The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde / Robert Louis Stevenson

The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
by Robert Louis Stevenson

horror / science fiction

copyright 1886
read in March 2013

rated 7 / 10: well worth reading

It's rather difficult to review a book where the "surprise twist" is so well known... Yes, I have finally read the original Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde!

It is also difficult to rate such an old book for modern readers. Okay, it's a classic, so full marks as a classic work of fiction... But I review on enjoyment. Specifically, on my own enjoyment.

And I did enjoy this book.

Compared to modern horror, it's a bit slow. The final body count is just two, where one body is "the monster". I recently reviewed a recent fantasy book where the body count was in the thousands, including quite a few named characters.

If is also difficult to appreciate the mood and mystery which is evoked by the author... We are in London, with its dark streets, thick fog, streets which are deserted after dark -- because that is the London of the author's time.

The central theme of this book -- that we may be composed of two separate elements, one good, one evil -- is as relevant today as it was then. Stevenson even suggests what is now accepted, that one person may contain a large number of separate personalities.

The way that the theme is presented, is old. Even the style of the book's title is old!

A contemporary reader would have appreciated the dark mood of the city streets, the isolation of one household from the next. I read the book as a mild horror story -- and as an insight into life in the late nineteenth century.

Okay, life may have been exaggerated -- that's what an author does! The insights are still valid though the facts may be fictional...

This book is well worth reading. It offers mild horror in -- to us -- a different world. The science of the science fiction is more psychological than physical. To most of us, there is no surprise in the dénouement.

It is just a great pleasure to finally read such a well-known classic. And an extra pleasure to find that it is both easy to read -- and quite enjoyable.

Oh, and you can download the book for free, from www.gutenberg.net

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Problems ? Solved

Flesh & Blood / Graham Masterton

Flesh & Blood
a book by Graham Masterton
category: Horror
published 1995
read in October 2012
rating: 4 out of 10

A horror story written by the numbers.

1. Start with a brutal killing.
2. Add several more deaths, pointless and with plenty of blood and pain.
3. Switch to beautiful people in a pornographically detailed sex scene.
4. Use unbelievable coincidences to link magic, murder, science and human sacrifice.
5. Wrap it all up with a non sequitur, extremely violent ending.
6. Save the last paragraph for, "To be continued..."

What a load of rubbish.

Let's start with number three, the sex scene. Hog Girl, we are told, likes to be dominated because her friend the boar always dominates the sow. So how often have you heard of a boar using several silk scarves to tie up his sow-of-the-moment?! Good grief.

Oh, and the point of the sex scene? Could have been made more clearly, in far fewer words. Without the sex. (Sorry.)

Move on to number five where, we are told, it has been predicted that evil mutant villain will be destroyed by his own, more mutant, offspring. So what happens? Mutant child does nothing more than beg mutant grandad to kill him. Until policeman hero uses police issue shotgun to blast mutant grandad to pieces.

Following which, kindly hero -- and all his police buddies -- stand in a circle and blast mutant child. (Who is now a giant pig. Don't ask.) No worry that missing the pig will shoot a policeman on the other side of the circle. No thought of using the anaesthetic dart then giving the child/pig a painless death. Good grief.

Back to point four of the horror writers' primer, where mediaeval magic is "explained" as being scientifically possible. Just two words: Good grief.

It's violent, there's an irrelevant sex scene, it's easy to read. Feel free to read it. I don't recommend it.

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Problems ? Solved

What the Night Knows / Dean Koontz

What the Night Knows

category: horror, author:

Dean Koontz

original copyright 2010

read in January 2012

Agamedes' opinion: 6 out of 10: read to pass the time

The cover of this book has Dean Koontz in big letters. So far so good. Koontz is good -- and well known.

Then there's the title: what the night knows. No argument there. A readable size font. The title does need to be on the cover.

Then, in smaller font, "[A NOVEL]".

"A novel" ? What else would it be ?!

Actually... as I read the book... that's a good question.

No, seriously, it really is a novel. No doubt about that. But what else is this book ?

Night is a positive and inspirational message... An argument for niceness, and its ability to overcome evil.

Unfortunately the message is slathered on like sweet icing on a fancy decorated cake. Far too heavy. Far too sweet.

Then there are the characters...

Have you ever met children so cute ? So sweet ? So controlled ? So unbearably stupid !

Most of their problems are due to their upbringing. Always knock -- and wait -- before entering... Always do as your parents tell you... Study hard so that you will have a great future career... Believe in magic -- but only in white magic.

Not that that's all bad.

But when it comes to the crunch -- these kids survive only because sweetness and light will always resist the horrors of the night. No, not "resist"... The kids survive because their sweetness and innocence is an automatic protection against evil.

Perhaps natural evil just has a natural fear of the artificiality of saccharine.

Oh well.

I do not like these children. The parents are similarly over-sweet. But it's not enough to make me put down the book.

At times I thought that Koontz was writing for children, a moralistic fable. But the violence is a bit strong for children. I think. Then again, the violence is mostly less (or less graphic) when it happens than when it is anticipated.

And finally... everyone is saved by the deus ex machina. Really ! Koontz actually calls it a Machina ex Deo but that's what he means: God pops out of the machine to save the good guys.

The book is easy to read. Somewhat exciting. Just a bit embarrassing.

Unless, of course, you like a good moral fable.

..o0o..

These reviews are provided by Agamedes Consulting. For an independent and thoughtful review of your processes, problems or documents, email nickleth at gmail dot com.

PissWeakly: the Index

Original Sin / Allison Brennan

Original Sin

category: horror, author:

Allison Brennan

book 1 of Seven Deadly Sins
original copyright 2010,
read in October 2011

Agamedes' opinion: 6 out of 10

I enjoy a book where the author happily throws out convention and invents their own mythology. After all, a novel is creative writing :-) Brennan has taken the standard "calling demons to Earth" story and built her own rules and methodologies.

aside: Though it does cross my mind that, perhaps, I have not read enough recent horror books to know what is now standard... So what?! This is a personal blog offering my personal opinions... I simply hope that you enjoy reading my posts -- opinions -- as much as I enjoy writing them :-)

Demons, it seems are all around us. Raise one and a host of others will be attracted by the ruckus. Well, why not? Not every demon will be successfully banished after its intended purpose is complete.

To add to the difficulty, magic is evil... The heroine can do magic -- she is a trained witch -- but she has realised the error of her ways. Evil demonic powers are the basis for magic so any use of magic is tainted by evil. Take that! all you Harry Potter fans!

Mind you, the heroes are constantly thwarting evil through the use of holy names, holy water and a quick prayer... So what is that if not magic?

The baddies are free to use evil magic as much as they like. The baddies also have their own people in key positions of power. The heroine spends as much time trying not to be arrested, as fighting straightforward black magic.

I wonder why the good-guy organisation has not also seeded positions of democratic power with its own minions of good? Perhaps the only people who can gain positions of bureaucratic power are those people who are inherently evil...

So it's a tough-yet-lonely -- and incredibly beautiful -- girl, battling the powers of evil and the legislatively-supported powers of the sheriff's office. With a small supporting cast, all fighting witches and demons, as they also battle their own internal demons... Simple fun, as they learn to use their powers for niceness and good.

This is an enjoyable book. With what I am beginning to think is a now-standard approach to backstory...

The backstory is revealed as the book progresses. But is it a backstory reveal? Or are these regular reminders of the previous book?!

There seems to be an entire novel in the backstory. Yet this is "book one" of seven. Have I missed book zero?

Or am I learning the new approach to writing... to provide an enormous history... which will only be presented as snippets in books one to seven.

It's confusing... but, hey, it works.

..o0o..

These reviews are provided by Agamedes Consulting. For an independent and thoughtful review of your processes, problems or documents, email nickleth at gmail dot com.

Breaking Dawn / Stephenie Meyer

Breaking Dawn

category: romance, author:

Stephenie Meyer

book 4 of Twilight
original copyright 2008,
read in May 2011

Agamedes' opinion: 8 out of 10

At last (for me) the final chapter in the Twilight saga! And what a saga it has been... Oh! the suffering! Oh! the drama! Oh! the romance...!

Yes, I have enjoyed Breaking Dawn just as much as I enjoyed books one, two and three in the Twilight series. There is, however, one major strength which is also a weakness, in this final book of the series.

Typically enough -- as the fourth book -- you expect that the weakness is to do with unfamiliarity with the characters. Unfamiliarity for the reader who starts at book four, that is. Well, no...

Aside: Category: romance? Yes, definitely. Romance is the main theme of the entire series. Fantasy? Yes, there are plenty of fantasy elements. And I don't just mean that true love is a fantasy! Horror? Hardly! Still... there are vampires, there are werewolves, there is sudden death and threat of sudden death. So, okay, add the horror label... Really, though, this is pure romance set in a world of fantasy.

This book is a conclusion. A wrap-up. In fact, I only started reading the Twilight series because of a book review which said that this book was a good conclusion... So I started reading only because I had been promised a satisfactory ending. (In general I tend to avoid books which become instant cult fiction. On the unsubstantiated grounds that cult means rubbish and that a cult series means never-ending rubbish.)

So, this book is definitely a conclusion.

Tangled Webs / Anne Bishop

Tangled Webs

category: horror, author:

Anne Bishop

book 6 of Black Jewels
original copyright 2008,
read in May 2011

Agamedes' opinion: 3 out of 10

This book is so bad that it's embarrassing.

The Keep / F. Paul Wilson

The Keep

category: horror, author:

F. Paul Wilson

book 1 of The Adversary Cycle
published by Tor,
original copyright 1981, read in September 2010

Agamedes' opinion: 6 out of 10

Soft-core horror...

Not that there is such a genre. Not by that name, anyway. What I mean is, all the traditional elements of horror -- with no edge... no real nastiness.

Or perhaps I'm just inured to nastiness...

Beautiful virgin, heroically masculine experienced man, aged scientist, ancient evil creature from the prehistory of the world, an army of zombie minions... All the elements of a standard horror potboiler.

Luckily enough, I prefer to avoid the really nasty... If a book gives me nightmares -- I would rather not have read it. The Keep is easy to read, enjoyable, lightweight horror. A good book to read to pass the time.

There is, however, one more interesting aspect to this book...

The evil creature of The Keep feeds on human suffering. He enjoyed his time working with Vlad the Impaler. For those who live on human suffering, Vlad's antics would be just a light snack -- compared to the multi-course feast of Nazi Germany.

Yes, The Keep is set in WW II. German soldiers are killed -- horribly. Nazi storm troopers are killed -- nastily. The evil creature kills dozens of these soldiers (plus a few villagers). But...

But the evils of the evil creature pale into insignificance against the evils of the Nazis of WW II. Yes, it's human cruelty a clear winner.

The evil creature is trapped. If it escapes, it will grow huge and all-powerful, feeding on the human cruelty of Nazi Germany. That's a future threat, to add some suspense to the story.

The real horror, is what humans -- Nazis -- are already doing.

There are all sorts of ancient evil monsters, lurking in every shadowed and mysterious dark place of the world. Put one foot wrong and unspeakable evil will be released upon the world.

Avoid all the dark and hidden places of the world -- and there is still enough horror to fill endless books. Human-kind has a history of horror. Wilson takes an ancient evil... And adds Nazis, for a truly bloodcurdling -- though still lightweight -- chill of horror.

..o0o..

These reviews are provided by Agamedes Consulting. For an independent and thoughtful review of your processes, problems or documents, email nickleth at gmail dot com.

The Beast House / Richard Laymon

The Beast House

category: horror, author:

Richard Laymon

published by Dorchester,
original copyright 1986, read in August 2010

Agamedes' opinion: 8 out of 10

Eight out of ten? Well... If you like stereotypical horror, sex -- consensual and otherwise, scanty clothing and sudden death -- this is a very good book!

"What you need," Nora said, "is a good ..." The very first sentence of the main story includes a word which does not belong in a friendly blog. And the story continues in that great low vein.

There is another type of horror novel, the horrible horror. The horrible horror (my own phrase) is one where the aim is, apparently, to leave the reader with a nasty memory: violence, death and a nasty ending. Laymon often provides a twisted ending but it is usually satisfying. The Beast House is typical Laymon:

Sure, "the beast" will rise again. That's almost a given, for horror. But it's not a threat to the survivors of this book. There are happy endings all round, with a strong likelihood of happy ever after. The monster survives? No worries -- that will be a problem for a new group of characters.

I like a happy ending. Laymon provides a happy ending. Beast is happy for heroes and even happy for the beast. Laymon's Island was happy... in a somewhat warped fashion. Laymon does not leave you with nightmares of the story after the final chapter...

What more can I say?

If you enjoy sex, horror, violence and a happy ending, read The Beast House. If you think that that all sounds rather awful, well, there are plenty of other good books in the world :-)

..o0o..

These reviews are provided by Agamedes Consulting. For an independent and thoughtful review of your processes, problems or documents, email nickleth at gmail dot com.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies / Jane Austen & Seth Grahame-Smith

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

(category: horror)
by

Jane Austen & Seth Grahame-Smith

published by Quirk Books in 2009
Nick read a new book, in January 2010

Nick's rating: 7 out of 10

Nick's opinion:

What a ripper! Pride & Prejudice with -- you guessed it! -- added zombies! I love P&P and have read it several times. This "extended" version is almost as good. It claims to be P&P word for word, with zombies added and just enough changes to make sense. The plot certainly matches my own memory of the original. Though that is also a weakness in the new book... The zombies do not at all add to the plot. For a short while I hoped that there would be a "zombie solution" but no. This is simply P&P with added zombies. The P&P plot is as enjoyable as ever. The zombie environment is written well, humorously tongue in cheek, a "realistic" background to the main story. But that's it: the zombies are just background -- or decorative -- material. I would really have liked to see some zombie story-line. Still, I guess that that's as pointless as wondering how the war went (what war was it?!) for the soldiers in the original P&P. Ah well. Zombies added, to encourage modern readers to read a classic novel. As good as the original, with more. Afterthoughts: Was P&P&Z easier to follow than P&P? Has there been some updating of ideas that are no longer common knowledge? If so... if it had been done without zombies... I would have complained. If there have been changes for a modern audience then -- strangely enough -- I am glad, because it gives extra life to P&P. But only because the zombies make it, in effect, a totally different book... What a strange reason to accept the modernisation of a classic!

..o0o..

These reviews are provided by Agamedes Consulting. For an independent and thoughtful review of your own documents, email nick leth at gmail dot com.