Urn Burial / Robert Westall

Urn Burial

category: science fiction, author:

Robert Westall

published by Mammoth,
original copyright 1987, read in August 2010

Agamedes' opinion: 6 out of 10

Science fiction for juniors. Not too junior -- mid to late teens, perhaps. The teenage hero kisses his girlfriend, doesn't do "that" but will do... very soon after the end of the book.

It's a lot of fun but very simplistic. There's also a very strong pro-environment message.

Actually, there's a great pro-environment passage which has very little to do with the plot: it's the ramblers' day out in the countryside. The only purpose is to allow the hero to mix with the rambling crowd. But the author points out that a sudden influx of ramblers may also drop litter, trample pasture and disturb the sheep... The sort of thing that makes you look at popular activities in a different way.

Apart from that, it's teenagers saving the world from evil aliens. Except that the teenager does very little. He just makes sure that the good aliens are then when the bad aliens attack. Then -- after a major battle with lots of death and destruction -- the good aliens fix everything up, bring the dead back to life and clear all memories of the battle.

Still, it's easy to read and quite enjoyable. An enjoyable book. Not great. Enjoyable.

..o0o..

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