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| 2014
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Ad Fontes for Aincrad Anime Aficionados I love Sword Art Online and the Aincrad arc especially, so this original source was the perfect book to make my Ad Fontes for Aincrad Anime Aficionados I love Sword Art Online and the Aincrad arc especially, so this original source was the perfect book to make my first foray into light novels. I was impressed by how faithful the anime was to the book and how well it complemented the anime series, adding details and expanding special moments. I enjoyed it all the way through! Okay, I admit I was disappointed that the "side stories" were missing, bumped to Volume 002, and that Yui was wholly absent, as she really found a permanent place in my heart. It's to the anime adaptors' credit that these side stories were so seamlessly woven into the Aincrad arc that they never felt like filler as I watched those first 14 episodes. Speaking of credit, an Aincrad-sized shoutout is due to translator extraordinaire Stephen Paul, who receives only a teeny-tiny credit on the book's copyright page. I contend his name should be on the cover between Reki Kawahara's and illustrator abec's. I mean, Paul is the man who did the heavy lifting here, taking Kawahara's Japanese story and making it accessible and enjoyable for English-speaking readers. Translators are unsung heroes of literature, and should you ever have a chance to compare and contrast translations--of the Bible, for instance--you will see just how much a translator brings to the end-user's experience. Paul did an outstanding job. This novel addressed and cleared up many questions the anime raised and offered details that didn't make it into the anime, such as what other floors are like. We learn, for example, in Kirito's exchange with Nishida that "the sixty-first floor is all lake--more like a sea, really" (p. 179). I found that little detail fascinating because, like many fans, I wondered about the wondrous things that existed on all the many undiscussed floors. We also learn about more earthy things, like how "there's a 'Moral Code Removal' setting" to allow players to "do... that" in SAO (p. 170). And yes, I know what a struggle it will be to turn the page from 169 with its alluring abec illustration! What, no bathrooms in SAO? No need as after the eating the alimentary process is complete. It's all just a simulation, but the signals the brain receives make it appear so real (p. 67). And even in real life, who needs messy, smelly bedpans when according to page 244 the future promises a soft, high-density gel material that patients lay on that both protects against bedsores and breaks down bodily waste? There'll be a lot of CNAs out of work in that far-flung future of 2024 (okay, so that didn't happen...). I believe this book is also the sole source for Kirito's true feelings about Klein's bandana--ugly. I smiled every time Kirito mentioned that, which was often. One thing the book made clearer to me was just how young Kirito and Asuna were. After two years in SAO, Kirito just turned 16 years old and Asuna 17, meaning they were only 14 and 15 when they were abducted. They showed admirable maturity and pluck, adversity thrusting both great power and great responsibility upon them (to paraphrase Stan Lee). But something both the anime and light novel failed to convince me of was Asuna's great fame. Yeah, the author states it: "Her name was Asuna, and she was familiar to virtually everyone inside the game" (p. 57). But there isn't a lot in the book that demonstrates and supports this claim to fame or her silly nickname "the flash." I guess we're supposed to accept these legendary skills were pre-demonstrated since she's currently a vice-commander in the Knights of the Blood Oath. Asuna does get moments to shine, especially in the climactic battle, but posing Asuna as a famous celebrity across all Aincrad struck me as a brag too big for Kawahara to pull off. Casting Kirito as the novel's first-person narrator was a good move and made me feel like I knew him like a friend and confidant. During the week I read this novel I was watching the Phantom Bullet arc of SAO II and I did feel a greater kinship with Kirito than I did during the preceding two arcs, bringing the insights into his character from the book into the TV experience. I highly recommend this book for any fan of SAO and even for the legions of haters, who are likely to have the plot holes and questions they struggle with satisfactorily addressed. For example, if one thinks Kirito is overpowered (OP), a common complaint, this novel will present you with a very human and vulnerable teenager. I took a lot away from this book and it only increased my understanding of and appreciation for the still-unfolding saga that is Sword Art Online! ...more |
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Oct 26, 2024
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Oct 17, 2024
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| 0671664948
| 9780671664947
| 0671664948
| 4.20
| 298,984
| Oct 12, 1980
| 1987
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it was ok
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55 Pages Too Long A fun and promising start with Ford, Arthur, Zaphod, Trillian, and parking attendant Marvin (I think you ought to know he's very depr 55 Pages Too Long A fun and promising start with Ford, Arthur, Zaphod, Trillian, and parking attendant Marvin (I think you ought to know he's very depressed). The book was a rollickin' read through chapter 25... and should have ended there! But nope. Adams kept typing for another 55 pages. The crash landing of the Golgafrincham Ark was a metaphor for this novel crash landing and bringing to an abrupt end all the good will and laughter earned over the preceding 195 pages. And like the Ark, the narrative sunk into a miry and fetid swamp. The adventures of Ford and Arthur were dragged out and dull. Adams should have kept them together with Zaphod and Trillian (and Marvin--the book needed more Marvin!). Zaphod's visit with the demented recluse: Was this supposed be Adams' profound commentary on God? The one-joke committee meeting that went on for pages. The conclusion was downright maudlin. I suspected Adams took scraps of aborted stories and cobbled them into those last fifty pages. The tone was so strikingly different from all that went before. A fun book that ran out of momentum and laughs after 25 chapters. If I ever reread this one, I'll know to quit at page 194. ...more |
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Mar 30, 2024
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| 0786422769
| 9780786422760
| 0786422769
| 3.60
| 42
| Apr 01, 1997
| Apr 15, 2005
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really liked it
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Number Two and Trying Harder Last weekend I completed my watch-through of all 48 episodes of Space: 1999, and along for the ride was this insightful bo Number Two and Trying Harder Last weekend I completed my watch-through of all 48 episodes of Space: 1999, and along for the ride was this insightful book by John Kenneth Muir. I credit Muir for heightening my appreciation for the series. I looked forward after watching each episode to reading his commentary and invariably took away something interesting I had overlooked. That said, ultimately Muir failed to sell me on the book's primary premise, which Muir himself stated succinctly: While it is true that it did not feature Star Trek's wonderful sunshine philosophy of life, it did possess a point-of-view just as powerful, if less popular. For that reason, Space: 1999 is Star Trek's equal in quality, if not longevity. (p. 163) Wait, what? "Space: 1999 is Star Trek's equal in quality"? Nope. Not even close. At best, Space: 1999 is like Avis, number two and trying harder. And it's a far distant second. Muir dedicates several thoughtful pages to the "Space:1999/Star Trek Feud" in his excellent Summary of Critical Commentary section (which itself justifies the price of the book). The "feud" was more a skirmish between high-profile fans lobbing attacks in the pages of their fanzines. I remember The Monster Times and Starlog dedicating a lot of column inches to Space: 1999 and welcoming the then-new kid on the block. Scorn was usually reserved for everybody's scapegoat, Lost in Space. I was born in 1967 and have only vague memories of being a kid and catching a couple first-run Space: 1999 episodes. I was a teenager when WPIX/11 in NYC put its midnight screenings of Star Trek in drydock and reran Space: 1999 in its place. That is when I first watched most or all of them (didn't have IMDb or a checklist in the early/mid '80s). I remember thinking the show was okay... but it wasn't as good as Star Trek. I liken Star Trek to the Beatles as a phenomenon special and unique, the likes of which will never occur again. Hey, that doesn't mean I can't really like Badfinger or ELO or Space: 1999. So what feud? I remember being 15 or 16, circa 1983, lingering in the comic shop listening to the older fans discuss movies and TV, soaking up all I could in those pre-Internet days. Space: 1999 just wasn't on the radar screen post-Star Wars and especially after the Trek movies began reliably rolling out every couple years. That was the "feud" I remember: the Star Wars vs. Star Trek sagas, despite everybody watching and enjoying them both (and Indiana Jones, to boot). Everyone's kicking boy then was Doctor Who, lagging hopelessly behind in those days when eye-popping SFX too often trumped story and characters. That said, and while I was not converted by Muir, I did admire his unflagging loyalty and sincere zeal for Space: 1999. I wouldn't want to read a book written by a fan of a rival show. Sitting in the presence of an unabashed and unrepentant fan made my Space: 1999 watch-through many times more enjoyable (coupled with watching the episodes on bluray, which really served this series well, making many episodes cinematic in appearance). If I had any complaint against the book it would be Muir's tendency to tear down the other guy to make his look better, a strategy that rarely succeeds, especially when he steps on the toes of fans who have soft spots for old series that maybe weren't great but nonetheless found a place in our hearts. For example, when writing about Space: 1999 being declared the worst sci-fi series he lashes out and derisively brands a wide swath of shows as "classic stinkers." Is there one or more whose inclusion in Muir's rogues' gallery makes you bristle? In 1987 it was voted the worst science-fiction show of "all time" by both mainstream television and science-fiction critics alike in John Javna's book The Best of Science Fiction Television. To attain this dubious honor, Space: 1999 beat out such classic stinkers as Lost in Space, The Starlost, Galactica 1980, Misfits of Science, Manimal and Automan. (p. 155) Ouch! I happen to love Lost in Space, so was grimacing to see it listed in such dubious company (I mean, couldn't he have listed The Powers of Matthew Star instead?). I do agree that Space: 1999 is not the worst show ever... but c'mon, it's far from the best. This book was published in 1997 and a plethora of genre shows have come and gone in the decades since. The book isn't dated as much as it's a time capsule of the late twentieth century. In his commentaries Muir often draws connections to episodes of other science-fiction series, most frequently Star Trek: The Next Generation. I was never a fan of that show or its spinoffs, but anyone who is will appreciate Muir's comprehensive knowledge of the series and his ability to draw connections between them, both obvious in plot points and subtle in nuances of character. In fact, on page 172 Muir makes a compelling and undoubtedly controversial argument that ST:TNG is strikingly similar in premise to Space: 1999. I enjoyed the book for the history of the show's creation and for the thinking behind the drastic format change between seasons. Surprisingly, Muir doesn't join the dogpile on Freddy "show killer" Freiberger, even crediting him with producing episodes that stand on their own against Year One shows and for the admittedly awesome addition of Maya (though I just wish it weren't at the cost of Victor!). I skimmed the chapter on collectibles, which is comprehensive in scope. I most appreciated his detailing the paperback adaptations, a few of which I've read and found to be much better than what James Blish phoned in for Star Trek and sometimes even transcending the episodes themselves (Brian Ball's "Missing Link" and "Guardian of Piri" being two that spring to mind). The summary of critical commentary is the dessert to be savored after the meat n' potatoes of the episode guide and commentaries. Muir corralled an impressive number of critiques pro and con, and even scored the full text of Isaac Asimov's review of the series in The New York Times. His interaction with the knocks and boosts the show received made for fun and insightful reading. I daresay Muir kayoed Asimov, demonstrating conclusively and convincingly how science and science-fiction work together to create something greater. Exploring Space:1999 is highly recommended reading. I am confident even seasoned fans will find much here to be learned and appreciated. ...more |
Notes are private!
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Mar 06, 2024
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Mar 19, 2024
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Mar 06, 2024
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| 3.36
| 55
| Jan 01, 1975
| 1975
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really liked it
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Why Not Choose the Pirian Way? Excellent book! The preceding two Space: 1999 novelizations by E.C. Tubb and John Rankine were very good, but... Brian B Why Not Choose the Pirian Way? Excellent book! The preceding two Space: 1999 novelizations by E.C. Tubb and John Rankine were very good, but... Brian Ball beats them both. Why? He weaves the standalone stories into a continuous tapestry, lending the novel a depth and sense of history unfolding that episodic television does not. Ball is also a strong and engaging writer--as were Tubb and Rankine--which keeps the book compelling all the way through, even when you know the outcome of the episodes adapted. This book adapts three Year One episodes: "Missing Link," "Force of Life," and "The Guardian of Piri." I wasn't especially enthusiastic about the first couple, remembering "Missing Link" mostly for squandering awesome guest star Peter Cushing. They painted his face gold and then saddled him with a long white wig and faux-Rennaissance-era scholar's tam. His daughter Vana fared even worse, weighed down in gaudy jewelry and appearing little like the alluring ingenue conjured up in the novel. I went into the book with low expectations and ended up delightfully surprised. I loved Ball's adaptation of "Missing Link." It sparked me to pull down my Blu-ray and rewatch it, and while the episode itself again failed to thrill me, bringing Ball's additions and insights to bear upon it elevated the experience. For example, Ball adds a scene of a Zennite mind game with Bergman trying to coerce Koenig to escape with Kano in a spaceship he found buried in the moon dust. This extra and original vignette added zest to the story. Ball obviously enjoyed and saw tremendous potential in this episode as Vana and all that she imparted to Koenig played a recurring role throughout the novel. Sorry, but even the talented Ball could not raise my reverence for the dismal "Force of Life" episode, which holds the dishonor of being the first of the series' stereotypical monster-of-the-week-rampaging-through-Alpha episodes to be broadcast. What torpedoed it for me was having recently enjoyed guest star Ian McShane in the lighthearted romantic romp IF IT'S TUESDAY, THIS MUST BE BELGIUM. When I saw McShane played the featured character, I expected that same rakish charisma and joie de vivre... nope! McShane plays a cog in the wheel of Alpha, a technician with a slightly troubled marriage (that's about to get a lot worse!). McShane had no charisma and once he transformed into the monster no screen presence. Between the miscasting of McShane and my own admittedly unfair expectations, this episode was a dud, and Ball, despite valiant efforts, had little to work with here. "Force of Life" was an all-action and visual episode designed to work better on screen than on the page. I dutifully read it through, however. with unmet hopes it would transcend the TV version. If and when I reread this book I plan to skip from page 47 to about 87 or 88 when Ball's magnum opus adaptation of "The Guardian of Piri" begins and carries the book through to its strong conclusion on page 142. I have always greatly enjoyed this episode, and Ball made me love it even more! A lot of what Ball includes in the book is not on the screen, so when one reads and watches in tandem it's a rich and rewarding experience. Something prose couldn't fully capture was the stunning set design of Piri. The tower in the book is a black obelisk that turns white, not the imaginative creation seen on TV. Ball has the cast sitting at an ornate banquet table, but I prefer the onscreen presentation of the lotus-eating Alphans lounging beneath those viney trees topped with glowing white orbs that some suggest symbolize senses-dulling poppies and others comforting and life-sustaining mammary glands. Oh, speaking of breasts... an earlier reviewer took offense to the "two brief (and unnecessary) instances of minor female nudity." I contend the two scenes of bared breasts were not gratuitously included merely to titillate but to illustrate subtle metaphors difficult to communicate on television. The first comes when we initially meet the Servant of the Guardian: Koenig was not surprised to see a girl advancing towards him. She was radiant, a young girl with the delicate skin and slender roundness of later adolescence. 'Welcome to Piri,' she said. Koenig was stunned, not by her freshness and beauty nor by the suddenness of her appearance: it was the tremendous feeling of well-being that left him dazed. She walked towards him, loose robe open so that he saw the rosebud nipples. She kissed him on the lips. It was a rebirth. (p. 113) In the book, Ball drops the ball, so to speak, by saying the Guardian remembered what the ancient Pirians looked like and the "Pirian girl," as he calls the Servant, was created in that image. But the episode established the Servant assumed a form that would most effectively disarm, disabuse of distrust, and dupe the Alphans. Nubile young women in literature have long been seen to lure men to destruction. I thought of the Sirens and of Gawain and the Green Knight and specifically how Lady Bertilak appears three times to seduce Gawain. I believe Ball was intentionally drawing a parallel in this line: "When the Pirian girl came on the third day of [Koenig's] lonely vigil..." (129). (Another parallel that races to mind was Satan tempting Jesus three times as he fasted in the desert.) A pre-Maya Catherine Schell unforgettably even iconically played the Servant on television (if Pocket Books put her on the paperback's cover, they would have been snapped up with gusto!). Schell wore an outfit as revealing as standards would then allow, which if it weren't taped to her chest would reveal exactly what the book described. Ball spicing up the description on the page was not contradictory to what was implied onscreen. The second instance of nudity concerns Helena lolling about topless when Koenig returns to Piri with a plan to shock her out of her Shangri-La stupor: Her robe was open to the waist. She smiled as [Koenig] looked down at her well-shaped breasts. (p. 133) Yeah, Koenig gets a couple enviable eyefuls in this story alone, but he's made of tougher stuff and remains undeterred and steadfast in his determination to shock Helena back to reality. And after he does so: She looked down and saw that her robe was open, and a very human emotion chased across her face. She covered her breasts. Her face was crimson. (p.134-35) What springs to your mind reading that reaction? For me, the Fall of Adam and Eve in the Book of Genesis, when after sinning they beheld their nakedness and hid it in shame. Koenig--casting the Serpent as a good guy?--opened the eyes of "Eve" and set in motion the destruction of and banishment from this ersatz Garden of Eden. The nudity here was not gratuitous or unnecessary, but integral to a carefully plotted and effective allusion and parallel. I applaud Ball for bringing such heft to the often-denigrated genre of "TV tie-in." A couple noteworthy differences between the television episode and the novel. The entire scene and backstory of Kano's computer linkup and sudden disappearance are not in the novel. On TV, Bergman excitedly tells everybody that the moon is leaving Piri's orbit, and the Alphans scramble for the Eagles. But in the book, Paul Morrow states the moon's orbit around Piri is holding, and that they're now trapped there. But Koenig states it was the Guardian holding the moon in orbit, and with its destruction the moon will soon leave orbit, so "the Alphans moved purposefully towards the waiting Eagles" vs. TV's visually satisfying mad dash and rapidly ascending Eagles as Piri began exploding all around them in earnest! Perhaps most noteworthy is Ball crediting the Zennites for Koenig's ability to resist the siren call of Piri. [Koenig] knew that the Zennites had given him the ability to see into the nature of reality in a way that was not shared by the Alphans. He could resist the spell of Piri (p. 115). It reads like Koenig was 'red-pilled' decades before The Matrix made it a thing! But TV missed an opportunity that Ball seized, even if just in passing. Remember Eagle Six that was so memorably suspended in air when the Guardian suspended time? Ball ties up that dangling plot thread: Koenig looked and saw the Eagle complete its interrupted crash-dive. Time had begun again (p. 141). Presumably pilots Barker and Irving escaped that crash as the Eagle was empty and Barker was seen on Piri's surface. The book does suffer a few shortcomings, among them repeating the word "roared" a million times in the last third of the book. Somebody is roaring on literally every page. What's wrong with a yell, a scream, a bellow? Another is Ball presenting Paul Morrow as a Lou Ferrigno-proportioned Hulklike character with numerous references to his size and strength. Huh? Actor Prentis Hancock's build just doesn't match that of his literary counterpart. Ball, like his predecessors Tubb and Rankine, also repeats characters' full names much too frequently. Cynically, I saw it as padding the word count. Minor grievances and nitpicks aside, The Space Guardians is a very good book, one that adds immeasurably to the enjoyment of the television episodes, and which taken on its own would read as a seamless and satisfying whole. Eager for more of the same, I was disappointed to learn this was Brian Ball's sole novelization (though 30 years later he published an original novel, Space: 1999 Survival). The remainder of the series novelizations are bounced back and forth between Tubb and Rankine. For those wanting a Cliff's Notes version of this book, or a try-before-you-buy sample of Ball's writing, I included below a bunch of cherrypicked quotations I liked (and hope you will too). Thank you for reading my review! PS: When I read this book in January 2024 I was the sole person doing so (among Goodreads members, anyway). I felt old and lonely, like the literary equivalent of the Maytag repairman! I am also currently reading Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to Galaxy, which was published just four years after Ball's book, and I'm one of a whopping 36,000 readers currently enjoying it. I don't feel so lonely anymore (still feel old, though!). POTENT QUOTES Opening lines: Dr. Helena Russell looked out over the bleak pinnacles of volcanic rock. She shivered. The reaches of space were so vast, so empty. A star, brighter than most, flared briefly. She turned away. Then she remembered Koenig's advice: 'When it gets bad, Helena, go out and look at it close. The rock. The ash. And the craters. And then look up to the stars. When you do that ask yourself, Are we really alone out here? Try it, Helena. Try it.' (p. 7) Since the nuclear cataclysm that had blown the Moon clear of Earth and into its giddying flight through uncharted space, he had become accustomed to the distances and the emptiness. And the danger. (p. 7) Koenig's first glimpse of Vana: She was quite tall, slim, dressed in a long gown which shimmered with red and gold lights. It covered her body yet revealed its beauties. The form beneath had a graceful elegance, rounded and slender; honey-bronze and exquisite. And she had vanished in the moment he had looked at her. (pp. 14-15) What is this thing called love? Koenig felt Vana's slim softness, very close. 'I've read of it in the ancient texts,' she said. 'I don't suppose any of our people have ever experienced it.' Vana smiled. 'John, isn't it called "love"?' (p. 38; last lines of chapter 5; the next opens, Koenig knew what it was like to be young again.) (p. 39) Hmm, a lot can happen off-page between chapters! You, Vana, in love with what is to him an ape-man.' Vana threw [herself] around him. 'Ape-man, Earthman, space-man, star-man! You'll stay--I know it!' Koenig held her close. (p. 40) Hmm. is that a line of Zennite poetry? (Better than any Vogon compositions, right?) Spoiler: John didn't stay. Zaan speaks: I brought you here as an experiment, John Koenig,' he said. 'I have learned more than I dared hope. You awakened in Vana's heart something I thought dead in the souls of the Zennites--and perhaps more of us might rediscover what we have lost.' He looked past Koenig, and the Alphan saw in the keen stare something like awe. 'I think we could respond to danger,' John Koenig. And I hope we would have your courage when it came.' (p.45) The purple void began to shadow Koenig's mind. Through it, he saw the slim body of the woman he loved. The last he saw of her was her hand, raised in a hopeless gesture of farewell. (p. 45) Force of Life Re: Anton Zoref: Since school he had been awed by the temerity of mankind in taming and harnessing the might of nuclear fission; and Eva shared his feelings. If they hadn't been caught up in the giant nuclear catastrophe that blasted the Moon from his parent body, they would have been doing just the same kind of work. Zoref was one of the few Alphans who didn't much regret their enforced voyage. (p. 54) Helena crossed to him. 'How long did it take you to get over what happened on Zenno?' ... He was about to tell Helena Russell that his experiences on Zenno were in no way similar to Eva Zoref's loss of a man who had become possessed by an aberrant creature from the void, but he stopped. There was a parallel--loss.' (p. 86) The Guardian of Piri She too looked at the oppressive dark. 'If I thought there was a God, I'd say He's lost us.' (p. 88) Interesting that Helena is an atheist. She may be alone in that stance, as John thanks God on p. 30 and Victor speaks of a "miracle" and a "sign" on p. 104. Koenig's morale-boosting fail: We're out beyond the range of Earth's furthest-ranging scanners, but that shouldn't worry us. Keep it firmly before your Sections--there's no way back for us! We go where the Moon's flight-path takes us, and we live with it. Make sure that every last man and woman on Moonbase Alpha understands: until we're across the gulf, there can be no more talk of a future anywhere except here, on this planet, on this base, right here! There's nothing, but nothing, out there! (p. 89) Bergman was frankly babbling: 'It's wonderful, John! I knew it--this is our planet. It's the end of all that space wandering. It's going to be our home. A miracle like that is a sign to us--' He stopped, and seemed to recollect his position as the cool intellectual whose reputation was based on emotionless cerebration. (p. 104) I love the Seventies! Here are a couple passages that would likely raise eyebrows if not the ire of woke readers in the 2020s: Morrow was laughing. So was Kano. And Bergman. Others joined in. There was a zany, indulgent good humour in their laughter. A fat technician doubled up over his console, holding his stomach against the pain of his jerking laughter. (p. 106) We can leave the rocks and the dust,' said Helena, like a housewife contemplating a spring-cleaning. 'John, I can't wait to get to Piri!' (p. 108) Morrow laughed aloud: 'John, I guess that Zenno experience left you sour--can't you believe we've hit the jackpot?' (p. 109) Koenig was not surprised to see a girl advancing towards him. She was radiant, a young girl with the delicate skin and slender roundness of later adolescence. 'Welcome to Piri,' she said. Koenig was stunned, not by her freshness and beauty nor by the suddenness of her appearance: it was the tremendous feeling of well-being that left him dazed. She walked towards him, loose robe open so that he saw the rosebud nipples. She kissed him on the lips. It was a rebirth. All the bitterness of loss and regret ebbed away. all doubts vanished. 'Piri the beautiful,' he said. 'Piri, the end of our voyaging.' (p. 113) 'John, I was sent to check your doubts. Believe me, this is your home. It is the place of peace at last.' Koenig shook his head: 'I want my men.' 'They are at peace, John.' 'The peace of death!' Koenig roared. He knew that the Zennites had given him the ability to see into the nature of reality in a way that was not shared by the Alphans. He could resist the spell of Piri. 'I'm taking my men back!' 'No,' said the girl. 'The Guardian will make you perfect too!' She put a hand to his arm. It was a grip of steel. Her wide-set eyes stared into his and he shivered, for there was no spark of humanity, no exchange of emotion. (p. 115) He felt panic give way to the peace of resignation. Arguments coasted through his mind. Why struggle against the inevitable? Why not admit that it was the ambition of the human race to do what the ancient Pirians had done--to leave control to an all-powerful machine? (p. 127) When the Pirian girl came on the third day of his lonely vigil, he found fresh strength from the knowledge of what he had given up on Zenno. (p. 129) Grotesquely large in the spacesuit, he watched his long shadow approach the last of the Eagles. The girl walked by his side, diaphanous robes swirling. Koenig felt for the butt of his stun-gun. Its comforting bulk nestled in his hand. It wasn't much against the mysterious might of the Guardian of Piri. (p. 131) Her robe was open to the waist. She smiled as he looked down at her well-shaped breasts. (p. 133) ... She looked down and saw that her robe was open, and a very human emotion chased across her face. She covered her breasts. Her face was crimson. (p.134-35) 'We have found paradise!' Morrow yelled, and his huge face was transfigured. ... Bergman too had a maniacal exultance. 'The Guardian brings gifts, John! Peace and delight, forever!' 'Commander, there will be no more pain!' called a slim girl, and Koenig recognized Eva Zoref. (p. 137) That one mention of Eva Zoref successfully and meaningfully links the second story with this, especially as both were in pain and grieving losses. Beneath the skin-like covering, they saw a complex of circuitry. 'That was the last Pirian,' said Koenig quietly. 'The Pirians faded away because they made their wills over to the machines. The last and greatest of the machines remembered what the Pirians had looked like and created this robot to beguile us.' (p. 142) ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Jan 02, 2024
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Jan 24, 2024
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Jan 02, 2024
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Paperback
| |||||||||||||||||
| 0671527215
| 9780671527211
| 0671527215
| 4.23
| 1,899,601
| Oct 12, 1979
| 1985
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liked it
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Hitchin' a Ride on the Heart of Gold Wow, what a fun book! Glad I finally read the actual novel. Back in the late '80s (when Red Dwarf was just getting Hitchin' a Ride on the Heart of Gold Wow, what a fun book! Glad I finally read the actual novel. Back in the late '80s (when Red Dwarf was just getting underway), I caught the 1981 miniseries on PBS and loved it. Then I watched it again in recent years and enjoyed it even more. Douglas Adams wrote the miniseries, so fidelity to the book was oftentimes word-for-word. As I read the book I pictured Simon Jones as Arthur Dent and David Dixon as Ford Prefect along with the rest of the cast (especially Marvin's voice!). It was because of reports of rampant infidelity to the book that I studiously avoided the 2005 feature film. Besides, it is my conviction that nothing could top the miniseries and nobody could embody the characters in my imagination as well as the original players. Hitchhiker's Guide reminded me a lot of a longtime favorite novel: Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. Short chapters and a storyline punctuated by random vignettes, some that spark thought and others laughter. I bought on eBay a vintage box set boasting the four-book trilogy, and so will join Zaphod and Co. for a bite in the sequel, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, portions of which made it into the '81 miniseries. Speaking of which, when push comes to shove, I would consider this a rare instance where the television adaptation transcended its original literary source. The novel was well served and elevated by the visual effects and especially by the talented actors who brought all the characters to life (life? Don't talk to me about life.). A splendid time was had by all. See you over a round of Pangalactic Gargleblasters in the next book! ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Jan 02, 2024
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Feb 02, 2024
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Jan 02, 2024
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Mass Market Paperback
| ||||||||||||||
| 0671801856
| 9780671801854
| 0671801856
| 3.24
| 50
| 1975
| Sep 01, 1975
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really liked it
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Have You Seen Jackie? This second volume boasts adaptations of four episodes: "Alpha Child," "The Last Sunset," "Voyager's Return," and "Another Time, Have You Seen Jackie? This second volume boasts adaptations of four episodes: "Alpha Child," "The Last Sunset," "Voyager's Return," and "Another Time, Another Place." Author John Rankine did an outstanding job capturing in prose each episode (and it certainly helped that he was assigned several of Year One's strongest shows). These prose adaptations are an excellent complement and an elaboration on the episodes. I'm enjoying the series and finding the books give me a greater appreciation for the episodes, providing insight into the characters' thoughts and motivations that the restrictions of television couldn't allow. Rankine is especially gifted at vivid descriptions, and if you enjoy good writing, you'll appreciate all he brought to these pages that deepens and broadens what is only hinted at in the television scripts. That said, my enjoyment was enhanced by knowing the episodes and I certainly pictured in my mind Julian Glover as Jarak, Jeremy Kemp as Ernst Quellar, and most vividly of all Judy Geeson as Regina Kesslann. I recommend reading the adaptations after enjoying the episodes, allowing the prose to act as a supplement to the show, providing the voices and the visuals to draw upon. I give to all my fellow fans an enthusiastic thumbs up on this book and the preceding volume. John Rankine will return to write two more volumes of adaptations as well as two original Space: 1999 novels. I'm eagerly anticipating reading those (once I secure affordable copies!). I will close with a compilation of quotations I especially enjoyed that I hope will provide prospective readers a preview and a taste of Rankine's appealing and sophisticated style. The Ring of Rankine "The infinite corridors of space-time; random alleys for their Moon ball to rattle in." (18) "Koenig looked from screen to screen. Carter and Morrow. The axeman and the advisor." (21) "A whirlwind billowed up the elevation shaft to launch pad one, spewing up a fountain of debris like a ticker tape welcome in reverse." (51) "Their Moon was ploughing its furrow in an empty quarter. (120) "Bergman shifted irritably, not liking to be outside the confines of knowledge." (127) Classical Gas Rankine demonstrated his knowledge of mythology and the classics and drew upon those rich resources to great effect. "A tannoy blared out and the lotus eaters turned lazily to listen to the next ration of good news." (56) "Then the rain flurry was a deluge and they were out again, capering like crazy children in the first rain they had seen for too long. Paul Morrow was holding Sandra in the rain, her hair flattened in a sheath, water running over her shoulders, falling from the points of her breasts like a nymph in a fountain." (59) "The screen was filled with the blue and white whorls of Earth planet. ... They had come home after their long wandering. It was their Ithaca. (128) "[Regina] opened the door and ran into the corridor, pain wracking her, moving jerkily in her floating flimsy wrap like a Maenad maddened and stung by an ivy leaf brew. ... Regina Kesslann had appeared in the doorway of Main Mission. Her hair disheveled, head weaving from side to side, eyes wild with a panic fear she could not control, a flimsily packaged nude, incongruously aiming a stun gun." (133-35) Wooden ships on the water, very free and easy The passages below brought to mind the Trek films likening Cap'n Kirk with his wooden wheel to the clipper ship commanders of old. Rankine was out in front drawing the parallel for Koenig. "John Koenig ... was keeping a vigil like a captain in a homebound clipper driving his ship in a half gale." (75) "The whole fabric of Main Mission was creaking and groaning with stress like the timbers of a wooden ship in a hurricane wind." (122) After reading that evocative line, I just had to listen to Jefferson Airplane's version of "Wooden Ships," which opens with exactly that creaking and groaning! No Sense, Please, We're British As a colonial, the following lines left me flummoxed and befuddled. "Above the barren lunar surface the sky was flushing with a rose madder down. They had a bright sun like a warm penny standing on the horizon. (52) "Alan Carter said, 'there are twenty-seven serviceable Eagles available for a search plan. A pound to a pinch of porridge not one of them's still on the pad.'" (65) I'm assuming this is the Aussie equivalent of the American "a dollar to a donut"? "... they ripped out lengths of cladding for a pitched roof. it was a Heath Robinson structure at best, but Morrow was inordinately proud of it, as though he was seeing it as a Winter Palace." (73) I thought surely Rankine must have meant Robinson Crusoe, but I looked it up in my Funk & Wagnalls (okay, Google) and learned Heath Robinson was the original English cartoonist of elaborate contraptions whose work inspired American Rube Goldberg. " [Helena] heard Bergman make a request for computer service and heard its plummy tones. (90) "Plummy"? I thought, does Rankine mean "plucky"? No, "plummy" refers to a high-class, well-bred English accent. And now for something completely different... (to misappropriate a line from Monty P.). A treat for those steadfast souls who stuck with this review from the brim to the dregs... The Moon Odyssey Drinking Game! Toss back a swig of Sanka or something stronger whenever you come upon these peculiar and/or oft-used Rankine phrasings: Klaxons Those "awooga" alarms, which sound ceaselessly throughout the book. Glad they didn't use those on the show! Earth planet Why does Rankine redundantly append "planet" to most mentions of Earth? Spacers Rankine's eccentric shorthand term for spacecraft, spaceships, etc. Bathroom breaks--and you'll need 'em--are allowed whenever the frequently employed word "freak" appears. Enjoy! PS: My review title is taken from the Dukes of Stratosphear/XTC song of the same name. Knowing the band were fans of comic books and very likely of sci-fi shows like Space: 1999 as well, I wonder if "Alpha Child" was the song's inspiration. After all, Jackie really was "a strange, strange, strange little boy"! ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Apr 05, 2023
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Dec 30, 2023
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Apr 05, 2023
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Mass Market Paperback
| ||||||||||||||
| 0671801848
| 9780671801847
| 0671801848
| 3.35
| 123
| 1975
| Sep 1975
|
really liked it
|
Revisit and Enjoy the Series All Over Again in Prose This first in a series of Space: 1999 novelizations exceeded expectations. Veteran science-fiction Revisit and Enjoy the Series All Over Again in Prose This first in a series of Space: 1999 novelizations exceeded expectations. Veteran science-fiction writer E.C. Tubb brought some extra oomph to his adaptations that elevated them above mere story synopses. The book read fast and was engaging all the way through, never lagging, speeding along to a satisfying finish. Other reviewers noted "Black Sun" was only given two chapters, 15 pages total. But did it need more? I read it and found nothing lacking. The toast with Victor's 60-year-old brandy is here, and the disruptions in time are captured masterfully in prose by Tubb, from the garbled language to the glimpses of and reaching for something beyond them that exceeded their grasp. The television episodes are 50 minutes long by necessity, and are often padded out with establishing shots, special effects visuals, closeups of the casts' facial expressions, none of which Tubb could or necessarily needed to include. I appreciated the leanness of Tubb's writing that sacrificed nothing and redeemed much. Another reviewer dismissed these novelizations as superfluous now. I mean, we have the shows on bluray and can watch an episode at any time we wish, right? Oh, what an impossible dream that was, however, back in 1975 when this book was published (and before it, the James Blish Star Trek adaptations). I remember being a kid in the '70s when there were no VCRs and when you caught an episode you had to commit it to memory best one could. Or, for the ambitious, tape the audio on a cassette recorder, as I did with some Trek episodes. These novelizations captured in print those stories for when our memories proved elusive. But more than that, reading Breakaway now I appreciated it as a complementary work that stands alongside the episodes. Tubb didn't just dutifully summarize the plots; he added flourishes and details that are unique to the book. Random examples from later chapters include: Victor has the testimonial for his Nobel Prize for physics framed in his laboratory. He's prone to being pedantic, correcting Koenig's term "black hole" with "black sun." Victor speaks "as if addressing a class of students" (p. 123). After the breakaway, did everyone just accept their fate and press on? No, "There had been failures; one woman had gone mad, another had slashed her wrists and died before aid could save her. A man had gone berserk, beating his hands and head against a wall...(p. 130). Implication of a baby born on Alpha before Jackie in "Alpha Child": "Two women who looked like squaws and a bundle I didn't know was alive until it moved." Victor identified Elgar from security as the father (p. 136). Koenig observes people occupying themselves as they approach the black hole, "Mathias and Kano locked in an endless game of chess,"and "the woman he has seen quietly praying. Of them all she was probably helping the most" (p. 136). A perfect description of Barbara Bain as Helena: "the golden helmet of her hair ... composure like an iron mask" (p. 140). One major deviation from the Year One episodes concerns Commissioner Simmonds. [possible spoiler ahead] This novelization was obviously written before the script for the episode "Earthbound" (with Christopher Lee) because in the wake of the cataclysmic explosion that results in the moon's breakaway, Tubb bluntly declares, "Simmonds was dead. He lay where he had fallen, his head at an ugly angle, a patch of blood bright beneath his temple. The fall had broken his skull and the acceleration pressure had done the rest. His face, beneath the beard, looked oddly peaceful" (p. 46). It was fascinating to read the original intent for Simmonds as a throwaway character killed off and forgotten. But actor Roy Dotrice's portrayal of Simmonds was so provocative that the writers must have realized they had to kill off this loathsome power-mad functionary in a more fitting and fantastic fashion--and they sure did! Tubb also takes care to capture the "little things," like Victor's invariably saying the name "John" when speaking to Koenig, Kano's personifying Computer and thinking of it as a friend, and the unspoken affection between Koenig and Helena and Paul and Sandra. It's all here. In closing, I will admit I recently rewatched Year One on bluray, which was like seeing it again for the first time, light years from my snowy, rolling, bunny-eared reception and commercially punctuated experiences of decades ago. Having the episodes fresh in my mind undoubtedly enhanced my enjoyment of this book because I could "see" in my mind's eye so much of what was being described. Reading Breakaway cold, never having seen the episodes, would surely have diminished the experience. But how many people would read a TV tie-in novel without already knowing and enjoying the show? For fans who love the show and who love reading, Breakaway is highly recommended for revisiting afresh the opening chapters of the saga. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Mar 16, 2023
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Mar 28, 2023
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Mar 16, 2023
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Mass Market Paperback
| ||||||||||||||
| B001EYX9RM
| 3.42
| 492
| 1966
| 1970
|
it was ok
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Fitting for a time-travel story, this novel was suggested to me by a reference in a 50-year-old comic book letter's page. I found a secondhand hardbac
Fitting for a time-travel story, this novel was suggested to me by a reference in a 50-year-old comic book letter's page. I found a secondhand hardback on eBay and waded in. The novel immediately engaged me. I liked the characters and the narrator especially. The excursion the two friends--one a scientist and the other an accomplished composer--was vividly described. I could feel the rocks beneath my feet, smell the bacon, and taste the tea! The science-fiction elements crept in naturally. Where did you vanish to for half a day with no memory? Where's that birthmark on your back? The trip to Hawaii with the narrator tagging along was an effective proxy for the reader: a non-scientist swept along and offered entry into a world of intrigue and possible cataclysm. Was Los Angeles destroyed? Well, it ain't there anymore! But total annihilation isn't the only explanation. Somehow America has become "unstuck in time" (to use the apt phrase Vonnegut would later coin) and has reverted to a pastoral idyll circa mid-18th century. As the jetliner flew over America and the characters gaped through the cockpit windows, I thought, okay, Hoyle saw the "Odyssey of Flight 33" episode of Twilight Zone. That's cool. I liked that episode a lot myself and didn't begrudge Hoyle paying homage to it. The book was bogging down and then ground to a halt when the narrator joined an exploratory party visiting Greece, which has conveniently reverted to its ancient halcyon days. When the explorers, led by a captain named Morgan (which convinced me Hoyle was writing this in a pub after a day's work as an astrophysicist and swiped the name from a rum bottle). These Ancient Greece chapters were a bore, to be frank, though a classics scholar may disagree. When the narrator dispatches some slaves to retrieve his piano from the motorboat I was almost apoplectic: What about the Prime Directive? And then I thought, wait, this guy brought a piano on the mission? And then I thought, okay, Hoyle also saw "The Seventh is Made Up of Phantoms," the Twilight Zone episode where 1960s-era soldiers travel back in time to the 1860's Battle of the Little Big Horn, which premise Hoyle lifted wholesale when having 1966's British military interceding in the 1917 Great War. The Ancient Greece chapters broke my momentum and made finishing the book a chore. But I committed to finishing this novel by midnight on September 30 because--you guessed it--October the first would be too late! Even the plot twist following the ridiculous "epic musical battle" left me unfazed. In fact, I found the far-flung future reveal to be less interesting than the possibility posed early in the book of messages emanating from the sun. I closed the book disappointed and glad to be done hours before my self-imposed deadline. It wasn't a terrible book; in fact, many parts were very enjoyable. But Hoyle larded too many chapters with pedantic lecturing and worse, excruciatingly detailed descriptions of composing and performing music. I've already placed it in my HPB-bound box of books I know I will never revisit. Recommended for classics scholars and musicians only. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Aug 30, 2022
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Sep 30, 2022
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Oct 01, 2022
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Hardcover
| ||||||||||||||||
| 3.46
| 433
| Jan 01, 1958
| Oct 1968
|
did not like it
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What goes up must come down / Spinnin' wheel, got to go 'round From the uttermost of the series' third book to the guttermost with this dismal closing What goes up must come down / Spinnin' wheel, got to go 'round From the uttermost of the series' third book to the guttermost with this dismal closing chapter of the Cities in Flight saga. I feared it would be a let down, but I never suspected it would be so bad. The narrative bounced between impenetrable faux-physics to turgid romance to puppy love and parental handwringing. It was dreadful first page to last. Oh, and then the universe ends. Okay, there was an attempt to shoehorn in some action and suspense with Jorn the Apostle's Warriors of God "jehad" against the powers that be. There was potential here, with rustic revolutionaries armed with portable "spindillies" that could tear a person apart or send aloft a portion of a city block, reducing structures to rubble. They even take Hazleton hostage. But the Amazing Amalfi makes a Zoom call to Jorn himself and everything is settled in short order. It was so slapdash and poorly developed an episode that Blish himself admits in his 1964 afterword that a magazine editor who expressed interest in serializing the novel wanted to cut the entire Jorn sequence. The editor was right. The Jorn chapters are like a false nose on the narrative. Blish's strength is writing plot-driven stories. Here he tried to develop characters, and the results were at best unconvincing. Dee's awkward expressions of love for Amalfi were embarrassingly bad. New characters Web and Estelle were annoying in their Lake Wobegon above-averageness, from bringing youthful insights to the problems that baffled their elders to their serene expressions and soft voices. I never got a firm grasp on them as three-dimensional characters. And Dee's fretting over them was very much 1950's sitcom mom. Other characters were just as blurry and vague: Jake, Schloss, Carrell, Gifford Bonner--who were these people? They just mouthed endless exposition none of which was especially interesting. Then the planet He shows up again with Miramon still at the helm. Never an especially interesting character, Miramon enjoys a larger role as the book unfolds. And his very model of a modern planetary emperor character was so unlike the unsophisticated village elder we met earlier he may as well have been a wholly different character. There's a new philosophy in vogue that is capturing people's attention: Stochasticism: "the most recent of many attempts to construct a complete philosophy, from esthetics to ethics" (p. 29). This was certainly drawing upon Ayn Rand's philosophy Objectivism, which was also a complete philosophy that was detailed in her novel Atlas Shrugged, which was published in 1957, a year prior to this novel by Blish. Hazleton is swept up in this new philosophy, and this promised to be an interesting subplot with some satire and thoughtful critique, but... Like Blish's jab at the Jehovah's Witnesses with The Believers in They Shall Have Stars, the Stochasticism subplot is never developed. Just another throwaway plot device. This book brings to a close the Cities in Flight saga and Blish brings the whole universe down with it. As the back cover of my old Avon edition screams: APOCALYPSE! Time must have a stop, and that will be three short years away. A blurb inside my paperback says this book is "a kind of cosmic On the Beach," but aside from characters facing an inevitable end there is little resemblance. Shute's novel (and the very good movie made from it) was character studies, and while Blish attempted that at various times, it just didn't work. Character study was not his strength. Blish's interest in religion shone through in his choice to end this universe in AD 4004, since the traditional date of Creation is 4004 BC. And the closing line did result in a Spock-like raised eyebrow (fascinating). But that intriguing moment aside, reading this novel proved a chore and I was glad to close the book. I was so elated after the first three, and utterly deflated after this one. The Cities in Flight Chronology in the back did stir up good memories of the events of earlier volumes. The year I read the saga, 2021, was an eventful one: "Escape of the 'Colonials' from the Jovian system. Trial and death of Wagoner. Death of Corsi, under questioning" (p. 156). Speaking of Spock, I have also been reading Blish's Star Trek novelizations, and while I haven't yet come across any snuck-in references to his own fictional universe, Blish's style and penchant for dated slang are evident throughout them. Another reviewer here suggested Blish was tapped to write those novelizations based on Earthman, Come Home, which was very Trek-like in Amalfi seeking out of strange new worlds and civilizations. Ground Control to author Blish: So long and thanks for all the fish, And now it's time to say good night, Let that spindizzy city take flight! ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Feb 25, 2021
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Mar 02, 2021
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Feb 25, 2021
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Mass Market Paperback
| |||||||||||||||||
| 3.74
| 749
| 1955
| Apr 1968
|
really liked it
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New York, New York, it's a helluva town! This third of four Cities in Flight novels must surely be the pinnacle. It was the longest but read the quicke New York, New York, it's a helluva town! This third of four Cities in Flight novels must surely be the pinnacle. It was the longest but read the quickest--I couldn't put it down. Mayor Amalfi, met briefly in the second novel, takes center stage to play a pivotal role in New York City's future history. Reading this book on the heels of A Life for the Stars, which closed with Chris being named city manager, I anticipated reading of his new adventures with Mayor Amalfi's. But alas, Blish for whatever reason discarded the character of Chris in a throwaway line: "deFord had been shot by the City Fathers around the year 3300 for engineering an egregious violation of the city's contract with a planet called Epoch" (p. 18). Huh? That didn't read like the Chris we knew and cheered on. And how could the City Fathers shoot anyone when they are only computer banks? That implies they ordered Chris shot and somehow Amalfi was complicit. So that set things off on a bad foot. This novel is set 600 years after the execution of deFord. Current city manager Mark Hazleton could just as easily been deFord, and I wished Blish had simply recast Hazleton as deFord to tighten the continuity between the books. But I grew to like Hazleton and the old man-young protege relationship they shared. It reminded me of the rapport Karl Malden and Mike Douglas enjoyed on The Streets of San Francisco. The complicating factor of Dee and the resulting love triangle was never fully developed, and that was for the better. Blish didn't seem to know what to do with Dee, besides using her to ask naive questions readers would likely ask that allowed Amalfi to offer exposition. And then there's her gratuitous and bizarre "nude scene" in the abandoned subway station that served no purpose than to "sex up" the narrative for a couple pages. Blish is at his best writing plot-driven space adventure, and this book boasted a bounty of action-packed and suspenseful scenes, culminating in the final chapters with the introduction of Karst and the showdown with the notorious IMT (of "Remember Thor V" infamy). I defy any reader to get to those closing couple chapters and set the book down. Blish cranked the suspense to overload and I could almost hear the Mission: Impossible music playing while our latter-day Phelps and Barney engineered the awe-inspiring climax. The novel is necessarily episodic because it is four short stories stitched together. But to Blish's credit, he edited them so well the seams between stories never showed. Well, barely showed. Hazleton's disappearance in the final sequence indicates he wasn't a part of the original "Earthman, Come Home" story. I'd like to read the originals and compare them to the novelized forms. Blish's vivid writing left many images lingering in my mind, from the jungle of cities circling that red dwarf to my favorite: The legendary Vegan Orbital Fort reduced to being a bug splattered on the windshield of the spindizzy-powered planet Hern VI, which was like a bowling ball hurtling through the pins. And of course that final scene that upended the age-old adage that what goes up must come down. Onward to the closing volume. I initially thought I would read one and pick up the next volume a month or two later, but Blish has me riveted. I suspect Earthman, Come Home was the pinnacle and that this final volume will be epilogue at best and anticlimactic at worst, but there's only one way to find out: Spin! ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Feb 07, 2021
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Feb 25, 2021
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Feb 07, 2021
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Paperback
| |||||||||||||||||
| B0DN6YLWNQ
| unknown
| 3.91
| 1,162
| 1962
| unknown
|
liked it
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Huck Finn in the Thirtieth Century A fun and fast read. A Life for the Stars is a "coming-of-age" story in the juvenile or "young adult" genre, a switc Huck Finn in the Thirtieth Century A fun and fast read. A Life for the Stars is a "coming-of-age" story in the juvenile or "young adult" genre, a switch from the adult intrigue and harder sci-fi of the series' opening novel. That isn't to diminish the book's enjoyment, but perhaps to reset expectations. Blish's afterword implies he wrote this book as a "key to admit" younger readers, and it succeeds. I read it as if I were 12 again and was swept up and away like hapless Chris was when Scranton took flight. I knew the book had captured me when I would find myself picking it up to read a few pages whenever time allowed, and then resisting putting it down again when real-life responsibilities summoned (just one more page!). And in less than a week the story of Chris, his foster folks the Andersons, and his friends Piggy and Frad had drawn to a satisfactory conclusion. At a mere 138 pages the book was too short and I was sorry to being saying goodbye so soon, but, Blish assures us, some of the characters we met here will turn up again in the following two novels. (And a couple of the characters we met in the preceding book are mentioned here in passing: Bliss Wagoner and Francis X. McHinery.) What worked: Blish wrote an engaging story for readers of any age, and it was easy to identify with Chris. I suspect Blish based Chris on Huckleberry Finn, a naturally smart and resourceful kid whose travels through space are like those of Huck on the Mississippi aboard his raft, meeting folks both friendly and frightening. Chris learns quick, is adaptable and winsome. His friend Piggy is the Goofus to Chris' Gallant, a contrast that lets Chris shine brighter. The story rolled along like Huck's river, with rarely a dull moment. The plot threads all came together nicely in the end and left me smiling. Speaking of Piggy, I wondered if Blish took the name from Golding's Lord of the Flies. And was the planet named Heaven an allusion and homage to Bradbury? And I similarly wondered if the Andersons were meant to evoke the loving family from the TV sitcom Father Knows Best. And that leads me to... What Didn't Work: Blish utterly failed to convince me this story was unfolding in the third millennium. Dropping dates and window dressing like robot-controlled cabs (complete with checker designs) were not enough. The amazing spindizzy and the descriptions of cities in flight were very good, but they weren't sustained sufficiently to convince me this was a far-flung future. Characters named Barney and Frank, others nicknamed "Red" and "Irish," outdated slang like "nix," coffee cups clinking in their saucers and WNYC still broadcasting the news headlines all had me envisioning a 1950's setting. Other anachronisms that took me out of the future included the castle complete with a moat and dungeon and rifles that fired old-fashioned bullets that can perforate the sides of a cab. But the story's heart wasn't dependent on a convincing thirtieth century setting; this was a character-driven story and in that Blish certainly succeeded. I especially liked the encouraging message that each of us has untapped potential. Chris feared he had no skills that would earn him citizenship, but as his teacher assured him, the City Fathers were foraging through his mind and testing him so relentlessly because they detected something worthwhile lurked in this young man. And indeed there did. Back to the Future! I'm poised and primed to take up the third book of the series, Earthman, Come Home, to see what happens next. I see that to go forward in time we must go backwards to Blish's earliest written Okie adventures, and this next book will stitch together four early 1950's short stories. My battered, spine-rolled, second-hand 1968 Avon paperback clocks in at a relatively hefty 253 pages, and it promises to be a pageturner. And I'm gonna start turning those pages as soon as this review is posted! ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Jan 31, 2021
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Feb 06, 2021
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Feb 07, 2021
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Unknown Binding
| |||||||||||||||
| 0099086700
| 9780099086703
| B001E52GWA
| 3.76
| 1,807
| 1956
| 1967
|
liked it
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The Future Ain't What It Used to Be One down and three to go in James Blish's celebrated Cities in Flight series. It was great fun reading about the ye The Future Ain't What It Used to Be One down and three to go in James Blish's celebrated Cities in Flight series. It was great fun reading about the years 2018 through 2020 as forecast in the 1950s. Of course the envisioned future failed to come about exactly as Blish pictured it, but what progress we lack today in interplanetary travel we made up for in other ways: Instances of mailing paper letters and burning the carbons made me grateful for the computer age, e-mail, and the internet. But references to the decline of the West, the ongoing Cold War with the Soviets, and a thinly veiled Joseph McCarthy character still have troubling parallels today. This short novel packed a lot in: Government corruption and the accompanying personal feuds and power grabs, religious revivalism reflective of today's "woke" churches (Blish's Believers rewrite the Bible regularly), scientific progress and the pesky ethical questions that present hurdles to questionable outcomes, and government workers investing (and losing) their lives in Sisyphean projects--the Bridge on Jupiter--that are simply stepping stones and smokescreens for other projects the workers are never made privy to. There's even a little romance too. I will admit I skimmed the "hard science" portions complete with mathematical formulae, but I never lost the thread of the story. To Blish's credit he balances well a character-driven narrative with the theoretical science and convinced me his future world was a reasonable and attainable one. It also testified to the fact that while scientific advancements can be made that stagger the imagination, the people populating the world will still suffer the same foibles, fears, and frailties that have plagued humanity since the beginning. The Believers' catchphrase is [book:Millions Now Living Will Never Die!|, which was a celebrated 1920 book by Jehovah's Witnesses leader Judge Rutherford. The Witnesses were and are still known for holding annual meetings in stadiums, and were rewriting the Bible when creating their New World Translation, so Blish was assuredly drawing upon that organization, but for what purpose? I found their appearances intriguing, but they never figured into the actual plot as more than window dressing. Maybe this was laying the groundwork for later developments in later books? A prescient passage for the Covid plandemic era of 2020-2021: "In fifty years of unrelenting pressure, they succeeded in converting the West into a system so like the Soviets' as to make direct military action unnecessary; we Sovietized ourselves and our moves are now exactly predictable (p. 147)." Substitute for the Soviets Big Tech, Big Government, Big Pharma et al. that has cowed a populace with fear and tracks our every online move and purchase and uses logarithms to suggest the next one. Substitute the czars of the cancel culture and their online doxing and intimidating footsoldiers for MacHinery and his "gumshoes" that target and tear down decent people. Carbon papers aside, perhaps Blish did after all rightly envision this period of history in his entertaining and thought-provoking novel. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Jan 11, 2021
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Jan 30, 2021
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Jan 11, 2021
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Paperback
| ||||||||||||||
| 0425022021
| 9780425022023
| 0425022021
| 3.92
| 317,763
| Jul 1961
| Mar 1968
|
liked it
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A great book that was living up to the hype . . . until Michael starts his love cult, then the book spirals into awfulness. It reads almost like two b
A great book that was living up to the hype . . . until Michael starts his love cult, then the book spirals into awfulness. It reads almost like two books. There's a definite shift just past the halfway point. The first half is excellent, the latter-half dreadfully bad.
...more
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Notes are private!
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1
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Mar 2018
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Apr 15, 2018
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Mar 04, 2018
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Mass Market Paperback
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| 0345024877
| 9780345024879
| 0345024877
| 3.58
| 2,346
| Jan 01, 1968
| 1968
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liked it
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**spoiler alert** Priest-Kings of Gor is the fledgling Gor saga's third and most ambitious book thus far in both length and scope. For me, Norman's am
**spoiler alert** Priest-Kings of Gor is the fledgling Gor saga's third and most ambitious book thus far in both length and scope. For me, Norman's ambitions extended his abilities, and what started off so strong and compelling grew flabby and tired by the final third. Tarl Cabot defies death and enters the forbidden Sardar Mountains, determined to confront the Priest-Kings and demand an explanation for the destruction of his city Ko-ro-ba. There's a lot of build-up to this inevitable encounter, with Tarl clearing the hurdles of the savage snow larls, the red herring Parp, and the mercenary chamber slave Vika of Treve. And the payoff? The Priest-Kings are ... bugs. Big bugs. Giant ant or beetle-like insects. I couldn't help but think of them as looking like Silkie from Teen Titans all grown up to about 12-feet long. Ugh. Try sustaining that revolting visual over a couple hundred pages. And readers are indeed forced to retain a visual of the Priest-Kings because two of them--Sarm and Misk--are major players throughout the novel. Sibling rivalry, it seems, afflicts alien insects just as it does humans, and these two Priest-Kings initiate, escalate, and engage in an epic battle that almost results in the destruction of the planet Gor. Drawn into this civil war are Tarl Cabot, of course, and legions of Priest-Kings and their human slaves, called Muls. A painstakingly detailed recounting of the Feast of Tola ceremony wherein each Priest-King gives Gur to the Mother precedes the epic battle that consumes about a fourth of the novel. The war goes on and on and my interest flagged, especially because Norman resorted to telling instead of showing, adopting an "and then and then and then" narrative style that lulled me into utter apathy. But I hung in there, and am glad I persevered to the end. What redeemed the book for me was the outstanding "Out of the Sardar" chapter near the end of the novel that captured a conversation between Tarl Cabot and Om, "Chief among all the High Initiates of Gor." Om knows Tarl is the first man to emerge alive from the Sardar and, after some verbal bobbing and weaving, implies he knows, as does Tarl, that the religious traditions built up around the Priest-Kings are absurd. In a revealing moment, Om grudgingly laments that as Initiates "We speak not to a man's heart, but only to his fear. We do not speak of love and courage and loyalty and nobility--but of practice and observance and the punishment of the Priest-Kings" (300). I read Om's words as a condemnation of Old Testament-styled religion, complete with its animal sacrifices offered in fear to appease the gods, and as a desire for a New Testament-styled religion that encouraged virtue. Conversely, Tarl is a humanist, rejecting his unprecedented opportunity to put words into the mouths of the Priest-Kings and proclaim them to the people: "No, I would not try to reform man by pretending that my wishes for him were the wishes of the Priest-Kings, even though this might be effective for a time, for the wishes that reform man, that make him what he is capable of becoming, and has not yet become, must be his own and not those of another. If man rises, he can do so only on his own two feet" (299). I would have credited Ayn Rand with this stirring passage had I not known its source. And the lofty ideals expressed here are in fact demonstrated in the novel by Al-Ka and Ba-Ta, who progress from muls to men and are among the novel's more appealing characters. Like Dorothy and friends in The Wizard of Oz, Tarl has peeked behind the curtain, learned the banal truth, and been stripped of his illusions. Tarl saw the computer technology of the Priest-Kings' scanning room that demystified the "flame death," and learned of the implanted humans whose senses transmitted back to the Sardar all that was said and done in their presence. Behind the Priest-Kings' supposed omnipotence, omniscience and omnipresence were simple, technological explanations. The truth is a heavy burden to bear, Tarl learns, and is often the last thing people want to know. In arguably the best passage of the book Tarl experiences an epiphany: With great suddenness I realized that what I knew, and what others knew, would make no difference to the world of Gor. The Initiates had their way of life, their ancient traditions, their given livelihood, the prestige of their caste, which they claimed to be the highest on the planet, their teachings, their holy books, their services, their role to play in the culture. Suppose that even now if they knew the truth--what would change? Would I really expect them--at least on the whole--to burn their robes, to surrender their claims to secret knowledge and powers, to pick up the hoes of the Peasants, the needles of the Cloth Workers, to bend their energies to the humble tasks of honest work? (298) I love passages like this where it's clear John Lange the philosophy professor has informed John Norman the fantasy author. Sure it smacks of Dostoyevsky's "Grand Inquisitor," but seeing it distilled for a popular audience and woven into the narrative so seamlessly is an admirable accomplishment. Another work that sprang to mind in the closing chapters was Ender's Game and its theme of preserving a dying species. Tarl Cabot, at first appearing like a latter-day Nehemiah determined to rebuild his destroyed city, is instead detoured to seek out the Wagon People in search of a lost egg. Norman does skillfully hook the reader and, despite my disappointments in this book, I will be looking forward to reading Nomads of Gor. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Mar 23, 2017
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Apr 16, 2017
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Mar 23, 2017
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Mass Market Paperback
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| 0020869207
| 9780020869207
| 0020869207
| 3.92
| 42,416
| Dec 1945
| 1965
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really liked it
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By far the best of the Space Trilogy and I would argue the best of Lewis' literary fictions (though I must report I have yet to read the celebrated Ch
By far the best of the Space Trilogy and I would argue the best of Lewis' literary fictions (though I must report I have yet to read the celebrated Chronicles of Narnia). Lewis outdoes himself in this ambitious book, one that begs to be reread because it's nigh impossible to capture it all in one pass. This book is only tenuously tied to the first two books of the trilogy and could be read on its own. Everything a reader would need to know from the earlier adventures is reiterated here. There is no "space" in this final volume of the Space Trilogy, all the action being earthbound. Lewis himself subtitled the book a "modern fairy tale for grownups," and that aptly describes it. Gone are the spaceships, strange alien creatures, and other trappings of a genre Lewis proved himself incapable of mastering in the first two volumes. Ransom and Devine are the touchstones to the two earlier books, though each character is reimagined and rechristened here. Both also take a back seat to Mark and Jane Studdock, the protagonists who occupy center stage. Wither, Frost, and especially the irrepressible and unsinkable Miss Hardcastle stand out as memorable supporting characters. Mr. Bultitude? I was not a fan, though I wondered if Lewis should be credited with foreshadowing the friendly bear television phenomenon evident in such shows as "Gentle Ben" and "Grizzly Adams." (though arguably, Jack Benny's bathroom-bound polar bear Carmichael was the genuine original circa the 1930s.) This novel comes in at just shy of 400 pages, and those pages are dense (especially in the small-print 1979 Macmillan paperback I read). The plentiful philosophical debates required rereading to fully grasp, and Wither's ellipses-rich ruminations on elasticity defy quick reading. In fact, the whole book defies skimming. I didn't detect any jet-puffed paragraphs of palaver that could be breezed over. It was a book demanding and deserving of close reading. Having read primarily Lewis' nonfiction theological works, which are erudite, scholarly and maybe even stuffy, it was refreshing to read here his familiarity with barroom slang and the speech of commoners. He captured dialect well and to great effect. I didn't much care for Ivy Maggs or McPhee, but I always believed they were exactly who Lewis presented them to be. And the hapless tramp was an especially delightful and fun character. This book is also underappreciated as an academic satire. Bracton College with its endless faculty meetings, its Progressive Element, and cast of eccentric professors no doubt reflected Lewis' own early experiences within walls and halls of ivy. Lewis' vibrant Christian faith shines through, especially near the end as the reality behind the religion is revealed. The reality of magic and the role played by Merlin puts Lewis in the same august company as Dante, Milton, and Blake, who also freely commingled biblical and mythological personages in their works. If I didn't have the Space Trilogy in a vintage box set I would probably jettison the first two and keep only That Hideous Strength. It's the one book of the three I'll treasure and return to again and again to mine its many insights and riches. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Mar 22, 2017
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May 04, 2017
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Mar 23, 2017
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Mass Market Paperback
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| 0020869002
| 9780020869009
| 0020869002
| 4.00
| 55,599
| 1943
| Sep 01, 1965
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it was ok
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A giant leap forward from the dismal Out of the Silent Planet! That said, still not a great novel, and not really science-fiction. I'd call it a bibli
A giant leap forward from the dismal Out of the Silent Planet! That said, still not a great novel, and not really science-fiction. I'd call it a biblical allegory with fantastic elements. Lewis is on firm ground drawing on the Bible, and does an admirable job presenting the familiar in a new and exciting way. We all know the Adam and Eve story, but Lewis brings suspense and character development to his "alternative history," and allows the story to unfold at a leisurely pace as opposed to the telescoped version we read in Genesis. One of the most compelling characters is Weston, Ransom's nemesis from Out of the Silent Planet, who reappears and proves a formidable foil to Ransom. The several philosophical debates waged between them were all thought-provoking, even if one was conducted while Ransom and Weston were astride dolphin-like creatures racing along the surface of a Perelandran sea. I just couldn't imagine that situation being conducive to reasoned discourse. I liked Lewis' acknowledging in-text his influences, naming outright Paradise Lost, for example, but never Dante's Divine Comedy, which came to mind when Ransom and Weston spelunk to an underground world that stirred up memories of the Inferno. The book that most sprang to my mind, however, was Behold the Man by Michael Moorcock, a beloved science-fiction novel I read back in my twenties and which has haunted me ever since. Perelandra has the distinction of being the only novel I've ever read where the protagonist is nude virtually the entire story, and is probably the only "Christian novel" ever to make such a boast. But it isn't the only book I've read that prominently features a green lady, having by strange coincidence having read just last month Essential Savage She-Hulk, Vol. 1. What're the chances of that? ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Feb 25, 2017
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Mar 16, 2017
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Feb 25, 2017
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Paperback
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| 0020868804
| 9780020868804
| 0020868804
| 3.93
| 98,743
| 1938
| Jun 01, 1965
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it was ok
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I remember reading this as a kid of about 13 or 14. I was a Star Trek and Battlestar: Galactica fan and a big comic book buff, so well-meaning Christi
I remember reading this as a kid of about 13 or 14. I was a Star Trek and Battlestar: Galactica fan and a big comic book buff, so well-meaning Christian relatives bought me the three-book box set of the Space Trilogy. The book's cover was very enticing and the title very cool. But I remember reading it and being profoundly disappointed! It sure wasn't "science-fiction" as I knew it, and was kinda dry and dull. Reading the book again at age 50 for a small book club I was confident I would really appreciate it now. But I didn't! The opening chapter of the English professor on a walking tour was delightful, and the spaceship trip to Malacandra/Mars was especially well done, but once they land what was such a promising premise turned dry and dull. Lewis acknowledges reading H.G. Wells, but I wished he had read Edgar Rice Burroughs, a man who made an earthling's sojourn to Barsoom/Mars fresh, exciting, and suspenseful. Pedantic is a word that springs to mind as I think back on the pages of Ransom learning the language. Only an academic would be so interested in such minutiae (and the academic character on whom Ransom is based writes a letter saying there wasn't enough philology!). Ransom's meeting and befriending various Malacandran species was moderately interesting--I liked Augray--but the long journey dragged. The build up to meeting Oyarsa failed to live up to the hype. And the whole scene in his court with a shuddering Weston and Devine was like something out of the Wizard of Oz or better King Moonrazor's court on the Island of Misfit Toys. I could tell deep things were being implied about human nature being bent, scientific inquiry being exploited, but by that point it was too little too late. I haven't read the Narnia books, but have read Lewis' celebratedThe Screwtape Letters and found that to be good, even if not great. I am not a fan of Lewis' nonfiction as a rule, so perhaps this author and I just don't click. I appreciate Lewis has legions of fans and wish I could share their enthusiasm. But I can't. Nonetheless, I am committed with the book club to complete the Space Trilogy, so onward to Perelandra! ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Feb 06, 2017
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Feb 16, 2017
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Feb 12, 2017
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Paperback
| ||||||||||||||
| 0345251806
| 9780345251800
| 0345251806
| 3.54
| 2,768
| Jan 01, 1967
| Sep 12, 1976
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liked it
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An entertaining story, but not as good as Tarnsman of Gor. This one was less focused, and lacked the strong supporting cast of the first book. The Gor
An entertaining story, but not as good as Tarnsman of Gor. This one was less focused, and lacked the strong supporting cast of the first book. The Gorean French Revolution complete with casting off of chains and storming of barricades was overplayed, as was the celebration of Tarl of Ko-Ro-Ba as folk hero being carried through the streets. I was never sufficiently invested in Lara, Tatrix of Tharna, to care whether she was restored to her throne, so the final quarter of the book felt anticlimactic. And then this book ends exactly where the first one did, with Tarl determined to rush in where wise men fear to tread: going into the Sardar Mountains to settle scores with the Priest-Kings. John Norman does know how to tell a compelling story, however, and the narrative never lagged or lacked for interest. I liked the chapter titles and especially the closing "Letter from Tarl Cabot" and "Concluding Note on the Manuscript" that effectively bridge the character-reader chasm. That was exciting stuff for a fanboy of 15 or 16, like getting a secret message from Little Orphan Annie that wasn't a commercial. The story is not sophisticated, which I would argue is its strength. Readers know the good guys from the bad. Good guys have names like Lara and Kron; the bad get Dorna the Proud and Thorn. Coincidence plays a role here like it does in Dickens, but it works well and testifies to the meticulous planning Norman put into his plotting. Okay, sometimes the dialogue reads like it was lifted from the then-popular Batman TV series. "'Surrender,' I called to Dorna the Proud. 'Never,' she responded haughtily." (242) This book does feature the first appearance of the female submission theme that will apparently overtake the plots down the road. Here it's just a relatively short scene in the "Yellow Cords" chapter, highlighted by the admittedly well-composed poem "Weep, Free Maiden." I took it as a harbinger of things to come. Interestingly, Tarl Cabot is again as anti-slavery as he was in the opening book of the series. He goes out of his way to save this young woman from being branded a slave. I'll be sorry to see his progressive philosophy--for Gor, anyway--regress over coming books. A quick note on the covers. I originally read the books in the early 1980s when they had Boris painted covers. But those books are long gone. I found a set on eBay boasting the original Robert Foster covers and they have really grown on me, hewing closer to the books' plots than Boris' paintings. Foster's cover features a yoked Tarl cabot looking ahead to the Amusements while the gold-masked Tatrix or Tharna looms over him. The stars in the background lend the book a nice sci-fi vibe. Onward at last to the Sardar Mountains and the mysterious Priest-Kings of Gor! ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Jan 2017
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Feb 09, 2017
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Feb 11, 2017
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Mass Market Paperback
| ||||||||||||||
| 3.73
| 2,383
| Sep 1954
| Dec 1956
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liked it
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Fun fifties sci-fi, set in the far flung future of 1964. There was a proto-Vonnegut vibe to this book I really enjoyed. There was authorial intrusion
Fun fifties sci-fi, set in the far flung future of 1964. There was a proto-Vonnegut vibe to this book I really enjoyed. There was authorial intrusion used to great effect, and a whole cast of kooky characters, from unhappily married shrink Ellicott Snyder to U.N. Secretary General Yato Ishurti to cockney pickpocket Alf Billings. Each plays his part and adds to the fun. The narrative is loose with many tangents and bunny trails where it seemed Frederic Brown was just writing whatever came to mind. Several times Brown packed paragraphs with synonyms, even once describing the Martians A to Z as everything from abusive to zealous in making themselves obnoxious. Writers pro and amateur will enjoy all the insights Brown gives into the author's craft. Hack writer Luke Devereaux is the novel's protagonist, though he disappears for chapters at a time, and Brown uses his character to illustrate the frustrations and exhilarations of writing. Luke Deveraux, as Luke Devers, would rather write science-fiction, but can churn out a marketable Western when he has to. In listing Western authors he names Zane Grey, Luke Short, and Ernest Haycox, but not arguably the greatest and best-known Western author of the 20th century, Louis L'Amour. But this novel first appeared in the September 1954 issue of Astounding Science Fiction and I can only guess L'Amour hadn't then risen to the top as he soon would. The Martians of Brown's novel are impish pranksters and are literally "little green men." As I tread I came to suspect that Stan Lee and/or Jack Kirby drew upon this novel when creating The Impossible Man in The Fantastic Four #11 (Feb. 1963). The Impossible Man of course lacks the Martians' propensity for profanity and Bronx cheers (credited to Brooklyn by Brown). The book is a fun read with many hilarious set pieces, like the poker game interrupted by Martians who tattle on everyone's hand and even what the next cards dealt will be. Perhaps most memorable was the indecipherable account of the cockney pickpocket that Brown kindly translates. Even at only 159 pages in my 1956 Bantam paperback edition, the story starts to sag and run out of steam after Luke is institutionalized and reunited with Margie. All the Martian gags had been played and played out, but Brown continued to stretch out the story. The chapter about Hiram Pedro Oberdorffer of Chicago just dragged, as did the protracted scene starring Bugassi, witch doctor of a cannibal tribe in Africa. The joke on McCarthy in that scene fell flat, too. While I still enjoyed the book a lot, it did limp to its finish--or non-finish--which left me rather deflated at the end. I did not even know there was a film adaptation starring Randy Quaid, but since every reviewer I read here panned it, I will skip the movie. This was my first Frederic Brown book and may be my last, though I would like to seek out his 1944 short story "Arena" that was adapted into the Star Trek episode of that name. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Nov 28, 2016
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Nov 30, 2016
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Nov 28, 2016
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Mass Market Paperback
| |||||||||||||||||
| 3.44
| 5,038
| 1967
| 1970
|
liked it
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Happy 50th Birthday to John Norman's Tarnsman of Gor. My red-covered 75-cent Ballantine paperback reads "First Edition: December 1966," which puts thi
Happy 50th Birthday to John Norman's Tarnsman of Gor. My red-covered 75-cent Ballantine paperback reads "First Edition: December 1966," which puts this opening novel in the saga at the half-century mark along with another science-fiction icon, Star Trek. SPOILERS AHEAD! Like a lot of D&D-playing comic book fans of the early 1980s, I read the first few Gor novels and remember enjoying them. I never stuck with the series past the ones with the Boris covers and was wholly unaware of the controversies surrounding the series. A friend who kept reading the series mentioned how the slave girl really came to the fore in the yellow-spined DAW novels. Revisiting the series after about 35 years I was surprised to find that Tarnsman of Gor has an overtly anti-slave message, with Tarl Cabot asking Talena join him as his "Free Companion," and Tarl's sword-brother Kazrak in love with the freed slave Sana, there being no shame associated with her former station in life. Whatever developed later in the series is certainly not evident in this opening volume. Reading this book at age 49 versus 14 did make a difference. Fortunately, I can become 14 again when reading old comics and a fun sci-fi/fantasy novel like this. But I also bring to my reading all I've read since, including the first five Martian novels by ERB, which I read for the first time earlier this year, and which made me keenly aware of just how much Norman swiped wholesale from Burroughs. I don't mind that so much--Burroughs himself swiped from Edwin Arnold's Gulliver of Mars--and what Norman did was inventive and imaginative and eminently engaging. A new twist on an old theme. One theme Norman carries over from ERB is a distinct distrust of religion. ERB's The Gods of Mars with its priests and therns and their control of the planet's masses finds a parallel in Norman's Initiates and Priest-Kings. ERB's Golden Cliffs of the Mountains of Otz finds a parallel in the Sardar Mountains wherein dwell the Priest Kings of Gor. Tarnsman of Gor closes with Tarl swearing to storm those Sardar Mountains and presumably to drag out whatever false gods he finds there. That there are real Priest Kings with undeniable power is evident from the Flame Death visited upon the Supreme Initiate who, like Moses striking the rock, overstepped his bounds and angered the powers that be. With John Norman being in real life Philosophy professor John Lange, I'm hoping Plato's The Republic and its concept of Philosopher Kings will come into play in future volumes. I found the novel fun and fast-moving, but definitely targeted at a younger readership that would cheer uncritically and not wince at all the bombastic bravado and over-the-top derring do. The climactic and painfully protracted swordplay with arch-nemesis Pa-Kur, while Talena lays between them and hordes of swordsmen engage in furious battle was such a scene I just couldn't lose myself in like I would have when a young teenager. I could see Norman the author engineering the scene for maximum emotional impact, right down to Kazrak returning in the nick of time with so many tarnsmen that the sky is darkened. Talk about a deus ex machina! Fun reading nonetheless. And good characters, like Marlenus, Kazrak, even Mintar, who really came alive as the story unfolded. Conversely, Matthew Cabot, Torm, and Older Tarl are flat ciphers. And Talena is no Dejah Thoris! The ending with Tarl Cabot suddenly removed from Gor made the ending bittersweet. Like John Carter, he can't enjoy mundane life and pines for a return to the planet of his finest hour. I wondered with this ending if Norman was paying homage to ERB or just hedging his bets on Ballantine commissioning him to make Gor a series. This volume reads like a self-contained novel, though open to a sequel with the never-found body of Pa-Kur and Tarl's closing vow to uncover and confront the Priest-Kings. I enjoyed Tarnsman of Gor enough to want to take up and re-read the second book and I plan on staying with the series, waiting for things to get weird, and seeing for myself what all the hubbub is about as the saga continues. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Dec 26, 2016
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Dec 30, 2016
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Jan 09, 2016
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Mass Market Paperback
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