Hadrian the VII, by Frederick Rolfe

Hadrian the VII is a classic novel, written in 1904 by Fr. Rolfe.  It tells the story of a George Arthur Rose, who through a series of conincendental events is made Pope Hadrian VII.  The book focuses on the changes that Hadrian makes through use of Papal power and the problems that ensue from his work.

As the book was written in 1904, I would definitely say this is not an easy read - a lot of the language is unfamiliar, for example the use of Erse for Irish.  The vocabulary used in the book is also very diverse, and I would not claim to understand exactly the meaning of very word in the book - epecially if you are not familiar with Catholic terminology.  Finally, there are a fair number of phrases in Greek, Latin and Italian within the book, with no translations provided, which further adds to the difficulty with language.

But, this aside, the book is very interesting.  It's a fanciful story with a conclusion that isn't entirely rational and definitely unlikely, but that does not mean that the book doesn't raise some interesting questions; in particular about the role of the church within world government.  It also has some good moments of comedy, although these are definitely few and far between.

So this book is an easy one to sum up.  It is not an easy read, between the subject matter and the language barriers, but the story is an interesting idea and definitely one that made me think.  It's also an interesting work from an educational standpoint, having a lot of social history.  So, if you can weave your way through the difficult bits, definitely an interesting story.

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Green Rider, by Kristen Britain

Green Rider is a fantasy adventure novel, telling the story of Kharigan G'ladheon, an young woman who has just been thrown out of school.  Chancing upon a dying messenger (a Green Rider), she takes his message and his horse, and embarks on a journey to deliver the message to the king.

It has been a few months since I actually read this book, but I still look back on it fondly.  Even from the start, while the plot is roughly the generic tale of a harrowing journey, the book manages to avoid too many cliches and provides an interesting and entertaining story.  The world is new and different, although still retains a familiar fantasty feel.  The characters are good and the plot makes sense; sometimes sorely lacking in other stories in the same genre!

There are a few things I particularly liked.  Mostly this is related to the fact that the main character in this book is not a heroic warrior or a powerful wizard; she's just a fairly normal person who's put into some difficult situations.  I like this, it made me feel like I could empathise well with her, especially when things become difficult.

I also liked that this book doesn't end with some far fetched situation - there was no marriage to the king or something like that, the main character doesn't suddenly end up running the Green Riders; this isn't that sort of book, it's (as far as any book with magic and wizards in can be) realistic, and has a sense of proportion.  The book was tied up nicely with no loose ends, although I can very much imagine a sequel!

So all in all I think this is a great book.  It manages to mix a decent plot, a believable world and a good set of characters together, and I enjoyed reading it a great deal.  I definitely look forward to finding more of her work!

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The Redemption of Althalus, by David and Leigh Eddings

The Redeption of Althalus is a standalone fantasy adventure, telling the story of a thief named Althalus.  Hired for a simple job involving stealing a book, he is drawn into an far bigger adventure and a war of good verses evil.

I have to admit I approached this book with some trepidation; David Eddings is an author that I feel is fairly one dimensional - pretty much every book I've read of his is what I'd describe as akin to a Dungeons and Dragons adventure - you have a disparate group of characters who go on a long journey and save the world by working together.  It's not to say that they're bad books, per se, they are a fun read, but they are a bit predictable.

I was pleasantly surprised at the start of the book; I quite like the character of Althalus, and while it was clearly the tale of an adventure, it felt a bit better than the previous ones.  It also seemed a bit more personal than his other books - less about a war between good and evil, and more about a personal journey.  Even the title hinted at this.

Unfortunately, this didn't last.  Pretty much as soon as the initial part ended, we descended into the formulaic story - the hero spends some time gathering gifted individuals in the first part, then each of them fights their corresponding villain, then the world is saved.  So really, this is very similar to what I expected.  Now, before I give too bad an impression; this book isn't awful, it's just predictable and simple.  It's a nice story, it passes the time, there's the odd small twist that privides a little excitement, but it's not worth actually thinking about too hard (the plot towards the end makes no sense - if they can do what they did at the end, they may as well have done that at the start and saved 600 pages).

However, it does get worse.  Not only is the overriding plot generic and uninspiring, the romance stories that litter it are sickly to the point of being unreadable.  Pretty much as soon as any character turns up, an appropriate partner comes along and falls in love with them.  It's not even particularly interesting stories - they're idealistic and naive love-at-first-sight stories.  And personally I find it quite derogatory and stereotypical - they all between a man who need support and a woman who wants to look after him. 

So, this is a generic fantasy with a thin, hole ridden plot, stereotypical characters and terrible love stories. 

The problem here is that I'm not going to say that I didn't actually enjoy the book.  I think overall I did, but I enjoyed it like I'd enjoy watching a kid's cartoon - it's a bit silly and a bit simple but its a bit of fun and it does pass the time if you don't take it seriously.  I just can't help thinking there's better books with which to pass my time! 

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Inconstant Moon, by Larry Niven

Inconstant Moon is a collection of seven short stories (some versions of this book have more).  They are all set in the future by some degree, mostly  somewhere in space.

Collections of short stories are often hard to review.  In this set, two stood out as being particularly interesting - Inconstant Moon and Bordered in Black.  The former of these is almost more a love story than sci-fi, but nonetheless interesting, telling the tale of a couple spending their last night alive.  I liked this story mostly because it is... nice.  No remarkable invention, just relatively ordinary people realising that there is nothing they can do to save themselves.

Bordered in Black is much darker, telling the tale of a the return of the first faster-than-light ship, with just one of the two crew left and a tale that either offers enormous hope, or terrible threat.  What I liked about this story is the implication of threat rather than the reality of it - this isn't just a story about going to another star system and being shot at.

But... to be honest, the stories in this book are not particularly remarkable.  I mean, they're perfectly readable, they make you think, and I quite liked the fact that they're mostly set in the same universe.  But, I doubt I'll pick this up to read it again.  It's worth a read if you have it, and if you're a big Larry Niven fan you might really like it, but I'd not go out of my way to find it.

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Speed of Dark, by Elizabeth Moon

Speed of Dark tells the story of Lou, an autistic genius struggling to fit into society.  Gordon works for a company who use his (and other autistic people's) ability to spot patterns in data, but as science evolves, a method of making autistic people become more "normal" becomes available, and Gordon finds himself under pressure to take the treatment.

I found this book fascinating.  The author has put a lot of effort into understanding autism and the way it works, and it comes out in a lot of ways.  For example, most of the book is set in the first person from Lou's point of view, and is written in short sentences often featuring his feelings about a world that does not understand him and that he does not understand.  You really get the feeling of his fustrations and difficulties, and from what little I know of autism, it seems to make sense.

So the writing style is well done, and the plot is interesting too; there's enough about it to keep it flowing, while at the same time not being too predictable (I did not predict the ending!).  The characters are interesting, and you get the feeling you know something about them by the end; they're not all just shallow stereotypes.

The other aspect of this book is the philosophy, about the treatment of people and about what makes someone who they are.  This is treated quite well, without trying to labour too many conclusions but allow the reader to see different points of view.  I didn't ever feel that there was a political motivation to this book, but at the same time I did feel that it would add to my view of autism, and the further reaches of living with a disabilty, and allow me to be more informed in my opinions.

So, all in all I really did like this book.  It's not a particularly difficult book to get into, too, so I'd probably recommend it to most people if they expressed an interest, although I'd find it hard to pigeonhole it in a genre.  It's well written, very interesting, well researched and really did make me think.  What more could you want?

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Keep the Aspidistra Flying, by George Orwell

Keep the Aspidistra Flying is the tale of Gordon Comstock, a down and out poet who ekes out a living working in a bookstore.  The book tells of how his life slides deeper into poverty as he attempts to escape from the rule of money.

The book is set in the 1930s, when it was written, and as such I found it a very interesting piece of social history, with Gordon's financial situation, home life and social life are all very different from the present.  But what is perhaps more interesting is the problems Gordon faces are very current, from concern about smoking his last cigarettes before he can afford more, or worrying about borrowing money from friends who have plenty.

So, while this book is in its own way dated, it doesn't mean it's difficult to read or understand.  The themes of the book stand up now as well as they did then, and this is related to the endless search for money, with the main character consistently refusing to seek out a better job simply because it pays better.

I don't really want to discuss the themes of the book too much, or the ending, without revealing too much of the plot, so I'll stop there.  Ultimately, this is an interesting book, and the sort of book you could discuss with friends, at school or at a book club.  However, I'd also say that, due to it's age and subject matter, it's not particularly easy to read.  So, a book for the serious reader, and not a light read for holiday!

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Scattered Suns, by Kevin J. Anderson

Scattered Suns is the fourth book in The Saga of the Seven Suns. It contines the tale of epic interstellar war. I'm not going to go too much further into the detail though, since it's very much the middle of a series. However, there is a good recap at the start of the book which allows you to catch up, or if you have not read previous books in the series.

There isnt really much I can say in this reivew that is different from my review of the previous book in the series, however. Ultimately, the plot is patchy, the characters range from naive to just plain stupid and the story does not stand up to scrutiny.

And exactly as the previous book, it's still a good read. It's not a book to take seriously; it's the action film of the literary word. A bit of fun, a few laughs, some adventure, some excitement. If you don't take this book seriously, and if you've read the previous ones and can cope with it, this is an easy, fun book to read.

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