Tuesday, September 30, 2003
The Khyber Connection
In a previous review, I complained that the Time Wars series was getting a falling into a formula. In this, the sixth book of the series, Mr. Hawke changes things a bit. The first change is that this book is not based on a particular novel, but rather an historical event. He flirted with this in The Nautilus Sanction when he
departed from the plot of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and had his characters meet up with the pirate Jean Lafitte. In The Khyber Connection, the entire plot occurs around a conflict between the British army and Afghan tribes in the Khyber Pass in 1897 Afghanistan. To this, Mr. Hawke adds some characters from the stories of Rudyard Kipling--soldiers Learoyd, Orthenis and Mulvaney and bhisti Gunga Din--and his own time commandos. A temporal soldier from the 27th Century is found dead at the Khyber Pass, apparently killed by his own doppelganger. This leads the Temporal Army Corps to the conclusion that their worst fear--a timestream split--has occurred and they are facing a Temporal Corps from an alternate universe. I won't spoil the story by telling you what these alternate commandos are up to, but suffice it to say, it shakes up the status quo. What stays the same is Mr. Hawke's suspenseful plotting and enjoyable characterization. Y'all should check it out.
Labels: CheckItOut, SimonHawke, TimeWars
Wednesday, September 24, 2003
VALIS
Ah, what to do with this book? It was a science fiction book recommended to me by the host of Unearthed Ruminations, so I really wanted to like it. But I didn't. It's a very spiritual book, and I ended up disagreeing with what it had to say. It's the tale of a man named Horselover Fat who goes crazy and has an encounter with God. The book covers his attempt to make sense of it all, which leads him to discover God's attempt to rescue the world from the mad deities who have screwed it all up. That's a way too simplistic recounting of the book, but for me the plot really was a secondary hing. I was reading the book looking for something, anything, that I could praise about it. About the only nice thing I can say is that it does come across as the author's legitimate search for God. (or at least meaning in life.) But he seemed to find that meaning in Gnostic Christianity. Throughout the book the reader is given snatches of spiritual observations and teachings, but in the end the "truth" is revealed to be that "you will have no gods but yourselves." Feh. If I'm such a god than why can't I write better book reviews? It's an old, old lie and hardly entertaining. So with apologies to the Unearthed Ruminator, I'm afraid I'll have to toss this one in the Elbe river.
Labels: TossIt
Thursday, September 18, 2003
The Prisoner of Zenda
How did I miss this story for so long? This is the kind of heroic fiction I've enjoyed for years--the strong and resourceful hero fighting for right with honor and dignity. Yet until now, I've never bothered to read this book or even watch the films made from it. Oh, well. Now I know better and can put it on my shelf. Anyway, the story is thus: Rudolf Rassendyll ventures to the small country of Ruritania on a lark, to see the coronation of the new king. He is aware that he is a distant, if illegitimate, cousin of the crown prince but he is surprised to discover that he is a dead ringer for him. This happens in a chance encounter with the prince, also named Rudolf. Fortunately, this also puts Mr. Rassendyll at the right place when the prince's brother, Michael, springs his trap to remove Prince Rudolf from the scene. Rassendyll impersonates the prince to thwart Michael's scheme, but then Michael alters his plan and forces Rassendyll to carry on his impersonation longer than expected. Both sides endeavor to gain the upper hand without revealing their own machinations to the people of Ruritania. An engaging tale with wonderful characters. I'll have to haunt the bookstores soon....
Labels: OnMyShelf
Friday, September 12, 2003
The Zenda Vendetta
The Prisoner of Zenda gets the Time Wars treatment for the fourth installment of the series. In this outing our now regular team of commandos need to travel to the Balkan nation of Ruritania in 1891 to thwart the last vestiges of the temporal terrorist group known as the Timekeepers. (This is the same group that was causing trouble in The Timekeeper Conspiracy.) What follows is a tale filled with action and intrigue. One where the temporal agents have to use their wits as well as their technology to save the day. It's a book I'm glad to have on my shelf.
Saturday, September 06, 2003
The Scarlet Pimpernel
No fair! I thought this was an adventure tale, but I think half of the story goes on in the heroine's head! It's almost a chick flick, er, book. (Maybe it is... I haven't intentionally read any "chick books" to compare with.) But it's still an enjoyable read. There are two main threads: one is the mystery of the Scarlet Pimpernel. The year is 1792 and the Reign of Terror of the French Revolution is running rampant. However, some clever Englishmen, known as the League of the Scarlet Pimpernel, are systematically rescuing French aristocrats from the guillotine. The leader and mastermind behind the league is a man of mystery, one that French agent Chauvelin is determined to unmask and arrest. The second plot thread is the marital troubles of the heroine, Marguirite Lady Blakeney. Her husband, Sir Percy, has been quite unloving to her since he heard that she was instrumental in the arrest and execution of the Marquis de St. Cyr and his family. She has a good explanation, but fears that her husband will never care to hear it. How do these two plots come together? Well, read the book and find out. It wasn't much of a mystery to me, but then I had known the answer before I read it. Besides, I am quite familiar with the concept of "secret identities" from all my comic book reading. Anyway, the book is still worth putting on my shelf.
Labels: OnMyShelf
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