Magician (Raymond E Feist, Riftwar Saga)

Collins, 978-0586213438


Magician is the first novel in what is now a 21 book series. It introduces us to the world of Midkemia and the primary protagonists, Pug (the eponymous Magician) and Tomas ( the uber-warrior), and kicks off the Riftwar Saga. Emerging from the Midkemia gaming "Friday Night Sessions" when Feist taught at U.C.L.A, Magician was originally published in 1982, as two separate novels (Magician: Apprentice and Magician: Master) and became a more-or-less instant best-seller. I've a feeling that this had as much to do with the fact that it was a male American writer who really looked the part, as it did to the fact that it's a cracking good read. Incidentally, Pug and Thomas are the only ones who feature in all the other books, granted as they are if not true immortality then at least a very long life-span.

Almost two decades later, Magician was re-published in 2001 as a single book, and, according to the foreword, re-written with more colour, verve and clarity by an author in his prime. The new edition was also considerably longer, with Feist now calling the shots and restoring much of the dialogue originally edited out by his editor and publisher, around 50,000 words. A lot of people wouldn't agree with me, but I personally believe that Magician and the other Midkemian Sagas ( the Riftwar Saga, the Riftwar Legacy, Krondor's Sons, and the Serpentwar Saga) rank up there along with The Lord of the Rings and the Wheel of Time series as a great classics of 20th century Manichean fantasy. Well, at least up until the end of the Conclave of the Shadows Saga. Everything after that is a re-hash of what went before, and reads like Feist just drew the outlines and left the colouring in to others.

Like most Manichean sagas, there is little that is truly original about Magician, in a more uncannily than fantastical or marvelous sense in terms of world-building and character and peopling. Tolkien-esque elements are clear and present; the Elves are tall, beautiful, magical forest-dwellers who live in a breathtakingly stunning city of trees, the Dwarves are ale-drinking miners, and the heroes are honorable feudalists in a pre-industrial medieval world - The Kingdom of the Isles -. Dragons are intelligent and magical, and, naturally, there's the mystery shrouded 'Black Sorcerer'. No slaves, of course. Only the orientals keep slaves. Even the magic is nothing novel, with your standard greater-path and lesser-path magicians. Todorov calls this our accustomization to the marvelous*, when magical things happen without being anything of a surprise to the reader.

The Little Stranger (Sarah Waters)

Riverhead Books, 978-1594484469

Things that go bump in the middle of the night - check. An eerie, crumbling mansion - check. Landed gentry who seem to be going mad - check. The Little Stranger, has all of these and much, much more.

Written in the first person, the story is told from the perspective of a country doctor, Farraday, the voice of science or rationality that all horror stories need. One day Farraday is called to the 'big house' to treat a housemaid. He's never really been inside and is curious to see how the gentry live, especially as his mother was once a kitchen maid with the family. What he finds is a a house, quickly falling into disrepair, and a family struggling to maintain appearances. Despite the class differences, he soon strikes up a tentative friendship with Caroline, the unmarried daughter and Roderick, her damaged younger brother (still recovering from WWI).

One evening the family throws a small dinner, where a couple bring their young child. Suddenly Caroline's gentle labrador viciously attacks the little girl, almost as if possessed, and Caroline is forced to put her beloved pet down. And that, is the beginning of it all. There are mysterious noises, things written on walls, burn marks and unexplained phone calls. It might all sound very cliched, but trust me, it really isn't. Waters is a master at creating atmosphere, and in this book she excels in setting a tone of creeping unease and horror. At the same time, she also adeptly captures English society at the turn of the 20th century, as socialism starts to gain a stronghold in the country.

This really is the best kind of gothic horror story - thrilling, addictive and lingering.

The Gravedigger's Daughter (Joyce Carol Oates)

Fourth Estate, 978-0007258451

Joyce Carol Oates’s Gravedigger’s Daughter is a powerful story. It is not a pleasant book to read given that the main theme of the book is violence and persecution. However, to me the story was about survival. The human instinct for survival is strong and a mother’s instinct to fight for the survival of her child is even stronger. One of the main elements required to successfully survive horrendous life experiences is the willingness to leave the past behind.

Jacob Schwart allows himself to become a victim of his past and therefore does not survive whereas Rebecca reinvents her life and consciously leaves her past behind and therefore survives. Some readers will see Rebecca as an opportunist. I saw her as someone who does what she has to in order to cope with a very difficult life.

Another theme covered in the book is the immigrant experience. Jacob Schwart and his family are allowed to immigrate to America. But his manhood and dignity are taken away from him when racism in the new country will give this cultured, math teacher no job but that of gravedigger.

In our society today we have engineers and doctors newly immigrated, driving taxis. How does this situation negatively impact the new immigrant and his family and how therefore does it negatively impact the society he immigrates into? The book raises these important questions.

I recommend this book as a choice for book clubs, it will stimulate plenty of discussion.

In Xanadu (William Dalrymple)

Flamingo, 978-0006544159

I'm crazy about books and passionate about travel, so it stands to reason that travelogues are a favourite genre. In Xanadu is one of those books that I keep going back to every few years to re-read. At 22, William Dalrymple decided to document his journey from Jerusalem to Shangdu or Xanadu, the famed palace of Kubla Khan. He was essentially retracing Marco Polo's journey, many centuries earlier. The journey took 4 months, on various forms of transport, and with two, very different female companions.

Over the course of the journey, Dalrymple cuts through great swathes of some of the most interesting geographies in the world - Middle East, Pakistan and of course China. Travel writing is a difficult genre to do well. The writer needs to be wary of sounding like a tour guide with a day to day itinerary, steer clear of the cliches, and find ways to interest the increasingly jaded world traveller. In Xanadu manages to accomplish all of these.

Granted, Dalrymple makes it easier on himself by choosing the road less travelled (as opposed to say Tuscany or even 'exotic' India), but he still manages to punctuate travel with history, politics and enough wry humour, to make the book easy and insightful. This was Dalrymple's first book, and in some ways that becomes very obvious in the language - he's just in the process of discovering his own style.

But very frankly, there's something very endearing about the youthful tone and of course, Dalrymple's voice before he became so lionised, and, shall we say, aware of his own talents! I especially loved the fact that when Dalrymple is having a terrible time, he tells the readers so very frankly. So much other travel writing rhapsodizes the locations that it becomes tediously monotonous.

Ultimately, as with most travelogues, the book is not so much about the final destination as the journey in between. A great book for the adventurous, the footloose and the armchair traveller.

The Talisman Ring (Georgette Heyer)

Arrow, 978-0099474395

I don't remember exactly how old I was when I was first introduced to Georgette Heyer (probably 13, or some such impressionable age) but I do remember that The Talisman Ring was her first book that I read - and I was instantly hooked. Let me preface by encouraging the uninitiated not to club Ms Heyer with the Mills and Boons of the world.

These books, while regency romances, have far more depth than I could ever imagine a pink and white pulp romance to have. Yes, there is always a main female protagonist and So, disclaimers done, on to the book. Sir Tristam Shield (predictably tall, authorative, aristocratic) is called to the deathbed of his great uncle, Baron Lavenham, and is instructed to marry his French born cousin, whimsical, beautiful, Eustacie. The Baron's heir, Ludovic, has been banished from the country after killing a man over his talisman ring. Baron Lavenham dies before his instructions can be carried out and almost immediately after, horrified by the stolid and 'unimaginative' nature of her fiance, Eustacie decides to go in search of adventure by running away.

Naturally, she finds it almost immediately - Eustacie falls into the hands of smugglers, one of whom is revealed to be the romantic Ludovic Lavenham. What ensues is a story of smugglers, Bow Street Runners, murder, sinister valets and even secret passages - all written with the lightest of tones. And yes, of course, there are the obligatory romances.

Georgette Heyer's regency romances are not perfect of course. They require a willing suspension of political correctness, class and (sometimes, though very rarely) gender equality. They make up for this though, with sharp characterisation, a humorous tone, and great insights into aristocratic life in Regency England. Over all, they tend to be great fun, and The Talisman Ring especially, has some laugh-out-loud sections that even now, I'm loath to read in public places for fear of guffawing and being looked at strangely. So yes, it is a romance novel, but it's also so much more - a mystery, a thriller, and even a historical commentary. A great read!

The World of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time (Robert Jordan & Teresa Patterson)

Orbit, 978-1841490540

Let me start out by stating the obvious, that this is a book designed solely for the hard-core Wheel of Time (WoT) fanatic. I disagree. If names like Sammael, Rahvin, and Artur Hawkwing, and places like Arad Doman, Rhuidean, and The Stone of Tear mean nothing to you, if you don't know the the difference between Saidar and Saidin, you have a lot of good reasons to pick up this book. But you won't. I wouldn't.

Granted, World of Wheel of Time is unlikely to be purchased by anyone other than a WoT fan, especially since most of what's in this book can be found in the WoT Wiki. It does have its uses for those starting out on this humongous series. All the books in the series have a glossary at the back, and this book is essentially an expansion on the normal index/glossary, much richer in detail and history. We learn how the Forsaken became the Forsaken, the chronology and events of the Aiel Wars, the rise of the white Tower and the Aes Sedai, and pretty much everything else that happened before Moirane came to the Two Rivers.

Like David Eddings's Rivan Codex, World of WoT is a polished and organized edition of the copious world building notes that go into creating a rich and detailed fantasy world. It's a given that before you even begin to write the book proper, the world, its geography, history, economics, social structure etc have to be in place. According to the website, Jordan wrote something like a million pages of notes. That seems a bit exaggerated, but I looked up the volume content for the series, and it contains over 4 million words, and some of the audio books go on for 32 hours! The sheer detail of the world-building made it inevitable that such a book would be produced. If you plan on starting the Wheel of Time series, have this book close to you as you plow your way through it. It'll help.

The Trumpet of the Swan (EB White)

Puffin, 978-0141322971

Most people have seen the film versions of Stuart Little and Charlotte's Web. For those with a working professional relationship with the world of writing, the name E.B.White is often most commonly associated with Strunk and White's 'The Elements of Style', often recommended as the instructional textbook for any aspiring writers. But E.B.White was one of the great writers of children fiction, and is included in the children's literature hall of fame, along with Roald Dahl, Richmal Crompton, and Enid Blyton. Suart Little and Charlotte's Web are the best known of the film adaptations of his books. There was a 2001 release of a film adaptation of The Trumpet of the Swan (TotS), but it had a limited release and fared very poorly at the box office, with most critics panning it for not being true to the original story and having unmemorable songs and bland voicing over, despite the fact that Reese Witherspoon, Seth Green, and Mary Stenburgen, among others, starred as voices.

TotS was his last, and quite possibly the most refreshingly original of the books he wrote for children. Like the other truly great children's fiction writers, J.K. Rowling most prominently, I suppose, his books have a universal appeal. I first read TotS as a twelve year old, and enjoyed it immensely. I'm reading it again after fifteen years, as I write this review, and it's every bit as good.

When writing for children, White's central theme is always anthropomorphic, i.e. intelligent animals, capable of speech, literally, and often sententiously. Charlotte's Web had an eponymous spider, Stuart Little was a mouse, and in a neat little spin, TotS has a dumb trumpeter swan called Louis.

So Louis needs a trumpet, because he can't communicate with his own species. He goes to Sam Beaver, his first and best human friend, who takes him to school, where Louis learns to read, write and communicate with humans quite well. When he returns to his family, however, he still can't talk to other swans. So his father breaks into a music store and steals a trumpet for him. Louis, being an honest swan, decides that he has to get a job and earn enough money to pay back the proprietor of the store for the trumpet. The rest of the book is a wonderfully entertaining tale of the places Louis goes to ply his trade; a scouting camp, the swan boats of boston, and a nightclub in Philadelphia. Naturally, he becomes not a little famous, with a critic describing his playing as 'jewels held up to the light...with emotion that is clean and pure and sustained." More importantly, his trumpet becomes his instrument of love, as he uses it to woo a beautiful young swan called Serena. Or, as Louis puts it for more eloquently, impress her with the intensity of his desire and the strength of his devotion. Not many women are worthy of that. Lucky Louis. His description of his planned musical seduction is worthy of quoting in its entirety:

"I will awaken her with a song of love and desire. She will be drowsy; the sound of my trumpet will enter her sleepy brain and overcome her with emotion. My trumpet will be the first sound she hears. I will be irresistible. I will be the first thing she sees when she opens her eyes and she will love me from that moment on."

The song he chooses to play is 'Beautiful Dreamer, Wake Unto Me', and this moment is particularly poignant, for not only does Louis play so beautifully that the whole zoo stops to listen, but it is the moment where a young swan triumphantly conquers his speech defect. As a motivational ideal, I'm hard-pressed to think of another book where it is so wonderfully realized. On the other hand, if you treat TotS as an allegory, you come away with a slightly different picture. Still, the core values of compassion, understanding and a deep love for the natural world remain true.

Fingersmith (Sarah Waters)

It's Charles Dicken's London, and orphan Sue Trinder, is brought up in a den of thieves by Mrs Sucksby, den mother to the 'fingersmiths'. Sue thinks she leads a privileged life, seeing as she is the only one of the babies Mrs Sucksby has never sold. One day, her life and world is invaded by a smooth, suave conman, aptly named Gentleman. Gentleman tells them of a grand scheme he has concocted to swindle a young heiress, Maud, out of her inheritance. He plans on introducing Sue into the house as Maud's maid. Sue is to gain Maud's confidence, and persuade her to elope with her drawing master, Gentleman. They will then leave Maud in a lunatic asylum and split her wealth. (Don't worry, I'm not giving away the entire plot!) After some deliberation, Sue agrees to collaborate with him, and although she and Maud develop a strong and unusual affection for each other, she follows through on the plan. It is at this point that author throws in a riveting twist in the tale, and the novel fractures into the separate but connected stories of Maud and Sue, as each of them undergoes tribulations, perilous escapes and uncovers insights (not always welcome) about their identities. To say anymore would really ruin the novel for readers, so I'll leave it at that. The book feels almost like a cross between Daphne du Maurier - with its dangerous, dark characters, and strong female protagonists - and Dickens - exposing the seamy underbelly of 19th century London. There are no scenes of explicit violence, but the underlying tone of menace and madness lend the story a real edge. I picked up the book because I'd read another novel by the same author (more on that later) and I wasn't disappointed. Again, like my last post, this wasn't always an easy read (my next review will definitely be of something lighter hearted!) but it's a rich, involved, satisfying story, and I couldn't put it down until I reached the denouement.

The Witch of Cologne (Toshba Learner)

Forge, 978-0765314307

Ruth bas Saul is a woman ahead of her times. Practiced in the science of medicine and mid-wifery, educated and questioning, a student of that dangerous 'heretic', Spinoza, and an exponent of the Kabbalah, Ruth is everything that 17th century Cologne distrusts. In fact, she is often called a witch, and when a fanatic Spanish Inquisitor (with a secret axe to grind) enters the neighbourhood, she becomes the first target. Ruth is aided, most unexpectedly, by an aristocratic German canon, Detlef von Tennen.

What follows is a story of adventure, intrigue, love, lust and danger. Dark, steamy, intense and weird . This isn't an easy read very often (there were scenes of extreme violence that had me extremely uncomfortable) but it's certainly a page turner. I wouldn't say that the characterization is brilliant - very often it seems like Ruth and Detlef (the two main protagonists) are bundles of cliches and their behavior is predictable.

The language, while colourful, is sometimes overly melodramatic. There are even some attempts at broaching the supernatural, through the introduction of a malevolent female power called Lilith. Frankly I thought the book could have done without Lilith! And the cover picture is inexplicable and more than mildly annoying - why is the woman half dressed?

What really propels the book, though, is the pace of the story and it's historical and political underpinning in a time that later came to be known as the Age of Enlightenment. The war between superstition and science is an abiding theme; that and the political and religious debates make the book an interesting read.

Break In (Dick Francis)

Penguin USA, 978-0425199930

As described in a previous review, the best Dick Francis books follow more or less the same pattern. a young, unassuming, yet extremely talented hero pitted against evil forces out to destroy him and his work. Break In is set more in the racing world than anywhere, and Kit Fielding, the narrator/protagonist is the Champion Jockey, i.e the best jockey in the country. While Kit is strong, decisive with a hard-headed sort of practical intelligence, his twin sister Holly, is the opposite. While telepathic as children, the twins can now have premonitions if the other is particularly upset.

Kit rides primarily for a stable that has one particularly impressive owner, the Princess Casilia from the old pre-republic part of DeBrescou in France. She and Kit share a professional relationship, tempered by Kit's respect and appreciation and the Princesses genuine affection for her jockey. When an extremely upset Holly arrives at the races, Kit deliberately asks her not to talk to him, just yet, as the major race - The Towncrier Trophy - was about to start. Kit, riding North Wind, one of Princess Casilia's most temperamental but also fastest horse. When he chooses to run, Kit says, he really lives up to his name. However, he has a disastrous start, left standing at the posts. they begin to ride deliberately casually, the horse deliberately mis stepping with a malicious gleam in his eyes. After a couple of jumps, Kit straightened over the horse and looks him directly in the eyes.

Royal Chaos (Dan McGirt)

Tor, 978-0330316088


Royal Chaos is the sequel to Jason Cosmo (previously reviewed), and every bit as much quality tongue-in-cheek fantasy parody. The events in the book begin a few months after Jason Cosmo ended, with the Royal Wedding between Queen Raella of Raelna, and the wizard Mercury Boltblaster (Merc), soon to be prince-consort of Raelna and and Jason's closest friend. The wedding begins, the priests drone on in the sweltering afternoon heat, meaning the Sun Goddess (and Jason's patron0, the holy Rae, had a beaming but slightly scatter-brained eye watching. After the regulation hymns and invocations, just as the ceremony reached its apogee, Zaran Zimabar, the leader of P.A.N.G.O* and a mentally deranged sadist of a psychotic megalomaniac (Merc's words, not mine) appears and using an enchanted quarrel strong enough to punch through the shields of a wizard even as powerful as the high priestess of the Sun God, manages to assassinate Raella. Shocked and grieving, our two heroes escape the slaughter at the wedding and after some very quick thinking, embark upon a mission of vengeance against the villains responsible for this dastardly deed. Big surprise there, right? Powerful female politicians assassinated in our world isn't exactly strangers to us, nor are cold-blooded schemes of savage vengeance a rarity. (Note: review may contain spoilers).

The Complete Robot (Isaac Asimov)

Harper Voyager, 978-0007361595

I have long been a fan of science fiction due in equal measure to the creative freedom it allows authors and the resultant joy to be had as a reader. Given the choice, though, I’ve always gravitated towards fantasy as my vehicle for escapism, due to a subconscious bias created by the large quantity of good fantasy recommended to me at a young age. It was only a few months ago that I realized that, despite the fondness I have for sci-fi, I have not read the majority of works that form the cornerstone of sci-fi literature. It was with a view to correcting this that I picked up Isaac Asimov's The Complete Robot.

Asimov does not disappoint. This anthology contains thirty-one short stories that he wrote between 1939 and 1977 and each one, as expected, is about robots. Yet this master of the genre, while at times predictable, is in no way boring. Adventure, romance, mystery, drama - you will find all of these things contained within. You will meet lovable characters, both human and robot, you will relish Asimov’s flair for plot and logic, devour story after story entertained at every turn and then when you have finished, you will crave more. Asimov's stories in this volume are about all sorts of robots, from computers to androids, glorified abaci to highly sophisticated thinking machines. However, his stories have internal consistency - all these stories take place in the same world, albeit in different places and at different points along a timeline. I found this added to the charm of the anthology since each story furthers one's knowledge of the literary world of Asimov; the reader isn't forced to adjust his or her understanding to a tabula rasa at the beginning of a new story. In fact, my favourite stories were those which featured the same characters – such as ever-logical barely-human Susan Calvin, the Chief Robopsychologist of US Robots or that robo-testing duo renowned for their derring do, Donovan and Powell.

There are only two things about this anthology that irked me. The first was the section-break introductions that Asimov has written that pepper the book. He comes across as completely lacking in humility and a bit full of himself. The second is his undeniable sexism – women in his stories are submissive both in nature and in role, most often appearing as the stereotypical housewife. Even the aforementioned Susan Calvin who appears in quite a few stories, is a reluctant protagonist, handicapped by her gender. Both these flaws can be easily overlooked and it is quite possible that a reader might not even see them as such. Regardless, a great man may be forgiven much and Asimov is clearly a great man.

In closing, I whole-heartedly recommend this book, to fans of the short-story and fans of sci-fi: if you happen to be both, you will be doubly pleased! It is an excellent companion for journeys, particularly short ones; not too heavy to carry along on your daily commute, with stories just the right style and length to be an easy distraction and yet not so engrossing that you miss your stop. This isn't a tumultuous love-affair sort of book that you will sit up reading all night. It is the kind of book that will sit on your bookshelf for life, well-thumbed and dog-eared - a lifetime friend that will be lent, over the years, to many a non-sci-fi reader as an introduction to the genre. This, ultimately, is the greatest success of the book - it is the perfect gateway drug for a lifetime of sci-fi addiction.

The Otterbury Incident (Cecil Day Lewis)

Putnam, 978-0140301631

I was recently rummaging through some old books tucked away at the back of a cupboard in my parents' house while visiting, and rediscovered my copy of The Otterbury Incident. This was one of my favourite books as a child, and it was just as delightful (albeit a lot quicker) to read it again some 15 years later. Out of all the stand-alone books for boys that I've read, this one would definitely figure in my top 3. (Note: this review contains spoilers).

The Otterbury Incident is set in the fictionalized town of Otterbury, just after the end of the Second World War, probably around 1948 or so. The town largely survived the German bombings, except for one stray bomb that knocked down a few buildings. The site, named 'The Incident' is what the schoolboys use use it to play their war games. There are two rival bands, or companies, of boys, with their leaders, Edward Marshal (Ted) and William Toppingham (Toppy). The two are complete opposites; Ted is restrained where Toppy is gregarious, Ted is a strategist while Toppy is an enthusiast, Ted is methodical whereas Toppy improvises. The only thing they have in common is a grudging respect for each other, which develops into friendship as they recognize the leader in the other.

The story is told through the perspective of George, Ted's trusted and absolutely loyal lieutenant. George, in fact, writes the book as a military historian, carefully taking notes and poring over his manuscript, and is somewhat aggrieved when the others fail to recognize its worth. Anyhow, it opens with a battle between the two companies. Ted's band is tasked with destroying Toppy's tank before it can reach the flag at the foot of the hill of the 'incident'. Using a clever variation on the pincer-ambush military strategy, Ted and his most trusted lieutenants (George, another boy called Nick Yates, and young Wakely) hide in Skinner's the Carpenter's yard, the most unpleasant and violent man in the town and allow the tank to pass through to engage with Ted's main force, further down in the Incident so they can ambush the tank.

Toppy falls for Ted's trap and Ted's band destroys the tank, while Nick uses his football as a weapon to kill people (bopping them on the head with it and saying you're dead). While Ted and Toppy argue about the verisimilitude of the football as a deadly weapon, the post-lunch school bell rings. The boys all rush back to school, dribbling Nick's football between them as they go. Then, as they enter the school ground, disaster strikes. One of the boys, possibly Nick, kicks the ball hard enough to send it smashing through one of the door size ground-floor windows.

Trainspotting (Irvine Welsh)

Vintage, 978-0749336509

Rated ahead of Midnight's Children, Catch 22, and To Kill a Mockingbird, among others, on Waterstone's '100 Best Books of the Century' list, Trainspotting has become so acclaimed that Irvine Welsh has resigned himself to being known as 'that Trainspotting author guy' for the rest of his life. Considering the kind of royalty dosh he's pulling down for it, there are worse things to be, I suppose.

The book takes its title from the (mainly) British hobby, which is pretty much self-explanatory. Trainspotting, however, has another much more relevant meaning. Heroin addiction is a central theme here, and a session of shooting up will leave a dark linear mark - called a track - in the chosen vein. Seasoned users will have multiple 'tracks' and will hence choose a 'spot' on an optimum vein (one with the least 'tracks') to inject through, being less painful. The Urban Dictionary helpfully adds that the impact of injecting heroin is akin to being hit by a locomotive. Personally, I think the title is a combination of the two meanings, as both heroin addiction and actual trainspotting are generally contemptuously dismissed as the worthless, wretched, and pointless pursuits of the socially marginalized.

The book follows the stories of four young addicts in Leith, a suburb of Edinburgh. Three of them - Renton, Spud, and Sick Boy - are heroin addicts, while the fourth, Begbie, is a fully blown seasoned psychopath, addicted to violence, the kind that kicks a pregnant girlfriend in the stomach for asking him where he's going, and musing later in the pub, "that cunts deid if she's made us hurt that f***ing bairn."

Wild Horses (Dick Francis)

Berkley Publishing Group, 978-0425196748


Wild Horses is the thirty-second in the Francis franchise, and reflects the thoroughly polished schematic elegance that an accomplished author possesses. It has the usual formula that has worked so well for him; a young, unassuming, yet extremely talented hero pitted against evil forces out to destroy him and his work. Throw in the customary pretty girl, the dastardly if forgettable villain (in this case a belonephiliac*), the infliction of physical but non-fatal pain which the hero bears with the customary Fransican fortitude, an insider's look into professional racing, and the special 'outside' subject-field (in this case film-direction) and a great new thriller is born. It's uncanny how every Dick Francis book can be boiled down to such a formula, and are yet written with such verve, clarity and elan.

Wild Horses centers around Thomas Lyon, a young but experienced film director shooting a steeple-jump movie called 'Unstable Times' in Newmarket based on the eponymous book that fictionalized a true and sensational murder some thirty years ago when a young woman, Sonia Wells, was found hanging from a barn beam wearing a pink frilly slip and satin heels. The woman's husband, a horse-trainer named Jackson Wells, was the main suspect but the police were forced to drop the case against him for lack of evidence.

Wild Horses begins with Thomas reading the last rites to Valentine, a delirious and dying old blacksmith, who mistakes him for a priest and begs for absolution because he "killed the Cornish boy". When Thomas discovers what this means, an icy cold wave of understanding washes over him. It did over me too. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

The 'cold characters' in the novel are all re-invented for the film by Thomas, as he feels the script is too weak for a mainstream production. This leads to some very amusing confrontations with the screenplay writer, Howard Payne, who is also the original author, who is constantly bemoaning Thomas's butchering of his work. Thomas replies succinctly to the producer, O'Hara, that you can't get good meat without a good butcher. Also, later in the film, Thomas makes the point to Howard that he only writes what Howard won't. Howard, on the other hand, almost costs Thomas his job because of his gratuitous spleen-venting.

The Help (Kathryn Stockett)

Amy Einhorn Books, 978-0399157912

This book came highly recommended by a friend, and I soon saw why. Set in Jackson, Mississippi in the 1960s, it spans a year in the life of a typical southern community, complete with cotton plantations, women's league meetings and coloured maids. In many ways, it's as though the setting of Gone with the Wind had been frozen in time, and only updated slightly for electronic technology. The biggest difference though, is that this book is written not from the point of view of the beautiful Southern women (the Scarletts) but from the point of view of the eponymous Help (the Mammys).

The novel is written in the voice of three main characters - Skeeter (Eugenia) Phelan, a young Southern woman who discovers her civil activism completely by chance, and decides to write a book about the lives of the domestic help in her seggregated community; Aibileen, middle aged and maternal, who has lost her own son to an industrial accident, but spends her days bringing up white children; and Minny, Aibileen's younger, feistier friend, known for her sharp tongue and quick wit.

Stockett is skillful at shifting tone and voice with each switch of narrator, and the reader quickly gets used to the more colloquial language of Aibileen and Minny. In fact, their wry commentary and descriptions provide much of the humour in this book.

The atrocities are not new, especially to students of history, but the impact is much greater because they occurred in the 1960s, the era of The Beatles and hippies and Camelot. I found the book all the more fascinating because even today, much of middle class India has domestic help, and it makes you consider how we treat them. How many of us have different plates/ glasses for our domestic help?

Set at that perfect pivot of civil rights and feminism, it gives a great snapshot of life in a time not so long ago and a place not so far away. The finale is both uplifting, poignant and a little convenient, but on the whole this book is a great read. The review on the cover calls it "unputdownable", which is not an actual word, if you ask me, but I agree with the sentiment - I wanted to know what happened to each of the characters next!

The Q Continuum (Brian Cox, Star Trek: The Next Generation Series)

SFBC Science Fiction, 978-1568659541

Rather mindless after a point. Typical western centrism in flogging the myth of the superiority of a purportedly democratic hierarchy against fundamentalism, mostly in religious form in this case. It's written to prove a point, that any kind of power is ultimately self-defeating if not exercised for the benefit of at least some form of non-hierarchical organization. But you know the biggest problem? Q wasn't even funny!

The eponymous Q, if you're unfamiliar with Star Trek, is a (male) omni-powerful super-divinity through most of the canon Star Trek with the personality of Loki, as his only aim seems to be to torment the crew of the Starship Enterprise and particularly its captain, Jean-Luc Picard. Unlike Star Wars, the Star Trek pulp fiction is not canonical, id est, not part of the 'official' storyline. Brian Cox thus fills in a lot of back-history, and we learn that Q is actually part of a Continuum, meaning there are many other of his race with super-powerful omni-prescient superdivinity-type powers. Picard and Data disappear from the Holodeck of the Enterprise because Q needs them, he's in big trouble with the more powerful members of his own race, like Super Q. After some badly written vortex-leading-to-multiverse-ending mumbo-jumbo, we are also introduced to Mrs.Q, and little Q.

As it unfolds, Q is forced to show (as punishment by the more powerful Q's) Picard his litany of crimes which culminated in his potentially destroying, well, everything. Read the book to find out why, but lector cavio, it's strung together with sequences that have Q chucking a rock across our universe in pique and then to quote: sighing resignedly and saying, "Well, there go the dinosaurs", and then jumps to badly written 1920's type gangster war in the world populated by the Q race. The only interesting story-arc is the one where Q describes what happened when he lifted the forcefield around the mysterious object at the centre of the galaxy. This is interesting because there actually is such a field, and no one really knows what's behind it. Finding out is possibly the best part of this book, but it becomes Age of Mythology-type god-war very quickly and Picard is so banally sententious most of the time you couldn't help thinking I wish this were Kirk, or even Archer instead. And Data isn't even remotely analogous to Spock, in his feeble attempts at allowing logical precision to triumph over calculated emotion in his circuitry. The space-time hopping got tedious very quickly, and was punctuated with far too much pretentious self-remorse.

Get back to the dominion wars already, Mr. Cox. Those are good. Give Cox his due, he can rise to the occasion when demanded. No, I could not let a name like that go without at least one lousy pun. And incidentally, the typo 'gaslaxy' popped up during the typing of this review. That sort of describes the position of this book in its category in the world of quality pan-galactic science fiction.

Christmas at Fairacre (Miss Read)

Orion, 978-1409123903

Fairacre celebrates Christmas traditionally. Children eagerly hang up their stockings, families attend Church, and everyone enjoys Christmas specialities from the laden table. And yet, often, in spite of meticulous planning, the unexpected happens. "Unforgettable characters, enchanting stories and festive cheer."

Three gentle, warm tales which revolve around Christmas in the fictional village of Fairacre in the Costswold hills of England are contained in this book. Quiet people, with quiet lives, and yet their little triumphs and trials bring a thrill to your heart and tears to your eyes.

A spinster finds herself torn from her solitude to take care of her brother's family in their time of need; an unexpected nighttime visitor to the home of a widowed mother and daughter brings a change to their lives; and two sisters help with a new arrival. To say more would spoil the book for you.

If you like to read old-fashioned stories about Christmas, Cotswold village life and the goodness of people in general, this is the book for you. It's smart and charming, and immensely comforting in a wholesome way. Not for Miss Read the wily ways of the world.

A great feel-good book, and the perfect 'rainy day read'.

Jason Cosmo a.k.a Hero Wanted (Dan McGirt)

Trove Books, 978-0982059807

I love it. My absolute favorite fantasy book ever. It was the second one I read, and got me hooked for life. It went from a teeny little cult classic in West Georgia (the city, not the state) to its very cool book related site - www.jasoncosmo.com. I wish I still had my copy, but I've read it so many times I can practically recite it. Simply genius. Can't say enough good things about it. To anyone under 10, 20, 30 or 40 looking for a good fantasy read I highly recommend Jason Cosmo as perhaps the perfect blend of heroic epicness with self-contained irony. Er, it's pretty funny too.

How can you not love a book that has a wizard called Mercury Boltblaster, a sun goddess with the brains of a beauty pageant queen, and a Dark Magic Society versus a League of Benevolent Magic? The genius of the writing is in the self-parody which then becomes the focus of the story. If it wasn't in the names of the characters, it was in the flow of the plot, the easy and effortless satire crammed onto every page. This coupled with a pleasantly self deprecating and wry wit made me come back to it time and time and time again, savouring each tongue-in-cheek gem separately; like the rarest-of-the-rare prophet 'He Who Sits On The Porch', the mercenariness Natalia Slash, the good wizards Ormazander and Timeon and the bad wizards Erimandras and Necrophilius. The book, by the way, is an etymologists delight. The jokes within jokes are at their best there. Like how Necrophilius is a bad guy without being the Bad Guy. The counter-authoratative villain, Todorov would call him. He's the guy our two heroes make a deal with, by the way, to be able to assault Dark Magic Society Overmaster Erimandras in his stronghold of Fortress Marnn before the demon Asmodraxas can escape and discover the secret of the super-wand which may be hidden in Jason's aura...sounding clichéd all of a sudden? It isn't.

In structural terms, the book is marvellous, meaning the world is governed by magical laws, but is also uncanny, meaning events have their order in nature. McGirt fulfills all the deepest requirements of fantastical narrative with such transparent superficiality in order to induce humour that you know its been painstakingly thought-out. Anyone teaching an introduction to fantastical writing should use this book.