The Quatermass Book Reading Marathon Blog: Taking the Fifth

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Book 28...

REVIEW: Doctor Who: The Mark of Mandragora by Andrew Donkin et al


In one of my previous book-reading blogs, I reviewed a Doctor Who graphic novel, which was really a compilation of comic strips running in Doctor Who Magazine. Recently, I found one of the very first such releases, done in 1993, based on some of the seventh Doctor strips running in the magazine. So, how well does The Mark of Mandragora, named for the final strip in the compilation, fare?

Travelling for a time without Ace, the Doctor invites old companion Sarah to a concert at the Royal Albert Hall, only for the train that they were on to be abducted by the ant-like Kaliks. Later, the Doctor, shortly before picking up Ace, travels to eight century Britain for some horse chestnuts to play conkers with, only to get caught up in the conflict between the Vikings and the locals. Picking up Ace, the Doctor then travels to England, where a strange creature wreaks havoc in a house, and to a bar where a gang Ace formerly hung out with attempts to sacrifice her to power an alien's signal device. The Doctor, however, is concerned. They've been unable to travel away from Earth, and the Doctor suspects it may have something to do with the lingering influence of the Mandragora Helix, a suspicion which proves correct when the TARDIS ends up connected to a nightclub that's a front for selling Mandrake, a new drug. Teaming up with UNIT, the Doctor and Ace try to stop the Mandragora Helix before it is too late...

As stories go, while nothing spectacular, they still have nice concepts. Train-Flight is an intriguing alien abduction story that owes a little to The Monster of Peladon when it comes to the monsters called the Kaliks, as well as a nice reunion with Sarah, and Doctor Conkerer is a comedic short turn in pre-Norman England. Things get more serious in Fellow Travellers, which sets up the Doctor's house used in the later New Adventures novels and depicts a strange parasitic entity. Not so sure about Teenage Kicks!, but The Mark of Mandragora is a welcome return for an old foe and UNIT.

The characters are okay for the setting, and the Doctor, Ace, and Sarah are certainly as they were in the TV series, and the Mandragora Helix is given a new aspect, although not up to the level of the novel Beautiful Chaos, reviewed before in a different cook-reading blog. Muriel Frost is also a decent creation as a new UNIT character. The artwork, while different from today's standards, is still quite good.

All in all, it was fine as entertainment, but not great. The Mark of Mandragora is a nice snapshot of older Doctor Who comics, albeit not as good as I would like it to be.


8/10


First words: No, Doctor.

Last words: Where are they?

Book 29...

REVIEW: The Prestige by Christopher Priest


As part of my process of branching out, I have learned to turn to movies and TV productions as a source of literature to examine. I would never have read Bleak House, I feel, unless I had seen parts of the recent BBC production. The same goes for at least two of Philip K Dick's work, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, and A Scanner Darkly. So it is because that I have heard of the film called The Prestige that I have gone to read the original novel...

In the modern day, Andrew Westley, born Nicholas Borden, is summoned to the house of Lady Katherine Angier, who wishes to make reparations for the dispute that existed between their family for generations. Andrew learns of the history of his ancestor, successful working class magician Alfred Borden, and his upper class contemporary, Robert Angier, and how a feud developed between them. At stake is a powerful magical act. Each magician has their own way of performing it, and each has their own prices to pay as their dispute spirals out of control...

As a story, while rather singular, The Prestige is nonetheless an excellent one. One can guess the secret of Alfred Borden fairly quickly. But while the story is singular, we are given two sides, each biased views of men that nonetheless are somewhat compatible views of the same events. This is a morally ambiguous novel, especially where the characterisation of the two main characters are concerned, and while it delves into the realm of science fiction at one point, it is nonetheless fairly good, if at times functional.

The characters are reasonably well-fleshed out, with both Borden and Angier being sympathetically written, at least from their respective points of view, but each viewpoint also giving damning attacks against the other magician. Andrew and Kate are okay as the descendants of these two, as is Tesla and the supporting cast, but they seem a little functional rather than fun. There was some things lacking at times in the characterisation of anyone but Borden and Angier.

The Prestige was a good book, interestingly written and good enough to hold my interest for a time. Not as great as some of the concepts suggest, but a moral ambiguity and an intriguing story still makes it quite good.


9/10


First words: It began on a train, heading north through England, although I was soon to discover that the story had really begun more than a hundred years earlier.

Last words: (Not recorded due to spoilers)

Book 30...

REVIEW: Transmetropolitan volume 5: Lonely City by Warren Ellis, Darick Robertson and Rodney Ramos


Transmetropolitan is fast becoming one of my favourite comic series of all time, and I await each new installment eagerly. So, after the shattering revelations of the Smiler, and his ascendancy to power, I wonder, how further can the series go? With the fifth book, I am soon to find out...

The ascendancy of Gary 'the Smiler' Callahan to the presidency doesn't have an immediate effect on Spider Jerusalem, who is interviewed about his life and views. Spider himself writes a new column detailing aspects of life in the City, the good (a Temp taking on the traits of a dolphin), the bad (Spider participating in a cull of intelligent dogs), and the ugly (cybernetic drug use). Then, a politician becomes infamous for participating in pornographical videos, and Spider, along with Channon and Yelena, decide to make life hell for him. But things are too good to last. Investigating a hate-crime murder, Spider ends up in conflict with the police once more, but worst is to come when he ends up in the middle of a riot, a riot he is not expected to get out of alive...

After the focus on the presidential election and its shocking outcome, the first three stories in this volume come as something of a relief. The first two are interesting insights both into Spider's life and into the nature of the City, while the third, 'Monstering', is pure fun as Spider and his assistants hound a sleazy politician. The fourth story, a three-part one called 'Lonely City', features the beginnings of the Smiler's campaign against Spider, though we don't learn this until the end, and has echoes in race riots and the like. While dark and violent, it is nonetheless entertaining and thought-provoking stuff, as always.

Once more, we have Spider showing himself to be both a bastard, as well as being a heartwarming character at times. And perhaps the best affirmation of this comes at the end of this volume, when, realising that Callahan has begun his campaign towards Spider, tells them to buy weapons for their protection, with concern clearly written on his face. Yelena, free of the guilt from sleeping with Spider, begins to develop more as her own character, while Channon is still good. Notably, we have the introduction of Detective Newton, the only non-corrupt cop that we have actually seen in the series thus far, with her saving Spider and his assistants during the riots in the 'Lonely City' story.

All in all, the fifth volume of Transmetropolitan continues the good work of the series. I can only hope that it soars to greater heights than ever before.



9/10


First words: ...on current movements, the rain falling on Central and Western areas of the City is predicted to cease in nine minutes...

Last words: See to it.

The next book will be The Silmarillion.

Book 31...

REVIEW: The Silmarillion by JRR Tolkien, edited by Christopher Tolkien


I cannot confess to be a JRR Tolkien fanatic, though I have read both The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit from cover to cover. But Tolkien, if nothing else, is remembered for creating an entire world for those two books to take place in, and a rich tapestry of history and mythology. And after his death, his son, Christopher, took the mythological notes that he had been working on and edited them into a more or less coherent mythological narrative, called The Silmarillion. But is it any good?

We know how the story of the One Ring ends. But how did Middle Earth begin? The tale of how Arda was formed by the songs of Eru and his thought-children, the Ainur, and how one of the Ainur, Melkur, started on the road to evil is contained here. So too is the creation of elves, humans, and dwarves, and the first conflicts with Melkur, later called Morgoth. The tragic tale of the Silmarils, and how they influenced the fate of the elf Feanor and his descendants, also plays out, as well as the rising evil of Morgoth's lieutenant, Sauron, and the downfall of the children of Hurin. Finally, the ascendancy of Sauron, and the War of the Ring, is detailed.

Tolkien's imagination in creating an indepth world shows through in the sheer bulk and depth of history and mythology that he makes in The Silmarillion. There are aspects of it that should seem familiar even to those mildly acquainted with Biblical myth and Norse myth, amongst others. It also shows that the story of The Lord of the Rings is a small part of a much larger story. The problem is, his writing style is so dry most of the time, you could probably mummify the inhabitants of a town with it, and it sometimes sticks. I dunno whether it is because he was of that generation that wrote in the pre-1950 style, or whether it was his Oxford background, or even his translation of old poems and sagas, but the style is a little difficult for a modern audience to read.

The characters are not very deep or complex, but if you go into it with the right frame of mind (ie, reading this as you would an ancient myth or a saga), then they can be interesting. Morgoth is the original Sauron, though more of a brute force type than the later, more cunning Sauron, who features relatively little in the text (though he is prominent at certain points). Feanor is something of a tragic protagonist (I'm not sure whether I should use even the term anti-hero to describe him) who does all sorts of terrible things due to the Silmarils he created. Far more tragic is the fate of the children of Hurin.

The Silmarillion is a rather dry but nonetheless intriguing insight into the world JRR Tolkien synthesized. Tolkien fans will doubtless love it, but fantasy fans should give it a go at the very least.



8.5/10


First words: There was Eru, the One, who in Arda is called Iluvatar; and he made first the Ainur, the Holy Ones, that were the offspring of his thought, and they were with him before aught else was made.

Last words: (Not recorded due to spoilers)

The next book will probably be the Warhammer 40K Ciaphas Cain book, The Emperor's Finest.

Book 32...

REVIEW: Ciaphas Cain: The Emperor's Finest by Alex Stewart (as Sandy Mitchell)


I have to confess to not knowing about the Warhammer 40,000 universe until recently, save for a magazine article I read once about the computer game Fire Warrior. While the tabletop game and the attendant dark and grim mythos surrounding it didn't appeal to me, the Ciaphas Cain novels, about the misadventures of a cowardly commissar, did, especially after I heard comparisons to Blackadder and Flashman. But unlike those two, Cain, according to the editor of his memoirs, was possibly a truly brave man hindered by his own self-deprecation, or even self-loathing. Intrigued, I have tracked down the only Ciaphas Cain book my library has, one of the latest, called The Emperor's Finest...

Amberley Vail, Inquisitor and lover of Ciaphas Cain, edits a new volume of Cain's self-deprecating memoirs. After recovering from his escape from a necron tomb world, Cain finds himself roped into putting down a tyranid-started rebellion Viridia. Even after surviving with the part-welcome assistance of Mira, the local governor's youngest daughter and someone eager to make Cain's acquaintance, there's no rest for the wicked. For the tyranids came from an itinerant space hulk, and it is decided to chase it down, and Cain and Mira, along with Cain's newly arrived aide Jurgen, are brought in to chase it. Between a system infested with orks, Mira's obsession with Cain, and the dangers of the space hulk, Cain will have a hard staying alive, or uninfested...

As stories go, it's an interesting one. Not a spectacular one, and maybe it wasn't as good as the previous books, but the story manages to sustain interest. Certainly writing in a manner reminiscent of the Flashman books helps matters, and there are footnotes by the character Amberley Vail which clarify some aspects of the narrative, and sometimes puts the lie to Cain's self-deprecation. The story itself is a rather singular one that nonetheless has enough twists and turns to distract the reader from the singular narrative.

Ciaphas Cain is a somewhat more complex character than Flashman, and certainly seems far more brave and more moral (which is saying something, not just in comparison to Flashman, but to the nature of the Warhammer 40,000 universe). The other characters, however, while interesting, do not seem very complex, with the exceptions of Jurgen, Cain's aide, and Mira, the ambitious and mercurial daughter of the governor of Viridia.

All in all, The Emperor's Finest was an entertaining, but not particularly grabbing introduction to the Ciaphas Cain series in particular, and the Warhammer 40,000 universe in general. It was fine entertainment, though, and that shouldn't be denied.


8.5/10


First words: Editorial Note:

Last words: (Not recorded due to spoilers)

The next book will probably be Doctor Who: Father Time by Lance Parkin, and I intend to get started on A Clash of Kings, the sequel to A Game of Thrones.

Book 33...

REVIEW: Doctor Who: Father Time by Lance Parkin


It's surprising to someone who started with the new series of Doctor Who that many concepts used in the new series were used previously, in the New Adventures, Missing Adventures, and Eighth Doctor Adventure books. The Time War and the destruction of Gallifrey had its origins in a novel arc that concluded with the dark but brilliant story The Ancestor Cell (incidentally reviewed on this forum, and about a Time War with a different Enemy to the Daleks), and the concept that the Doctor's corpse might be valuable enough to fight over (as stated in the new series story The Impossible Astronaut) was looked at in Alien Bodies. And in the story The Doctor's Daughter, we were introduced to a genetically extrapolated female 'clone' of the Doctor called Jenny, but nearly a decade beforehand, the Doctor had another strange daughter, Miranda, in the book called Father Time...

In the aftermath of the destruction of Gallifrey, the Doctor has amnesia, and the TARDIS needs to recover. Having spent a century on Earth, the Doctor has managed to lead a decent, if not uneventful life. But things have begun to heat up in Derbyshire, where squads of alien killers have arrived, searching for the last member of a corrupt empire from the future. The Doctor, meanwhile, has encountered a young girl called Miranda, who has two hearts and a lower body temperature, like him. Defending her from the alien killers soon leads to the Doctor having to become the adoptive father to an unearthly child, a child that, the foes from the future claim, will grow up to become a tyrant. But are these hunters' memories of an oppressive regime turning them into worst monsters than Miranda's original family? What is Miranda's connection to the Doctor? And will father and daughter be able to stay together?

There are some books that are just right, that hit all the marks just so. After the disappointment of previous Doctor Who books, I didn't expect Father Time to be like this, but in fact, it is. This is a story of complex morality that takes the Doctor's question about the Daleks in Genesis of the Daleks (that, if you were told a child would grow up to be a ruthless dictator, should you kill that child?) to its logical conclusion. The emotional points of the story hit just the right notes, and only the ending truly dissatisfies, as well as leaving the connection between Miranda and the Doctor up in the air (though it is hinted that they may truly be father and daughter, and biologically so, not just adoptively so).

The Doctor is on key, as he often is, trying to do good, even when there are compelling arguments on both sides. Miranda is an interesting character, showing what it would be like to grow up in an alien body, and a Time Lord body at that. Ferran is a complex enough character, though some of the others aren't as complex as one would have liked, and that is the main reason why this story doesn't, as much as I would love it to, get a perfect score.

Father Time has recently been reprinted as well as being reissued as an ebook, so if you can get a hold of it, even if you aren't a Doctor Who fan, try it. Divorced of all previous continuity, it's an excellent standalone work that falls just shy of perfection.



9.5/10


First words: It was a planet shrouded in fog.

Last words: Soon enough.

Book 34...

REVIEW: The Children of Hurin by JRR Tolkien, edited by Christopher Tolkien


Having read through JRR Tolkien's mythological back story for Middle Earth, The Silmarillion, I have decided to dip my toes once more into the world of Tolkien. Recently published was The Children of Hurin, an expansion of a story touched on by a section of The Silmarillion. So would the expansion of the tale be any better than the large mythopoeic work that gave rise to it?

Millennia before Bilbo Baggins found the Ring, Middle Earth was a different place, quailing under the shadow of Morgoth, the ultimate evil. But Elves and Men still stand against him. An ally of the Elves, the human warrior Hurin, is captured during a battle that ends in victory for Morgoth, and when Hurin remains defiant, Morgoth curses his family to a tragic end. Hurin's children, the proud Turin and his sister Nienor, are split apart. Turin is forced to leave the safety of his erstwhile Elvish protector after his revenge against a slight goes wrong, and joins a group of outlaws. From the dwelling of Mim the Petty Dwarf, to the Elvish settlement of Nargothrond, Morgoth's curse dogs Turin, with the cruellest fate of all awaiting him last...

Given that the story is written more as a proper narrative rather than the history that The Silmarillion is, it feels less dry, but the style of writing is still immensely old-fashioned. And while it is a more involving tale, it also loses some of the scope that both The Silmarillion and The Lord of the Rings has. Even so, the tragedy of this myth is palpable. It could be called Shakespearean or Wagnerian in scope. There are no happy endings in this tale.

The characters are, while engrossing, also somewhat simplistic, though this is due to Tolkien's style. Turin is an archetypal tragic hero who stands in contrast to his equivalents in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, whose pride leads to his downfall as much as the machinations of Morgoth and his minion, the dragon Glaurung. Those latter two are rather singular villains, but very well written singular villains nonetheless. The other characters are good enough to keep the story going, but otherwise don't particularly leap out at me, except for Nienor, Morwen, and Mim.

All in all, The Children of Hurin was a good, if depressing work from the late Tolkien. Equal to The Silmarillion, albeit for different reasons, it might surprise some Tolkien fans, as well as those whose familiarity with Middle Earth is solely with The Lord of the Rings.


8.5/10


First words: Hador Goldenhead was a lord of the Edain and well-beloved by the Eldar.

Last words: (Not recorded due to spoilers)

Book 35...

REVIEW: Doctor Who: The Algebra of Ice by Lloyd Rose


Entropy. Mathematics. Extradimensional incursion. These concepts have appeared on Doctor Who before (with the first two concepts playing a major role in the final Tom Baker story, Logopolis), but they appear combined in the Doctor Who book that I recently read, The Algebra of Ice. But can high concept overcome a strange title, amongst other things?

The Doctor and Ace are investigating strange hiccups in time, and the Doctor seems to have traced it back to one man: genius mathematician Ethan Amberglass, who is also suffering from mental problems. Meanwhile, UNIT is investigating strange geometric patterns of ice in fields, and the Brigadier finds himself hounded by a conspiracy theorist journalist, Adrian Molecross, whose website dedicated to the strange and bizarre has found another article. But the Doctor begins to find out that the patterns are merely the beginning of not an invasion as much as a plot to reverse the entropy of one universe, at the expense of another. To save the world from the nihilistic Brett and his reluctant mathematician ally Patrick Unwin, not to mention their masters, the Doctor may have to make a terrible choice, even though Ace and Ethan, despite themselves, are falling in love...

The story is rather simple and straightforward, in the end, but what redeems it is the concepts behind it, as well as the moral choices. The alien plot is an interesting one, and while the concept of sentient equations isn't quite as new as it would be suggested (a realm of sentient programs, and a similar conclusion, was in Ben Aaronovitch's Doctor Who novel Transit), it's still pulled off very well. So too is the discussion of the Doctor and his moral choices, especially in his seventh incarnation, who is rather dark and manipulative.

The Doctor and Ace are portrayed very well, very close to their TV counterparts, and the Doctor is shown to be a morally ambiguous character who is more flawed than usual. While the Brigadier isn't used as well as he could have been, the same couldn't be said about the other characters. Ethan has a good character arc as well as a relationship with Ace, Adrian Molecross has his own character arc when he learns of the true wonder behind the Doctor, and becoming a hero in the process, and both of the human villains, while not very outstanding, are at least intriguing enough.

Overall, The Algebra of Ice is a pretty good entry into the Doctor Who canon, with good concepts, and only a very singular plot and the misuse of a beloved character dragging it down. It should be read by Who fans, but general sci-fi readers might like it as well.


9/10


First words: 'You're doing it again, Professor.'

Last words: 'the proof of the Riemann Hypothesis.'

Book 36...

REVIEW: The Road by Cormac McCarthy


You know, I'm not sure how much bleak fiction I have read, or enjoyed for that matter. I have certainly read Nineteen Eighty-Four, a work that ends on a bleak note, but post-apocalyptic fiction, I don't think I have indulged much in, not unless you count the 'after the plague' stories like Survivors or The Stand. So it is with some trepidation that I read The Road, a book (later a film) about the end of the world, and how a father and son survives it...

Years after a catastrophe has wiped out the ecosystem, civilisation, and almost all of humanity, a man and his son make a dangerous trek from the mountains to the coast to survive the coming winter. With each day a toll on their physical and mental health, all they have is each other. For many of the remaining humans have turned on each other, becoming cannibals and worse, as there are no animals left alive, and the plants are dead too. While they trudge the lonely road, the father hides many secrets from his son, in order to get him to keep on living. For the mother of the son committed suicide rather than having to deal with the horrors of the dying world, and the father is himself dying...

The Road is written simply. In fact, there's a distinct lack of punctuation, and while the lack of commas may be a stylistic choice, there's more than a few jarring absences of apostrophes or quotation marks. But in its simplicity is a bleak poetry. The story is simple, but it is also atmospheric to the extreme. The world of The Road is a dying one (the author had apparently suggested a comet strike rather than the common theory of a nuclear war, though both fit), and it is also rather heart-rending, especially as even the bittersweet ending seems doomed because of the extinction of the biosphere. It's certainly a depressing work, not for everyone.

The characters are mostly restricted to the father and son, and it's interesting to see their relationship change as time goes by. The father tries to make sure that the son keeps a high morality, a difficult task in a world where the only people they meet are either cannibals or thieves. And there is a certain amount of friction between the two, especially when the father, despite the values he instills in his son, is determined to make unpleasant, but pragmatic choices. Not much characterisation is used for the other characters, although this is probably due to the focus on the father and son.

The style is rather jarring and simplistic, and it will be too bleak for some. Nonetheless, The Road is still a pretty good work. It's as bleak as it should be, but it still keeps the interest of the reader.



8.5/10


First words: When he woke in the woods in the dark and the cold of the night he'd reach out to touch the child sleeping beside him.

Last words: In the deep glens where they lived all things were older than man and they hummed of mystery.

McCarthy's punctuation choice is a rather odd affectation, and always struck me as a tad ostentatious, but he's undeniably a great writer. Have you read the book version of No Country for Old Men QM? It depressed me for a while after I read it, but it really grew on me, as did the film adaptation. The book provides slightly more insight into Anton Chigurh, but I think the pacing of the movie is a bit better. Worth a read, and fairly brief too.

Book 37...

REVIEW: Transmetropolitan volume 6: Gouge Away by Warren Ellis, Darick Robertson and Rodney Ramos


After getting money for Christmas, one of the things I earmarked it for was completing my collection of Transmetropolitan. Volumes 6-8, I bought at a comics shop, while the last two volumes are currently on order through my local bookshop, courtesy of a gift voucher. Thus, I come to volume 6, and I hope that it maintains the high quality of the series so far...

Spider Jerusalem is having a bad time. The President, Gary 'the Smiler' Callahan, wants to kill him, and if he can't do that, he will then humiliate Spider by preventing his articles from reaching the press. At first, all Spider can do is withstand the way the media took his life's story, and turned it into anime, bad action films, and pornography. However, on a reflective walk through the city, he realises that the Smiler is beginning to make his attack not just on Spider, but on the people of the City. And his assistants, Yelena and Channon, find themselves followed by the Smiler's hired goons, and discover that though they hate Spider, they feel alive when helping him. And help him they do, when he begins the groundwork for a massive counterattack against the Smiler, one that will change his life forever...

The first story is a bizarre anthology, based around both TV shows that Spider watches based around him and his life (an anime, a really cheesy and bad action film, and a porn movie) and two hallucinatory dreams he suffers while trying to take drugs to make himself feel better. Amusing, but not quite my style. Things pick up when Spider tries to walk the streets of the City once more, trying to cope with what happened to him, only to see the beginnings of Callahan's reign of terror. The best story of the volume is Dancing in the Here and Now, where Yelena and Channon bond while escaping from Spider's realm, and is both touching and, at times, funny (especially Yelena's comments comparing her bust to Channon's). But the three-part story afterwards, Gouge Away, puts the next real part of the Spider vs Smiler feud up to the next level, where Spider manages to stay one step ahead of the Smiler's machinations, even if it seems, at first, a pyrrhic victory.

Spider's character gets the most development here, going from what might be his deepest low in the series so far (being parodied and exploited) to violently climbing his way back to the top and discovering the truth. As much of an anti-hero as he is (and he is a violent, rude bastard), you cannot help but cheer for him. Yelena and Channon also get a chapter all to themselves, where they show that they are more than capable of showing Spider's level of mettle. And it is a pleasure to see the Smiler on the defensive in a major way, for once.

Great stories, with the exception of the first, and greater developments have helped sustain my interest in and my esteem for Transmetropolitan. This series will probably engross me until the very end...



9/10


First words: I don't trust any of you dogf**kers.

Last words: Run!