Childhood's End - Arthur C. Clarke

   1953; 218 pages.  New Author? : No.  Genres : 50’s Sci-Fi; Hard Science Fiction; First Contact.  Laurels: Retro Hugo Award for Best Novel in 2004 (nominated).  Overall Rating: 9/10.

 

    All in all, it’s not so bad being ruled over by this particular set of Galactic Invaders.

 

    Oh, when hordes of their spaceships suddenly appeared in the skies over the major cities of Earth, we knew we were no match for them.  But other than declaring all national borders to be null and void (“One World”, and all that), they’ve pretty much left us alone.

 

    They do require that all communication with them pass between our one designated representative, Rikki Stormgren, and their Overlord known as Karellen.  They meet on an Overlord spaceship because the aliens refuse to physically set foot (or paw, pod, tentacle, or whatever appendages they have) on our planet.  But the relations between those two emissaries is cordial.  One can’t help but wonder, though.

 

    When will the Overlords reveal their ultimate plans for us?

 

What’s To Like...

    Childhood’s End opens with a brief, 5-page Prologue wherein the 1950s United States and Russia react with shock to the realization that they’re no longer the only ones in the cosmos.  The rest of the book is divided into three parts:

    Part 1: Earth and the Overlords (5 years after the Overlords arrive)

    Part 2: The Golden Age

    Part 3: The Last Generation (100 years after the “time of Disney”)

 

    I liked the “Hard Science-Fiction” aspect of the storyline.  The Overlords may use advanced technology, but they still can’t go faster than the speed of Light.  And those traveling at almost the speed of Light age much more slowly than the rest of the universe's inhabitants.  Relativity: It’s the Law.

 

    It was also nice to read a “First Contact” tale where the extraterrestrials don’t make their entrance with lasers and phasers a-blazing.  For a change, they seek a peaceful coexistence, albeit one tailored to their set of rules.  They must have an ulterior motive for this, of course, but that’s a secret best kept hidden for now.

 

    Arthur C. Clarke also shows impressive prescience when describing the future world.  Giant computing machines become the norm, and humans are blessed with reliable oral contraceptives and infallible paternity tests.  Yet seances are still popular and I’m still waiting for the aircar to become our principal means of personal transportation.

 

    The ending is both logical and unexpected, and both heartwarming and sad.  Humans and Overlords find their proper place in the Cosmos, but neither group knows what’s in store for them next.

 

Ratings…
    Amazon: 4.4*/5, based on 13,844 ratings and 1,898 reviews.

    Goodreads: 4.12*/5, based on 164,727 ratings and 7,806 reviews.

 

Excerpts...

    “Karellen,” he said abruptly, “I’ll draft out the statement and send it up to you for approval.  But I reserve the right to continue pestering you, and if I see any opportunity, I’ll do my best to learn your secret.”

    “I’m perfectly well aware of that,” replied the Supervisor, with a slight chuckle.

    “And you don’t mind?”

    “Not in the least—though I draw the line at nuclear weapons, poison gas, or anything that might strain our friendship."  (pg. 55)

 

    It was One World.  The old names of the old countries were still used, but they were no more than convenient postal divisions.  There was no one on earth who could not speak English, who could not read, who was not in range of a television set, who could not visit the other side of the planet within twenty-four hours.

    Crime had practically vanished.  It had become both unnecessary and impossible.  When no one lacks anything, there is no point in stealing.  Moreover, all potential criminals knew there would be no escape from the surveillance of the Overlords.  In the early days of their rule, they had intervened so effectively on behalf of law and order that the lesson had never been forgotten.  (pg. 72)

 

“The planets you may one day possess.  But the stars are not for Man.”  (pg. 137)

    There was zero profanity in Childhood’s End, and zero adult situations.  The worst language gripe I can come up with is a single use of a racial epithet.

 

    The only typos I spotted were a couple of hyphenated words that shouldn’t have been (boy-friend/boyfriend, sight-seeing/sightseeing, co-operate/cooperate).  I have a feeling those hyphenation issues arose at the printing shop when the original typewritten manuscript was converted.  I thought I spotted a misspelling (kidnaped/kidnapped), but it turns out both those past tense spellings are acceptable.  English is a goofy language.

 

    A lot of Sci-Fi novels from the 1950s/60s don’t hold up too well over time, but I’m happy to say that Childhood’s End is an exception to this.  It is well-written, thought-provoking, entertaining, and frighteningly plausible.

 

    According to Wikipedia, the theme of Childhood’s End, transcendent evolution, is also used in Clarke’s 4-book Space Odyssey series, of which I’ve read the first two books.  It’s time to tackle the next book in that series.

 

    9 Stars.  One last thing.  At one point (pg. 61) 3-dimensional chess and checkers are compared, with the implication that the latter is child’s play relative to the former.  Well, I’ve played chess, albeit the 2-D variety, all my life, and on occasion have played checkers.  Folks, my comprehension of checkers is pathetic.

Fuzz - Mary Roach

   2021; 292 pages.  Full Title: Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law.  New Author? : No.  Genres : Animal Rights; Wildlife Science; Non-Fiction; Humorous Essays.  Overall Rating : 9½*/10.

 

    He came with the house.  A cute little field mouse with reddish-brown fur and a white snout.  Actually, he was probably here first, back when the orange grove had not yet been cleared to make a housing subdivision.

 

    He was mostly a nuisance, scampering around from room to room.  The standard mousetraps we set up didn’t fool him at all.  So the exterminator suggested we buy some "glue traps" and set them around.

 

    One night, a week or so after we did that, there was a sorrowful squealing in the laundry room.  The little mouse had run into a glue trap, got stuck, but didn’t immediately die.  He started hyperventilating when I picked up the trap-plus-mouse and eyeballed him.

 

    What to do?  I could toss him into the trash can and let him starve, but that would be cruel. So I bopped him on his stuck head with a screwdriver and that did the trick.  He died instantly, executed for merely being in the way of human encroachment.  But I’ve always wondered…

 

    Was there a more humane way to handle the “mouse in the house”?

 

What’s To Like...

    Fuzz is Mary Roach’s latest book, and the fifth of hers that I’ve read.  In it, she examines the inevitable tensions that arise when humans overrun areas where other animals are already comfortably existing.  We humans will prevail, of course, but figuring out how to best handle those displaced species is quite the challenge.

 

    The diversity of animal groups examined is impressive.  Bears and wolves can get territorial when hikers and campers invade their domain; but they also take keen delight in raiding the dumpsters of any nearby cities.  In northern India, elephants and leopards are an obvious hazard, but deaths by macaque monkey attacks are also a problem.  California has its cougars, the Vatican has its gulls, farmers have their crows, and everyone everywhere (including me) may have to deal with rats and mice.  Even the plant kingdom gets involved.  Douglas firs engage in what the author calls “arboreal manslaughter”, and legumes such as rosary beans and castor beans are accomplices in murders.

 

    Mary Roach is a “hands-on” writer.  She takes an intensive 5-day WHART course (Wildlife-Human Attack Response Training) to learn what to do if you come face-to-face with a bear.  Hint: the answer is different for black bears vs. grizzly bears.  She travels to India to learn about controlling elephants and to Rome to learn whether it’s a sin to take the life of a rodent or bird.

 

    As always, the text is loaded with Mary Roach’s wit, humor, and trivia tidbits.  You’ll learn whether hibernating bears pee and poop during their long nap, the intricacies of “rabbit arithmetic” (2 x 3 = 9,000,000), and the German word for scarecrow (“Vogelverschrikker”).  But she discusses the serious issues of wildlife conservation as well.  You’ll learn why poisoning, relocating, importing predators for the pests, scarecrows/loud noises/lasers, glue traps and doing nothing are not permanent answers to the problem.

 

Kewlest New Word ...

Bejesus (excl.) : an exclamation of surprise or emphasis.

 

Excerpts...

    On June 26, 1659, a representative from five towns in a province of northern Italy initiated legal proceedings against caterpillars.  The local specimens, went the complaint, were trespassing and pilfering from people’s gardens and orchards.  A summons was issued and five copies made and nailed to trees in forests adjacent to each town.  The caterpillars were ordered to appear in court on the twenty-eighth of June, at a specified hour, where they would be assigned legal representation.

    Of course, no caterpillars appeared at the appointed time, but the case went forward anyway.  (loc. 61)

 

    There is, or there was, a hunter gull that hung around St. Peter’s Square, site of the aforementioned floral vandalism.  We know this because the bird was caught on camera in 2014.  You can watch it in slow-motion as it swoops in, beak first and irony ablaze, to nail the white “peace dove” that Pope Francis had just released.  Every January the pope appears on a balcony with children from a Catholic youth group to read a message of peace and release a dove.  The dove survived, but the tradition did not.  In later years, a helium-filled balloon in the shape of a dove was released.  (loc. 3089)

 

Kindle Details…

    The e-book format of Fuzz costs $8.98 at Amazon right now.  Mary Roach has seven more e-books for your Kindle, ranging in price from $8.98 or $11.99.

 

Ratings…
    Amazon:  4.4/5 based on 3,122 ratings and 201 reviews.

    Goodreads: 3.84/5 based on 26,239 ratings and 3,574 reviews.

 

“It’s hard to be tolerant when there’s a bear in your kitchen.”  (loc. 623)

    There’s a small amount of profanity in Fuzz.  I counted just 12 instances in the first 50% of the text, but that included a pair of f-bombs.  Later on, the slang term for male genitalia was utilized four times.

 

    I don’t really have anything else to quibble about.  Some of the negative reviewers at Amazon and Goodreads didn’t like Mary Roach’s sense of humor and/or thought the text was boring.  I respectfully disagree on both counts.

 

    The final chapter is a poignant personal note by Mary Roach.  She finds peace and coexistence with a roof rat in her home, solving the problem by discovering, and closing, the entryway the rat uses to get into her attic.  I wish I had done that when I dealt with my field mouse.

 

    9½ Stars.  One last thing.  One of the highlights in Chapter 9 was Australia’s Great Emu War, fought in the 1930s, and which has always made me chuckle.  It shares the spotlight with a conflict I was unaware of: the American military versus the gooney birds (albatrosses) on Midway Island.  The winner in both cases was . . . well, Mary Roach tells it better than I can, so read the book.

Blasphemy - Douglas Preston

   2007; 505 pages.  Book 2 (out of 4) in the “Wyman Ford” Series.  New Author? : No.  Genres : Thriller; Action-Intrigue.  Overall Rating : 8*/10.

 

    It cost forty billion dollars, but the United States government has built a world-class particle accelerator.  They’ve named it “Isabella”.  It’s out on a Navajo reservation in Arizona and will out-perform the one called CERN, presently in operation in Switzerland.

 

    Curiously, a lot of people are upset about this.  The President is ticked off because it’s election year and a lot of voters think it’s a waste of money because thus far, Isabella isn’t even up and running.

 

    The Navajos on the reservation are mad because they were promised lots of jobs and lots of scientists spending lots of money there to but food, gasoline, and other necessities.  None of that has happened.

 

    The scientists at Isabella are frazzled because they’re working long hours trying to debug the process, and don’t have a clue as to what the glitches are.

 

    A televangelist claims the whole project is demonic, since particle physics and the Big Bang Theory runs contrary to God’s Word in the Holy Bible.

 

    And a fundamentalist preacher has been personally told by God to gather up an army of believers and destroy Isabella because doing so will usher in the End of Days.

 

    Well, it’s true that Isabella is way behind on getting up and running.  Something’s going wrong out there, the scientists are keeping it secret, and the President wants to know what it is.  Hey, let’s send a federal agent out there, undercover, to nose around and find out what the problem is!

 

What’s To Like...

    Douglas Preston is half of the “Preston & Child” writing team that authors the 22-book Agent Pendergast series.  Blasphemy is from one of Preston’s solo series, featuring Wyman Ford, a widowed, ex-monk anthropologist who’s still trying to come to grips with the death of his wife.

 

    The storyline is first and foremost a Thriller, but it also takes an in-depth look at how God might talk to people of various religious/philosophical beliefs.  The evangelicals, fundamentalists, and Native American theologies are cited above; and the ex-monk Wyman can put forth the Roman Catholic viewpoint.  Most of the rest of the scientists at Isabella are agnostics, the notable exception being their charismatic team leader, Gregory Hazelius, who’s an atheist.

 

    The bulk of the story takes place on the reservation, and I liked the way the author portrays the Navajo nation.  A couple of Navajo phrases are also worked into the text, including chindii, Bilagaana, Diné, and my personal favorite, Ya’at’ eeh’ which I became familiar with many years ago in college.

 

    I chuckled at the thought that God has chosen my home state, Arizona, as the starting point for both Armageddon and the Apocalypse.  Balanced against those doomsday events is the scientific possibility that Isabella will accidentally create black holes, which will immediately start disintegrating Earth, starting with, yep you guessed it, Arizona.

 

    Everything builds to a big climax featuring clashing factions, the resolution of which is suitably exciting, twisty, and open-ended.  At the end of the day, any or all of the disparate groups could claim to be right and everybody else is wrong.  Yet something has changed.  Read the book to find out what.

 

Ratings…
    Amazon: 4.2*/5, based on 2,354 ratings and 402 reviews.

    Goodreads: 3.73*/5, based on 11,228 ratings and 866 reviews.

 

Excerpts...

    “What kind of research are you doing over there?  I been hearing weird stories.”

    “Investigating the Big Bang.”

    “What’s that?”

    “That’s the theory that the universe came into existence thirteen billion years ago in an explosion and has been expanding outward ever since.”

    “In other words, you people are shoving your noses into the Creator’s business.”

    “The Creator didn’t give us brains for nothing.”  (pg. 92)

 

    “Everyone will be underground.  When you and your riders arrive, I’ll be the only one there to meet you.”

    “We aren’t doing a meet and greet.”

    “I didn’t want you to think we were being disrespectful.”

    Begay patted his horse and stroked his flank.  “Look, Mr. Ford, we got our own plans.  We’re going to set up a sweat lodge, do some ceremonies, talk to the ground.  We’ll be peaceful.  When the police come to arrest us, we’ll go quietly.”

    “The police aren’t going to come,” said Ford.

    Begay looked disappointed.  “No police?”

    “Should we call them?” Ford asked quietly.  (pg. 253)

 

“He can’t help it.  His doctorate was in horse’s-assery.”  (pg. 74)

    The profanity level is moderate.  There are 16 cusswords in the first 10% of the book, but most of them are eschatological ones.  Later on, a racial slur is used, and there was one adult situation.

 

    In the back of my book, there's a “Note on the Paperback Edition” wherein Douglas Preston recounts the righteous indignation that came out after this book was first released in hardback format.  It is short and well worth taking the time to read.

 

    I have high expectations for any novel by Preston & Child, both as a team or writing solo, and Blasphemy did not disappoint.  Yes, I was trying to deduce which band of religious zealots would be revealed to be the “chosen ones”, but after reading the blowback alluded to in the previous paragraph, I think Douglas Preston opted for the best way to wrap things up.

 

    8 Stars.  One last thing.  At one point, one of the characters decides to prove he’s right by citing a single cryptic name: “Joe Blitz”.  The group of scientists reading this is stymied, and so was I.  Have fun trying to figure it out.

Bulldog - Mike Faricy

   2015; 231 pages.  Book 9 (out of 30) in the “Dev Haskell – Private Investigator” series.  New Author? : No.  Genres: Airport/Beach Read; Hard-Boiled Mystery; Private Investigator Mystery.  Overall Rating: 8*/10.

 

    Dermot Gallagher and Dev Haskell have been close friends for a long time.  Even after Dermot married Casey, and even after Dev started his Private Eye business.

 

    So it’s no surprise that the news of Dermot’s passing hits Dev like a ton of bricks.  Especially the circumstances of Dermot’s death.  According to the police, someone rang the doorbell of Dermot and Casey’s house, Dermot answered it, and was immediately shot in the face.  To say Dev is devastated is an understatement.

 

    The St. Paul police department's investigation is underway, and they have a request for Dev: stay out of this case and let us do our job.  We recognize your PI sleuthing is well-intended, but it will only slow things down.

 

    Yeah, we all know Dev’s not going to comply with that.

 

What’s To Like...

    Bulldog is the ninth book in the Dev Haskell series.  So far, I’ve been reading the series in order, sometimes via economy-priced bundles, sometimes as discrete e-books.  If you don’t happen to own the whole set of tales in this series, don’t fret.  Each of them is a completely standalone story.

 

    The storyline follows the usual formula for a hard-boiled mystery novel: fast pacing, lots of action, and lots of witty dialogue.  But Mike Faricy seems to be subtly tweaking his usual format.  For starters, Dev has no client; he is tackling this case strictly for his personal reasons.  Second, to me the plotline seemed to be more focused on the mystery, with less attention paid to Dev’s amorous interests.  And thirdly, the tone felt a bit darker here.  Personally, I thought these tweaks all worked rather well.

 

    A fascinating new character is introduced: Fat Freddy Zimmerman.  Dev’s first impression of him is given in an excerpt below.  At first I thought he was just another stereotypical “big, dumb, thug”, but he turns out to be an important character in the tale and I certainly hope Mike Faricy promotes him to being a recurring role.

 

    Louie the Lawyer is back, so is Lieutenant Aaron LaZelle of the St. Paul Police Department.  I like both those characters.  The widowed Casey Gallagher is new, and it was neat to watch the way her character gradually develops.  Tubby Gustafson makes for a suitably evil-but-crafty crime boss.  And Bulldog is everything you could want in a mob enforcer.

 

    The ending is exciting and over-the-top, which is mandatory for a hard-boiled crime mystery.  Dev figures out why someone shot Dermot, justice is served, and good triumphs over bad, with a couple of surprising benefits thrown in for good measure.  All the crime-mystery plot threads are tied up.  None of Dev’s romantic efforts are resolved, which is just fine.

 

Ratings…
    Amazon:  4.1/5 based on 1,823 ratings and 257 reviews.

    Goodreads: 3.95/5 based on 772 ratings and 52 reviews

 

Excerpts...

    As I moved closer, the face came into focus, and I actually recognized the idiot.  The flattened nose, the Mohawk hairstyle, a half dozen piercings in each eyebrow, and the three rings in his bottom lip left little doubt.  Then, there was the gauging in his earlobes the size of a giant doughnut hole.  I didn’t so much know him as I knew of him.  Freddy Zimmerman, Fat Freddy, a wannabe criminal of dubious reputation.  I was pretty sure he was a general disappointment to folks on both sides of the law.  (loc. 282)

 

    “The license plates had been removed, to answer your next question, and no, a quick search of the immediate area did not turn them up.”

    “Did you search the river around there?  You know in the water, some idiot could have just tossed them in there.”

    “Right now, we’re dealing with a stolen car that was torched.  I’m not calling divers out to search the river bottom for a quarter of a mile in all directions to confirm what we already know.”

    “I was just thinking.”

    “Don’t, please don’t.  You are forbidden to think, which shouldn’t be too hard for you.  You are also forbidden to call me from here on in unless you have been murdered, in which case you wouldn’t be able to call anyway.”  (loc. 1731)

 

Kindle Details…

    Bulldog is priced at $4.99 at Amazon right now.  The rest of the books in the series are currently either $0.99 or $4.99.  Mike Faricy has several other series (Hotshot, Corridor Man, and Jack Dillon Dublin Tales) that have similar pricing structures.

 

As my eyes adjusted to the dim lighting, I noticed the place had the definite reek of cheap perfume and dumb guys.  (loc. 619)

    The profanity in Bulldog felt like the usual amount, in this case there were 28 instances in roughly the first third of the book, and a nice mixture of mild and not-so-mild expletives.

 

    The story ends on page 231, which is at 57% Kindle.  The rest of the e-book included two sneak-peeks at other Mike Faricy opuses: 8 chapters from Double Trouble (the next book in this series), and 36 chapters from Corridor Man (the eponymous first book in another of his series).

 

    There were only a few typos (such as whacko/wacko), but lots of grammar errors, most of which involved apostrophes.  The editing seems to be gradually getting better, and I’m tempted to read one of the recent books in the series next to see if that trend continues.  The series is now up to Book #33, and yes, I know, that doesn’t add up to the number listed in the header of this review.

 

    Overall, I found Bulldog to be a fun and quick read; filled with plenty of thrills, spills, and intrigue; and with lots of interesting characters gallivanting around and uttering witty remarks.  I doubt it will win a Pulitzer Prize but it did keep me coming back for more (mis)-adventures by the incomparable Dev Haskell.  Which is exactly what I wanted.

 

    8 Stars.  One last thing.  Chapter 43 is devoted to an incident that we’ll simply call “Mouse in the Kitchen”.  We’ll not reveal any details, but let’s just say it brought back “been there, done that” memories for me.  Thank you, Mr. Faricy, for that little aside.

The Great Troll War - Jasper Fforde

    2021; 353 pages.  Book 4 (out of 4) in the “Last Dragonslayer” series.  New Author? : No.  Genre : Fantasy; YA.  Overall Rating : 8*/10.

 

   The Trolls are coming!  The Trolls are coming!!

 

    And the entire population of the UnUnited Kingdom is quaking in their boots.  Well, everyone that’s still alive, anyway.  Trolls find humans to be a culinary delight.  There are so many good ways to cook them and eat them.

 

    The Trolls have advanced to the border of the Kingdom of Snodd, but they’ve been stymied there, thanks to the Button Trench.  Trolls despise buttons.  No one knows why, but the Button Trench is keeping them out of Snodd.  For now.

 

    Jennifer Strange has been put in charge of organizing Snodd’s defenses for if and when the Button Trench fails.  Things could be worse.  Snodd has called up hundreds of fencers, marksmen, and warriors to aid in her cause.  There’s just one problem.

 

    There seems to have been a bit of a communications mishap when recruiting those soldiers.

 

What’s To Like...

    The Great Troll War is the fourth and concluding book in Jasper Fforde’s “The Last Dragonslayer” fantasy series.  There’s a 7-year gap (2014-2021) between publication of the previous book in the series, The Eye of Zoltar, and this one.  The story is told in the first-person POV, Jennifer’s.

 

    As always, Jasper Fforde combines masterful storytelling with lots of wit.  How *do* you repel a horde of Trolls who have the advantage in size, power and most importantly, wizardry?  Meanwhile, Jennifer has to contend with princesses behaving badly, games of Thrones, and the realization that her magic is puny compared to the evil mastermind directing the Troll invasion, "The Mighty Shandar".

 

    The book is written in English, not American, which features weird spellings including centred, despatch, storeys, dykes, pyjamas, and manoeuvring.  Jeez, spellchecker hated that sentence.  There are some witty acronyms, such as HENRY, which stands for Hex Energy Neutralising Reversal Yieldiser, and even a brief moment where Jasper Fforde personally breaks down the fourth wall.  I liked the nods to Pachelbel and the movie Back To The Future, and enjoyed the ride on the Cloud Leviathan.

 

    The ending is a stutter-step affair.  After the titular Troll War issue is resolved, the storyline segues into a final showdown theme, pitting Jennifer and The Mighty Shandar.  Fortuitously, this allows Fforde to tie up several plot threads.  Things close on a sad-yet-hopeful, unexpected-yet-hinted-at, dark note.  It wraps up the series succinctly, yet leaves the door open for a sequel.  However, I have a feeling this series is done for good.

 

Ratings…
    Amazon:  4.5/5 based on 976 ratings and 45 reviews.

    Goodreads: 4.17/5 based on 1,570 ratings and 212 reviews.

 

Excerpts...

    “Numerical values are seriously overrated.  Here’s another example.  If I were to tell you the mass of the sun is roughly 2 x 10³⁰ kilograms then it would just be a meaninglessly high number – ten with thirty noughts after it.”

    “I agree with that,” said the Princess.

    “Right,” said the Troll.  “But if I were to tell you the sun has 99.86 per cent of the combined mass of the entire solar system, what would that mean?”

    “It would mean . . . wow,” said the Princess.

    “Exactly,” said the Troll, grinning broadly.  “Wow.”  (loc. 1344)

 

    “I’ve only got a few things to say, and I shall be brief.  Firstly, I am to wield absolute power in all the Kingdoms, and anyone who has not signed the book of allegiance in the foyer will be considered an enemy of the Crown.  But, to show my caring nature, they shall not be executed, but banished: thrown forcibly across the Button Trench in the direction of the Trolls after being painted with gravy.”  (loc. 2069)

 

Kindle Details…

    The Great Troll War presently sells for $2.99 at Amazon.  The other 3 books in the series range in price from $6.07 to $9.99.  Jasper Fforde offers about 16 other e-novels, in the form of several other series, and costing anywhere from $2.99 to $14.99.

 

“There are always a few naysayers who want to rain on your parade when you contemplate galactic domination.”  (loc. 3239)

    The target audience is YA, so The Great Troll War is virtually profanity-free; I noted just one “damn” and three “hells” in the entire book.  I don’t recall any adult situations.  The editing is superb; the only typo I saw was a variant spelling of Princess Jocamanica’s name: “Jocaminca”, and I’m not even sure if that wasn't just a deliberate snubbing of her. 

 

    The seven-year hiatus between Books 3 and 4 means a lot of readers, including me, remembered little about recurring characters and overarching storylines.  The author cleverly addresses this by back-referencing past events and beings from earlier books via footnotes, but some reviewers thought this was overdone.  Personally, I found that I could follow the storyline easily even when bypassing the footnotes.

 

    Overall, I felt that Jasper Fforde’s ultimate aim in writing The Great Troll War was to bring closure to this series, and in this regard he succeeded nicely.  I wasn’t blown away by the way it ended, yet the story kept me entertained throughout.  There is a rumor afoot that a series-ending eighth book in Fforde’s fabulous Thursday Next series, Dark Reading Matter, will be coming out in June 2025, and I’m looking forward to finding out how he pulls that one off.

 

    8 Stars.  One last thing.  Two catchy little sidelights in The Great Troll War are the “20:1 Quickener Spell” and the “El Carisma pout”.  I simply have to figure out some way to learn both of these talents.

The Maker of Universes - Philip José Farmer

   1965; 247 pages.  New Author? : No. Book 1 (out of 7) in the “World of Tiers” series.  Genres : Classic Sci-Fi; multiverses, pulp fiction.   Overall Rating: 4*/10.

 

    Robert Wolff is in his 60s and has just realized he is losing his mind.  Well, this sometimes happens to people his age, but it’s especially unfair to Robert, since he also has zero memories of the first twenty years of his life.

 

    His latest realization is also ill-timed.  He and his wife Brenda are doing a walkthrough of an empty house they’re considering buying for their retirement years.  And Robert keeps hearing a bugle playing behind one of the closet doors.

 

    Apparently neither his wife nor the real estate agent accompanying them hear the blaring horn, which is why Robert is sure he’s losing his mind.  Maybe he should just get it over with: open the closet door, discover there’s nothing there, and accept his mental deterioration.

 

    Don’t do it, Robert!  If that bugling you hear is unsettling, you’re going to freak out when you see what and who is causing it!

 

What’s To Like...

    The Maker of Universes is the opening volume in Philip José Farmer’s World of Tiers 7-book sci-fi series.  We tag along with our hero, Robert Wolff, as he gets dropped into a strange, multi-tiered world, ruled by a Lord who seems to like kidnapping beings from other dimensions and time-periods to populate his domain.  Each of the five tiers resembles a specific time and place in terrestrial history, but it would be a spoiler to give full details.

 

    The book is written in what I’d call “classic 1950s science fiction” style.  That means non-stop action, paper-thin character development, and a hero who can perform feats of bravery while attracting every female he meets.  Here, our protagonist is initially in his sixties, but magically tones-up and ages-down in the new universe he’s plopped into.

 

    There are lots of creatures for Wolff to cross paths with.  Some are helpful; others want to kill and eat him.  Philip José Farmer gives a name to just about every beast, being, or geographical area and I’m sure he amused himself greatly when doing this.

 

    The Maker of Universes may be written in classic-50s style which targets YA male readers, but Philip José Farmer does some tweaking to that to spice things up.  Lots of humanoids run around unclothed and several rolls-in-the-hay are hinted at.  Natives enjoy eating something called a punchnut, which is an alcoholic fruit, and chewing the leaves of a plant called dhiz, which turns their teeth black, gives their eyes a smoldering look, and slows down their physical motions.  Hmmm.

 

    The ending is typical for classical sci-fi tales.  The old Lord is vanquished, the new Lord assumes the throne, and Wolff is a changed man, and of course, for the better.  However, a chance still exists of thwarting all that, in the form of a cliffhanger ending, which is one of my pet peeves.

 

Ratings…
    Amazon: 4.2*/5, based on 132 ratings and 24 reviews.

    Goodreads: 3.82*/5, based on 2,094 ratings and 132 reviews.

 

Excerpts...

    “The histoikhthys is handy.  They seem almost too much of a good thing.”

    “The Lord designed and made them for our pleasure and his,” Ipsewas replied.

    “The Lord made this universe?” Wolff said, no longer sure that the story was a myth.

    “You better believe it,” Ipsewas replied, and took another drink.  “Because if you don’t, the Lord will end you.  As it is, I doubt he’ll let you continue anyway.  He doesn’t like uninvited guests.”  (pg. 65)

 

    “I am as much the enemy of the Lord as you, and he hates me, he would kill me!  He knows I stole the horn and that I’m a danger to him.  His eyes rove the four levels of the world and fly up and down the mountains to find me.  And . . .”

    “Where is this horn you said you stole from the Lord?  Why don’t you have it now?  I think you are lying to save your worthless carcass!”

    “I told you that I opened a gate to the next world and that I threw it to a man who appeared at the gate.  He stands before you now.”

    Podarge turned her head as an eagle swivels hers, and she glared at Wolff.  “I see no horn.  I see only some tough stringy meat behind a black beard!”  (pg. 81)

 

“You Lords are a mean, crafty, sneaky bunch.”  (. . .)  “But I like your style, anyway.”  (pg. 239)

    The cussing is sparse in The Maker of Universes, just 16 instances in the entire book, and limited to damns and hells.  A possible rape is mentioned, and one of the females suffers a miscarriage.  Those sorts of things are atypical in old-time science fiction.

 

    There were a few typos, such as: decible/decibel; slivery/silvery; muscial/musical; carnivous/carnivorous; tired/tried; and wll/will.  I’d make a bigger fuss about this, except the paperback version I read was published in 1965, long before spellchecker existed.

 

    My biggest issue was with the storytelling itself.  Even for the 1950s-60s timeframe, it was terrible.  The plotline teemed with dei ex machina.  Wolff and his companions repeatedly travel hundreds of miles through perilous lands within a single sentence.  A bunch of the humans in the alternate dimension speak Mycenaean, an ancient Greek dialect, and wouldn’t you know it, so does Wolff!  And somehow, his newly-acquired muscle tone is bigger and better than anybody else’s.

 

    Then there are the ethical slurs.  The “negroid” fighters encountered are portrayed as stereotypical savages.  At one point, Wolff is encouraged to make some passes at the ladies at a social gathering, because if he doesn’t, “they’ll think you’re queer.”  And last but not least, Wolff—our hero!—cavorts with several beautiful well-endowed damsels in the new world, since he’s lost interest in his 60-ish wife because she’s fat and wrinkly.  No matter that he was fat and wrinkly too, before his coming to this dimension magically rejuvenated him.

 

    All these issues will make for a terrible read for any adult.  But I have a funny feeling I would’ve loved this book when I was 12 years old.

 

    4 Stars.  One last thing.  At one point (page 147), a chemical reference is made about water, calling it “hydrogen oxide.” Folks, you can call it “dihydrogen oxide’, or “hydrogen hydroxide”, but not “hydrogen oxide”.  Trust me.  I’m a chemist.