Amazonia
by James Rollins
fiction
copyright 2002
read in December 2015
rated 6/10: read to pass the time
An enjoyable romp...
There's a group of scientists, off to look for miracle medicines in the Amazon forest. They are "protected" by elite soldiers -- who have never before been in a jungle. The soldiers may as well be ensigns in red shirts... one by one they are picked off, to show how dangerous the jungle can be.
Of course it's not all jungle ! There's the traitor in the team. And the evil scientist following close behind. Plus the native tribe with -- apparently -- amazing powers. Powers to kill, that is.
Spoiler: Eventually we discover that a native tribe has been genetically enhanced. They are never sick, they heal easily, better eyesight, better brains, the works. And they live apparently happy lives, isolated in the jungle.
So what do the heroes say to this improvement ?
Kill the cause of the improvements !
Good grief.
As a standard, science-based, mystery-in-the-jungle book, the mystery is finally destroyed. Except for the boilerplate ending where it is revealed that the root cause (that's a pun, btw) will be back... Is this bad ? Not to my mind:
What is supposed to be a terrible, evil, manipulative villain -- is a past and possibly future source of extreme good. Thank goodness it survived ! Well, that's my opinion...
And then... The mysterious disease which infects the young daughter of the beautiful scientist... (Oh, it affects thousands of other people, too. But who cares about them.) The disease has a side-effect, that it fixes people up. It undoes physical damage to the body. And then the disease can be completely removed from the now-undamaged body. Soooo... Why not use that ?! Deliberately ?!
No... By then the story is wrapping up. No time to look on the bright side. Just time to show the "threat" of the "evil villain" reappearing. And on to writing the next book.
It's easy to read. It's entertaining. It's boilerplate writing. It's not great literature. It's not too bad.
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"A city without trees is not fit for a dog"... per Ginger Meggs
2 comments:
Goodness me ! I totally forgot to mention the funniest party of the book ! Not intentionally funny, perhaps... but it certainly made me chuckle :-)
Near the beginning, the template calls for a section to introduce the hero, to show how truly heroic he is. The scene leads to the hero arriving in the largish nearby town. He is accompanied be a local Indian and a young Indian girl. Townspeople and tourists stare at Takaho, the Indian man.
They stare, even though, as we are told, 'Takaho wore "civilised" clothes."
Well, it's been non-stop action since we first met Takaho. No time to change clothes, it's been a desperate paddle down the river, to save the young girl's life. Even the hero is still covered in mud and blood. We know, because he's later glad to wash it all off.
So what are the "civilised" clothes worn by Takaho the Indian ? We have had the clothes described, just a few pages earlier:
"He wore nothing but a braided string around his waist into which was tucked the foreskin of his penis, the typical garb of Yanomamo men."
Goodness, so that's civilised clothes in the town of Sao Gabriel ! I wonder what they wear when the invitation says, "dress casual" ?!
Ah me.
Hasty writing, poor editing, fill in the blanks, publish... asap.
Not that that changes my rating for the book ! It's still a rollicking yarn with no great depth. Still worth a six.
And I still chuckle when I remember Takaho's civilised clothes :-)
March 2018:
And I read this book again. Much the same opinion as before -- except for two points:
1. First reading I had missed a significant phrase, "Takaho had changed into shorts and tank top." So dang, my extra comment was wrong. When he went to town he was *not* wearing just a string with his penis tucked into it. Ah well, still funny :-)
2. I've just re-read a couple of Doc Smith's Skylark books. And realised, I don't question the ridiculous science of Doc Smith but I laugh at the ridiculous science of Amazonia. If I think of Amazonia as being science fiction -- or even as space opera in the jungle -- then it's just a rollicking, ridiculous yarn. I think that the pretense that Amazonia is set in the here and now makes it a lot harder for me to accept than Doc Smith.
Still worth a six -- but without the feeling that the author is crazy.
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