and Nina have other worries than Johan, for the Neo-Nazi group have plans for the Turkish quarter of Frankfurt, and two of Tenma's friends are going to be caught up in it...

What can I say about Monster that I haven't already? If anything, this volume is an improvement on the last couple of volumes, and is starting to get to the meat and potatos of the story. The identity of the two mysterious police officers seen in the second volume is finally revealed, as are those that they are working for, and why they wanted Tenma AND Nina, aka Anna Liebert.

While the concept of creating a new Hitler, like the way creating a child soldier was in the previous volume, is rather farfetched and cliched, such is Urasawa's skill as a writer that it actually feels right for the story. And Tenma even points out rightly that Johan's nature would preclude him from being anything like Hitler. Neo-Nazi leader the Baby is, in appearance at least, no typical Neo-Nazi stereotype, and he is the sort of villain you love to hate, with his idea of dinner entertainment being overblown and yet somewhat appropriate to the character.

The characters of Dieter and Nina get to shine in this volume, alongside Dr Tenma. Dieter gets a humourous moment, as well as a moment of his spirit, where he downs a cocktail in a bar (in a kid who isn't even a teenager), and after glaring at the adults who mocked him for walking in, walks out coolly...and then promptly vomits once he is out of sight. Thief Otto Heckel, while irritating, is also at least consistently portrayed and has a little character development.

While Monster is not for everyone, for fans of the thriller genre, I urge you to go out and get it! Don't let the fact that it is a manga deter you. Get it!


10/10

First words: Phew...

Last words: You just have to forget how sweet the sugar is.

Book 28...

REVIEW: A for Andromeda by Fred Hoyle and John Elliot


Fred Hoyle, in the scientific community, became noted for coining the phrase 'Big Bang'. But ironically, it was done derisively. Hoyle was an advocate of the 'Steady State' theory, which is now considered to be the inferior theory to that of the Big Bang. But Hoyle's contributions to science cannot be ignored, and neither can his contribution to science fiction. In 1957, he wrote The Black Cloud. And in 1960, Hoyle teamed up with John Elliot to write a new science fiction serial that was transmitted in 1961, and novelised in 1962. This was A for Andromeda.

A new radio telescope, the best of its kind, has recently been opened, and already, it has received something of note: a message from the Andromeda Galaxy that has, encoded within it, the means to create a computer and a program to run on it. For one of the scientists on the project, John Fleming, what starts as excitement soon turns to suspicion, paranoia, and fear. For while the British government intend to take advantage of the computer, Fleming is certain it intends to take advantage of the human race. And soon, it gets the scientists to bio-engineer a servant for it, a young woman whom they name Andromeda...

A for Andromeda's influence on British science fiction cannot be understated. Before Doctor Who came along, this serial was second only to the Quatermass serials of the 1950s. It also contains a story that would be used, albeit in modified form, by the film Species.

But this a much stronger, more character-based work than Species. We have a variety of characters with a variety of motivations. We have John Fleming, whose scientific enthusiasm and detest of the establishment turns to (albeit logically justified) paranoia about the machine. We have Judy Adamson, an agent working for the Ministry of Defence who is one of the more balanced people in the book. There is Bridger, a scientist who sells out to the corporation Intel. And there is Andromeda (played by Julie Christie in the original serial in one of her first roles), an artificial human who struggles between her loyalties to the alien computer and her human nature.

The story itself, filled with the results of the conflicting motivations of the various characters within the story, is excellent, but somewhat dated, given the Cold War emphases and the way that the scientific terminology is discussed. I am no computer expert, but the specifications of the computer program Fleming discusses probably would be possible with today's current games consoles, never mind a supercomputer.

Also, like many a novel written during this time, the writing is dry and sometimes lack energy. The atmosphere that should be present isn't always there. There should be more dread and lingering horror, and at times, the story is rushed through.

But this is still a good novel, and a good example of both British science fiction, as well as science fiction television. A for Andromeda is a dark tale of human greed and alien takeover, a grim fable with a bittersweet ending, and damned fine it is too.


8.5/10

First words: Light was soaking out of the sky when they drove up to Bouldershaw Fell.

Last words: He made no attempt to move, even after tha launch reached the island, and the crew found him staring out over the ever-changing pattern of the sea.

Book 29...

REVIEW: Monster, volume 5: After the Carnival by Naoki Urasawa

Once more, I come to what is probably the best manga series of all time, Naoki Urasawa's Monster. This hybrid of Silence of the Lambs and The Fugitive has me hooked, waiting to see what the next installment has in store for Dr Tenma as he pursues Johan, and is pursued by the police. And while this latest installment is disappointing, that's only by comparison to the rest of the series. It is still excellent.

Tenma, in desperation, turns to a former fellow-student of his, Dr Rudi Gillen, who is now a criminal psychologist, trying to enlist his help into finding out more about Johan. Dr Gillen is sceptical, sharing the belief that Johan is an alternate personality of Dr Tenma, and intends to betray Tenma to the police, but disturbing killer Peter Jurgens ironically may change that. Meanwhile, Nina is running her own investigation, finding one of the police officers who tried to abduct her and deal with Tenma, only to find that he is in trouble of his own, from his own bodyguard, Roberto. And even as these two fugitives try to track down Johan, the obsessed Inspector Lunge is preparing a trap for Dr Tenma, but even Lunge will not foresee the consequences of his obsession...

Again, what can I say about Monster that I haven't already? Naoki Urasawa is a master thriller writer, gripping my interest. While this volume is one of the weakest so far, being split into a number of stories rather than having a unifying storyline, this still has some brilliant and disturbing set pieces. We also get the introduction of Roberto, a character whom I heard was going to be important to the storyline.

Although the story in this has been fragmented, we still get some highlights. Tenma manages to gain at least one new ally, and already some of those who meet him casually are convinced, if not of his innocence, then of his lack of guilt. Nina's encounter with the man who, with his partner, murdered her second set of adopted parents, is very well done, particularly when it concludes. And Lunge's trap for Tenma has an unexpected, but interesting twist. We also finally get to see some true humanity in the otherwise virtually robotic Lunge, when he is discussing a murder victim with one of the victim's neighbours, and despite his almost always fixed expression, manages to look genuinely sad about what happened.

There are more contrived coincidences than usual, with Dr Gillen's current interviewee Peter Jurgens just happening to have been contacted by Johan, and this happening to have evidence that Johan existed that Gillen notes. And the stories in these, while excellent, are not quite as satisfying.

But this is still excellent. While not as good as the previous volumes, this is still an excellent story, and I will continue to read it, probably all the way to the bitter end...


9/10

First words: I got divorced three years ago.

Last words: NGHHH!!

Book 30...

REVIEW: Medieval Lives: The Book of the BBC Series by Terry Jones and Alan Ereira

One book that I got onto was thanks to my love of Monty Python, and branching out to other works by the Pythons, was Crusades by Terry Jones and Alan Ereira, itself a book based on a television documentary series hosted by Jones. These works sparked a mild interest with the Crusades, and history in general, and some time after I first read Crusades, now I come to Medieval Lives.

In this book, Terry Jones and Alan Ereira explore and explode many medieval stereotypes, as well as the origins behind these stereotyped portrayals of medieval archetypes. Looking at eight medieval archetypes, ranging from the peasant to the king and many inbetween, they show what it was more likely to have been at the time to live in those times between 1066 and 1536, which was the time chosen by Jones and Ereira to be the medieval period for England.

Jones and Ereira write quite well, with a degree of sardonic humour being injected into the writing. And the way they make those in the period come alive, while highlighting interesting facts about various medieval peoples.

There are a couple of complaints, but while not total deal-breakers, they do bring the experience down. The first is that it is a little too short a work. This could have been longer without compromising its appeal to average people. Crusades was just about the right length. Secondly, there was less humour than in Crusades, which was a hallmark staple of that book and TV series. If they could mine humour, even sardonic humour, out of an event as terrible as the Crusades, surely they would be able to mine more humour out of the lives of people living in medieval times to spice up this work?

It is still a good and readable work, but Medieval Lives seems to be a 'hire from the library' affair more than it should. Disappointing, but still good.


8/10

First words: Terry's dad used the word 'medieval' as a term of abuse: 'That plubing is positively medieval,' he'd say.

Last words: Propaganda, thy name is History.

Book 31...

REVIEW: The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde


My only prior acquaintance with Oscar Wilde's work was once watching a stage production of The Importance of Being Earnest for a English excursion. The only impression this play made on me was the term and concept of 'Bunburying', I have to say. But when I do these book-reading blogs, I generally do them as a means to read older literature that I normally wouldn't, and so I decided, for this blog, that one of the books that I would attempt was Wilde's infamous work, The Picture of Dorian Gray.

While having his portrait painted by artist Basil Hallward, the young and naive Dorian Gray encounters the hedonistic and cynical Lord Henry Wotton, who seduces Gray to enter a lifestyle of hedonism. But when Gray makes a facetious, flippant remark that he wished that his portrait, apparently destined to remain forever young, would age instead of Gray himself, he doesn't realise that he will be haunted by these words, especially as his lifestyle and deeds begin to be reflected in the picture...

Most of what I know of The Picture of Dorian Gray is indirect, through the various references in movies and TV shows (the Blake's 7 episode Rescue, for example, is based on the story). And while I have made my dislike of novels written before 1950 clear, like Mary Shelley with Frankenstein, Oscar Wilde, especially given my experience with The Importance of Being Earnest, has a capacity to surprise.

Oscar Wilde writes so skillfully that even the sometimes cardboard minor characters all have a place in this world of excess, where hedonism is triumphing over morality. Dorian Gray is a tragic protagonist whose character arc plays itself wonderfully, and Henry Wotton is a cynical sort that you love to hate, even when some of the things he says makes perverse sense.

The plot is excellent, and is a study of character both good and bad. It could have been a little more complex and thus more interesting, but Oscar Wilde is a brilliant writer who satirises both art and hedonism. The obsession with remaining forever young, and yet still having our pleasures, is still a concept that resonates with today's image-obsessed society.

For a classic novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray is a very modern-feeling work. If you want to read one book from before 1900, this should be one of your options, alongside Dickens' Bleak House and Alexandre Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo.


9/10

First words: The studio was filled with the rich odour of roses, and when the light summer wind stirred amidst the trees of the garden there came through the open door the heavy scent of the lilac, or the more delicate perfume of the pink-flowering thorn.

Last words: (Censored, for spoliers)

Book 32...

REVIEW: How Not to Write a Novel by Sandra Newman and Howard Mittelmark

I am a writer, or rather, one who is trying to write. I have learned the hard way (as I do not take being taught well at all) how to construct plots and keep things interesting. And one of my favourite tools for getting help for this was the TV Tropes website. One day, I stumbled upon a reference to a strange book, which I decided to read.

This book, How Not to Write a Novel, makes observations (not rules, as it claims that 'driving at high speed towards a brick wall usually ends badly' is an observation, not a rule) about what common mistakes that new authors are making that keep their manuscripts from being accepted, ranging from plots to characters, all the way to mistakes in erotic fiction.

The book is written in a wry, sardonic tone, which often makes it funny. And for those interested in the tropes and cliches in literature, this is quite an interesting book to read. For authors, this is quite a good resource.

But there are times when the writing is either too dry (particularly on the 'observations'), too patronising (again, on the 'observations'), or just plain hard to read (the mock-pieces of bad writing), and these occur far too often.

This is an enjoyable work, but it could have been better if it was a little less patronising, especially during the end part. It feels like, no matter how facetiously or well-intentioned, that these authors are talking down to us. This is a good book, and a good writer's resource, but although it transcends the usual how-to-guide paradigm, it doesn't fully break free of its own condescension.


8/10

First words: Unpublished authors often cite the case of John Kennedy Toole, who, unable to find a publisher for his novel, A Confederacy of Dunces, took his own life.

Last words: Or, as our parents said to us as they sent us off to college, "We are sorry to inform you that your manuscript does not suit our needs at the present time."

Book 33...

REVIEW: Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury


Earlier in this book-reading blog, I read The Pilo Family Circus, an extraordinarily screwed up book that reminded me of the concept of Something Wicked This Way Comes. I decided that I would eventually come around to reading Something Wicked This Way Comes, itself a classic book by Ray Bradbury. Unfortunately, I'm not so sure how classic it really is...

In a small American town, a carnival comes late in the year. At first, two nigh-inseparable friends are excited. Will Halloway and Jim Nightshade run out of their homes, early in the morning, to see the carnival being set up. However, this carnival is anything but pleasant, being the domain of Mr Cooger and Mr Dark, the leaders of a travelling show whose purpose is very sinister indeed...

Ray Bradbury wrote this book with a very poetical, lyrical style, and while this would have been good for a short story or maybe some sort of romance, this purple prose that he uses is actually quite irritating to follow for a fantasy book, and makes parts of the story while I am speed-reading hard to follow.

The characters, too, are fairly shallow, with the only character of any enjoyable depth being Charles Halloway, the father of Will. The story, while interesting, is also rather shallow, although how the protagonists defeat the villains is quite well done.

I'm sorry Ray Bradbury, but Something Wicked This Way Comes was only mildly entertaining, and very mediocre. The Pilo Family Circus leaves this older work for dead. While by no means bad, I fail to see how this book became notable literature. You can read it if you want to, but there are better books out there.


6.5/10

First words: First of all, it was October, a rare month for boys.

Last words: Then, as the moon watched, the three of them together left the wilderness behind and walked into the town.

Book 34...

REVIEW: The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, volume 1 by Nagaru Tanigawa, Gaku Tsugano and Noizi Ito

Sociopathy, while nasty in real life, seems to be a staple of comedy series. From my beloved British comedy series, we have Rowan Atkinson's Mr Bean and Blackadder, Rik Mayall's various roles, John Cleese's Basil Fawlty and a number of characters from The League of Gentlemen. From Futurama, we have Bender and Professor Farnsworth, and half of the eponymous Simpson family. And in my favourite Japanese comedy series, Azumanga Daioh, we have Tomo Takino and Miss Yukari Tanizaki. Now, I come to one of the more famous and bizarre works to come out of Japan, a manga (based on a novel series) about the misadventures of eccentric sociopathic schoolgirl Haruhi Suzumiya.

Kyon is an ordinary high school boy who has given up hope of meeting the wierd and fantastical in his mundane life. But when he transfers to a new school, he encounters the strange Haruhi Suzumiya, who declares that she is not interested in normal human beings. The only people she wants to meet are aliens, time travellers, psychics, anything weird. Kyon is roped in by Haruhi to form the SOS Brigade, a school club designed to hunt down the weird. Haruhi doesn't know it, though, but one of her first recruits is, for want of a better term, a human-like proxy of an alien intelligence, and the rest of her recruits, barring Kyon, are weird too. Problem is, Haruhi is also at the centre of events that have affected space time. This eccentric, sociopathic teenager, who will stop at nothing to get her own way, is capable of rewriting reality even unconsciously, and Haruhi must be prevented from realising that she has this power, or else it may be the end of the world...

I'll get it out there: Haruhi Suzumiya is a sociopath. If she is an Aspie, like I think I heard some people discussing on this BBS before, then she is one who doesn't give a flying one for anyone but herself. But while the things that she does in this comic would be horrendous in real life, I have heard (thanks to TV Tropes) that she is the target of a substantial amount of venom, including desires to have her raped, murdered, or both. There are probably a number of far more deserving targets in comedic series elsewhere, and while Haruhi Suzumiya is a more sociopathic comedic character than most, she is still entertaining enough in her own right.

The other characters are also interesting enough. We have Kyon (a nickname, apparently), who is basically the main character of the story, and apparently the only sane person in the group, Yuko Nagato, an artificial human being who is the proxy of an alien intelligence, Mikuru Asahina, who is forced into embarassing situations (including being the bait in Haruhi's blackmail scheme in one part of the story) by Haurhi, and yet stays in the club (she has a good reason, as it later turns out), and Itsuki Koizumi, a transfer student with a secret of his own.

It's a ridiculous story, but it is enjoyable for it. In fact, most of the bad points to this is Haruhi being such an utter sociopath, and the Japanese obsession with fanservice. There are hints, already, to a deeper plot in the story, as we learn that Haruhi was responsible for some sort of reality-altering event, and that she is still capable of this act, and there is enough actual drama at the right times to counterpoint the ridiculous comedy.

While extraordinarily wince-inducing, the first volume is still a funny read, although much of the humour would be schadenfreude. And if you can tolerate a very Japanese-flavoured story, you will find it entertaining. But don't expect that much more than entertainment, albeit intriguing entertainment at that.


8.5/10

First words: This hill's ridiculously steep.

Last words: ......

Book 35...

REVIEW: Miles Errant by Lois McMaster Bujold


In terms of fictional heroes, I like those who can improvise and think on their feet. The Doctor from Doctor Who is an exemplar of this, while Indiana Jones is also known for this. And another character that I like who excels at improvisation is Miles Vorkosigan, the hero of the Vorkosigan Saga. But the latest offering in the Vorkosigan Saga, which contains the short story Borders of Infinity, and the novels Brothers in Arms and Mirror Dance, has a few nasty surprises up its sleeve.

Being sent to rescue a single POW from a Cetagandan prison camp is tricky enough, even for Miles Vorkosigan, but when a full-scale escape is planned, Miles needs all his cunning to complete it. But the prison break upsets the Cetagandan empire, and they put out a contract on Miles' alter-ego in the Dendarii Mercenaries, Admiral Naismith. Visiting Earth for the first time (his native planet being Barrayar), Miles needs to juggle both his identities, and his claim that Naismith is actually his clone turns out to be somewhat prescient, as Miles discovers. But even after saving his clone, now named Mark, Miles discovers that having a twin brother can be more trouble than it is worth. In fact, it will literally be the death of him...

The Vorkosigan Saga has a blend of military science fiction, political drama, and even humour that puts it well above many other contenders. This is, in my opinion, the best American science fiction book series, second only to the Dune series. I have to admit though, that while the Vorkosigan Saga is not as high concept as the Dune series, it is more entertaining.

The short story Borders of Infinity is interesting, but ultimately too pedestrian. The fun begins with Brothers in Arms, which starts out as a humourous farce as Miles Vorkosigan tries to juggle and explain away his two identities, but becomes grim rather rapidly when he finds out that his desperate remark turns out to be reality. An excellent plot, and an excellent justification of the scheme and presence of the clone.

Mirror Dance, however, is the best of the lot, being perhaps, in my opinion, anyway, the ultimate Miles Vorkosigan story. Miles is killed while trying to salvage a botched mission headed by his clone brother Mark, who was trying to rescue a group of clones used rather brutally for body transplants. Not only do we see things from the point of view of the tortured (both psychologically and, later in the book, literally) Mark Vorkosigan, but we see how Miles' death (he is promptly cryogenically frozen, but his body disappears) affects those around him. The story is as close to perfect as it can be, with Mark struggling to create his own identity independent of Miles, as well as his efforts to find Miles, and try to bring him back to life.

My disputes with the stories are few. Borders of Infinity seems just a little too long and too pedestrian for its own good, and Galen from Brothers in Arms seems rather too rabid a villain to be plausible, although his backstory might explain it. And some of the politics of Jackson's Whole seem a little convoluted.

But these are fairly petty disputes. Miles Errant and the stories contained therein are excellent, and I enjoyed them significantly. The Vorkosigan Saga goes from strength to strength, and I look forward to the next stories...


9/10

First words: How could I have died and gone to hell without noticing the transition?

Last words: "Welcome to the beginning."

The next book will probably be Dracula, followed by Rocket Girls.

Book 36 sucks, in a good way...

REVIEW: Dracula by Bram Stoker


I seem to be doing the grand tour of famous old horror novels, reading Frankenstein, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, and The Picture of Dorian Gray. Now, I come to a book which I started, but didn't finish until now. The infamous vampire novel which has inspired the genre to this day. Dracula.

Jonathan Harker, a British solictor, is sent for by the enigmatic Count Dracula in Transylvania, in order to facilitate a real estate transaction in London. What begins as a simple, if mysterious, task, ends up causing a reign of terror for Harker, his beloved Mina, and their circle of friends and family. For Dracula is literally a monster, and he will stop at nothing to get what he wants...

I have to say that I detest the medium of an epistolary novel, which is what Dracula is. Diary entries and letters bore me and annoy me. Add to this the very Victorian melodrama of the speech, and Dracula is off to a bad start. So is the minutiae and trivia and bland writing that plagues writers before the 1950s.

And yet...Dracula is actually an excellent book, once you get down to it. The characters are interesting, if, as I said before, melodramatic, and Dracula's character is done as a villain of psychological rather than physical horror. While something of a cypher of a villain, he is used chillingly well.

Kudos, too, must go to two other pivotal characters. Professor Van Helsing is perhaps the most interesting of the male characters, in that he has an insight into what is going on, but the most interesting character, at least towards the end, is Wilhemina 'Mina' Murray, who is perhaps one of the strongest, bravest, and most complex female characters in Victorian literature that I have read, save, perhaps, for Esther Summerson from Bleak House. While not the action girl she is shown to be in, say, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, she is still atypical of the age, though a little melodramatic.

The plot is a little uneven at the start, particularly in the interval between the end of Jonathan Harker's initial narrative and the beginning of Lucy Westenra's decline, but it is still excellent and chilling, even today. While straightforward and a little simple, it is nonetheless written so well that this is hardly noticed.

There is a reason why Dracula deserves its reputation. Read it, and see for yourself. This is the archetype of everything to follow in its footsteps. But don't forget to keep the windows shut at night...


8.5/10

First words: Left Munich at 8:35 P. M, on 1st May, arriving at Vienna early next morning; should have arrived at 6:46, but train was an hour late.

Last words: JONATHAN HARKER

Book 37...

REVIEW: Rocket Girls by Housuke Nojiri

During my wanderings on the internet, I came across, by accident, the anime series Rocket Girls, itself based on a series of novels written by Housuke Nojiri. A bizarre mixture of comedy and some of the hardest science fiction seen outside the West, I decided to give the original novel of Rocket Girls a shot.

Yukari Morita is an ordinary high school student, on holiday in the Solomon Islands, trying to track down the father who abandoned Yukari's mother on their honeymoon. Events end up entangling her into an offer by the director of the Solomon Islands Space Agency, run by Japanese. If she does a job for them, supposedly so simple a monkey can do it, they will lend their resources to tracking down her father. But this job is not all that it seems. The SSA are a private space company cutting the corners, and they need a lightweight astronaut to go into space, with the petite teenager Yukari fitting the bill. Between arduous training, a sadistic medical officer, a pyromaniacal chemist, and a group of well-meaning, if extraordinarily obsessed people, Yukari has her work cut out for her, but the island has even more surprises for her, including a half-sister she never knew she had...

Despite the utterly ridiculous premise, of sending a teenaged girl (or rather, two) into space on a budget spaceship, it is clear from most of the writing that Nojiri had done a substantial amount of research into the facts behind Rocket Girls. Issues such as those about weight issues when it comes to spacecraft, the emerging technology of skintight spacesuits (which is actually being developed at MIT and other places), and problems with fuel play a major role in the drama AND comedy.

The comedy prevails mostly over the first half or so of the book, given the way that the SSA staff treat Yukari and her concerns. Admittedly, they do need to forge Yukari into a suitable astronaut in a short period of time, but the sadism would be unbearable if it weren't for the fact that this is actually a comedy.

The plot is mostly fragmentary over the initial stages, but when it comes to the final half of the book, there is a strong and dramatic plot that works very effectively. That being said, parts of it are predictable, though those who have seen the anime might be surprised at what happens instead of the events within the anime.

Another point that I want to complain about is the characters. I know that this is a short novel, but there are only three remotely fleshed-out characters, the rest being comedic ciphers. Yukari herself, her mother (who seems to be surprisingly okay with her teenaged daughter risking her life as an astronaut), and flight director Kinoshita, who has one of the more fleshed out backstories of the SSA staff.

While rather shallow, and a little strong in the comedic sociopathy department, Rocket Girls was at least entertaining and funny enough to keep me amused, as well as intrigued by the real science involved. I wish that there was more to it, but there you go.


8/10

First words: A lone silver tower stood above the white sand and coconut palms of the beach.

Last words: (Not recorded due to spoilers)

The next book will probably be Doctor Who: The Ancestor Cell.

Book 38...

REVIEW: Doctor Who: The Ancestor Cell by Peter Anghelides and Stephen Cole

During my holiday in the UK last year, I made a daytrip to Brighton, one wet and miserable day, with my mother to meet friends of the family. While walking through Brighton, said friends generously allowed me to stop by a bric-a-brac shop that happened to have several Doctor Who books. One of them was a book that I had heard of, one that, five years before the series returned to the screen, had the conclusion of a very similar Time War story arc that would later be used, in modified form, in the TV series. I purchased it, but until now, I have never got around to reading it. Until now. Because The Ancestor Cell goes to some very dark places...

The Doctor is fighting for control over his destiny. The Time Lords, determined to get the humanoid TARDIS Compassion, whom the Doctor has been travelling in since his TARDIS was destroyed, have trapped him, but Compassion's actions end up separating her from the Doctor and Fitz Kreiner. And the Doctor is still battling the Faction Paradox biodata virus within him. While Fitz gets caught up in the sinister workings of a youthful Gallifreyan cult, the Doctor is forced to work with his old friend turned enemy, Lady Romana, in order to find out what is happening to Gallifrey. For a gigantic structure has appeared in the skies of Gallifrey, and this bizarre Edifice has taken on the form of an omen of death. On the verge of being taken over by Faction Paradox and brought into its insidious plans to bring chaos to the universe, hated and distrusted by his own people, the Doctor may not be able to win this time, for the first strike of the coming Time War is coming, and the Enemy is an unexpected one...

The Doctor Who original novels range from the mediocre to the brilliant, and from the whimsical to the dark, and I have to say that The Ancestor Cell is both of the latters of that range, extremely dark in storyline, but brilliant. This is a story where the Doctor will be hard pressed to even win anything at all, as is often the case when Faction Paradox, a recurring time-travelling terrorist cult, joins the fray.

Now, for Doctor Who fans, a bit of clarification: the Time War stated in this novel is different to that in the TV series. In fact, the Enemy is NOT the Daleks. While the identity of the Enemy was kept secret during previous novels involving this version of the Time War, the identity of the Enemy is revealed in such a fashion that is both fresh and yet lacks disappointment, given the fact that the Enemy was meant to be somewhat vague in description from the start.

But in any case, despite the disappointments that one has in the moral degeneration of beloved character Romana, it is in continuity with the rest of the Eighth Doctor Adventures, and gives a feeling of desperation to this story, when the Doctor's oldest friends turn against him. And keep in mind, this is not even really a spoiler.

The revelations come thick and fast, and resolve a number of story threads from previous novels in the series, including, and especially, Lawrence Miles' two-book magnum opus Interference. The storyline, while brief, is rich in complexity, and the Time War's effect on Gallifrey reflects chillingly what would happen with the War on Terror, which ironically happened about a year after the publication of The Ancestor Cell.

Dark. Grim. And with an ending that will blow you away with its ruthlessness. But it is also wonderfully written, concludes one story arc of the Eighth Doctor Adventures nicely while beginning another. The Ancestor Cell is not only a good read, but it was also a prelude to things to come in both reality and fiction. This is the Doctor pushed to the absolute limit, and the limits are where he is at his best.


10/10

First words: Lady Withycombe had remained for some twenty minutes on the carriage seat, lounging in that warm, comfortable state in which, half asleep, half awake, consciousness begins to return after a sound slumber.

Last words: Whoever he is.