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Book Club - by Suhaili

I'm a massive Doctor Who fan. When I say that I don't mean that I am physically massive, I mean that I really, really like Doctor Who. Anyway, the recent revival of Doctor Who on television has seen the show become more popular than ever. In keeping with this, BBC books have been releasing a few original novels each year in conjunction with each new series. These books aren't as dense or in-depth as the old lines of Doctor Who novels published in the 90s and early 00s, they're aimed at a more mainstream audience... they're still fan-friendly, but they're also friendly to new watchers of the show too. Anyway, here are the upcoming titles for this year...

Made of Steel by Terrance Dicks
Released March, 2007
The first book for this year sees the Doctor and his new companion Martha go head to head with the new and improved Cybermen from last year's series. The writer, Terrance Dicks, has been involved with Doctor Who since the 60s and worked as script editor on the show between 1968 and 1974, and is known affectionately by some fans as 'Uncle Terry' (or 'Tewwy', depending on how kind they're feeling about the way he speaks).

Sting of the Zygons by Stephen Cole
Released April 2007
Rumours were rife that popular one-off monsters, the Zygons, would be featuring in the upcoming third series of the new Doctor Who. The announcement of this book did little to quell the rumours, with many fans seeing this book as a possible promotional tie-in. The writers of the new series have, however, gone on record to say the Zygons will not be featuring in any upcoming episodes this year. The cover isn't available yet, so maybe there's some substance to fan speculation despite this.

Wooden Heart by Martin Day
Released April 2007
Here's the write up for this one...
On a large silver spaceship, seemingly deserted and spinning slowly between the stars, Martha and the Doctor make a horrific discovery. Is this really a floating tomb, and why has a stretch of wooded countryside suddenly appeared in the middle of the craft? Things become even more mysterious as they explore the woods and find a village within - a village traumatised by missing children...

The Last Dodo by Jacqueline Raynor
Released April 2007
Here's the write up for this one...
After a trip to the zoo, the Doctor and Martha go in search of a real live dodo, and are transported by the TARDIS to the mysterious Museum of the Last Ones. There, in the Earth section, they discover every extinct creature up to the present day - billions of them, from the tiniest insect to the biggest dinosaur, all still alive and in suspended animation. Preservation is the Museum's only job - collecting the last of every endangered species from all over the universe. And for millennia the Museum has been trying to trace one elusive specimen: the last of the Time Lords...

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Colony

March 30th 2007 08:38

Rob Grant is probably best known for being the co-creator of science-fiction sitcom 'Red Dwarf'. Following the television show's hiatus in 1993 he decided to relinquish input into the sitcom, and instead wrote a solo novel based on the cult program. Following this he primarily became an author, specialising in absurdist speculative fiction reminiscent of Douglas Adams and Kurt Vonnegut. 'Colony' is the first of Grant's post-Red Dwarf novels (his third, 'Fat', has just been released) and is also the book most similar to the show itself. Grant has also written the futuristic crime comedy 'Incompetnce'.

Eddie is your average regular everyday nobody on dying planet Earth. When it comes to unimportant and unimposing, Eddie pretty much rules the roost. So when he suddenly inherits a massive and unpayable debt thanks to a computer error he naturally finds himself completely unequipped to deal with the situation. He finds himself in a makeshift town of gambling and recreation constructed around a base known as 'The Project', and when the opportunity to escape a brutal and violent death at the hands of debt collectors arises he immediately latches onto it with both hands. And so he finds himself trading places with a prominent figure in The Project, a social engineer who has designed a facistic life-plan for the denizens of a massive exploration ship named the Willflower. This ship is set to travel deep into the uncharted depths of space in the hope of finding an Earth-like planet that humanity can colonise.

Flash forward a few hundred years, and Eddie wakes up somewhat less than whole. Some sort of calamity befell upon him and he must now adjust to a new life. Also, the ship's occupants are more than a few generations removed from the original crew... strict mating programs have ensured more than a minimal amount of inbreeding and latent stupidty, and the ship itself is breaking apart thanks to a meteorite collision. Worse still, everyone looks to Eddie to lead them to safety!

This a dark and deeply funny book full of twists and complete turnarounds. Grant dazzles us with every page and I soon learnt not to get too attached to any peripheral characters after the story performed more than a few sommersaults and backflips. It's incredibly well constructed, and the characters are hilarious. Eddie is a likeable hero, remarkable in that he is completely unremarkable - the sort of man whose ambitions are almost non-existent, and I found myself warming to him a lot. Never once does the book get dull either, the dialogue (as Red Dwarf fans might expect) is snappy and crude and incredibly fun, and there's some great big scale science-fictiony action to keep things moving along at breakneck speed.

I'd read 'Incompetnce' before this and I enjoyed it a lot, but I have to say I liked 'Colony' even more. Grant has a steady and confident hand when it comes to low-brow comedy and big-concept science fiction . I'm now looking forward to his new book 'Fat' immensely, and my only wish for this novel was that it never ended or that we one day get a sequel.

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A Darkling Plain

March 18th 2007 12:10

'A Darkling Plain' is the fourth and final book in the speculative teen science-fiction series by Philip Reeve that has come to be known as 'The Hungry City Chronicles'. Strangely, this final installment seems to have been given a minimal release in Australia (the other three novels in the series were given a prominent push by local bookstores over the last two years or so), so I had to get it ordered in. Hopefully it will be released properly over here when it becomes available in paperback. Anyway, before I continue with the review, here are links to my reviews of the previous three novels...
Mortal Engines
Predator's Gold
Infernal Devices

The events of this book pick up some six months or so after 'Internal Devices'. All the heroic (and, in Pennyroyal's case, less-than-heroic) characters have moved on throughout the much-changed landscape of the distant future. Wren and her father, Tom, have taken to the Bird Roads, travelling and trading... Tom's heart has become weak and his life is coming to an end, and Wren misses her one-time boyfriend Theo. Theo has gone back to his home in Africa, a stately static settlement that is fiercely anti-tractionist. He pines for Wren and no longer feels sympathetic for the violent movement known as the Green Storm. Tom's estranged wife, Hester, has become the Black Angel, a much-feared bounty hunter who traverses the African desert with her faithful companion, the stalker Shrike. Meanwhile, the shy and pacifist scientist Oenone has married General Naga, leader of the Green Storm, and has caused rifts within the organisation with her peaceful influence. The loveably despicable Professor Pennyroyal is lounging amongst the Traktionstadtsgesellschaft, an alliance of traction cities dedicated to destroying the Green Storm, and continues to attract fame and fortune with his exaggerated tales of adventure and daring. And little Fishcake, the former Lost Boy left alone at the end of 'Infernal Devices', has rebuilt the Stalker Fang... which could spell doom and destruction for one and all.

As you can see from the previous paragraph, there are a lot of seperate storylines and characters here. And these are just the major characters returning from previous novels... throw in a shifty and intriguing rogue tractionist named Wolf Kobold, who pilots the burrowing suburb Harrowbarrow, and a range of other supporting characters new and old, and you have an intricate series of intertwined subplots that help flesh this novel out to twice the size of any of the previous installments in the series. Not only does 'A Darkling Plain' act as a direct sequel to 'Infernal Devices', but it also links directly back to 'Mortal Engines' with it's satisfying big surprise twist (which I won't spoil here) - helping to give some closure to this epic saga of traction-mounted cities, warring factions, colourful characters and undead cyborgs.

Reeve certainly has his work cut out for him, opting to include so many recurring characters... I'd recommend this book only to those familiar with the others in the series, and you might need to refresh your memory on the previous books to ensure you can keep track of who is who while you're at it too. I think he may have stretched himself with electing to involve so many different characters, Pennyroyal and Fishcake in particular seem only vaguely neccessary to the plot. Also, with stretching the story over so many different characters and subplots, we don't get to see anywhere near as much of Hester and Shrike as we might've liked... they're pretty much my favourite characters, easily the most original of an impressive bunch, and I wished I got to see far more of them in the book.

Reeves has a pretty big canvas to work with though and he doesn't disappoint. He gives us big battles, devastating treachery, heartwarming acts of bravery and various other exciting turns of events that you certainly don't see coming at any point. The ending works very well and rounds off the quartet with a certain degree of finality, and the final scenes are remarkably elegiac and memorable. Reeves certainly achieves a worthy wrap up to this wonderful series and it annoys me a fair bit that these books aren't more popular in Australia... they're involving, full of scares, laughs and adventure, and damn well more original than, say, 'Harry Potter' or 'Eragon'. If you're looking for a good piece of speculative fiction with elements of science fiction, fantasy and high adventure, then I implore you to go to your nearest bookstore and grab a copy each of 'Mortal Engines' and 'Predator's Gold'... if you're not hooked after those then I dare say we aren't even remotely on the same wavelength!

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Infernal Devices

January 25th 2007 05:26

'Infernal Devices' is the third book is Philip Reeves' wonderfully futuristic adventure series, 'The Hungry City Chronicles' (of which 'Mortal Engines' is the first novel). 'Infernal Devices' picks up around 16 years after the events of the previous novel, 'Predator's Gold'... past characters return, the story is advanced, a new sequence has begun. The first two books in 'The Hungry City Chronicles' (the previously mentioned two highlighted in bright-blue) could be said to form a loose duo, whereas 'Infernal Devices' and the last book in the series, 'A Darkling Plain', might be said to form a second duo that acts as a sequel to the first. Does that make sense? I don't know. Either way, there's a big gap between the second and third books in the series, and as a result 'Infernal Devices' feels like it could be the start of a whole new (seperate) adventure.

The principle protagonist of 'Infernal Devices' is sixteen-year old Wren Natsworthy, the daughter of Tom and Hester. She lives in Anchorage-on-Vineland, a traction city turned static settlement in the land once known as North America, and she is bored with the peaceful and eventless life her parents have provided her with. She despises her mother, Hester - who has mellowed very little since we last saw her sixteen years ago, and the two are always at odds with one another. So when the opportunity comes for Wren to run away and join the Lost Boys, she jumps at it. But the Lost Boys want something, an ancient artefact in Anchorage-on-Vineland known as the 'Tin Book', which contains secrets better left unknown...

Reeves does it again with this latest installment of his quartet. We learn more of the sordid history that led to this post-static Earth of traction-cities and ruined lands, and we're introduced and reintroduced to a host of colourful and ambiguous characters. Most impressively, Reeves manages to realistically age his two heroes from the previous two books... Tom is fairly unchanged - easy-going, amiable, dull, and Hester continues to be every bit as twisted and bitter as her disfigured face, eaten away by guilt at her past actions and unrepetent at the same time. She resents the presence of her daughter, and she continues to surprise and engage with her every action. As I've mentioned in reviews of 'Mortal Engines' and 'Predator's Gold', Hester is the real star of these novels - she's a fantastic character and Reeves should be commended on his creation of, and commitment to, her. Likewise, the Stalker Fang fast emerges as a terrifically complex and creepy villainess and the evolution of the Anti-Tractionists into the fully-blown ammoral terrorist organisation known as Green Storm comes full circle. It's a certain kind of irony that Green Storm has come to resemble the kinds of people they originally stood against, even down to their utilisation of forgotten superweapons that would be better left buried.

I have to admit, 'Infernal Devices' kind of fell flat for me in some respects. I was caught a little offguard by the gap between this and the previous book. The ways that Reeves kept me guessing at the motivations and allegiances of characters that I thought I'd already had figured out in the previous novels didn't sit well with me either. I mean, hell, it impressed me and I like the idea of it, but I couldn't help but feel a little uncomfortable at not knowing where everyone stood by the third book in a four-book series. 'Infernal Devices' pretty much throws everything already established into the air and mixes it all up in preparation for the final novel, 'A Darkling Plain'. There are some great moments in this book, and some great ideas and images conjured up. I think the main source of my annoyance was in having the book end on such a cliffhanger... and then having to wait nearly a year for the next book! Well, I have the last book now and I'm going to read it soon. Here's hoping the series keeps up it's high standard right to the end!

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Taronga

January 16th 2007 09:48

'Taronga' is probably the most well-known book by English-Australian children's fantasy/science-fiction author Victor Kelleher. Kelleher has written close to 30 children's and teen novels throughout the 80s and 90s, and has won various awards for his efforts, including the Australian Children's Book Award. 'Taronga' is a bleak and memorable tale about survival, pacifism, bravery and holding onto ideals in the face of death. It was first published in 1986 and has been in and out of print every since, and can still be found in a lot of bookstores today - more than twenty years later

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New Books: Gideon The Cutpurse

January 8th 2007 05:03

Gideon the Cutpurse is a new children's science-fiction novel, 'being the first part in a trilogy' (the Gideon trilogy), that involves time travel and 17th century thievery

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Further Doctor Who books

December 31st 2006 05:27

Yesterday I talked about the various ranges of Doctor Who novels. Anyway, here are some oddities that I missed or glanced over...

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Doctor Who novels

December 30th 2006 04:32

The first book I ever read and liked was a Doctor Who book. It was called 'The Dalek Invasion of Earth' and I borrowed it from my local library when I was 8. From here on in I would read virtually nothing voluntarily but Doctor Who, up until the age of around 19. There are a lot of Doctor Who books, and I have read nowhere near them all

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Dune

November 23rd 2006 03:02

'Dune' is the sci-fi/fantasy epic to end all sci-fi/fantasy epics. When I first read this book (I think I was about eigteen) it had a huge impact on me. I was all like, 'Woahhhhhh fucken hell', cause it was so freaking awesome. It landed on me in an even bigger fashion than Lord of the Rings did, that's how good it was

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Neuromancer

October 6th 2006 05:12

Few writers can claim to have been as pivotal to a subgenre as much as William Gibson can in regards to 'cyberpunk'. Gibson virtually invented all the stylistic hallmarks of the genre, as well as coining many terms (including 'cyberspace') that have now become part of our everyday language. His early 80s work in fiction can be regarded as prophetic in this respect

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Red Dwarf books

October 2nd 2006 09:51

'Red Dwarf' is a great science-fiction/comedy television series that ran for around 10 years in the UK. It concerns one Dave Lister, a lowly technician aboard the mining ship Red Dwarf. He smuggles a cat onboard the ship for company, but the offence manages to get him put into stasis (suspended animation) for 18 months as punishment. Meanwhile, while he's frozen in time, his annoying bunkmate and superior - Arnold J. Rimmer - accidentally causes the deaths of everyone on the entire ship. The radiation levels that result from the accident make it too dangerous for the ship's computer, Holly, to let Lister out of stasis. So Lister stays frozen in time for 3 million years. When the radiation finally dies down enough for him to be let out, he finds he is now the last human left alive in a lonely universe, and that the ship is a long way from home

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The Sirens of Titan

September 1st 2006 12:32

'The Sirens of Titan' is Kurt Vonnegut's second book. It is also the one book of his that is most definable as 'science-fiction' (rather than science fiction-like literature). It's a very enjoyable book and I'd reccomend it to both sci-fi fans and people looking to get into Vonnegut's stuff. After his first book, the proto-satire 'Player Piano', this is probably the true start of his unique and famous writing style - with many of his recurring themes, styles and ideas appearing for the first time here.

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The Infinitive of Go

August 24th 2006 05:23

Author John Brunner

'The Infinitive of Go' is the kind of old school hardcore science-fiction that doesn't really get written anymore. It's pulpish, but in a good way, and slots right into an era of genre-writing that has pretty much disappeared. The author, John Brunner, was a prolific writer who churned out these wild, speculative novellas that raised more questions than they answered and splashed a mighty rainbow out into the void of the undiscovered. The science might be a little dated at times, but it's a heck of a lot of fun

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Tomorrow When the War Began

August 14th 2006 04:20

Tomorrow When the War Began, by John Marsden

If there's one Australian children's fiction book or series that has left a big impression on a generation of young readers it would definitely have to be John Marsden's successful 'Tomorrow When the War Began' series

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