I finally decided that it was time to pick up Tales of the Otori again--time to grow up and get over my disappointment from the last book I'd read. Grass for His Pillow turned out to be less intense than the first two books, with no major surprises or twists. There's still a fair amount of action, tragedy, etc, but this volume is suffering from the 'middle of a trilogy' effect. (despite the fact that there's five books in the series :-p)
Overview (Spoiler Threat: Moderate)
It's hard to give a summary of the middle book without giving away some of the earlier books, so if you care about spoilers, it's probably a good idea to skip this whole review and just check out the review for Heaven's Net is Wide.
When we left off, Evil Overlord was dead and Beautiful Not-a-Maiden-Anymore was left heartbroken because Lonely Emo Hero had to go pursue his destiny.
Okay, that's an unfair simplification, but only kind of. Luckily, Takeo quickly regrets his decision to join the Tribe, sticking around just long enough to learn a few more crazy ninja skills. Unluckily, this poor kid has a triple helping of destiny, so he's still got to restore the Otori clan and save the Hidden (or do something for the Hidden, it's not quite clear). Meanwhile, Kaede picks up some character development as she works to hold onto her father's lands and claim the much large domain she inherited from her aunt. (confused yet? yeah, I don't know if it's a good idea to review individual books that fall in the middle of a series)
Recommended for: Fantasy fans and anime fans, but only if you've read the first two books, don't start here.
Parental Worries: Less sex and violence than the first books, but there's still a fair amount of both.
Audiobook Comments: Read by Kevin Gray and Aiko Nakasone, who do a very good job.
Ramblings (Spoiler Threat: Low)
I feel like a bit of a hypocrite, because I complained so much about the plot twists in Across the Nightingale Floor, and now that we have a nice calm book that's basically all exposition, I'm criticizing that too. In fact it was so calm, and things were going so well for the heroes, that when I looked down to discover there were only 30 minutes left in the book, my automatic thought was 'Okay, just enough time for the shit to hit the fan and leave us hanging for the next book'. But no, we sailed smoothly through the last 30 minutes. We're promised shit hitting the fan as soon as the next story starts, but that's in the future. (and I am learning not to trust Hearn's promises, anyway) The ending of this book is actually quite happy ^_^ I approve.
All in all though, I've got to admit that I'm not really reading these books for their plot or their characters. Both are interesting and likeable, but frustrating and occasionally annoying at the same time. I'm really reading these books for the beautiful setting that Hearn paints, the oriental aesthetic that pervades the entire series. For authenticity, I'd be better off reading the ancient Chinese and Japanese classics, but the Tales of the Otori are much more accessible (in several different senses of the word) and it's not like I'm cultured enough to know the difference ^_~
Labels: fantasy, Tales of the Otori
Men at Arms was the first Discworld book I read that actually belonged to a continuing character arc, so I've always considered it to be a flagship of the series. It's not a bad place to start, either, since several new characters are introduced and the old ones are expanded upon, but there's not so much backstory that the reader gets lost. It's an excellent book, both on its own and as part of the series.
Overview
Affirmative action has come to Ankh-Morpork, but because this is Discworld, the Watch's new minority hires consist of a dwarf, a troll, and a . . . well, women aren't technically a minority, but everyone assumes that's the group Lance-Corporal Angua is representing. Captain Vimes is not thrilled with the new arrangement, but since he will shortly be married and retired, he figures it's not his problem.
Meanwhile, the young assassin Edward d'Eath, outraged at his family's fall into poverty and obscurity and increasingly obsessed with ancient royalty, thinks he has discovered the long-lost heir to the throne of Ankh-Morpork and plots to put him back in his rightful place. A half-crazed assassin shouldn't have been too much trouble, but Edward manages to get his hands on a strange new weapon that gives him incredible power--the gonne. In a world where the crossbow is the height of weapons technology, even a single firearm can cause quite a bit of trouble, especially since this one seems to have a mind of its own.
Other topics on the table for your enjoyment include clowns, dogs, monarchy, the properties of springs and the superconductivity of silicon. They all fit together, I promise.
Recommended for: Everyone. You don't have a good enough excuse not to.
Parental Worries: As before, these books are written for adults, but the target audience mostly comes through in the jokes. Unlike most Discworld books, there is some sex, but never actually 'on screen' as it were. You can figure out what happens, but they don't spell out any details.
Audiobooks: Read by the amazing Nigel Planer, who takes the already colorful characters into a whole new dimension.
Ramblings (Spoiler Threat: Low)
One of the reasons I'm particularly fond of this book is that Carrot and Vimes are both over the growing pains from their first novel. Carrot is no longer the green kid that arrested the leader of the Thieves Guild--he's solid gold, and so is everything he touches from here on out. It would be annoying, if he didn't make up for it by being embarrassingly earnest and completely hopeless at anything involving subterfuge. Vimes is . . . well, I can't say he's entirely reformed his ways, 'cause that's half his charm, but he's definitely benefited from having Sybil to look after him, and this book is where he really starts moving up in the world. (kicking and screaming all the way, but moving up nonetheless ^_~ )
I can't decide what Pratchett is trying to say (if anything) about gun control in general, because the circumstances in the story don't really apply to anything in the real world today. (One gun in the world vs. a world full of guns) He makes a couple of points that seem to be ridiculing bits of gun rights activism, but Pratchett is too smart to suggest that all guns should be illegal, he actually makes a point in another book about the stupidity of outlawing all weapons, so that only criminals are armed. I doubt it's even an issue in Britain, so the gonne may just be a convenient plot device, and not a social commentary :-p
Quotes Time!
"'There's stranger people in this world than Corporal Nobbs, my lad.'
Carrot's expression slid into a rictus of intrigued horror.
'Gosh.'"
"There were such things as Dwarf gods (...) they'd seen the need for gods as a sort of supernatural equivalent of a hard hat. Besides, when you hit your thumb with an eight-pound hammer it's nice to be able to blaspheme. It takes a very special and strong minded kind of atheist to jump up and down with their hand clasped under their other armpit and shout, 'Oh, random-fluctuations-in-the-space-time-coninuum!' or 'Aaargh, primitive-and-out-moded-concept on a crutch!'"
"Dwarfs are very attached to gold. Any highwayman demanding ‘Your money or your life’ had better bring a folding chair and packed lunch and a book to read while the debate goes on."
"But the thing was that good boots lasted for years and years. A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that’d still be keeping his feet dry in ten years’ time, while a poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet."
--Captain Samuel Vimes ‘Boots’ theory of socio-economic unfairness.
"‘Coalface? In the Watch?’
Dink. ‘Corporal Carrot says there’s some good buried somewhere in everyone,’ said Detritus.
‘And what’s your job, Detritus?’
Dink. ‘Engineer in charge of deep mining operations, sah!’"
"Sometimes it's better to light a flamethrower than curse the darkness."
I'd heard quite a bit about the Song of Ice and Fire series by George R.R. Martin before I actually steeled myself to read it, and what I'd heard justified the use of the word 'steeled'. 'Wonderful story!' they said 'epic and complex, with such real characters! But very dark, lots of violence and sex, very gritty!' (I like that word, gritty, for these novels--think Frank Miller does fantasy)
Overview
Surprisingly enough, they were right. I went into the book expecting to dislike it, because it was obviously setting itself up as Lord of the Rings all grown up. (Seriously, look at the author's name! Even if your middle initials are actually 'R.R.', it still screams "I'm just like Tolkien, see my epic fantasy skillz!") And any story that employs graphic sex and violence to get its point across must be lacking in basic narrative, right? But to my mild surprise, it didn't take long to get so deeply wrapped up in the story that I didn't mind the dark bits. Actually, my expectations of darkness and death led to a couple of nice surprises when characters survived after I'd written them off as dead.
Anyway, on to the summary: Due to some magical mishap back in the mists of time, the natural course of the seasons has slowed, leading to summers and winters that last anywhere from two to ten years. Currently, the land is experiencing a summer that has lasted a decade, but it is coming to an end, and a long summer always means a long winter to follow. Into this setting of approaching doom, we follow (mostly) the Stark family, an ancient line that has always lived at the northernmost tip of civilization, first and last to face the long winters. Currently, the family consists of Ned Stark, his wife Catelyn and their 5 children, plus a bastard son who is only occasionally treated as anything but fully legitimate. The children are fairly young, ranging from 15 to 3, and part of the book's darkness is that these children are major players in its terrible events.
Ned Stark is fully content to stay in his ancestral home and prepare his family and lands for the coming winter, but a summons from the King to serve him at court tears Ned away from his life of peace, entangling him in the dangerous game of thrones, where you either win, or you die.
Recommended for: Fantasy fans ready for a commitment, and historical fiction fans willing to try something new.
Parental Worries: Gosh, where do I start? Incest, statutory rape, disembowelings, demonic forces, on and on. If you made a list of the things you don't want your kids reading about, you'd probably find 95% of them in this book and (I would assume) its sequels.
Audiobook Comments: Read by Roy Dotrice, who does a very good job. Thinking back on the book, I was under the impression that they had a female reader to do the female POVs, which is both a strong compliment to his skills and a sign that I'm still channeling Tales of the Otori.
Ramblings (Spoiler Threat: Low)
I have to grimace at that summary, because I'm pretty sure several lines of it are ripped straight from the back of the book. Unfortunately, it'd be really hard to summarize it any other way in less than 3 pages. I could go into the many different warring factions, the reasons for the throne's instability in the first place, and the completely separate but sinister albino Morgul-wraiths sweeping down from the winterlands, but really, at that point it's just easier to read the book. I will say though, that Thrones keeps up with its complex plot very well. Its many branches threaten to overwhelm the reader from time to time, but it manages to keep us afloat.
Martin has created a lush, beautiful world complete with history and at least a basic mythology (although he's got at least three more books to build with, there's plenty of room to expand both). He escapes many fantasy cliches by making everyone human, and in fact this first installment reads more like historical fiction than fantasy, with only a few fantastic bits, mostly at the beginning and end of the book.
One of the things I find frustrating about Thrones is that in the end, there is no clear 'evil' side. That's going to be a plus for many readers, but although I have no problem with complex characters and sympathetic antagonists, I do like to at least have a side to cheer for. I honestly liked at least one member of, and occasionally hoped for the success of, each of the three major factions in the game of thrones. Each side has its villians and champions. Nothing is clear cut, all exists as shades of gray. The balance and internal conflict it creates speaks of great skill on the author's part, but what it gains in interest and impressiveness, it loses in pure, deep-seated satisfaction. So overall, the series is promising and impressive, but anyone who considers Martin to be Tolkien's successor has been reading the wrong genre.
Labels: fantasy, Song of Ice and Fire
* Warning: this review is ridiculously long, partially because I had a lot to comment on, and partially because I’m sitting in an airport with nothing better to do *
I have a tendency to pick up random books by famous authors if they’re available for cheap, and apparently I don’t pay too much attention to the book’s actual description. Therefore, I started reading The Planet that Wasn’t expecting a scifi story. Whoops :-p turns out it’s a collection of essays on topics ranging from astronomy to chemistry to history. Kudos to whoever picked the title, they were probably hoping its scifi feel would lure in poor saps like me, and it worked!
Overview
Asimov was interested in any and all areas of science, and the breadth of topics covered in this book is quite impressive. They tend to be a bit rambling at the beginning, and the opening anecdote or topic often has little or nothing to do with the actual meat of the essay. Maybe that’s an accepted style for a series of essays, I haven’t read enough of them to be sure. Some of the articles get pretty technical, but he does a good job of simplifying and explaining things.
Overall, a very interesting book; the articles are mostly interesting and informative, although there are a few that just failed to grab my attention much at all. The early articles in particular have some very nice science history.
Recommended for: Scifi fans (especially Asimov fans) and science buffs
Parental worries: None, unless you’re particularly wary of atheist sentiments
Ramblings
As I’ve mentioned before, Asimov’s scorn for religion, spirituality, and anything that he deems ‘unscientific’ tends to get under my skin, and there’s plenty of that in these essays. Interestingly enough, however; I find his essays that directly address religious issues, “Star in the East” and “The Judo Argument”, far less offensive than his snarky comments offered as a sideline in other essays. He ends both of the religious articles with an ‘of course I’m only discussing this out of curiosity/the challenge, I don’t actually take it seriously’ type of line, but since he manages to suppress his sneer for the vast majority of the article, I don’t begrudge him a parting shot.
It’s worth noting that since these articles were all written in the 1970s, they’re obviously not the pinnacle of science that they were when first published, but still solid science, every one.
“The Planet that Wasn’t” - It sounds like the title of a fiction piece, but turns out to be a historical snapshot, paired with an argument for the 'inevitability' of coincidence. Asimov considers that people are far to 'disbelieving' of coincidence, too quick to attribute such things to a cosmic order or intelligence behind the universe. He considers them to be 'inevitable consequences of the laws of probability'. He starts out by telling the story of Saturn, the god who ate his children and was eventually defeated by Zeus. Due to a slight tilt in Saturn's rings, Galileo observed two small blips beside Saturn that disappeared and reappeared from time to time. Saturn, it appeared, was still swallowing his children. Add to this the fact that Jupiter, named for the greatest of the gods, turned out to be the largest planet in the solar system. Just coincidence, Asimov claims, and then goes on to tell of yet another astronomical coincidence: the planet that wasn't. In the mid-1800s, irregularities were observed in Mercury's orbit that could not be explained by Newtonian physics. Astronomers at the time hypothesized that this indicated the presence of another planet, even closer to the sun. The presence or lack thereof of this hypothetical planet, named Vulcan for it's proximity to the fiery orb, stymied astronomers until Einstein's Theory of Relativity solved the problem. The changes in Mercury's orbit that seemed to indicate the presence of an unknown mass were actually a result of the massive energy of the sun's gravitational field. Since energy=mass, the sun's gravitational field was itself acting as a small mass, tweaking all the planets ever-so-slightly. Vulcan, therefore, was cast from the sky, even as its namesake was once cast from Heaven.
The story is fascinating and well told, but I don't think it quite makes the point that Asimov was trying for. At current count we've got 3 of 9 planets (not counting Earth, but counting the hypothetical Vulcan) that share characteristics with their mythological namesakes that were unknown at the time of their naming. I'm not a statistician, but the laws of probability account for that, really? Instead of inevitability, what came to my mind was the theory of Tolkien's that all myths have some seed of truth in them.
“The Olympian Snows” – The title comes from the appearance of snow on several large Martian mountains, and the article covers the range of observations and theories regarding our celestial neighbor over the ages and how most of them were eventually disproved.
“Titanic Surprise” – Like all scifi writers and fans, Asimov was fascinated with the possibility of life on other planets. In this article, he takes a look at the possibility of extraterrestrial life in terms of the planet's size and temperature. Really interesting stuff, because it turns out that a planet's ability to maintain an atmosphere is related to a delicate balance between its gravitational field and the phase of its components. For example, Venus is hot enough to vaporize any volatile compounds and large enough to hold on to them. On the other hand, Pluto is so cold
that only the lightest elements remain gaseous, and so small that it cannot hold on to them. After going through this analysis for most of the solar system, he concludes that only Earth and Titan, a moon of Saturn, are capable of supporting solid, liquid and gas phases in their atmosphere, and therefore Titan is the best bet for extraterrestrial life. He also gives Jupiter credibility as a cradle of life, observing that there would be a section of Jupiter's atmosphere at some depth that would reach Earth-level temperatures.
Another point he mentions about Jupiter is that it might be considered a sub-star, not quite big enough to ignite like the sun, but massive enough that some fusion is occuring in its core. Clarke also plays with this idea at the end of the 2001 series--mankind forces Jupiter just over that threshold, creating a second star halfway through the solar system. Its a fascinating idea, and really helps to put the scale of the Solar System in a more astonishing light.
“The Wrong Turning” – An analysis of the moons of various planets: how they were formed, what materials they’re made of, and what rules can be applied to their development. Fairly interesting, but after “Titanic Surprise”, I was getting a bit tired of the play-by-play of the solar system.
“The Bridge of the Gods” – A history of the study of light, particularly those properties that lead to rainbows. That part is interesting, but then he decides to take a dig at the mythology and theology concerning light. After a bit of retelling of Galileo’s troubles with the Church and Newton’s experiments with prisms that finally changed the way humanity thought about light, he comes up with this gem:
"To those who value the vision of the human mind organizing observations into natural law and then using natural law to grasp the workings of what had until then been mysterious, the rainbow has added significance and beauty through Newton’s discovery, because, to a far greater extent than before, it can be understood and truly appreciated. To those of more limited fancy, who prefer mindless staring to understanding, and simple-minded fairy tales of gods crossing bridges to the dancing changes of direction of light in accordance with a system that can be written as an elegant mathematical expression, I guess it is a loss."
You know what, Mr. Asimov? Screw you. Reducing the world to mathematical equations may be your idea of fulfillment, but there are many who are perfectly capable of appreciating both the scientific and romantic beauty of a rainbow. I love the old tales, and they are not diminished in the slightest by any scientific discovery, only enhanced because we have a more complete idea of how the phenomenon occurs.
“The Third Liquid” – On the nature of elements, specifically those that exist as liquids anywhere near environmental conditions.
“All Gall” – A discussion of cholesterol, its chemical properties and occurrence in the body. Slightly out of date, because we now know more about what role cholesterol plays in the body (I’m pretty sure it has to do with the cell membrane, but I forget the details)
“The Smell of Electricity” – Concerning ozone, its peculiar qualities, and the history of its discovery. I enjoyed the history, but when he moved on to chemical structure and bonds, my eyes started to glaze over.
“Silent Victory” – An analysis of the Earth’s atmosphere over its lifespan, and how the changing chemistry affected the development of life as we know it. I’ve always found atmospheric chemistry to be very interesting (at least on the overview scale, I’ve never gone too far into the topic), and Asimov gives a very good overview. If you’re interested in the topic, I’d also recommend James Lovelock’s Ages of Gaia and Lynn Margulis’ Microcosmos: Four Billion Years of Evolution from Our Microbial Ancestors.
“Change of Air” – This is an article that really dates the book, I’d say. Roughly around the time I was in elementary school (early 90s), the big environmental issue was the hole in the ozone layer, and this article must have been published just as the problem was being discovered. Following up on the ozone and atmosphere articles, it examines the discovery and widespread use of CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons) for refrigeration and aerosols, and the threat they pose to the ozone layer. The really telling thing though, and the reason that I’m pretty sure the article was way ahead of its time, is that he never actually uses the phrases ‘hole in the ozone layer’, ‘CFCs’, or even ‘chlorofluorocarbons’, all of which were huge buzzwords for the ozone issue. I found this article to be an interesting look backward at environmental issues. (as well as good solid science, this was before any of the hype started) Last I heard, the hole in the ozone layer was actually shrinking. It’d be interesting to learn whether that’s a result of policy and behavioral changes on our part, or simply a natural occurrence. Are we actually releasing less CFCs than 20-30 years ago? I’d be quite surprised (but pleased) if that’s the case.
“The Wicked Witch is Dead” – It takes awhile to get to the point of this essay (how science has destroyed the wicked witch stereotype), because in addition to the rambling intro, Asimov spends a couple of pages being snippy about religion. To be fair, he’s talking about the horrors of witch hunts, so most of his condemnation is well deserved, but it reaches further than the topic at hand. And some of his reasoning is faulty, I’d say. For example, he discusses the biblical Witch of Endor: “If we interpret the Bible literally, we cannot think that witchcraft is a delusion. No, it is a competing religion making use of powerful supernatural forces, and, because it is competing, it is evil by definition.” Now wait a minute. If we’re interpreting the Bible literally, you can’t accept that witchcraft is real and then decide that it’s harmless. You have to also accept (or at least consider) that if it was a real power, it was an evil one. Basically, you have to accept that there are value judgments attached to the supernatural. Some supernatural forces are good, and contact with them is encouraged, while others are bad, and contact with them is forbidden. Now, if you want to interpret the Bible as an atheist and say that the definition of evil was any competing religion, then that’s at least an honest interpretation (dead wrong, I’d say, but at least honestly wrong), but you can’t just pick and choose what you’re going to be literal about.
Anyway, religious rantings aside, the point of the article is that the whole idea of the ‘wicked witch’ came from a) the fact that old women were very unusual in societies before modern medicine made childbirth less dangerous, and b) lack of dental care gave old people without teeth a very different facial structure than younger people, thus making them not only unusual but alien as well. Because they were so unusual and strange looking, they became the pariahs of society and cast as witches. Asimov points out that with the advent of safe childbirth, which gave women a longer life expectancy than men, and dental care, which allowed the elderly to keep their original facial structure, the wicked witch disappeared from society. Interesting stuff.
“The Nightfall Effect” – This article is basically a reply to many comments Asimov had received objecting to the possibility of mankind’s expansion into space. It’s an interesting article, all about the tenacity and intelligence of mankind, and their ability to overcome any barrier. This I agree with, and I do believe that mankind not only will, but must eventually move past our home planet, if they are to survive. But here’s where he gets it wrong, imho: Asimov thinks that if we are able to control the population problem and end war, then we will be sufficiently advanced to expand into space. If, on the other hand, we create an overpopulated, war and strife-ridden world, we will never make it off the planet. But he is ignoring his own arguments when he makes this conclusion. In answer to several of the objections raised, he holds as an example the colonization of America and other great migrations into uncharted territory. These migrations were not accomplished because things were nice and quiet back home, but in response to persecution or other hardships. If we do manage to create a near-utopia here on Earth, there will be no drive to explore, no reason to expand. No, mankind will only leave the planet when it becomes imperative for us to do so—either when we become so crowded that we must have more room, or when resources in space become easier to access than the dwindling resources on Earth.
“The Rocketing Dutchmen” – Asimov takes on UFO fanatics, and mourns that their mix of science, imagination and delusion blocks any serious study into the explanation for the handful of verified but unexplainable sightings of unidentified flying objects.
“Best Foot Backward” – Asimov answers those who claim that science has accomplished ‘nothing of real value’. The original claim is that all science has done is make our lives longer, but not improved the ‘spiritual’ quality of life. Asimov argues that on the contrary, science has made incredible improvements to the human condition, and draws several pictures of what would happen if we really turned our back on technology, as many luddites seem to be suggesting. I’m pretty much in Asimov’s camp on this one—although I am far from worshiping science as the solution to all man’s problems, you would have to be a fool not to recognize the good it has done. He includes a bit about how religion is the truly useless institution, but this post is way too long already for me to bother pointing out the fallacies in that one.
“Thinking About Thinking” – An analysis of the different measures of intelligence, and how subjective they are. Pretty interesting, although it basically boils down to “you can’t quantify intelligence”
“Star in the East” – An analysis of the possible scientific explanations of the Star of Bethlehem. I really liked this article, because although I’ve heard the common possibilities that it was a supernova or a comet, Asimov dismisses these as too easy. If it were that obvious, he points out, King Herod would not have needed to ask the Wise Men for an explanation when they came to visit him. So he goes into several different possibilities, the most impressive of which (imho) was that it wasn’t an actual visible star, but a very rare astrological event in which the Sun’s position at the vernal equinox moved from the constellation of the Ram to the Fish (the Sun switches constellations every 2,000 years or so, and the actual point of the switch could be calculated). He also points out several different alignments of the planets and stars that could have been significant only to astrologers and would also point them in the direction of Judea. Very interesting, very cool.
“The Judo Argument” – Asimov addresses several arguments for the existence of God that he calls ‘Judo Arguments’: arguments that use scientific knowledge to prove the existence of God. It’s a really interesting article, since Asimov actually finds these arguments interesting and valid, and addresses them seriously. Personally, I do not think that science is capable of definitively proving or disproving the existence of God (think about the definition of supernatural for a minute), but I still appreciate the analysis and argument.
Labels: nonfiction, short stories
A couple of years ago, a movie called The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen came out, based on a series of comics by the same name. I had high hopes, because it was described as a kind of Justice League with literary characters instead of superheroes: Dr. Jekyll, Captain Nemo, the Invisible Man, Tom Sawyer, Mina Harker and more. I still think it's a fascinating idea and the movie was definitely fun, but it was also a bit of a disappointment. Several characters were very inaccurate, the worst of which I'd have to say was portraying Mina Harker as a vampire, when the entire point of Stoker's Dracula was to prevent that very occurrence.
But anyway, one thing that piqued my interest was that the pseudo-main character (at least in the movie) was a character I'd never even heard of: Allan Quartermain. How could this be? A literary hero of enough fame to stand beside Nemo and Jekyll, and yet I'd never heard of him? Turns out he's the hero of several works by H. Rider Haggard, the first of which was King Solomon's Mines. So, when the chance came to read it, I jumped. Maybe it was a wonderful story, fallen from popularity and fame, but ripe for rediscovery!
Overview
So, it turned out to be not so much ripe as starting to spoil. A fun adventure story, but rife with melodrama and uncomfortable racial issues. I can see why it was ridiculously popular and groundbreaking, but I wouldn't say worthy of resurrection. According to Wikipedia, it was the founding novel of the 'Lost World' genre, and inspired works such as Edgar Rice Burrough's The Land that Time Forgot, Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World, and Rudyard Kipling's The Man Who Would Be King. I haven't read any of these later lost world books, but considering the authors, they might be worth checking out. I wonder if Journey to the Center of the Earth would also fit the bill? Probably.
Anyway, the plot of Mines is that the wealthy Sir Henry has discovered that his younger brother ran off on a wild goose chase after the legendary diamond mines of King Solomon, and hasn't been seen since. He enlists the help of one Allan Quartermain, a skilled hunter, wise in the ways of Africa, and our narrator, to bring him back. As luck would have it, Quartermain happens to have some secret information about a possible route to the mines, and although he is fairly certain that none of them will make it back alive, agrees to join Sir Henry's expedition. After a long and deadly journey, they make it to a land of paradise, home to . . . a lost civilization, what else? And then even more adventure happens.
Recommended for: Boys and tomboys between the ages of maybe 8 - 13 (I'm usually not that specific, but there's a fairly narrow range between being old enough to handle the violence but not old enough to mind the painfully written melodrama)
Audiobook Comments: Read by John Richmond who does a pretty good job. The part I found amusing is that although the LoEG movie had Sean Connery play Quartermain, it's actually Sir Henry that sounds like Connery's rough British adventurer, while Quartermain has a much more polished, polite sound.
Parental Worries: There's a fair amount of violence, but not above PG13 level. There's also a pair of mountains called 'Sheba's Breasts', if you have a problem with anatomical geography.
Ramblings
I guess this is the part where I discuss the racial issues I mentioned earlier. It's mostly an effect of the times--this was one of the first novels set in colonial Africa and shows the mindset of Victorian England towards the natives. In its favor, it was probably actually fairly revolutionary for the time--Quartermain in particular has a very high regard for Africans. He talks about having met several natives more deserving of the title 'gentleman' than many of his fellow Englishmen, and several of the book's characters illustrate this. On the other hand, the
English characters do not hesitate to assume the guise of visiting gods when they reach their lost civilzation, and there's a whole string of natives willing to nobly sacrifice themselves for the Englishmen. I don't consider myself to be very sensitive towards racial issues, but even I found it to be somewhat stomach-turning. (although I couldn't say how much was due to the melodrama and how much was the condesension) So, all in all, Mines was a fun trip back in time if you don't take it with any kind of seriousness, but not a timeless classic by any stretch of the imagination.