Fever Crumb is a prequel to Reeve’s entertaining and very sucessful Hungry Cities series of SF novels for young adults.
The Hungry Cities quadrilogy, starting with Mortal Engines, is based on the amusing (if unlikely) conceit that, hundreds of years into our future, the cities of Earth have become mobile, tracking across largely desert wastes on vast traction engines. The stronger cities attack the weaker and plunder their resources, in a system called ‘Municipal Darwinism’.
Reeve manages to bring off this conceit by a clever mixture of humor and pathos, lots of inventive background, and by well-done character development. I particularly like the character of Hester Shaw, a terribly disfigured girl, who struggles against her fate with great determination.
In contrast, alas, Fever Crumb is a bit of a disappointment, though still very readable.
Set hundreds of years before the events of Mortal Engines, this book is centered on a (not-yet-mobile) London much declined from its former glory, and partly in ruins in the aftermath of the overthrow of a group of mutants called the Scriveners who had dominated the city for generations.
We are introduced to the eponymous heroine, Fever Crumb, a foundling being raised by Dr Crumb, a member of the Society of Engineers. Now in her teens, she finds herself becoming a pawn in the hands of powerful factions trying to uncover the lost technology of the Scriveners.
The story is entertaining enough, and sets up the background for the era when cities become mobile. But as a stand-alone work, it would be puzzling, I think, for a reader who hasn’t read the earlier books.
Unlike the strong character of Hester Shaw, Fever seems merely to react passively to the events swirling around her, rather than taking an active part. Worse still, the tongue-in-cheek humor of Mortal Engines is entirely missing here, which is a great loss.
Worth having for fans of the Hungry Cities series, but not recommended for readers new to the series.
One thing I will say in its favor is that the Scholastic hardcover edition which I bought is a beautiful piece of work, both with and without the dust jacket. It is works like this which keep me buying ‘dead-tree’ books.
Just a quick note first before I discuss what I’ve been reading: I’m not much into social networking, perhaps being too old to “get it”. I tried Facebook but found it pointless, and I’ve tried Twitter and I can’t see why on earth anyone would want to use it. Clearly I’m in the minority here!
However, I have been having fun recently with a book-oriented social network site called Shelfari, which is owned by Amazon.
It enables you to catalog all your books in a really easy manner, and to join in discussions about them. I rather like it. Mind you, I’ve so far only catalogued about 10% of my collection of around 3,000 books (!) but I’ve found it far easier than with comparable sites like LibraryThing, and the Shelfari site is more fun to use.
Anyway, on to the recent books!
World Without End by Ken Follett
Ebook on my iPad
I have to say that I was disappointed by this. I rather enjoyed the previous book in this series, Pillars of the Earth, but World Without End seems to lack something that the earlier book had going for it.
Several things annoyed me about the book.
One of the things I expressed a concern about after reading Pillars of the Earth was that I felt that the thought-patterns of the 12th Century characters seemed far too modern. I could accept that Follett has translated how people would speak but I couldn’t quite accept that he had accurately depicted how people thought and felt back then.
This concern becomes much stronger in reading World Without End. The characters just seem way too modern in their attitudes. For example, the heavy emphasis on sex in this book. Now I’m sure that mediaeval people enjoyed sex just as much as we do, but I’m not convinced that in those times they would treat and speak of sex quite as casually as we do now. The dismissive attitude of the main characters to the aristocracy, to religion and the church seems also to be a very modern, rather than a credible mediaeval view.
The other problem is with the plot. It’s a long book, but it seems to be filled out with repetitions of the same set of events with minor variations. Merthin and Caris come up with an idea; the prior of the cathedral blocks them; they come up with a way to work around the block. And it happens again, and again. Richard, the stupid bully, carries out some vile act; he comes close to punishment; he escapes punishment. Again and again. Gwenda and her husband suffer at Richard’s hands; they suffer some more; and then some more. It all becomes very predictable; and Richard is just a replay of the character of William Hamleigh in the earlier book.
And there are some just plain silly parts to the plot. The unlikely journey of Caris and Mair to France seems there just so that Follett can eventually place them at the Battle of Crecy for no good reason other than that he wants to talk about the battle. (A much better treatment of this battle is to be found in Bernard Cornwell’s book The Archer’s Tale (Harlequin), by the way).
Another is the supposed breakthrough that Caris makes in dealing with victims of the Black Death. Wearing a facemask and washing your hands makes all the difference, apparently, in preventing you getting infected. Except that it is generally agreed that the Black Death was caused by bubonic plague. Which is spread by infected fleas. A facemask would make no difference whatsoever.
So, although the book isn’t exactly bad, I couldn’t suspend my disbelief, and it was a struggle to finish.
Running from the Law by Lisa Scottoline
Audiobook on my iPhone
Pleasant enough thriller, lifted out of the ruck by the smart, sassy character of the narrator, Rita Morrone, and the sly humour of her interactions with her extended family (her father, uncle, and a bunch of his poker-playing cronies)
A Drink Before the War by Dennis Lehane
Ebook on my iPad
I bought this because I had enjoyed Shutter Island by the same author so much. This is a thriller set in modern Boston, and the first of a series starring the two main characters, who have a private investigations agency. I enjoyed it a lot, and look forward to reading the rest of the series.
Dark Matter by Philip Kerr
Ebook on my iPad
Ho-hum mystery set in the 17th Century, with Sir Isaac Newton as the Sherlock Holmes of the time. While it’s true that Newton did carry out investigations into coining while he was at the Mint, I didn’t find this novel rang true. What turned me off immediately was the almost obligatory little scene along the lines of “Oh ho, I see that you are a good man with a rapier and a keen shot besides!” “My goodness Holmes Sir Isaac, however did you guess that?”…. you know the kind of thing. And the big slabs of familiar Newton quotes delivered as speech.
The one good thing about the novel is that it has been handsomely treated in its ebook conversion and looks really good, with nice chapter illustrations.
Starcross by Philip Reeve
Hardcover, my collection
More fun in the sequel to Larklight. Steampunk SF for teens.
My occasional highly-erratic summary of what I’ve been reading and listening to.
Because of the long gap (three months) since my last summary, this is going to be a set of very brief comments on what I can remember!
It’s also startling to realize just how many books I read in a three-month period!
Black Echo
Angels’ Flight
The Poet
The Scarecrow by Michael Connelly
Library Hardback, Ebooks and Trade Paperback
Yeah, OK, so I’m addicted to popular thrillers. But I like Connelly’s outwardly hard-bitten but often personally vulnerable hero, Harry Bosch. Black Echo is the first book in this series, and I’ve only just read it. Stupidly, the territorial copyright system prevented me from actually paying the author for an electronic version, so I resorted to borrowing a free hardback copy from the local library. Anyway, it was interesting at last to read of Bosch’s first encounter with Eleanor Wish, a relationship which continues on and off throughout the whole series. Angel’s Flight is another in this series. Both books have interesting and not wholly predictable plots, and I enjoyed them both.
The Poet doesn’t feature Bosch, but instead journalist Jack McEvoy, devastated by the apparent suicide of his twin brother, a police officer. Of course in the way of such novels, it turns out that it was no suicide but a murder instead – indeed, part of a series of such murders. As the case becomes handled by the FBI, McEvoy becomes involved with an agent, Rachel Walling, but then starts to have doubts about her… I enjoyed this a lot, and would consider it one of Connelly’s best. Not so The Scarecrow, a sequel featuring McEvoy and Walling, which I thought was a very lightweight pot-boiler, and a real disappointment.
Destroyer of Worlds by Larry Niven and Edward M. Lerner
Hardcover, my own collection
This is the third in a series of – what? re-imaginings, re-visitings, re-workings – of Niven’s Known Space science fiction books written in the 1960′s and 70′s. As such, they are really quite intriguing, as the events and characters in those old stories are woven into a wholly different framework seen from an alternative angle. Niven always has plenty of imagination, and wrote stories which really appeal to those who like speculation on the grand scale. But his dialogue and characterization have never been his strong suits. It’s when he teams up with others who are much stronger in these areas that he has done his best work – with Jerry Pournelle, for example, or here with Edward M. Lerner.
The previous two books in this series are Fleet of Worlds and Juggler of Worlds.
Infernal Devices
A Darkling Plain by Phillip Reeve
Paperbacks, my own collection
These are the last two books of the Mortal Engines tetralogy. I talked about the previous book Predator’s Goldhere. Really superior (if occasionally a bit violent) science fiction for early teenagers, with strong characters and really interesting (if slightly unbelievable) premise of a future world in which cities have become mobile on great traction engines. I, of course, am no longer a teenager. But it doesn’t stop me really enjoying books written for that audience.
Illegal Action by Stella Rimington
E-book on my iPhone
This is the third in a series of thrillers written by the ex-head of Britain’s MI5. She certainly has the background knowledge and isn’t a bad (if not great) writer either.
American Empire: Blood and Iron
American Empire: The Center Cannot Hold
American Empire: Victorious Opposition by Harry Turtledove
Audiobooks
Turtledove is, as they say, the master of alternative history. But gosh this is a long-winded series! So far I have listened to over 160 hours of Turtledove’s vision of a world in which the Confederate States won the American Civil War in 1862. After that event – now called “The War of Secession” – we had the “Second Mexican War” in the 1880s, and “The Great War” in 1914-1917, at the end of which the Confederate States (and their allies Britain and France) were defeated by the USA and Germany.
The “American Empire” group of Turtledove’s novels covers the aftermath of that defeat and leads us up to the 1940s. It’s fascinating how the author spins an entirely believable tale of how a disgruntled sergeant in the defeated Southern army, embittered by his experiences and filled with a conviction that the South was “stabbed in the back” by “traitors” in the government and by an uprising amongst the still-mistreated blacks, goes on to join and then lead, a new political party. Turtledove so cleverly shapes his story that the realization of the parallels with events in Germany in “our” timeline is slow in coming. By casting that story in utterly convincing terms in an American setting, he makes us see those “real” events in a much deeper way.
And so on to the next four novels and the opening of the equivalent of World War II. Lots more reading to do!
Once Upon a Time in the North by Phillip Pullman
Small hardback, my own collection
Very brief but enjoyable prequel to Pullman’s “Golden Compass” series, telling the story of how Lee Scoresby first meets up with the armored polar bear Iorek Byrnison. This is a small-format gift book.
Inherit the Stars by James P. Hogan
E-book on my iPhone
Well, this was free (from Baen Books), and worth about what I paid for it. I read the original SF novel in paperback years ago, and I seemed to remember enjoying it, so I read it again for curiosity. I was surprised, though, at how poorly written it was. The plot is all driven by a series of revelations rather than by the actions of the characters (let alone by the interactions of the characters).
The Monster in the Box by Ruth Rendell
Trade paperback, on loan
The latest Wexford novel from Rendell. Cleverly done, and well-written, if not particularly deep. Rendell writes so many, and so many very excellent, books that I’m sure she sees these police-procedural Wexford books as a relaxation from her more challenging works.
Current Reading
I’m currently part-way through:
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson. (Ebook)
