Robert H

• Rated 4 stars

“The "Richard and Judy book club" sticker on the front made me quite dubious about this book. The £1 price tag, on the other hand, tempted me, along the promise of mystery and adventure.

The Conjuror's Bird is a novel set in two times: the present and the late 1700s. The narratives unfold in parallel, with a piece of present always followed by a piece of past. In the present, our hero is a taxidermist / specialist in extinct birds / academic / former conservationist, Fitz. In the past, our heroes are Joseph Banks and Mary Burton.

At the centre of the story is the Mysterious Bird of Ulieta - a bird that was discovered by explorers, shot, drawn, stuffed, and taken home to Britain to be classified. It would have been less mysterious if another bird of that species had ever been encountered again, but this was not to be. The stuffed bird disappeared from the historic record after making a brief appearance in Joseph Banks' collection.

The story of Fitz is a detective story. He and his allies and competing factions are trying to find the bird, against the odds. The story of Joseph Banks is a romance story. He has been mesmerised by a woman that he cannot ever marry because of her different status.

At first, the book starts out being exactly what I feared it might be. Easy reading, competently written but without anything really interesting going on. A slight sprinkling of mystery in an otherwise bland piece of writing by the numbers - exactly the sort of thing that Richard and Judy seemingly adore. The story in the present flows easily and is full of small cliffhangers. The story in the past is written in a different tone, but not a beautiful one. Instead, longer sentences and a slightly changed vocabulary produce a vaguely authentic period effect, but without energy in the writing.

As the story progressed, it became engrossing. The narrative of the past started being less predictable. The revelations of the present infused the past with tension, as certain mysteries in the present seemed to hint at threats in the past. By the end of the book, I could not put it down.

It's not a deep book, or a very literary one. It is, however, an enjoyable read, building up momentum gradually and creating memorable, likeable characters in the process. It never insults the intelligence of the reader, though, which is more than can be said for some of the other Richard and Judy book club selections. I would definitely recommend it for a light read. ”

Robert H wrote this review Sunday, March 21, 2010. ( reply | permalink )

1 of 1 members found this review helpful.

• Rated 5 stars

“Little Hands Clapping is a novel that is quite unlike anything I've read recently. Told as a dark fairy tale, it has been compared to the movies of Tim Burton - although I am not sure the comparison is entirely valid.

Largely set in a Museum of Suicides in Germany, it tells the stories of the old man who works there, a doctor, a young couple of unusually beautiful villagers in Portugal, and various other people. Some drift in and out of the story in a quick dash of fairy tale prettiness, others appear again and again.

Throughout the book, a musical voice is maintained. Stories move quickly through plot, and the characters are archetypal (though not necessarily archetypes you've encountered before in fairy tales), simple, and all the more beautiful to read about because of that. The one thing that cannot be found in this story is a hero. Every character in this story has something dark or quirky or twisted in them, or in their past. No one is simply heroic.

Compared to Tim Burton's movies, this book is much more willing to break taboos, and when its characters are perverted, they are perverted to a point that not everyone may be comfortable with. Which is not to say that the book ever approaches the effect that someone like Glen Duncan can have - in Little Hands Clapping, the horrors of sinister minds are dealt with in a quaintified, pretty way, perhaps delving into the Gothic and magical realism, but never handled as complex psychological, harrowing, real world matters. And it gets away with it.

Perhaps fittingly, then, the theme of the book is beauty. Above all else, there is beauty, and the alluring, mesmerising effect it has. Two of the main characters are iconic beauties. Another character has such heartbreaking beauty that no one can refuse her. Another character has such sad beauty that a thousand men are touched to the point where it changes their lives. Another beauty crushes the life out of one of the main characters, and his own subsequent actions are driven by a beautiful peace he feels inside when he does certain things... With beauty as main theme, is it any wonder that the writing is also intentionally achingly beautiful? Tim Burton, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Guillermo Del Toro - they are all well known for painting stunningly beautiful pictures on the silver screen. Dan Rhodes does the same on the page, with musical, melodic writing, and a fair dose of cruelty - for cruelty, too, can be mesmerisingly beautiful at times.”

Robert H wrote this review Sunday, March 14, 2010. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 4 stars

“Pocket Notebook tells the story of Jacob Smith, a hunky, muscular, macho firearms police officer. Unfortunately for everyone involved, Jacob seems to be getting slightly unhinged...

Written by a current police officer, the book is infused with enough vocabulary, atmosphere, and a sense of realism to be rivetting purely on the merits of the convincing and compelling world it introduces us to. On top of that, it is a strangely addictive, angry story, mesmerizing in all the ways that watching footage of the Hindenburg is mesmerizing.

The story is told in the first person, and every now and again we get glimpses of the notebook that Jake writes in. These are not pretty glimpses - throughout the novel, Jake trusts his notebook with more honesty and self-revelation than he trusts any of the people in his life. In many ways, it is Jake's diminishing ability to connect with other people that drives the novel. Sometimes, this inability to connect seems to almost reach out of the page, all the way to the reader - even though we're in Jake's head, it often feels like he is holding back from the reader, and himself.

While the writing and the world are engrossing, our hero can be difficult to spend time with. There is good reason why the cover visually echoes Clockwork Orange - this is a dark, out of control, sometimes quite vicious character to be around, and he may well be beyond redemption for some readers. On the other hand, it is a book that stands out in many ways, never in danger of being bland or bog-standard.

Definitely worth a read. As they say in every movie trailer ever made, this story is "something you have never seen before". And that on its own is an impressive achievement. ”

Robert H wrote this review Wednesday, February 10, 2010. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 3 stars

“Victorian London. Steampunk. Brass robots. Zombies. A detective who is a professor with an interest in the supernatural, and an assistant who is a plucky young woman.

Sounds quite enticing, doesn't it? The Affinity Bridge is the kind of book which would make for a rollicking, pretty movie. Unfortunately, as a written story, it falls strangely flat. If I had to put my finger on a cause, it is the way the story seems to be soulless, drawn by numbers, rather than energetic, innovative fare. It feels like the author knew every scene before he started writing it - which is a feasible way of writing, provided it does not show. Sometimes, it feels like the author was slightly bored by his own story.

Meanwhile, the reader is way ahead of the characters for most of the time, and the book never really tries to lead you astray. It is very linear: It hints at something, and then the characters discover something, and then the something turns out to be true. The mystery is solved by the reader before the heroes have their second of many cups of Earl Grey.

The plotting by numbers and somewhat stuffy heroes give the entire book a lazy feel. Comparing this with The Somnambulist, it is clear to me that the latter was the more enjoyable to read. True, it had a much more passive, less autonomous hero, while this one features a cast at least resolving the mystery themselves, but it also had a much more playful streak, a much more enticing narrative voice, a much braver (and love-it-or-hate-it) way of writing.

In the end, the Affinity Bridge is not bad. It just isn't particularly good, either. A slightly bland, vaguely readable romp of little consequence. ”

Robert H wrote this review Sunday, January 10, 2010. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 2 stars

“Where the first book was surprisingly energetic and pacey pulp fiction, enriched by a Victorian setting and a love-it-or-hate-it chummy narration, the second book falls very, very flat.

Set in modern times in an alternative London, the creepy secret organisations and Lovecraftian monstrosities never really convince. A lot of overly dramatic statements are made, to the point where they become ludicrous. The suspension of disbelief, willingly given for the Victorian setting, becomes impossible in the modern setting. Meanwhile, the author's mischievous and quirky ideas have turned stale and bleak for the sequel.

By the end, every chapter became a chore to read, every further plot development a frustrating experience. ”

Robert H wrote this review Sunday, January 10, 2010. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 4 stars

“Ironside picks up where Tithe left off. There was another book written in between these two (Valiant), but that focused on other characters, and you can read Ironside without having read Valiant (I did).

The problem with Tithe was that it mixed troubled-teen-fiction with faerie-fiction, not very convincingly. A lacklustre start sat awkwardly before a magnificent final third. Ironside, fortunately, need not bother with these issues: The set up has been done, and it's beautifully twisted throughout most of the book. It is highly readable, pacy, and takes the story of the cuckoo pixie Kaye (who was swapped with a human baby as infant, raised as human, and then discovered her magical origins) and her dark prince Roiben and carries it on. It wouldn't be romance fiction if lots of obstacles did not find their way into the story, and for the most part, Kaye and Roiben are separated. There are quests, court machinations, intrigue, and faeries that could easily be in a Guillermo del Toro movie. What more could one want?

There are, of course, some weaknesses, chief of which is the character Corny, who is simply annoying. Still, this book flows well, and manages to be an engaging read. It is consistent in its qualities, and a decent read. ”

Robert H wrote this review Sunday, January 10, 2010. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 4 stars

“I've never read any of McCaughrean's other books (although Peter Pan in Scarlet is sitting on my shelf and awaiting my attention). I only picked up the book because of the title and cover, and the promise of rip-roaring adventures of the most appealing kind.

Well, it is a children's book. Not so much young adult, as proper children's literature.

I'm not even going to pretend embarrassment. I enjoyed this book, and here's the review.

Pepper Roux's death has been foretold the night he was born, in his aunt's dream. His father, a sea captain, is mostly absent from his life. Finally, the deadline gets closer and closer ("by the his fourteenth year"), and, on his birthday, which is the last possible day he can die within the terms of the prophecy, Pepper suddenly tries to run from fate...

...and starts adventures which are exuberant, ranging from sea-faring to horse rustling, from journalism to the soldiering in the foreign legion, from shop work to fighting the mafia. Almost every chapter tells a new adventure - it is a quite episodic book, seemingly meant for reading chapter by chapter, before bed time - and every adventure is worth reading about. I suspect I would have loved this book as a child.

As adult, there are some things that irk. Some of the characters are a little too outrageous. Some of the resolutions a little too easy. And the basic premise perhaps a little too demanding on the suspension-of-disbelief front.

Still, it's a pretty good children's book, and I'd recommend it to anyone with a 10 year old (or an inner 10 year old) who likes to read. ”

Robert H wrote this review Sunday, January 10, 2010. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 4 stars

“The Blade Itself is the first of a series (trilogy?)

It's a novel about a variety of characters, although three get more attention than others (a young arrogant aristocratic soldier, a torturer and a warrior / barbarian).

It's a perfectly readable fantasy novel. Not quite as rich and deep and dark as the work of George R R Martin, but it does have more pace and energy on its side. Unfortunately, the entire thing exudes "introduction" - a lot of things happen, but it is still not even remotely satisfying, as the characters seem never even to reach the start of the main quest. It's a bit like reading Fellowship of the Ring on its own, without the other books - finally, paths cross, and the real story has not even started.

As for the supposed sense of dastardly evil, dark humour and dark characters, I was not particularly shocked or horrified by anyone in this book. Logen Ninefingers feels like a fairly standard aged hero. Glokta has perhaps a sinister job, but does not seem evil. Major West is a little too shining-armour until near the end, while Captain Luthar is merely annoying. In short, this feels like the sort of stuff George R R Martin might have written as young, inexperienced writer - just one calorie, not grand enough.

It's enjoyable, energetic, a cut above average, but not a real classic. Jolly good stuff. ”

Robert H wrote this review Sunday, January 10, 2010. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 5 stars

“Sometimes, I buy books for strange reasons. In the case of Crimson Petal, I had previously bought its sequel (The Apple) in a bargain sale, but not read it yet, and then I saw this book, months later, and thought I should probably buy it and read it first.

I suspect the book may be a love-it-or-hate-it thing for many people. The narrative voice, which is occasionally second person ("Let me take you by the hand" kind of thing), and present tense, is not necessarily fashionable. Me, I'm a sucker for this kind of thing, and it befits the Victorian setting. It's the kind of book I could happily read next to a fire place in a wood cabin in the mountains.

The story itself is not the kind of magical, or gung ho adventure stuff I would usually associate with this tone and setting. There is no magic, no hint of steampunk, no derring-do. In fact, it is a supremely literary endeavour - the fictional tale of a London prostitute who becomes the protege and employee of a wealthy business man. However, it's not all rosy hooker-with-a-heart-of-gold nonsense - in fact, it isn't that at all. There is precious little romance in these pages, and a huge load of tension. There are other characters, with various different intertwining storylines, and each story is engaging.

After a while, the second person narration steps into the background, letting the story tell itself, and it's only at the very, very end that it speaks up again. This, too, works, and the entire book, for me, was a very well-judged, well-written tale, rich in detail and language and wit.

On the whole, one of the best books I've read this year, and, despite its length, an instant favourite which I may revisit some day. ”

Robert H wrote this review Sunday, January 10, 2010. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 4 stars

“As Meat Loves Salt is a beautifully written book, about a man during the time of the English civil war who flees his life as a servant after having killed someone. The story follows him into and out of the army, and into a love affair that may seem quite surprising.

The book is beautifully written and authentic in tone, but also very gritty and quite sinister. The protagonist is a real anti-hero, a complete bastard in many ways, vengeful and violent. He is also plagued by guilt and fears (and some degree of cowardice). In short, this is not a cheerful headspace to inhabit. The first person narration puts you right in his head, and this can be quite unpleasant at times.

The story works - all the characters seem believable, drawn in rich detail and have a fair bit of depth. I cannot fault the writing or the characters. There were two things that did bother me when reading it: two coincidences. One is the source of an artificial delay (someone falls asleep instead of doing what they promised to do, resulting in lies and unnecessary protracted tension), the other is a chance encounter with a previous character, which sets the book up for its final act.

I'd recommend the book for its writing and its authentic atmosphere, but only to people who do not mind a quite relentless level of unpleasantness in their narrator. ”

Robert H wrote this review Sunday, January 10, 2010. ( reply | permalink )