Simply Lyra-cal
The Golden Compass
Philip Pullman
Knopf
A couple of months ago, my boss and I decided we needed a break from work and as often happens, we started to talk about books. I had recently sent home the Cassandra Clare novels for her daughters to read and in return, she shared some of her favourites with me. Near the top of her list was the His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman. Of course, I rushed right out and bought the first instalment and put it proudly on my shelf. "Oh yes," I said to myself, "this will definitely be my next read." Hah! Somewhere along the way I got distracted -- I think it was by Dostoevsky. Anyway, I rediscovered my purchase last week and here we are.
Let me start by saying that I can totally understand why the Catholic Church felt threatened enough to ban these books in their schools. The first novel in the series, The Golden Compass, tells the story of Lyra, a little girl who finds herself at the centre of an epic drama that spans dimensions. It has all the elements of classic fantasy -- talking creatures, magic, and a heroine who undertakes a journey of self-discovery. Revolutionary, right? Okay, not so much, but the obvious borrowing from the works of both William Blake and John Milton (and what the author has done with Paradise Lost, in particular) might just be enough to start people questioning. Well, that and the overt slams to organized religion.
Since reading this novel, I have actually completed the second in the series and am now on the third. As the stories progress, they become incredibly didactic. So much so, in fact, that I'm not even sure I will finish the third installment. That said, The Golden Compass gets four shimmering constellations out of five. Lyra is definitely a heroine to be admired.
Cetaceous Sea Slime
Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters
Jane Austen and Ben H. Winters
Quirk Books
If you cast your minds way back to December, you'll recall that I selected Pride and Prejudice and Zombies at the D-E-S Book of the Year. As I stated then, it definitely wasn't the best book that I had read in the past season, but it was one that I really, truly enjoyed. I loved the idea of taking something canonical and adding utter ridiculousness to it. The fact that it didn't really take away from Austen's story delighted me entirely and when I found out that Quirk was going to come out with another volume in the series, I thought "why the hell not?"
Sadly, Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters is not as well done as its predecessor. In addition to pillaging Austen, the author borrows from the work of H.G. Wells, introduces elements of the Gothic novel that transforms Austen's mannered romance into something entirely different, and generally injects such an over-the-top weirdness to the novel that it was, at times, a bit distracting.
Don't get me wrong, the portrayal of Colonel Brandon as a visually abhorrent facially tentacled sea monster is vastly entertaining. The rampaging narwhals, the man-eating jelly fish and the ever-so-elusive fang beast all make for great, bizarre, fun. I can't believe I'm going to say this, but SS&SM isn't quite as, uh, subtle as PP&Z. Yes, I just referred to a book of manners about zombies and ninjas as subtle. Use that, dear reader, as a guide when deciding to embark on this particular voyage. Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters gets three giant lobsters out of five.
A different kind of Harlequin
The Golden City
John Twelve Hawks
Doubleday Canada
The Golden City is the last book of the Fourth Realm ttrilogy by the reclusive, off-the-grid writer John Twelve Hawks. Like The Dark River, it continues to explore the themes introduced in the first novel of the series, and also like The Dark River, it does not up to expectation.
To read the publisher's blurb, you would think that the novel will take the reader on a fast-paced, literary journey that is part techno- thriller, part philosophical treatise, and part fantasy. Unfortunately, the plot is predictable, the philosophy unclear, and the fantasy -- well, let's just say that Twelve Hawks was a little too Nora Roberts and not enough Neal Stephenson. Two tired Harlequin warriors out of five.
