The Quatermass Book Marathon Blog: You Are Number Six

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Once more unto the breach! It's time for the latest Quatermass Book Reading Marathon Blog.

Regulars to this part of the forum may remember my previous book-reading marathons. This has been around since 2009, with my first such review blog (link here) clocking up 22 books over 46 days. My second (here's a link) clocked up 76 books in 179 days, my third(a link here for the connosieur) clocked up 100 books in 177 days. The fourth (click here if you dare...) clocked up 30 books in 88 days, and the fifth (abandon all hope, ye who enter this link) clocked up 72 books in 139 days.

The rules are self-imposed, and are as follows:

*The books can be fiction, non-fiction, or graphic novels. However, some non-fiction categories must be excluded, such as games guides and screenplays, unless the latter is within a book that also has other subject material (ie, a 'making of' book). Novelisations and other adaptations are allowed, regardless of whether I have watched the original program. In all cases, I must not have read it all the way through prior to this.

*In the case of graphic novels, it has to be a volume I haven't read in a series, or else a stand-alone graphic novel.

*In all cases, a book that I have started previous to this blog, if I finish it (for the first time) during this, will count. Also, just skimming a book and reading pages randomly doesn't count, actually reading it, even if speed-reading it, does.

*I must write a quick review.

*I must finish at least one book per week. It doesn't matter if I started it more than a week ago, as long as I finish it within a week of the last one finished.

*The blog and time limit will start when I finish my first book.

Keep in mind that this blog is self-imposed to help me expand my reading horizons. I choose the reading material, and I rarely, if at all, take suggestions.

The first review will be up very shortly...

Book 1...

REVIEW: Doctor Who: Shada by Gareth Roberts, based on the scripts by Douglas Adams


Of all Doctor Who stories scripted, but never brought to the screen, none have ever aroused so much intrigue as much as Shada, the third and final Doctor Who story to be scripted by Douglas Adams. Although location filming was completed, and at least one studio session as well, a strike at the BBC interrupted the production, and the aftermath of the strike ensured that the story was never remounted, despite the efforts of the production team. Footage from Shada can be seen in The Five Doctors, the surviving footage, along with a camera script, was released on home video in 1992, and an audio version with crude animations was created in 2003, but with Paul McGann as the Doctor, and, with the exception of Romana and K9, the entire dramatis personae recast. But then, Gareth Roberts, Doctor Who novel writer as well as writer of various TV episodes (such as The Shakespeare Code and The Lodger), went on to officially novelise this long lost story, and it is this that I am reviewing today...

Cambridge, 1979. The Doctor and Romana have received a signal from elderly, retired Time Lord Professor Chronotis, who needs them for a mission of vital importance. The mission? Return an ancient Gallifreyan artefact to its home. The artefact, a book called The Ancient and Worshipful Law of Gallifrey, however, is now in the hands of physics student, Chris Parsons, who is marvelling at a book that defies the laws of physics, and triggering memories in his mind. But someone is searching for the book. The enigmatic and ruthless Skagra is determined to find the book, which is the key to a long forgotten secret of Time Lord history: Shada. Armed with a sphere that can brutally extract the minds of anyone he chooses, Skagra has Chronotis in his sights. But what is Shada? Why can't the Doctor or Romana remember its significance? What link does it have to the infamous Time Lord criminal Salyavin? And why do Skagra's plans involve Salyavin?

I have read the camera scripts that originally came with the video release, and have also watched the first couple of episodes of the 2003 remake. So although I was excited to read this book, I don't think I was quite prepared for how good it actually was. Roberts manages to evoke Adams' style, not continuously, but often and unobtrusively enough so that it is a little less blatantly affected than Eoin Colfer's (admittedly good) effort in And Another Thing..., another posthumous Adams work. While I have enjoyed Gareth Roberts' work on the books before, this one is ridiculously good. He could have written a fairly good novelisation. Instead, he tries to not only plug the plot holes (which, by the way, is the only real complaint I have about the book, as the plothole plugging sticks out somewhat) and correct the mistakes present in the original story, but he also helps expand the scope of it while managing to stay fairly true to the original story. This is the story of Shada brought to the next level, with some surprisingly good new additions (like a new subplot about Skagra's Ship discovering herself, and a surprisingly decent romance between Chris and Clare), and some nods to characters and concepts from the new series (like the Corsair, and time-locks).

Of course, we come to the characters. The Doctor and Romana, along with K9, are written as one would expect, and so it is the other characters that one should look at. Skagra is changed from a one-dimensional villain with an interesting gimmick into a more complex character who is (and this has been pointed out in other reviews) basically a satire of an anal-retentive, obnoxious Doctor Who fan, or at least like Sheldon Cooper if he was really a megalomaniacal alien. Chronotis is doddering and loveable. Clare and Chris have a romance written around them, but while somewhat contrived, it manages to work. Perhaps the biggest development, besides Skagra, goes to the Ship, which over the course of the story, becomes almost like a companion to the Doctor herself, although Roberts' habit of writing her reaction to dematerialising like she is climaxing is a little iffy.

When all is said and done, this is a story that will probably only appeal to Doctor Who fans, but I recommend it to anyone who has enjoyed the work of Douglas Adams. Even with Roberts writing it, it has a distinctive stamp of Adams on it, and it is enjoyable and funny without losing the drama. This is Shada as it should have been. And I intend to give it the highest honour, by giving it a perfect score, making it the eighth such book in my book-reading blogs (and the third Doctor Who book) to gain such an honour.


10/10

First words: At the age of five, Skagra decided emphatically that Gid did not exist.

Last words: (Not recorded due to spoilers)

Book 2...

REVIEW: The Unwritten volume 1: Tommy Taylor and the Bogus Identity by Mike Carey and Peter Gross


Having whetted myself on Vertigo titles like The Sandman, Preacher, and Transmetropolitan, it was perhaps about time that I try another one. I decided on a more recent series, The Unwritten, having heard the basics of the story. I was hoping for something really good, but would that be the case?

The Tommy Taylor books, about a boy wizard, is even more popular than the Harry Potter books. Their author, Wilson Taylor, disappeared years ago, leaving thirteen books in an incomplete series. But he also left behind his son, Tom Taylor, who struggles with the fact that his childhood was ruined by his namesake, and is without much claim to fame, save for literary geography and attending conventions and book signings for money. But everything changes when a woman called Lizzie Hexam points out many inconsistencies with his life, raising the possibilities that Tom may be anything from a murderous fraud to an adopted child, and perhaps even the fictional character made flesh. His life thrown into turmoil, and narrowly avoiding death at the hands of someone claiming to be the villain of the Tommy Taylor books, he embarks on a journey that will take him to Switzerland, all the while encountering Lizzie Hexam, who seems to know more about this than she's letting on. But Taylor has many deadly enemies, and one of them, the vicious Pullman, is determined to make Taylor's life even worse...

Like The Sandman, The Unwritten is a very richly literary story, and while Harry Potter may seem like one of the obvious inspirations, I spotted (when I first heard about the series) a slightly more obscure reference, one which Mike Carey admits was inspiration. Christopher Robin Milne was in a similar situation to Tom Taylor, having his childhood mined for his father's Winnie the Pooh stories. The story's themes are quite excellent, discussing fame, celebrity, and the nature of fiction, but fall just a little bit flat in the end, although this might partly be due to the fact that this is only the first part of an ongoing story. The story at the end, a one shot involving Rudyard Kipling and his contemporaries in writing, takes some time to comprehend that it has a true bearing on the story, but it implies what Tom Taylor truly is.

The characters are decent enough, though the only truly interesting ones are the obnoxious Tom Taylor, and his nemesis in this current volume, the deadly Pullman. Tom seems rather brattish, even as a young man, but in a surprisingly interesting way, or at least interesting enough so that evokes sympathy for his plight. Pullman is a vicious assassin, but he is also meant to be a character assassin, judging by the way he leaves Tom alive. The other characters aren't as noteworthy. Lizzie Hexam seems like a standard enigmatic character, to lead Tom where he needs to go (though she is intriguing enough to let that go by), and Count Ambrosio seems like a Nosfertu-esque ripoff of Voldemort. The horror writers in Switzerland also have interesting quirks, if singular ones.

In the end, the first volume of The Unwritten was a good entry into a potentially excellent series. Not sure whether it will be the next Transmetropolitan for me, but it may very well be.


9/10

First words: Peter stared in awe at the Gossmoks' bodies, lying around the ancient stone altar in twisted heaps.

Last words: ...well, that is quite a different matter.

Book 3...

REVIEW: The High Crusade by Poul Anderson


The point of all these book-reading blogs, besides to read a gigantic backlog of books that I have sitting on my shelves and stored in a box, is to try and branch out into new things. This includes older science fiction that takes my fancy. I heard, then, about Poul Anderson's The High Crusade, a most audacious work that turns the usual conventions of alien invasion stories on its head, and decided to read it, if only to kill time...

The year is 1345. The place, England. Edward III is on the throne, and needs armies for fighting France. Sir Roger, Baron de Tourneville, is recruiting an army for his king, only to find a stranger opportunity beckon. When a strange ship lands nearby, Sir Roger and his forces fight against the invaders, who are the Wersgorix, aliens so used to firearms, they've less hand-to-hand combat skills. Capturing the ship and a surviving Wersgor, Branithar, they plan to use the ship and its armaments to conquer France, and then the Holy Land. Unfortunately, Branithar has other plans, setting the spaceship on a course back to the colony from whence it came. Then begins an astounding tale of conquest and war, told through the eyes of Brother Parvus. But not everyone is happy with Sir Roger's ideals to conquer new world, even in his own camp...

The concept of medieval knights fighting against advanced alien and not only winning, but conquering them, seems so ludicrous as to be totally impossible. And yet, Anderson manages to make you believe in it, more often than not, anyway. He gives plausible, if credulity-stretching, reasons for how the knights are able to do what they do, and the book's main faults lie not with any implausibility, but with length and complexity. There isn't much in the way of politics (which I know hounded the real Crusades), it's a very simple plot, and it feels rather old-fashioned, the medieval connotations of Parvus' narration notwithstanding. That it remains entertaining in spite of all this is cause for enjoyment, as it does have a certain humour to it.

The characters are rather simplistic and straightforward, even slight caricaturish. They do still seem plausible in spite of all of this, but there's a certain amount of what feels like jingoism. This can be put down to Parvus' biased storytelling with little fault at all, in much the same way as Dilios did the same in the comic and its film adaptation 300. All the same, while having human, understandable motives, Sir Roger and Sir Owain seem rather cartoonish, Parvus even more so, with the only truly multidimensional characters being Lady Catherine and the Wersgor Branithar.

The High Crusade was an enjoyable, but not quite excellent work. An interesting idea that could be taken much further nowadays, it's still original and funny in a strange way.


8/10

First words: As the captain looked up, the hooded desk lamp threw his face into ridges of darkness and craggy highlights.

Last words: (Not recorded due to spoilers)

Book 4...

REVIEW: Genshiken: The Society for the Study of Modern Visual Culture, volume 1 by Kio Shimoku


Despite being a fan of quite a few anime and manga series, I don't consider myself an otaku, or at least in the Western sense. Okay, I may be an otaku, but for Doctor Who, and even then, well, I don't think I'm reclusive enough to be considered an otaku (note to self: must try harder). But I do try out a few new manga and anime series, if they happen to catch my fancy. If they turn out otherwise, well, I don't bother reading them. So it is ironic, being a fan of many things, that I come to a series about the extremes of fandom, Genshiken...

A freshman at Shiiou University, the shy, introverted Kanji Sasahara, joins the Society for the Study of Modern Visual Culture, or Genshiken, what is effectively an otaku club. There, he meets the strange and reclusive members of the otaku world, like the dangerously obsessed Madarame, the stuttering Kugayama, the cosplay maker Tanaka, and the handsome, self-assured Makoto Kousaka. Once there, Kanji enters into the worlds of cosplay and fan comics, and the trials and tribulations of being an otaku. Meanwhile, Makoto's girlfriend Saki Kasukabe is determined to try and pull her boyfriend out of the otaku world, by force if necessary...

In reading this, the manga series reminds me a little of The Big Bang Theory (which this manga series predates by several years), centreing as it does on a bunch of extreme nerds and geeks. However, there are substantial differences between the otaku lifestyle in Japan from what we consider geeks in Western countries that makes things rather jarring, especially the obsession over adult games. And the comedy is funny sometimes, but for me, probably due to cultural differences, falls flat too often. It's not bad, and there's plenty that works. There's just a little too much that jars or doesn't work.

The characters seem rather caricatured, even more so than The Big Bang Theory. Kanji, Saki, and Makoto are the only ones that seem nuanced enough to be human, even if Saki seems a little too abusive. Of the others, Madarame is both the most obnoxious, and yet the most amusing, and is the standout member of the more comedic caricatures. The others, however, seem rather forgettable to me, although there's an interesting, if weird, introduction of a female character in the last chapter, in the form of Kanako Ohno.

Overall, Genshiken's first volume wasn't bad, but it seems to be very much an acquired taste. I'm not sure whether I will continue with this series, but it's perfectly possible.


7/10

First words: Spring...

Last words: This whole thing is backfiring.

Book 5...

REVIEW: A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs


Early last month, I watched the Disney/Pixar film John Carter, itself a loose (necessarily, for reasons I will note below) adaptation of the first book of the John Carter of Mars series by Edgar Rice Burroughs. Said book, A Princess of Mars (originally called Under the Moons of Mars when originally serialised), is a pivotal and important one, as it was the key establisher of what has since become known as the planetary romance genre. Therefore, it's high past time that I read it...

John Carter, former Confederate soldier, takes refuge in a cave while fleeing from a group of belligerent Indians. However, somehow, he is transported to the planet Mars, known to its natives as Barsoom. A dying world, supported by canals and atmosphere plants, it is very much a world at war, with tribes of the four-armed giant Green Martians and the human-like Red Martians always in conflict. Found by the Thark tribe of Green Martians, Carter soon finds that he has a gift in the lower gravity of Mars: he is stronger and more agile, able to leap ridiculous distances. And he'll need every advantage he can get, because the Tharks soon capture Dejah Thoris, Red Martian princess of Helium, and determined to become her protector, he gets drawn into greater and greater conflicts...

Okay, I'll be absolutely blunt here: A Princess of Mars, by itself, is a rollicking read, but far from a substantial one. It is extremely dated in terms of attitude and science, it lacks substance, moving from incident to incident, and the characters mostly have the substance of smoke. Certainly, despite the fact that it itself was rather staid and a little boring, the adaptation John Carter was a marked improvement, storywise. But while cliched in the extreme, it should also be pointed out that it was this book, and those that came after it, that actually established the cliches and tropes of planetary romances in the first place. Without this book, there would be no Dune or Avatar. And Burroughs' wordbuilding is actually quite good, in the end.

The characters are rather shallow for many parts. Carter is a very straightforward hero, and Dejah Thoris, despite having a rather feisty and dignified attitude, is a fairly typical damsel in distress. Others, such as the Tharks Sarkoja and Tal Hajus, are very stereotypical villains. However, some characters, such as the Tharks Sola and Tars Tarkus, are much better nuanced. A better character would be Barsoom/Mars herself, and the cultures therein, as the wordbuilding practically makes it a character in of itself.

While having the depth of a puddle, A Princess of Mars nonetheless remains a seminal and entertaining work. It certainly shouldn't be neglected, even if it is only average overall.


7.5/10

First words: To the Reader of this Work:

Last words: (Not recorded due to spoilers)

Book 6...

REVIEW: The Hedge Knight by Ben Avery, Mike S Miller, and Mike Crowell, adapted from the novella by George RR Martin


To date, I have read three out of the five published novels in George RR Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series. While I am currently working on the fourth, I have also found the prequel series, Tales of Dunk and Egg, set nearly a century prior to the main series. Although all I could find was the graphic novel adaptation, that should be more than adequate, I hope...

Long before Eddard Stark was made the King's Hand of King Robert Baratheon, and the Others stirred in the North, the Targaryens still ruled Westeros. Knights fought in battles, and in tournaments. Dunk, squire to elderly hedge knight (or mercenary knight) Ser Arlan of Pennytree, is forced to bury his master. With the life of a hedge knight all he knows, Dunk decides to take up his master's arms, and enter a tournament as a knight. But not being officially knighted may be the least of his worries. Encountering a persistent boy named Egg, who wishes to be his squire, Dunk is forced to appraise the realities of knighthood, especially when he defends Tanselle, a beautiful puppet performer, from the vicious Prince Aerion. Aerion demands justice, and the only chance that Dunk may have to get out alive may be in a trial-by-melee...

Although set long before the events that begin in A Game of Thrones, The Hedge Knight is recognisably in Westeros, not just in terms of the families involved, but also in the deconstruction of medieval fantasy. It's not fun or easy to be a knight in a world ruled by the Targaryens, although this story shows that there are many in that dynasty who are actually noble and altruistic. It's a short, straightforward story, but a highly enjoyable one that manages to cut out a lot of the politics. And while normally this wouldn't be a good thing with A Song of Ice and Fire, it works here. This is a short, enjoyable story about knighthood and honour.

The characters are interesting, or as much as they can be in such a short work. Dunk has to break his preconceptions of what a knight truly is, and the surprise of Egg's true identity is an excellent one, and it is interesting to see how his character develops. Prince Baelor Targaryen is the first fully altruistic Targaryen we have seen in the series, Daenerys notwithstanding, not to mention Egg, or Aegon. The artwork suits the story quite well, showing excellent action galore.

Not perfect, The Hedge Knight is nonetheless enjoyable. A glimpse into the past of Westeros, it is also a welcome addition to the mythos of A Song and Ice and Fire.


9/10

First words: He had a long life.

Last words: (Not recorded due to spoilers)

Book 7...

REVIEW: Alien by Alan Dean Foster, from the screenplay by Dan O'Bannion, and the story by Dan O'Bannion and Ronald Shusett


I have to confess, I have never watched more than a few scenes of the seminal science fiction horror film Alien. Partly because I have something of an aversion to horror, but also because I couldn't be bothered. Even so, it is inevitable that I know something of it, and it is inevitable too that I examine it in one form or another. Thus, I turn to the novelisation written by prolific writer Alan Dean Foster, and see what it has to offer me...

The space tug Nostromo intercepts a distress signal from a desolate planet. Its crew of seven are bound to investigate, despite the unease of many of their number at what has happened. After all, the distress signal appears to be alien in origin. Landing on the planet, Captain Dallas explores with two of his crew. Coming across an alien spaceship, all they find are strange objects, one of whom infects crewmember Kane. Although Warrant Officer Ellen Ripley wants to keep to quarantine regulations, despite the fact that Kane may die, Science Officer Ash lets them back in. And soon, the crew of the Nostromo not only have to deal with a terror from beyond, but a traitor in their own midst...

The story is a good one, although given how many movies it has influenced since, it does seem a little cliched. The story is suspenseful, but rather singular and straightforward. At times, Foster's prose seems rather poetic, and at other times, it seems rather dry, with the latter tending to prevail. This shouldn't detract, however, from the fact that this is an effective novelisation of a well-known film, being able to convey the horror, as well as putting some elements that weren't in the film back in.

Character-wise, while not particularly complex, the characters are far from singular in nature. Indeed, the books does not focus on the later hero of the series, Ripley, and focuses on almost all crew members equally up until Dallas' demise. The crew all get equal development, more or less (with the exception, albeit deliberately, of Ash, although he does have elements not quite as noticeable from the film as far as I can gather), and while it's not quite enough to make them fully developed, it's rather skillful of Foster to make it equal development.

Alien is a decent novelisation of a film that I might watch in the future. But not yet. Suspenseful and with substantial horror, it's a good yarn to kill time with.


8.5/10

First words: Seven dreamers.

Last words: (Not recorded due to spoilers)

Book 8...

REVIEW: Black Butler, volume 1 by Yana Toboso


People reading this blog might be noticing a pattern, with my alternating between fiction and graphic novels. This is no accident. I try not to read graphic novels or manga consecutively, as an unofficial rule, as well as any particular author or series consecutively, or at least posting one after the other without an intervening review. So the next review will be an unusual one, a manga that I had heard of peripherally, and decided to give a shot: Black Butler...

Meet Ciel Phantomhive, Lord and Earl in Victorian England, and 12 year old tycoon of a candy and toy empire. Long since orphaned, he lives in a mansion with a quartet of enthusiastic, if clumsy, servants, and the elegant, hypercompetent butler Sebastian. Entertaining for guests ranging from noble lords to bratty heirs is a daily challenge, but one that Sebastian seemingly takes in his stride, managing to turn the worst disasters into triumphs of catering and presentation. But there is a dark secret in the relationship between Ciel and Sebastien, and nothing is as it seems...

It often seems to be the case with serial manga like this that there is an absence of story, or proper story anyway, for the first couple of episodes, but Black Butler also fails to bring in much interest. Part of it is the lack of originality of the story (does it sound vaguely like, for example, Hellsing?), but also because there is an utter failure of the story and characters to engage the audience. The humour falls flat most of the time, though thankfully not all of the time, and the wilful use of anachronism isn't pulled off with enough elan to be truly enjoyable.

A substantial part of the problem lies with the characters and characterisation. Ciel is a cold fish with the depth of a puddle of ice water, and the servants are shrill and annoying, coming off with their attempts at humour as being humourless duds. Of the main characters, only Sebastian is remotely interesting, and even then, he's a rather smug, overelegant Marty Stu. However, it is entertaining to watch him in action, and he is undoubtedly the best thing about this book, showing how he overcomes both social faux pas and tracking down his kidnapped master. And the strong hints given to his true, demonic origin help give a payoff where there is little else.

Black Butler might improve later on, but to be frank, I don't see the potential in it, myself. Action and snobbery with effeminate boys and young men, with just enough entertainment value in the titular character to make it bearable.


5/10

First words: A short distance from London, just beyond the fog-cloaked forest, there stands a well-kept manor house.

Last words: Shh-

Book 9...

REVIEW: Maelstrom by Peter Watts


Some time before I started the book-reading blogs, I read a book called Starfish, by an author and marine biologist called Peter Watts. Extremely dark in nature, but brilliant in atmosphere, it told the tale of a group of psychologically screwed-up people, employed to work on an underwater power station, and what happened when they inadvertently ended up infected by a microorganism from the nearby rift. Having looked at Watts' latest work, Blindsight, and left wanting, I decided the time was right to come back to Starfish, and specifically, its sequel...

The year is 2051, and with climate and environmental issues causing the scramble to prop up civilization by any means necessary, geothermal energy is being used to supply the power of the energy-hungry world. But when one particular geothermal rift turns out to contain a potentially ecosystem-destroying microorganism dubbed βehemoth, parent company N'Am-Pac decides to nuke the rift, even though it will cost lives in the ensuing earthquake and tsunami. But they didn't finish the job. Two rifters, humans genetically and cybernetically remade to become underwater workers, have survived, and both of them have the psychological issues that made them desirable for working in the literal and metaphorical high pressure of the deep. One of them, abuse victim Lenie Clarke, has decided to embark on a crusade of vengeance on not only N'Am-Pac, but a world that sat back and watched things happen. The other, former soldier and assassin Ken Lubin, embarks on a crusade for knowledge. Helped by a strange new program in the Maelstrom that the internet has become, Clarke makes her way across America, spreading the βehemoth in her body. But strange memories are awakening within her, memories that are at variance with the abuse she has suffered her entire life. Meanwhile, data analysts Achilles Desjardins and Alice Jovellanos track the phenomenon that both Clarke and βehemoth have become. The end of the world is nigh, and it will end, not with a bang, but with a slow-burn whimper...

It's been a long time between reading Starfish and its sequel, Maelstrom, and I have to confess that, of the works so far, I enjoy the latter more. As great as the claustrophobia of Starfish was for atmosphere and that 'base under siege'-style story that can be done so well in science fiction, it lacked some context from the outside world (although to be frank, it's been a long time since my hurried reading of the first book, maybe four or five years back). However, Watts' worldbuilding for the sequel is excellent, giving the great impression that the world of 2051 is a sick, if not actually dying, world, and that βehemoth may only be a coup de grace to a situation that is spiralling out of control. Compared to later novel Blindsight, the science is better blended in and easier to understand. My only real complaint about the story is that it is a little too bleak and dark, and that it takes a lot for the character arc of Lenie Clarke to come out of this frankly narcissistic suicidal spiral.

Lenie Clarke, who could be called the protagonist of the story (although a status as a hero is debatable unless you've read the previous novel), is a dark, vengeful character, but one who doesn't cease to be interesting, or (mostly) sympathetic. Even so, I feel things went too far when, confused by her conflicting memories, she assaults a father and tries to kidnap a daughter, thinking that said father is abusing the daughter. Lubin continues to develop from the enigma he was in Starfish, becoming ever more interesting with each scene. Achilles is unusual in that Watts gets us to like this detached, but otherwise apparently moral or at least upstanding person, before suddenly showing a startling surprise. The other characters vary somewhat, but don't do too badly, considering.

In the end, Maelstrom was an excellent continuation of the Rifters series, and while it does conclude the story in such a way that it doesn't need to be continued, it does leave me wanting to read the next, and final, book in the series, the published in bifurcated form βehemoth...


9.5/10

First words: The day after Patricia Rowan saved the world, a man named Elias Murphy brought a piece of her conscience home to roost.

Last words: He cocoons her from behind, wrapping her flesh in his, and stares off into darkness while the real world falls asleep around him.

Book 10...

REVIEW: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier by Alan Moore, Kevin O'Neill, Bill Oakley et al


Perhaps one of the strangest and paradoxically creative and yet uncreative comic series I have ever come across was Alan Moore's The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Although violent and ribald, it was certainly leagues above its movie adaptation, taking Victorian-era fictional characters and putting them into adventures. In the first of my book-reading blogs, I read and reviewed the first part of the third volume of this series, Century: 1910. But between the second and third volumes is another story, a combination of adventure and sourcebook, detailing the origins and history of the League and its members...

London, 1958. The United Kingdom has just come out from under the yoke of the IngSoc dictatorship led by Big Brother. A brutal British spy known as Jimmy tries to seduce and rape a young woman he met in a bar, only to be subdued by said woman, and her associate, who promptly steal a small black book, the Black Dossier, containing details about the history of the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. But as the strange pair, who seem to know more about the history of the League than their youth should suggest, flee through London, reading up on the history, Jimmy is assigned to track them down, along with Hugo Drummond, and Drummond's niece, Emma Night. And they will stop at nothing to track the two fugitives down and stop them, no matter what...

Black Dossier takes the violence and (especially) the sexuality of the previous League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, as well as the lack of political correctness of older stories, and takes them up to eleven. The framing story, told in the traditional comic format of previous volumes, is nonetheless an interesting one, taking the world of the League into the middle of the 20th century, and incorporating many references, some veiled, others not so, ranging from Nineteen Eighty-Four to the Quatermass serials, from James Bond to Fireball XL5, from The Avengers to Doctor Who. You'd need to be very well read to catch even a quarter of the references within this series, and this extreme intelligence put into the writing may alienate some readers. Others may be even more alienated by Moore using concepts that are more than a little politically incorrect, and yet such is his style and elan than any offence at these concepts is buried by the sheer chutzpah and thought put into it. Most of the story is taken up with a variety of prose and comic pieces that range from a comic strip detailing the life of immortal gender-changing Orlando, to the self-serving memoirs of Campion Bond, the slimy grandfather to the more famous Bond. Some work excellently, but others, such as a novel extract written in a bizarre flowing style, didn't work for me. But it more often than not serves to still be thrilling and entertaining.

The characters of Mina and Allan, now immortal since previous events, are interesting because, despite their immortality, they have managed to change their attitudes to the times, while all the same keeping what values and virtues are worth keeping. Of the many other characters, one of the most interesting is the brutal rapist spy known as Jimmy, who should be recognisible as Moore's unflattering and yet quite apt take on the most famous spy of them all, James Bond. Moore mustn't like Bond much, but he certainly makes Jimmy, while repulsive, an undeniably interesting character in that he is Bond viewed from a different, albeit skewed, angle. So too is his colleagues, the aging racist Hugo Drummond (or Bulldog Drummond), and Emma Night (aka Emma Peel from The Avengers). It's also fascinating to spot the fictional characters who may or may not be known. Harry Lime from The Third Man and Billy Bunter make cameos, along with many others, some in less than flattering form. Characters that have cameos range from Prospero from The Tempest, to my namesake, Professor Quatermass.

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier is certainly not for everyone, as many aspects will be guaranteed to offend. It is best reserved for fans of the series, as well as fans of fiction from every age and era. But if you do fit into one or both of those categories, then look beyond the sex, violence, and political incorrectness, and you will see a work of, if not genius, then a labour of love and intelligence, and a paean to fiction past...


9/10

First words: PROLOGUE: Bayswater Road, London, 1958

Last words: (Not recorded due to spoilers)

Book 11...

REVIEW: Doctor Who: The Doctor Trap by Simon Messingham


As these reviews go on and on, I find myself at a loss to try and come up with decent opening paragraphs. Having written reviews for what is now over 300 books, this shouldn't come as a surprise. So, stuff it. My next book to be reviewed is the Doctor Who New Series Adventure, The Doctor Trap...

Planet 1, a world shrouded in myth and legend, is home to the mysterious and hedonistic Sebastiene. Living a life of luxury, with androids and molecular technology devoted to his every whim, he has decided on an interesting task. Gathering together hunters who are part of a secret society that hunts the rarest breeds to extinction, he declares his intent to entrap the Doctor, last of the Time Lords. Aided by the Time Lord's number one fan, Baris, who is now an exact replica of the Doctor, Sebastiene starts by luring the Doctor and Donna to an Antarctic Snowcap Base. With Donna captured, and the Doctor hunted, the game is on. But the Doctor is never more dangerous than when he is most desperate. What is the Doctor Trap? What is the hidden agenda that even Sebastiene isn't aware of? And with the most dangerous hunters in the universe hunting him, can the Doctor get out alive?

As a concept, The Doctor Trap is rather good, but the execution itself is somewhat flawed. Not so bad that it is unreadable, or even mediocre, but it does take a while to realise what is going on, with the plots getting confused rather quickly and taking rather too long to sort themselves out. It also takes too long to get to the point of the book, which isn't about the hunt at all, but about something else entirely.

The Doctor and Donna are written as they would be in the series, and Baris is an interesting examination of what a fan of the Doctor would be like in the series. Sebastiene is an okay adversary, but doesn't quite grab me as well as he should. And the hunters range from the mildly interesting to the rather meh, although there's an interesting reference in one character to a classic series villain.

All in all, The Doctor Trap could have been better. Much better. I just wish it was worth more of my time, because the potential is there.


8/10

First words: You will be told: Planet 1 is real.

Last words: And you never know; perhaps one day the invitation will be for you.

I think it was a mistake restarting this book-reading blog so early after the previous one. Depending on things, I might abandon it for the time being, as my motivation has pretty much burnt out.

Welp, I've definitely abandoned this. But I will be back later in the year (as early as a month, even) for the next book-reading blog, depending on my motivation...