Set in Silver, Williamson CN and AM

Set in Silver

by Williamson CN and AM

romance

copyright 1909

read in March 2022

rated 9/10: really really good

I see this as an updated (to 1909!) version of Pride and Prejudice. Men are "in danger" of falling in love. Money is a serious consideration before committing to marriage. The male heroes are absolutely upright. Courtesy and manners are essential.

But Silver has no criticism of society. It is much lighter, a simpler romance, than P&P. And the heroine, who tells most of the story, has barely a harsh word to say about anyone. Yes, she is honest in her opinions... but so nicely that, well, this book is romance, not social critique. Very pleasant... and very enjoyable. 

This book is sweet... absolutely charming... a pleasure to read. Think, perhaps, of Pride and Prejudice written by PG Wodehouse. An absolute joy of a romance.

Of which the bulk is a travelogue across southern England: I wish that my own travel journals were even half as well written.

The journey: the sights, the people, the history, are all described with a rosy glow. Even the day of pelting rain. is a pleasure.

I have visited some of the places described. Now I want to see them again... to see the sights, to understand them, to appreciate them ... from the new perspective of the characters in this book.

Is it dated? Oh yeah! That is a lot of its fun.

The characters are touring in a Mercedes car.  "In the car" is dry. The driver and his favoured passenger are seated out in the rain. Wearing waterproof clothing, sitting in the pelting rain -- and loving it. Well, this is the hero and the heroine and they are just realising how much they love each other :-)

I immediately re-read those chapters -- and several others -- because I enjoyed them so much :-)

Just thinking of the book makes me think... I would love to read it again. And I would love to revisit the south of England -- and use this book as a guide.

An absolute charmer. From start to finish.

Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper

...        Agamedes Consulting / Problems ? Solved

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"It is not certain that everything is uncertain." ... Blaise Pascal===

Dying for you to read my blog, at https://notdotdeaddotyet.blogspot.com/ :-)

oath of swords, david weber

oath of swords

#1 of a series

by david weber

fantasy

copyright 1995

read in March 2022

rated 8/10: really quite good

big tough guy from a misunderstood race goes round helping people. sort of lone ranger, complete with sidekick. a simple premise.

and a very enjoyable book.

the world is complex. yet its people and its history just seem so... right. references to past events just naturally fit.

and the key characters are so good. okay, the baddies are bad. possibly mad. the goodies are very likeable. even weak minor characters can have their good points.

when baddies pick a fight... they just don't stand a chance.

blood and thunder, action and adventure, from start to end.

a very enjoyable book.

14aug24:

This book leads into sword of the south -- and Oath is so much better.

Oath introduces -- and develops -- characters. And the characters are sympathetic and... very human. Which is odd, since most are not.

Still rated eight out of ten :-)

Nick Lethbridge    /    Consulting Dexitroboper
Agamedes Consulting    /   Problems? Solved.
   ===


As Conan says: What does not kill you
does not kill you

John RingoThere will be dragons

 There will be dragons

council wars #1

by John Ringo

fantasy

copyright 2003

read in February 2022

rated 5/10: read if there's nothing else

There's a world of science where anyone can be transformed to any shape that they want.

the science ends and we're left with a primitive world of elves, dwarfs, men and orcs. yes, it's a direct steal from LotR.

on the other hand, this book is wish fulfilment for US preppers. the new world is ruled by people with "primitive" skills. farming, fighting, forging and so on.

why US? as soon as the new world needs a constitution, they steal the US constitution.

back to lotr. instead of magic rings, there are science-magic keys. lotr is about the essential destruction of the rings. this book keeps the keys... and demonstrates, over this and subsequent books, why they should have been destroyed.

and now back to those clever preppers. they capture wild animals from the forest. take the animals to the new farm... and are surprised when the animals wander back into the forest!

anyway. it's all a lot of blood and thunder fun.and like the titular dragons -- which fail to appear -- there is a lot which is hinted at but does not appear in this book one.

Nick Lethbridge    /    Consulting Dexitroboper
Agamedes Consulting    /   Problems? Solved.
   ===


As Conan says: What does not kill you
does not kill you

After Alice, Gregory Maguire

After Alice

by Gregory Maguire

fantasy

copyright 2015

part read in Feb 2022

rated 3/10: so bad it's embarrassing

I've claimed that this book is "fantasy". That's because I don't have a category for "rubbish".

The author takes bits of Wonderland and Looking-Glass. Retells incidents with no wit and no enjoyment.

He does add nastiness. Hits us in the face with oh-so-woke stupidity.

So bad. Not worth any more review. 

Just don't bother reading it.

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18jul22:

I had given up reading a nonsense book. Looked at this blog to see what else I had read by this incompetent author. And only then discovered that I had read -- and reviewed this book -- twice.

It was so terribly forgettable that I gave up reading before I even realised that I had seen it before. Soooo... boring :-(

For completeness, here is the earlier review:

started reading in December 2017

rated 5/10: readable, but only if there's nothing else

It may be worth 6 out of 10, read to pass the time. But I couldn't be bothered reading to the end and this is my rating, So: 5/10.

There's a story which seems to be an interesting alternate view of Alice in Wonderland... or of the real world of Lewis Carroll. I think that I could get to like Maguire's heroine. The writing style is ... clever. But:

The story creeps exceedingly slowly. The bulk of the words are poking fun at the characters. The "fun" is generally cruel, or at least insulting. And the clever writing style very quickly becomes tedious.

I ignored about 80% of the book. Had a quick look at the last few pages. Found what appeared to be a satisfactory ending for the heroine -- the only sympathetic character, as far as I could tell. Decided that enough was enough and read no more.

possible spoiler: In my skim of the final pages I met a character who seemed to be black, a slave who decided that living in Wonderland was better than returning to slavery. I may have misunderstood. However, I took that character as an example of how far the author went away from the original Alice in Wonderland, to make some point of his own.

The back cover blurb claims that this book is, "a magical new twist on Lewis Carroll's classic". 

No. It's a new book which steals and spoils ideas from the classic.

.

Luna Moon, Ian McDonald

Luna Moon

by Ian McDonald

science fiction

copyright 2017

not read in Feb 2022

rated 4/10: bad but could be read (possibly)

A family commercial empire has been violently destroyed. A small number of people have escaped into hiding.

A few pages later, a new character does something which may be daring. Or stupid.

Who is this character? Was he briefly mentioned as a survivor? Who knows, who cares. I don't like anyone so far, I'm not interested in re-reading. I stop reading.

Then I look at my review of another book by this author. Sounds awful.

I stop reading. Less than 20 pages. Unpleasant, unclear, uninteresting.

Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper

...        Agamedes Consulting / Problems ? Solved

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"Life's tough. It's even tougher when you're stupid." ... probably not John Wayne

===

Dying for you to read my blog, at https://notdotdeaddotyet.blogspot.com/ :-)

The Third Eagle / R.A. MacAvoy

The Third Eagle

by  R.A. MacAvoy

science fiction

copyright 1989

read in Feb 2022

rated 6/10: Read to pass the time

A man with good looks, rippling muscles, wearing a loincloth... good grief :-)

There's a lot of potential. As it happens, the book is somewhat understated. Yet it's far less ridiculous than it could be. And there are some good ideas... The most noticeable being, what happens to slow colony ships when they are overtaken by FTL travel?

The seemingly primitive story grows into the problem of colony ships. The solution is quite good, though somewhat simplistic.

The book turned out to be better... deeper... than I expected.

Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper

...        Agamedes Consulting / Problems ? Solved

===

"One joy scatters a hundred griefs" ... Chinese proverb

===

Dying for you to read my blog, at https://notdotdeaddotyet.blogspot.com/ :-)

The Lost Continent / Terry Pratchett

The Lost Continent

(Discworld 22-ish)

by Terry Pratchett

Humour, fantasy

copyright 1998

read in Jan 2022

rated 8/10: really quite good

In summary: this is yet another excellent Discworld book

Okay, it's another where Rincewind loses and suffers -- but it's not as unpleasant as earlier books. I do not enjoy a book where one character is always going to lose... this one is acceptably balanced.

In this book the "lost continent" bears a remarkable resemblance to Australia :-) As an Australian -- I like that. A Pommie author who knows us -- and likes us -- enough to make fun of our unique peculiarities. Beer, shorts, heat and flies... Yep, that's Australia :-)

Okay, it's exaggerated for the sake of humour... and it is humorous.

We can laugh at ourselves. It is funny -- not cruel. It is funny the way humour should be. We can laugh at ourselves :-) And it's nice to think that other people can also laugh at us... or, even better -- with us.

Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper

...        Agamedes Consulting / Problems ? Solved

===

"One joy scatters a hundred griefs" ... Chinese proverb

===

Dying for you to read my blog, at https://notdotdeaddotyet.blogspot.com/ :-)