Diablo Mesa - Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child

    2022; 385 pages.  Book 3 (out of 5) in the “Nora Kelly” series.  New Author(s)? : No, and No.  Genres : Archaeology; Thriller; Police Procedural.   Overall Rating: 9/10.

 

    Roswell, New Mexico.  Isn't that where Extraterrestrials crashed their spaceship back in 1947?  Everybody knows that.  And everybody knows the US government covered up the evidence.  Called it a weather balloon.  Or a Russian spy plane.

 

    Meet Lucas Tappan.  He’s got lots of money, and a permit to re-excavate the Roswell crash site. It’s been more than a half-century since “the incident” and that means the technology available for excavations has made some significant advancements.  All he needs to do now is hire a skilled archaeologist to lead the team of diggers.

 

    He wants Nora Kelly for the job, but she’s already turned him down.  Twice.  Apparently, she doesn’t believe any ETs ever crashed their UFO at Roswell.  She thinks digging there for little green corpses is a waste of time.

 

    If only there was some way for Lucas to convince her to change her mind.

 

What’s To Like...

    There are two main storylines in Diablo Mesa. One follows Nora Kelly the archaeologist; the other follows Corrie Swanson, an FBI agent who gets brought in when a pair of out-of-place-&-time bodies are discovered.  Both are recurring characters borrowed from Preston & Child’s Agent Pendergast series.  The main bad guy is revealed early on to the reader but not to our heroes.  I liked that he is a suitably resourceful foe.

 

    The storyline rapidly becomes more complex.  Some characters disappear; others turn up dead.  Lucas Tappan suspects there is a mole operating among the excavation team.  And there is a “is it Terrestrial or Extraterrestrial?” motif running throughout the tale, which the authors handle most superbly.

 

    Nora is stationed at the excavation site in Roswell, while Corrie spends time both at FBI Headquarters in Washington DC and other regional FBI offices.  The storyline alternates between their plot threads, which nicely eliminates any slow spots.  I loved that the Fermi Paradox gets worked into the tale, and chuckled at the discovery of a “Element 126”, a new atom never detected before on Earth.  Also, at one point ethanol is used to make explosive Molotov Cocktails.  Better living, and dying, through Chemistry!

 

    The ending is suitably exciting, over-the-top, and unexpectedly more logical than twisty.  There are understandable reasons for the baddies doing what they’re doing; and I was impressed by how deftly Preston & Child handled that.  Things close with a three-months-later Epilogue wherein all the surviving Good Guys are properly rewarded.

 

Ratings…
    Amazon: 4.4*/5, based on 11,616 ratings and 464 reviews.

    Goodreads: 4.06*/5, based on 17,824 ratings and 1,356 reviews.

 

Excerpts...

    “Why haven’t we heard from aliens?”

    Tappan gave her a dazzling smile.  “That is the question, isn’t it?  Dozens of answers have been advanced.  I favor the zoo hypothesis.”

    “You mean, we’re in a monkey house and don’t know it?”

    Tappan laughed.  “That’s not far off.  It’s similar to what Noam was telling your brother the other day.  The galaxy, the idea goes, is governed by an alliance of highly advanced civilizations, but we’re not yet ready to join them.  We’re either too primitive or too dangerous, or perhaps too dumb.  Contact would disrupt or even destroy us.  So we’re kept in a sort of nature preserve, where we’re being observed but contact isn’t allowed.”  (pg. 84)

 

    She reared back, cocked one fist, then hit him on the arm.

    “Whoa!” he cried as he sat up, massaging his arm.  “What was that for?”

    “You were lost in thought.  I needed to get your attention.”

    He glowered at her, one half of his visage crusted with dried blood, looking as two-faced as Janus.  “Well, you didn’t need to give me a hematoma in the process.”

    “You can fire me later.”  (pg. 319)

 

 

Kindle Details…

    Diablo Mesa costs $9.99 at Amazon right now.  The other four books in the series will run you anywhere from $9.99 to $14.99.  Preston & Child’s most popular Agent Pendergast series, wherein Nora and Corrie first appear, is now up to 22 e-books; all in the $7.99-$12.99 price range.

 

“As Einstein said: most assumptions are wrong.”  (pg. 307)

    The profanity level in Diablo Mesa is moderate and about normal for Preston & Child novels.  I counted 19 instances in the first 20% of the book; plus one or two rolls-in-the-hay later on.  I didn’t spot and typos.

 

    My only quibble was with several characters who go missing and are presumed dead.  I kept waiting for confirmation of their demises, or their happy reappearances, but that never happened.  Oh well, maybe that means they come back in one of the sequels.

 

    Diablo Mesa is a fast-paced, well-researched Archaeological Thriller that’s every bit as good as a Preston & Child Agent Pendergast novel.  Regardless of what your personal opinion is of the “Are we alone in the Universe?” debate, this book will resonate with you.

 

    9 Stars.  One last thing.  At one point an FBI agent visits a dental office seeking dental records of a deceased person.  The request is refused due to violating HIPPA rules, which I can personally attest to being proper and realistic.  I was impressed by that.  I was equally impressed by the steps then taken by that FBI agent to circumvent those HIPPA regulations.

Sourdough - Robin Sloan

    2017; 259 pages.  Full Title: Sourdough, or Lois and Her Adventures in the Underground Market.  New Author? : No.  Genres : Humorous Fiction; Magical Realism; Baking.  Overall Rating : 6*/10.

 

    Did you ever bite into a piece of food and find yourself transported into heaven?  If so, what type of food was it?  Was it French food, or maybe Italian?

 

    For Lois Clary, it was a fast-food “combo sandwich, double spicy”, courtesy of a nearby hole-in-the-wall eatery called Clement Street Soup and Sourdough.  Delivered on motorcycle by one of the two brothers that own the shop.

 

    Frankly, it was the bun that made the sandwich such a delightful culinary experience.  The sourdough was divine.  She guessed it was some sort of ethnic cuisine.  When she asked the delivery guy about it, he said, “It is the food of the Mazg!”

 

    That sounds Asiatic.  Vietnamese food, maybe.  Oh Lois, you’re in for a mouthwatering surprise.

 

What’s To Like...

   Sourdough is the follow-up to, and is written in the same style of Robin Sloan’s Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore.  The primary storyline is set in the San Francisco area; with occasional messages from a couple of cities in Europe.

 

    The story is told in the First-Person POV, but by two different narrators: Lois is the main one, and a guy named Beoreg is the other.  He is of Mazg extraction and does a lot of explaining to Lois.

 

    The central theme of the tale is Lois’s learning to deal with her “left-lobe/right-lobe” dichotomy.  Her primary job makes use of the analytical lobe of her brain: she’s a programmer for a tech company that builds “robotic arms” to perform repetitive tasks.  Their current project is how to get a robot to correctly crack open a raw egg.  Yeah, good luck with that one, Lois.

 

    Lois’s other brain lobe comes into play when she discovers the joy of baking sourdough bread.  What additives give it the best flavor?  What is the best texture of the bread?  And why does playing background music seem to affect the baking sourdough bread in weird ways?  Your analytical lobe won’t help you figure that out, Lois.

 

    It was fun to watch how Lois’s mental struggles impact her lifestyle.  Her newfound passion for baking sourdough loaves introduces her to new friends and moneymaking opportunities.  But it also competes with her programming time.  Ah, if only those two endeavors could be combined.

 

Ratings…
    Amazon:  4.2/5 based on 5,575 ratings and 634 reviews.

    Goodreads: 3.75/5 based on 63,455 ratings and 10,158 reviews.

 

Excerpts...

    It was Peter who recommended switching to the liquid meal replacement that he and many of the other programmers preferred, and that seemed easier to digest under the circumstances, which were extreme and unrelenting.

    “Slurry,” he said.  “It’s outstanding.”

    Slurry was a nutritive gel manufactured by an eponymous company even newer than General Dexterity.  Dispensed in waxy green Tetra Paks, it had the consistency of a thick milkshake.  It was nutritionally complete and rich with probiotics.  It was fully dystopian.  (pg. 17)

 

    “Come join us at Café Candide.”  It took her acolytes a moment to process what they’d just heard.  When they did, their eyes went wide, and they looked at me with bewilderment and horror.

    Clingstone continued.  “Bring the starter back to the café.  You’ll apprentice under Mona Rahut.  You met her.  There’s no better teacher.”

    I felt the disorientation of a generous offer that in no way lines up with anything you want to do: like a promotion to senior alligator wrestler, or an all-expenses-paid trip to Gary, Indiana.  (pg. 190)

 

Kindle Details…

    Sourdough currently sells for $11.99 at Amazon.  Robin Sloan’s main bestseller, Mr. Penumbras’s 24-Hour Bookstore, and his other novel, Moonbound, also cost $11.99.  He also has several novellas to offer for $2.99 apiece.

 

Kewlest New Word ...

Pareidolia (n.) : the tendency to perceive a specific, often meaningful image in a random or ambiguous visual pattern – most commonly a human face.

 

He looked like the kind of person who might have taken up residence in a turnip restaurant in Berkeley. (pg. 159)

    There’s almost no cussing in Sourdough; I counted just six instances in the entire book.  I don’t recall any adult situations and I didn’t spot any typos.

 

    The writing is superb, the characters are unique and fun to meet; and there’s a lighthearted tone to the story that’s entertaining without devolving into silliness.  So how come the 63,455 readers at Goodreads only give it (on the average) a 3.75 rating?

 

    The storytelling is to blame.  Things start out well – strange happenings with the baking of sourdough; strange brothers running Clement Street Soup and Sourdough; strange faces in strange places.  Alas, none of those mysteries are satisfactorily resolved.  The ending is weak, involving some overeager Lembas acting up.  And if “lembas” sounds familiar, it’s that magical elven bread in LOTR.

 

    If you enjoyed Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore and/or are an avid bread baker, you’ll probably eat up Sourdough.  Pun intended.  Otherwise, don’t be surprised if the ending is a letdown.  Perhaps the intention is to deal with the unresolved plot threads in a sequel.

 

    6 Stars.  One last thing. One of Lois’s new hobbies involves gaining membership in something called the “Lois Club”.  The only stipulation for joining this social club is that your first name has to be Lois.  Guess what!  Lois Clubs are real!  They’ve been around since 1979; they hold annual conventions; and they even have a Facebook group.  Google it.

Calculated Whisk - Lindsay Buroker

    2026; 294 pages.  Book 1 (out of 1, although that will change shortly) in the “Tales from the Dragon Diner” series.  New Author? : No.  Genres: Cozy Fantasy; Dragons; Humorous Fantasy.  Overall Rating: 8½*/10.

 

    It’s good to be back in one’s old stomping ground, which in Rylana’s case means the city of Tranquility.  Actually, she grew up in a mansion across the lake from Tranquility, but she and her dad are estranged, and mostly she’s here because she’s broke and needs to find a job.

 

    Rylana was an archer in the Ore Wars, which are thankfully now over, and she's traveling with a fellow veteran, the elven assassin Sylin.  The stop in Tranquility is temporary: get a paying short-term job, collect some funds, and move on, hopefully without running into her father.

 

    Hey look!  There’s an eatery called “the Dragon Diner”.  Maybe they’re hiring.  Rylana and Sylin fought against the dragons in the Ore Wars, but hopefully, whatever dragon is running that diner isn’t a veteran.  And even if he is, the odds are slim that he’d recognize this warrior duo as a pair of former foes.

 

    Yeah, Rylana, about those slim odds…

 

What’s To Like...

   Calculated Whisk is the opening book in Lindsay Buroker’s latest fantasy series: Tales of the Dragon Diner.  The Amazon blurb labels it a work of Cozy Fantasy Fiction, which is very accurate, and is good to keep that in mind when reading it.

 

    Think of it as a “Hallmark Movie, With Dragons”.  The main plot thread involves the dragon who owns the diner, Jildarin, who is preparing to compete in a culinary competition held annually in Tranquility called “the Golden Whisk”.  The contest consists of three rounds, wherein the contestants are required to invent a new dish consisting of a trio of random ingredients.  They then can add in their personal selection of herbs and spices, and the final product is tasted by a panel of judges.  It is rumored that Jildarin's spice inventory includes some with aphrodisiac qualities.

 

    I liked the fantasy worldbuilding.  Tranquility is filled with a wide variety of creatures, including dragons, elves, goblins, golems, dwarfs, and gnomes, with an occasional wyvern flying overhead.  Dragons are also shape-shifters, although city statutes require them to maintain their human forms anywhere outside their abodes.  Also, all magical weapons are tied up with magical bonds by city guards when anyone enters the city.  Tranquility hates interspecies bloodshed.

 

    As expected in a Lindsay Buroker novel, witty dialogue abounds.  Both Rylana and Sylin have sharp tongues, even when conversing with each other.  See the first excerpt below.  Thrills-&-Spills take a back seat to Intrigue, although there is one epic dragon melee that lets the humans know who’s boss.  And although Rylana suspects Sylin’s been using her assassin skills to earn some cash, it’s best not to question her about it.

 

    The ending will make any Hallmark movie lover smile.  It isn’t particularly twisty, and face it, you already know who’s going to win the Golden Whisk.  But there is some skullduggery for Rylana to espy and deal with, and things end at a logical spot.

 

Ratings…
    Amazon: 4.6*/5, based on 769 ratings and 72 reviews.

    Goodreads: 4.48*/5, based on 529 ratings and 52 reviews.

 

Excerpts...

    “You’re a good friend,” Rylana said as they walked up the road toward the ferry.  “Even if you don’t consider me one.”

    “Assassins can’t allow themselves to get close to others, lest enemies manipulate them by their emotional attachments.”

    “You don’t think we were close when we were smashed into that closet together?  The hilt of your knife was jabbing into my kidney.”

    “Not emotionally close, no.  Feelings weren’t involved.”

    “Are you sure?  My kidney had some feelings.”  (pg. 183)

 

    Rylana gave Jildarin an approving gesture, but the announcer had said they could begin the second dish, and he was with the other chefs, gathering ingredients from the pantries and iceboxes.

    “Isn’t that Jildarin a dragon himself” someone murmured.

    “I didn’t think dragons could cook,” someone else said.

    “They can roast humans without trouble.”

    “That wouldn’t be allowed here.”

    “Are you sure?  They haven’t announced the ingredients for the last meal yet.”  (pg. 273)

 

Kindle Details…

    Calculated Whisk presently sells for $0.99 at Amazon, which is a great introductory deal..  The sequel, Knead for Speed, is due to come out on June 30^th.  You can preorder that one for $4.99.

 

“I’m friendly and charming and hardly ever roar at people.”  (pg. 77)

    As you’d expect, the profanity frequency is low in Calculated Whisk.  I counted just five instances in the first 25% of the book, although two of those were a “6-lettered C-word” that’s rarely encountered.  I spotted only one typo: R ylana/Rylana, and I bet that one cropped up during the printing phase.

 

    The subject of mating comes up a lot, and there’s a hint of romance in the storyline, but it’s not enough to scare off male fantasy readers.   I chuckled at the made-up word “zerg”.

 

    The past adventures of Rylana and Sylin, mostly their wartime years, are mentioned frequently.  This is my third Lindsay Buroker novel, and I don’t recall these two protagonists being mentioned in either of those books, but this author has written a slew of series, and I suspect they’ve both starred in some other of her tales.

 

    The biggest quibble (is that an oxymoron?) I can think of is that a whole bunch of secondary plot threads are left dangling at the end.  Will Rylana and her dad make up?  Will romance bloom in her near future?  Why are some elves hunting for Sylin?  And several more.  But that’s what sequels are for, isn’t it?

 

    I’m not a big “cozy reader”, but Calculated Whisk kept me turning the pages.  The pacing is good, the storytelling is masterful, and the wit abounds.  I was looking for a lighthearted magical read, and that’s exactly what I got.

 

    8½ Stars.  One last thing.  I don’t remember any person or creature dying in Calculated Whisk, despite one of the protagonists being a skilled assassin.  When’s the last time you read a book where that was true?

A Treacherous Curse - Deanna Raybourn

    2018; 306 pages.  Book 3 (out of 10) in the “Veronica Speedwell Mystery” series.  New Author? : No.  Genres : Historical Mystery; Crime Fiction; Victorian England.  Overall Rating : 9*/10.

 

    It’s a curse, I tell you!  Sir Leicester Tiverton’s expedition to Egypt made the fabulous discovery of Princess Ankheset’s sarcophagus, but they should never have decided to bring it back to England.

 

    Do you want proof of the curse?!  The expedition’s photographer, John de Morgan, disappeared the minute he got back to Britain.  So did the crown jewel of the expedition’s finds—Princess Ankheset’s tiara.  The curse has struck!  Twice!

 

    Of course, there’s another more this-worldly possibility.  Maybe John de Morgan stole the tiara, and is hiding out as he tries to sell it and keep the money for himself.  His wife swears that isn’t true, but that probably just means she’s in on the skullduggery.

 

    Hmm.  It might be prudent to get someone to investigate this whole affair.  Because who knows, there might be other people who want John de Morgan dead.

 

What’s To Like...

    A Treacherous Curse is set in Victorian London in 1888, a year after the previous book in the series, A Perilous Undertaking, which is reviewed here.  The worldbuilding is fantastic, including a side-trip to Dover, England, and a flashback to 1882 Egypt.

 

    Once more, the investigation is a team effort: Veronica and her partner, Stoker Templeton-Vane.  Their relationship is complex.  Sometimes they work in smooth harmony; but just as often they get on each other’s nerves.

 

    Needless to say, the missing person/tiara case rapidly gets more complicated.  There are further killings, attempted killings, uncooperative witnesses, and mysterious persons who are following our dynamic duo.  Permeating it all is the “is it natural or supernatural” issue, which I always enjoy.  And each time Veronica, Stoker—and the reader—think they’ve figured things out, Deanna Raybourn drops a plot twist in the storyline, causing all parties to reassess their hypotheses.

 

    The ending is logical, twisty, and quite enlightening.  John de Morgan’s whereabouts is ascertained, Princess Ankheset’s tiara shows up, and all the other plot threads get tied up, except for Veronica and Stoker’s relationship, which I suspect will be a recurring storyline.  I love a well-constructed historical mystery, and thus far, this series is three-for-three in that regard.

 

Ratings…
    Amazon:  4.5/5 based on 4,269 ratings and 236 reviews.

    Goodreads: 4.15/5 based on 28,392 ratings and 2,865 reviews.

 

Kewlest New Word ...

Philologist (n.) : an expert in the structure, historical development, and relationships in a language or languages.

Others: Froideur (n.); Congé (n.).

 

Excerpts...

    “I know you do not wish to discuss it,” I began.

    “Then why are you introducing the subject?” he countered through a mouthful of crumbs.

    “Because we must develop a strategy.  No good general goes into battle without a plan.” I said stoutly.  “Caesar wouldn’t have done so.”

    “Caesar was murdered by his friends,” he reminded me.

    “Because he didn’t listen to the woman in his life,” I countered.”  (pg. 34)

 

    I soon realized three things: 1. Our visitor was not bent upon harming us.  2. Our visitor was Mrs. Marshwood.  3. She was not actually being strangulated by a weasel in spite of her shriek and the fur at her throat.  It was meant to be decorative.

    She recovered herself quickly, putting a hand to her heart and fixing us with a repressive look.  “How dare you come upon me like ruffians!” she demanded.  “Is this any way to greet a caller?”  (pg. 211)

 

Kindle Details…

    The Kindle version of A Treacherous Curse costs $11.99 at Amazon at present.  The other books in the series range in price from $3.99 to $14.99.  Generally, the more recent the volume, the higher the price.

 

“What a delightfully old-fashioned notion of sin you have.”  (pg. 154)

    There’s only a smidgen if cussing in A Treacherous Curse.  I counted just seven instances in the first 50% of the book, and they were all of the milder variety.  Veronica does allude to some adult situations, but I don’t recall any lewd scenes.

 

    I didn’t note any typos at all, which was also true of the previous book.  Whoever is doing the editing did a marvelous job.

 

    A Treacherous Curse was my third read in this series (thus far, I’m reading them in order), and fully met my expectations in all aspects.  Both the Murder-Mystery and Historical Fiction were well done, and the banter betwixt Veronica and Stoker is both witty and snarky.  I’ve got most of the remaining books in the series on my Kindle, including the next one, A Dangerous Collaboration, and am looking forward to more of Stoker and Veronica's sleuthing.

 

    9 Stars.  One last thing.  Deanna Raybourn also sprinkles a modicum of French into the tale, including “pets de nonnes”, which thoroughly stumped me, despite having taken three years of French in college.  We’ll list the translation in the comments section.

The Truth - Terry Pratchett

    2000; 348 pages.  Book 25 (out of 41) in the “Discworld” series.  New Author? : No.  Laurels : 193 in the “Big Read”.  Genres : Humorous Fantasy; Satire; British Humour.  Overall Rating : 7½*/10.

 

    There are two things those Discworld dwarfs love to do.  First and foremost, they love digging for gold and gems.  Second, they love to tinker with new ways of doing things.

 

    Just now, William de Worde has discovered the dwarfs have figured out how to put together a printing press.  With easily insertable and smoothly interchangeable letters.  It beats the heck out of the old way – carving a woodcut for every page you want printed. What a slow process.

 

    The dwarfs aren’t all that impressed with their new methodology, but William de Worde is.  Imagine setting up a page and printing it in minutes instead of spending hours or days carving a piece of wood.  With that kind of speed, doing a print job that requires multiple pages is suddenly doable.  But what kind of business would need that?

 

    They call it a newspaper, William.  And people will pay money to receive one on a daily basis.

 

What’s To Like...

    Although The Truth is Book 25 in Terry Pratchett’s fantastic Discworld series, and is set in Ankh-Morpork, Discworld’s capital city, the two main characters, the editor William de Worde and his ace reporter, the buxom Sacharissa Cripslock, are newcomers to the series.

 

    True, lots of recurring characters also show up, such as the Patrician, Sam Vimes and several of his City Watch guards, a couple of wizards, and DEATH and his companion DEATH of RATS, but for the most part, they are cast in cameo roles.

 

    In a nutshell, The Truth tells the story of Ankh-Morpork’s first newspaper, “The Ankh-Morpork Times”, and the various, and hilarious, challenges it faces.  Will people pay for something recapping yesterday’s news?  Do we send employees out to sell the paper?  Do we send employees out to search for newsworthy tidbits?  What do we do if/when a competing newspaper crops up?  And most importantly, what do we do if someone strongly objects to some headline-worthy item being investigated and reported in the paper?

 

    As always, Terry Pratchett’s wit and puns are in abundance here.  So are his trademark footnotes and his eschewal of Chapters.  Somehow, even Quantum Physics gets some ink, which surprised me pleasantly.

 

    The main storyline involves William de Worde’s investigation into an assault alleged to have been carried out by one of Ankh-Morpork’s leading citizens.  To give more details would be a spoiler. This doesn’t qualify as a mystery novel because the reader is given a key clue early on.  So the fun is following William de Words, with assistance from Sam Vimes, as they attempt figure out the “why” of the mayhem.

 

    The ending is entertaining, despite not being very twisty or action-packed.  The truth eventually comes out, justice is served, mercy is shown, and karma takes its toll.

 

Ratings…
    Amazon:  4.7/5 based on 6,996 ratings and 504 reviews.

    Goodreads: 4.41/5 based on 25,004 ratings and 1,603 reviews.

 

Excerpts...

    “I’m not a thief, friend,” said the shadows.

    “Who’s there?”

    “Do you know what’s good for you?”

    “Er . . . yes.  Healthy exercise, regular meals, a good night’s sleep.”  William stared at the long lines of loose boxes.  “I think what you meant to ask was: do I know what’s bad for me, in the general context of blunt instruments and sharp edges.  Yes?”  (pg. 204)

 

    “We still don’t know what we should be doing,” said Mrs. Tilly hopelessly.

    “Go and find out things that people want to put in the paper,” said Sacharissa.

    “And things that people don’t want to put in the paper,” William added.

    “And interesting things,” said Sacharissa.

    “Like that rain of dogs two months ago?” said O’Biscuit.

    “There was no rain of dogs two months ago!” William snapped.

    “But—”

    “One puppy is not a rain.  It fell out of a window.”  (pg. 340)

 

Lies could run around the world before the truth could get its boots on.  (pg. 106)

    As usual, the cussing is mild and sparse.  I counted only six instances in the first 25% of The Truth, all of which were of the eschatological variety.  One of the characters habitually uses a stronger bit of profanity, but Terry Pratchett solves this each time by rendering it “—ing”.  Freaking Fantastic!

 

    I enjoyed The Truth, but wasn’t dazzled by it.  Part of it, I suppose, was the theme itself—running a newspaper is just not all that exciting.  Also, my favorite set of misadventurers, the wizards of the Unseen University, have almost no impact on the storyline.

 

    But I quibble.  The Truth is still a fun, entertaining story.  It’s just a matter of it being more a tale of Intrigue, and less a tale of “Thrills-&-Magical-Spills”.

 

    7½ Stars.  One last thing.  One of my favorite recurring characters who does get a fair amount of ink here, is Cut-Me-Own-Throat Dibbler, otherwise known as “CMOT”.  Take my advice, and do NOT partake of the sausages that he sells.

A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess

    1962; 152 pages.  New Author? : Yes.  Genres : Dystopian Fiction; British Literature; Movie Tie-In; Banned Books.  Overall Rating: 9*/10.

 

    You gotta hand it to the droog, Alex.  That’s because if you don’t hand him everything you’ve got, Alex will thrash you to within an inch of your life.

 

    Come to think of it, Alex might beat you up even if you do give him everything you’ve got.  He's one of those malchicks who thoroughly enjoys being a gangland thug.

 

    The police are aware of Alex’s misdeeds, of course.  They’d love to throw him in jail, but finding witnesses willing to testify against him, and who are still alive, has been impossible so far.

 

    Also, the jails are getting crowded due to gangland thuggery running rampant.  If only there was some magical way to reform hardened criminals.

 

What’s To Like...

    The initial book version of A Clockwork Orange came out in 1962, followed a decade later by the blockbuster movie version.  Both of those releases thoroughly irritated the book’s author, Anthony Burgess, because both chose to delete the entire last chapter in his book.  A ”complete” version, including that final chapter, was published in 1986 in the UK, and that’s the version I read.

 

    The story is told in the first-person POV (Alex’s), which means you get to read it in punk gangland slang language called “Nadsat”.  In most cases, I could suss out the meanings of the Nadsat words; with Anthony Burgess also providing translations of a few of the more obscure words in the text.  Still, I kept a list of the Nadsat-to-English vocabulary, and am very glad I did.  And you can also Google the Nadsat word to get its translation.  Ain’t 21^st-century technology amazing?!

 

    Outside of the absent/present last chapter, the book and the movie versions match up rather well.  I’d seen the film twice when it first came out, so I pretty much knew how the storyline went.  If you haven’t seen and/or read this tale, be forewarned that there is an abundance of violence in it.  The enigmatic title is referenced several times in the text, and the first excerpt below, which comes from the author’s Introduction, not the story itself, will clue you in.

 

    The ending is both logical and twisty.  It appropriately answers “What is Alex’s ultimate fate?”, both in the immediate future (Chapter 20), and later on in life (the initially deleted Chapter 21).  I felt that it left the door open for a sequel, but that never happened.

 

Kewlest New Word ...

    Droog (n.) : a young, violent gang member; a ruffian (Nadsat slang)

 

Ratings…
    Amazon: 4.4*/5, based on 11,014 ratings and 1,556 reviews.

    Goodreads: 4.00*/5, based on 781,357 ratings and 26,306 reviews.

 

Excerpts...

    If {a human being} can only perform good or only perform evil, then he is a clockwork orange—meaning that he has the appearance of an organism lovely with colour and juice but is in fact only a clockwork toy to be wound up by God or the Devil or (since this is increasingly replacing both) the Almighty State.  It is as inhuman to be totally good as it is to be totally evil.  The important thing is moral choice.  Evil has to exist along with good, in order that moral choice may operate.  Life is sustained by the grinding opposition of moral entities.  (loc. 74)

 

    “I’ve been out of the rookers of the millicents for a long time now.”

    “That’s just what worries me,” sighed P.R. Deltoid.  “A bit too long of a time to be healthy.  You’re about due now by my reckoning.  That’s why I’m warning you, little Alex, to keep your handsome young proboscis out of the dirt, yes.  Do I make myself clear?”

    “As an unmuddied lake, sir,” I said.  “Clear as an azure sky of deepest summer.  You can rely on me, sir.”  And I gave him a nice zooby smile.  (pg. 30)

 

“There’s the mackerel of the cornflake for you, you dirty reader of filth and nastiness.”  (pg. 5)

    The amount of profanity in A Clockwork Orange is surprisingly small—I noted just six instances in the first 50% of the book.  Of course, this is offset by several assaults and rapes.  It should be noted, however, that those violent scenes are less graphic in the book than on the screen.

 

    My e-book gave the story’s length as 152 pages, but I wouldn’t call it a quick read.  There are a slew of gangland slang words used, and it takes some time to remember which means what, even if you’re keeping a list.

 

    Overall, reading the book version fifty years after watching the movie was a great experience.  Yes, there's a flood of sex and violence, but the reader is also given much to think about.  Is there a way to cure violent behavior in thugs like Alex?  If so, is it a godsend or a curse?  If the choice of what we do is taken away, have we been dehumanized?  And so on.

 

    Based on Amazon and Goodreads reviews, readers of A Clockwork Orange seem very divided on its merits or lack thereof.  Some think it’s a brilliant novel, others claim it’s the worst book they’ve ever read.  I’m in the first camp.

 

    9 Stars.  One last thing.  A group called PEN America monitors what books are being removed from library shelves in public schools on a yearly basis.  For the 2024-2025 school year, the book banned the most times, with 23 bans total, was A Clockwork Orange.  Google it for details.

October - China Miéville

    2017; 320 pages.  Full Title: October: The Story of the Russian Revolution.  New Author: No.  Genres : Russian History; Russian Politics; Non-Fiction.  Overall Rating: 8*/10.

 

    Believe it or not, once upon a time, the United States invaded Russia!  It was back in the years 1918-1921, and was a direct response to something called the October Revolution.

 

    To be fair, the United States wasn’t the only invader.  French, British, Japanese, German, Serbian, and Polish troops helped out as well.  The Wikipedia article cites quite few other countries sending troops.

 

    The reason for this broad-based foreign intervention was clear.  The Russians had done the unpardonable sin of installing the Bolshevik leader, Vladimir Lenin, to lead the country.  Russia had become a Socialist state!

 

    And as everyone knows, Socialism is contagious.  If one country falls into its clutches, pretty soon it will spread like a virus to all sorts of other countries!

 

What’s To Like...

    October is China Miéville’s chronicle detailing the events leading up to, and including, the October Revolution.  The bulk of the chapters focus on  the monthly vicissitudes in February through October 1917, which are sandwiched between an Introduction and a “before” chapter at the beginning and an Epilogue chapter at the end.

 

    In the Introduction, Miéville admits that, although he is going to be fair in describing events in this book, he is not going to be neutral.  This was not unexpected since he is an avowed Socialist and October is arguably the celebration of Socialism’s finest hour.  So I was pleasantly surprised when he portrayed the major leaders of the movement—Lenin, Trotsky, and Stalin—in a “warts and all” fashion.

 

    The book is written in English, not American, so you some weird spellings, such as disembowelled, defence, skilfully, programme, learnt, and a variant of one of my favorite words, bowdlerised.  I loved it, although Spellchecker went nutso with that previous sentence.

 

    Before reading October, I knew only a smattering about the Russian Revolution.  Czar Nicholas abdicates early on, a right-winger named Alexander Kerensky takes over, much to the Western World’s delight.  Then Lenin overthrows Kerensky, much to the Western World’s dismay.  That's about the extent of what I already knew.

 

    October filled in the gaps nicely.  I learned that Petrograd, not Moscow, was the capital of Russia at the time.  A slew of coalitions were tried, and failed, in amongst the Nicholas/Kerensky/Lenin regimes.  Factory workers, peasants, lower-ranked soldiers, and women were powerful forces in determining who eventually came to rule Russia.  The fact that Russia was still using the Gregorian calendar, not the Julian one used by the rest of the world makes listing a date for the various events a major pain.  And much, much more.

 

Kewlest New Word ...

    Jacquerie (n.) : a violent, spontaneous uprising or revolt by peasants against the ruling noble class

 

Ratings…
    Amazon: 4.3*/5, based on 706 ratings and 105 reviews.

    Goodreads: 3.91*/5, based on 6,937 ratings and 945 reviews.

 

Excerpts...

    The government had equivocated over the issue of women’s suffrage.  Many even in the revolutionary movement were hesitant, warning that, though they supported the equality of women ‘in principle’, concretely Russia’s women were politically ‘backward’, and their votes therefore risked hindering progress.  On her return to the country on the 18^th, Kollontai took those prejudices head-on.

    “But wasn’t it we women, with our grumbling about hunger, about the disorganisation in Russian life, about our poverty and the sufferings born of the war, who awakened a popular wrath?” she demanded.  The revolution, she pointed out, was born on International Women’s Day.  (pg. 93)

 

    “What about people’s commissars?” said Trotsky.

    “Yes, that’s very good,” Lenin said.  “It smells terribly of revolution.” The seed of the revolutionary government, the Council pf People’s Commissars, Sovnarkom, was sown.

    Lenin suggested Trotsky for commissar of the interior.  But Trotsky foresaw that enemies on the right would attack him — as a Jew.

    “Of what importance are such trifles?” Lenin snapped.

    “There are still a good many fools left,” Trotsky replied.

    “Surely we don’t keep step with fools?”

    “Sometimes,” said Trotsky, “one has to make some allowances for stupidity.”  (pg. 284)

 

“One must always try to be as radical as reality itself.”  (pg. 231)

    There’s very little profanity in October.  I noted only five instances in the entire book, and those were mostly from direct quotes.

 

    Despite the trove of well-researched historical information, I found October to be a slow read.  This was mostly due to incredible number of Russian dignitaries and political factions that came into play.  To be fair, China Miéville includes a “Glossary of Personal Names” at the back of the book.  But it felt like every page had a dozen unfamiliar names, so I soon gave up trying to keep track of them.

 

    Finally, although the Epilogue chapter touches briefly on events occurring after October, 1917, I yearned for many more details about them.  The Czar and his entire family are murdered.  Foreign armies pour into Russia.  Lenin dies, Stalin comes to power, and purges proliferate.  Discussions of these things are sorely needed.

 

    But that just means I’m hoping China Miéville is working on a sequel to October.  I learned a lot from reading about a world-changing uprising, and look forward to learning even more.

 

    8 Stars.  One last thing.  Rasputin, the mad monk, who Miéville says was neither mad nor a monk, gets some ink in the first chapter.  He may not be the scariest dude to have walked this Earth, but . . . wait, yes, he *IS* the scariest dude to have walked this Earth.