The Face in the Frost
John Bellairs
Open Road Media
Fiction, Fantasy
***+ (Okay/Good)
DESCRIPTION: In a time of magic and wizardry, in a divided land of squabbling rulers, the wizard Prospero (not the one you're thinking of) becomes aware of a dark force stalking him - sometimes in his own home: haunting dreams, strange shadows and visions, and a constant feeling of being watched and hunted. When his friend, the necromancer Roger Bacon, comes to call, he, too, reports odd occurrences and encounters. Some malevolent force is reaching out to darken the whole land, spreading fear and hate and foulness. The two set out to track down the source of the scourge, but might discover something far more powerful than the both of them.
REVIEW: This title is something of a classic, first published in 1969. As such, the style is a bit throwback, but still eminently enjoyable. The tone is often light and riddled with anachronisms, but can also veer darker, moreso as it goes on and the full strength and power of their foe becomes more apparent, with numerous dangers and deadly traps awaiting the wizards. The plot and characters aren't particularly deep, but the story is generally entertaining and never dull. The ending, though, feels unsatisfactory, and some developments drop in out of the blue. On the whole, I've read a lot worse.
You Might Also Enjoy:
A Wizard of Earthsea (Ursula K. Le Guin) - My Review
The Color of Magic (Terry Pratchett) - My Review
The Once and Future King (T. H. White) - My Review
Thursday, February 9, 2023
Wednesday, February 8, 2023
Sister of the Chosen One (Erin Armknecht and Colleen Oakes)
Sister of the Chosen One
Erin Armknecht and Colleen Oakes
Colleen Oakes, publisher
Fiction, YA Fantasy/Sci-Fi
*** (Okay)
DESCRIPTION: Being the Chosen One is a tough job. Just ask Valora Rigmore. Since her birth, she's been a celebrity, named by prophecy to be the eventual slayer of the evil Erys, the woman responsible for gathering monsters from the hidden corners of the world and imbuing them with a ravenous hunger for human flesh. Even at Proctor Moor, a Connecticut school devoted to Extraordinary students with unusual gifts, she stands out, followed by reporters and sycophants, always the center of attention - even when she's not saving people from marauding beasts. But every victory only leaves her feeling emptier, leaves her more vulnerable to the whispers in the back of her mind that, strong as her telekinesis is, she's not strong enough and never will be strong enough. Of course, she'd never admit that out loud. Not when everyone is counting on her to save the world.
If being the Chosen One is tough, then being the Chosen One's twin sister is even worse. Just ask Grier Rigmore. Quiet, bookish, curvy, and perpetually overlooked, Grier's own talent - opening small portals to move objects short distances - is never going to save anyone, let alone any world. The only reason anyone ever seems to notice her at all, she's sure, is probably because they think she can give them access to Valora, but the sisters haven't been close since almost before either can remember. When a new boy in school finally seems to see her for her, just as a teacher begins to take an interest in her teleportation and its potential, Grier has some small hope that maybe, just maybe, she can find a future away from Valora's outsized shadow.
As sibling rivalry sparks and burns, driving the two further apart, the final confrontation with Erys and her monster hordes grows ever closer... a confrontation that may well prove Valora's doubts true, and leave the world unprotected against a madwoman's ultimate triumph.
REVIEW: The premise had definite potential, showing the fractured family life of heroes and "chosen ones" and what it's like to be forever fame-adjacent, on top of the already-tumultuous trials of being a teenager and trying to figure out one's own self and life when everyone seems to have already decided both. At first, that is indeed what the story offered me. Valora and Grier have grown apart since childhood, when Valora was named Chosen One (seemingly confirmed when her Extraordinary talent, telekinesis, not only mimicked the last great hero of the world - the one murdered by archnemesis Erys - but was far more immediately useful in a fight than Grier's little portals) and their father dove head-first in to the stage parent role, hiring agents and publicists and milking the fame for every last drop of influence and secondhand glory... leaving Grier in the dust, overlooked and forgotten. Both seem to have reasonably legitimate reasons for the rift and why it can never be mended, as revealed in chapters that alternate their points of view. When Grier finally starts finding her own empowerment, the status quo of their lopsided relationship is shaken, threatening to make the rift a permanently unbridgeable canyon between the sisters. Even though they both vaguely feel saddened by the loss of something they feel they should have had, neither can figure out how to stop the momentum. Meanwhile, all signs point to the final confrontation between Erys and Valora coming sooner than anyone anticipated - not only the final proof or negation of the prophecy, but possibly the literal last chance for the twins to mend their relationship.
At some point, roughly just past the halfway point, the story stopped being as interesting. The plot started to feel less organic and spontaneous and more manipulated and forced, the back-and-forth between the characters no longer feeling natural. Backstory gets shoehorned in as Valora finally takes a tangible interest in her own fate and starts researching her enemy and her fallen predecessor, uncovering some secrets that came across as more than a little stale. Here and there, increasingly toward the end, were lines and sentences that were conspicuously on the nose, stock phrases and language that felt less like actual teenagers and more like an adult who had watched a lot of movies and TV shows starring teenage characters but had little to no recollection of what being a teen had actually been like as a lived experience. But what really tanked the rating was in the final act, the revelation of a betrayal and the arrival of Erys. The villainess, who was always a bit vague as a baddie, turns out to be a cheap cliche from the bottom of the stock bin, with paper-thin motivations and goals. The final battle is far too drawn out, and one final revelation just had me rolling my eyes... after which the battle kept going. And going. And, oh wait, it's still going... Yeah, it felt way too long, the tension long since drained, and by the time it ended I no longer cared who lived or who died so long as it finally, finally ended. Then an epilogue offered the wrap-up I really didn't need or even want, its chief benefit being that it lasted just long enough to take me to the end of the workday so I didn't have dead audio time.
There were times when Sister of the Chosen One lived up to the promise of its concept, but by the end I just couldn't care about either sister, let alone the world one of them was supposed to save.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Rampant (Diana Peterfreund) - My Review
Steelheart (Brandon Sanderson) - My Review
Hench (Natalie Zina Walschots) - My Review
Erin Armknecht and Colleen Oakes
Colleen Oakes, publisher
Fiction, YA Fantasy/Sci-Fi
*** (Okay)
DESCRIPTION: Being the Chosen One is a tough job. Just ask Valora Rigmore. Since her birth, she's been a celebrity, named by prophecy to be the eventual slayer of the evil Erys, the woman responsible for gathering monsters from the hidden corners of the world and imbuing them with a ravenous hunger for human flesh. Even at Proctor Moor, a Connecticut school devoted to Extraordinary students with unusual gifts, she stands out, followed by reporters and sycophants, always the center of attention - even when she's not saving people from marauding beasts. But every victory only leaves her feeling emptier, leaves her more vulnerable to the whispers in the back of her mind that, strong as her telekinesis is, she's not strong enough and never will be strong enough. Of course, she'd never admit that out loud. Not when everyone is counting on her to save the world.
If being the Chosen One is tough, then being the Chosen One's twin sister is even worse. Just ask Grier Rigmore. Quiet, bookish, curvy, and perpetually overlooked, Grier's own talent - opening small portals to move objects short distances - is never going to save anyone, let alone any world. The only reason anyone ever seems to notice her at all, she's sure, is probably because they think she can give them access to Valora, but the sisters haven't been close since almost before either can remember. When a new boy in school finally seems to see her for her, just as a teacher begins to take an interest in her teleportation and its potential, Grier has some small hope that maybe, just maybe, she can find a future away from Valora's outsized shadow.
As sibling rivalry sparks and burns, driving the two further apart, the final confrontation with Erys and her monster hordes grows ever closer... a confrontation that may well prove Valora's doubts true, and leave the world unprotected against a madwoman's ultimate triumph.
REVIEW: The premise had definite potential, showing the fractured family life of heroes and "chosen ones" and what it's like to be forever fame-adjacent, on top of the already-tumultuous trials of being a teenager and trying to figure out one's own self and life when everyone seems to have already decided both. At first, that is indeed what the story offered me. Valora and Grier have grown apart since childhood, when Valora was named Chosen One (seemingly confirmed when her Extraordinary talent, telekinesis, not only mimicked the last great hero of the world - the one murdered by archnemesis Erys - but was far more immediately useful in a fight than Grier's little portals) and their father dove head-first in to the stage parent role, hiring agents and publicists and milking the fame for every last drop of influence and secondhand glory... leaving Grier in the dust, overlooked and forgotten. Both seem to have reasonably legitimate reasons for the rift and why it can never be mended, as revealed in chapters that alternate their points of view. When Grier finally starts finding her own empowerment, the status quo of their lopsided relationship is shaken, threatening to make the rift a permanently unbridgeable canyon between the sisters. Even though they both vaguely feel saddened by the loss of something they feel they should have had, neither can figure out how to stop the momentum. Meanwhile, all signs point to the final confrontation between Erys and Valora coming sooner than anyone anticipated - not only the final proof or negation of the prophecy, but possibly the literal last chance for the twins to mend their relationship.
At some point, roughly just past the halfway point, the story stopped being as interesting. The plot started to feel less organic and spontaneous and more manipulated and forced, the back-and-forth between the characters no longer feeling natural. Backstory gets shoehorned in as Valora finally takes a tangible interest in her own fate and starts researching her enemy and her fallen predecessor, uncovering some secrets that came across as more than a little stale. Here and there, increasingly toward the end, were lines and sentences that were conspicuously on the nose, stock phrases and language that felt less like actual teenagers and more like an adult who had watched a lot of movies and TV shows starring teenage characters but had little to no recollection of what being a teen had actually been like as a lived experience. But what really tanked the rating was in the final act, the revelation of a betrayal and the arrival of Erys. The villainess, who was always a bit vague as a baddie, turns out to be a cheap cliche from the bottom of the stock bin, with paper-thin motivations and goals. The final battle is far too drawn out, and one final revelation just had me rolling my eyes... after which the battle kept going. And going. And, oh wait, it's still going... Yeah, it felt way too long, the tension long since drained, and by the time it ended I no longer cared who lived or who died so long as it finally, finally ended. Then an epilogue offered the wrap-up I really didn't need or even want, its chief benefit being that it lasted just long enough to take me to the end of the workday so I didn't have dead audio time.
There were times when Sister of the Chosen One lived up to the promise of its concept, but by the end I just couldn't care about either sister, let alone the world one of them was supposed to save.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Rampant (Diana Peterfreund) - My Review
Steelheart (Brandon Sanderson) - My Review
Hench (Natalie Zina Walschots) - My Review
Sunday, February 5, 2023
A Psalm for the Wild-Built (Becky Chambers)
A Psalm for the Wild-Built
A Monk and Robot book, Book 1
Becky Chambers
Tordotcom
Fiction, Sci-Fi
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: Centuries ago, the moon world of Panga stood on the brink of total collapse. With the Awakening, the robots of industry gaining awareness and leaving their endless, pointless toil, society remade itself. Today, Panga thrives, sustainable and ecologically balanced. But what became of the robots? They have faded to legend, long since disappeared into the re-invigorated wilderness. No human and robot have stood face to face in generations... until now.
Sibling Dex grows restless with monastic life. Becoming a traveling tea monk, they pedal their wagon around to villages and towns and the big City, offering brews and comfort and a sympathetic ear to those in need. For a time, that helps, but then the restlessness returns, a wild and reckless impulse to hear for themselves a sound they've only ever heard on old recordings: a cricket song. Crickets didn't fare well in the collapse, and only a few populations survive in the most remote of places, like the long-abandoned Hart's Brow Hermitage. When Dex turns their ox-bike wagon toward the abandoned roads of the wilderness, they become the first human in ages to encounter a robot when they meet Mosscap. Like Dex, it is on its own journey of discovery. In exchange for information about humanity, Mosscap acts as guide and companion for the tea monk, who quickly realizes just how far out of their element, in every way, they have traveled.
REVIEW: Becky Chambers writes hopeful, cozy tales of brighter futures and better societies, a nice break in a genre that tends to skew darker and heavier and more pessimistic. Sometimes it's good to change perspectives, to see a light at the end of the tunnel that isn't an oncoming planet-killer asteroid of a train, but sometimes it can feel a little... I don't want to say "preachy", but mildly self-righteous, as if the only reason people see dark things or feel unsettled or uncertain or end up stuck in bad places (or living in self-destructing civilizations) is because they simply aren't enlightened enough to do better.
As Dex pushes themselves in new directions, driven by a restlessness even they can't quantify, they make sure the reader appreciates just how wonderful and utopian Panga has become, how much better everything is now. But even this perfect image of a sustainable civilization can't satisfy that nameless itch that first drove Dex from the monastery, for all that they still believe in the lessons of the world's Six Gods (which seem to be less independent anthropomorphic identities than embodiments of ideas and principles, objects of meditation more than supplication). Mosscap provides a needed new perspective, for all that the meeting isn't without its bumps and misunderstandings. The robot is endlessly curious about everything, both like and unlike the curious tea monk, offering its own lessons to enlighten Dex (and, naturally, the reader). There's a definite charm about their relationship and inevitable partnership and how they relate to their world.
There isn't much of a plot or strong story arc here, more of a series of incidents in Dex's travels and continued search to satiate an inner yearning even they can't articulate, so the ending isn't so much a satisfactory conclusion or answer as a resting point along a journey that may well be endless. While there's a certain sense of wonder and gentleness about the book and Panga, and it is nice to see something unrelentingly positive about the world's ability to recover from even the worst human civilization can throw at it, at some point I felt less like I was exploring a new world and more like I was being smothered under pillows while someone tried to convince me that I'd be a better person if I liked tea, enough to keep the story down to four stars in the ratings even though parts wanted to rise above that. I'm sure that says something dark and cynical and irrevocably broken about my own inner nature. Or maybe I'm still just more of a cocoa person than a tea drinker...
You Might Also Enjoy:
To Be Taught, If Fortunate (Becky Chambers) - My Review
The Tea Master and the Detective (Aliette de Bodard) - My Review
The House in the Cerulean Sea (TJ Klune) - My Review
A Monk and Robot book, Book 1
Becky Chambers
Tordotcom
Fiction, Sci-Fi
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: Centuries ago, the moon world of Panga stood on the brink of total collapse. With the Awakening, the robots of industry gaining awareness and leaving their endless, pointless toil, society remade itself. Today, Panga thrives, sustainable and ecologically balanced. But what became of the robots? They have faded to legend, long since disappeared into the re-invigorated wilderness. No human and robot have stood face to face in generations... until now.
Sibling Dex grows restless with monastic life. Becoming a traveling tea monk, they pedal their wagon around to villages and towns and the big City, offering brews and comfort and a sympathetic ear to those in need. For a time, that helps, but then the restlessness returns, a wild and reckless impulse to hear for themselves a sound they've only ever heard on old recordings: a cricket song. Crickets didn't fare well in the collapse, and only a few populations survive in the most remote of places, like the long-abandoned Hart's Brow Hermitage. When Dex turns their ox-bike wagon toward the abandoned roads of the wilderness, they become the first human in ages to encounter a robot when they meet Mosscap. Like Dex, it is on its own journey of discovery. In exchange for information about humanity, Mosscap acts as guide and companion for the tea monk, who quickly realizes just how far out of their element, in every way, they have traveled.
REVIEW: Becky Chambers writes hopeful, cozy tales of brighter futures and better societies, a nice break in a genre that tends to skew darker and heavier and more pessimistic. Sometimes it's good to change perspectives, to see a light at the end of the tunnel that isn't an oncoming planet-killer asteroid of a train, but sometimes it can feel a little... I don't want to say "preachy", but mildly self-righteous, as if the only reason people see dark things or feel unsettled or uncertain or end up stuck in bad places (or living in self-destructing civilizations) is because they simply aren't enlightened enough to do better.
As Dex pushes themselves in new directions, driven by a restlessness even they can't quantify, they make sure the reader appreciates just how wonderful and utopian Panga has become, how much better everything is now. But even this perfect image of a sustainable civilization can't satisfy that nameless itch that first drove Dex from the monastery, for all that they still believe in the lessons of the world's Six Gods (which seem to be less independent anthropomorphic identities than embodiments of ideas and principles, objects of meditation more than supplication). Mosscap provides a needed new perspective, for all that the meeting isn't without its bumps and misunderstandings. The robot is endlessly curious about everything, both like and unlike the curious tea monk, offering its own lessons to enlighten Dex (and, naturally, the reader). There's a definite charm about their relationship and inevitable partnership and how they relate to their world.
There isn't much of a plot or strong story arc here, more of a series of incidents in Dex's travels and continued search to satiate an inner yearning even they can't articulate, so the ending isn't so much a satisfactory conclusion or answer as a resting point along a journey that may well be endless. While there's a certain sense of wonder and gentleness about the book and Panga, and it is nice to see something unrelentingly positive about the world's ability to recover from even the worst human civilization can throw at it, at some point I felt less like I was exploring a new world and more like I was being smothered under pillows while someone tried to convince me that I'd be a better person if I liked tea, enough to keep the story down to four stars in the ratings even though parts wanted to rise above that. I'm sure that says something dark and cynical and irrevocably broken about my own inner nature. Or maybe I'm still just more of a cocoa person than a tea drinker...
You Might Also Enjoy:
To Be Taught, If Fortunate (Becky Chambers) - My Review
The Tea Master and the Detective (Aliette de Bodard) - My Review
The House in the Cerulean Sea (TJ Klune) - My Review
Friday, February 3, 2023
Trigger (N. Griffin)
Trigger
N. Griffin
Athenium
Fiction, YA Thriller
*** (Okay)
DESCRIPTION: Didi can't even remember her mother, but can guess why she left: it's because of her. Because she's not smart enough, not fast enough, not a good enough daughter. Every day, her father pushes her harder, even as he forbids her to get too close to anyone, in town or at school. She runs laps around their country property, she plays chess at championship levels, she gets straight-A report cards (which was fine until her father realized she could get an A+), she even shoots and hunts, but somehow she's never good enough. Somehow she always deserves the wrong end of the "trouble stick" above the fireplace. Somehow she's still unworthy of his love, let alone her mother's.
Then she finally learns what her father is training her for... and everything changes.
REVIEW: An isolated girl, an abusive parent, a brutal mental and physical training regimen under the fist of a mentally unstable and intrinsically angry man... this book has all the trappings of a solid thriller, but somehow it comes across as hollow, stretched, and increasingly hard to believe. The short, choppy, chaotic chapters (narrated by an often-frantic audiobook reader) depict Didi's desperation as she tries (and often fails) to earn her father's approval and not break his ever-shifting rules. She fends off the few people who realize something's amiss, though it starts seeming a little odd that more people don't notice her increasingly obvious neglect and impending mental collapse and not one of them even tries pushing harder or investigating the situation in some way. She finds some solace in books and even an imaginary friend, but even those refuges are stripped away until nothing stands between her and her greatest fears. Her father is a vague smear of rage, increasingly difficult to swallow as a real person with real motivations and not a plot-shaped bogeyman. (I can't get into more details without spoilers, but he's almost a caricature by the end, and nothing really adds up about what he's doing or even why he's doing it.) The story starts feeling stretched and repetitive by the halfway mark, and the climax, while tense and exciting, feels a bit contrived. At some point, I just wasn't believing it anymore. (There was one chapter in particular that, especially in audiobook format, darned near drove me to give up because it was not only very irritating but went exactly nowhere with all that auditory irritation.) I've encountered worse stories, but this one ended up feeling like one of those empty thriller movies with a lot of quick camera shots and tense music and action sequences that can't quite hide an ultimately forgettable script.
You Might Also Enjoy:
The Girl in Red (Christina Henry) - My Review
Run (Patti Larsen) - My Review
I Am Still Alive (Kate Alice Marshall) - My Review
N. Griffin
Athenium
Fiction, YA Thriller
*** (Okay)
DESCRIPTION: Didi can't even remember her mother, but can guess why she left: it's because of her. Because she's not smart enough, not fast enough, not a good enough daughter. Every day, her father pushes her harder, even as he forbids her to get too close to anyone, in town or at school. She runs laps around their country property, she plays chess at championship levels, she gets straight-A report cards (which was fine until her father realized she could get an A+), she even shoots and hunts, but somehow she's never good enough. Somehow she always deserves the wrong end of the "trouble stick" above the fireplace. Somehow she's still unworthy of his love, let alone her mother's.
Then she finally learns what her father is training her for... and everything changes.
REVIEW: An isolated girl, an abusive parent, a brutal mental and physical training regimen under the fist of a mentally unstable and intrinsically angry man... this book has all the trappings of a solid thriller, but somehow it comes across as hollow, stretched, and increasingly hard to believe. The short, choppy, chaotic chapters (narrated by an often-frantic audiobook reader) depict Didi's desperation as she tries (and often fails) to earn her father's approval and not break his ever-shifting rules. She fends off the few people who realize something's amiss, though it starts seeming a little odd that more people don't notice her increasingly obvious neglect and impending mental collapse and not one of them even tries pushing harder or investigating the situation in some way. She finds some solace in books and even an imaginary friend, but even those refuges are stripped away until nothing stands between her and her greatest fears. Her father is a vague smear of rage, increasingly difficult to swallow as a real person with real motivations and not a plot-shaped bogeyman. (I can't get into more details without spoilers, but he's almost a caricature by the end, and nothing really adds up about what he's doing or even why he's doing it.) The story starts feeling stretched and repetitive by the halfway mark, and the climax, while tense and exciting, feels a bit contrived. At some point, I just wasn't believing it anymore. (There was one chapter in particular that, especially in audiobook format, darned near drove me to give up because it was not only very irritating but went exactly nowhere with all that auditory irritation.) I've encountered worse stories, but this one ended up feeling like one of those empty thriller movies with a lot of quick camera shots and tense music and action sequences that can't quite hide an ultimately forgettable script.
You Might Also Enjoy:
The Girl in Red (Christina Henry) - My Review
Run (Patti Larsen) - My Review
I Am Still Alive (Kate Alice Marshall) - My Review
Wednesday, February 1, 2023
Looking Backward (Edward Bellamy)
Looking Backward: 2000 - 1887
Edward Bellamy
Blackstone Audio
Fiction, Sci-Fi
*** (Okay)
DESCRIPTION: In late 19th century Boston, a moderately moneyed gentleman named Julian West looks forward to marrying the love of his life, as soon as he can finish building the house in which they'll live... construction delayed time and again by inconvenient labor strikes. Like many in his social circles, he may feel some distant twinge of sympathy over the plight of the workers, but is far more dismayed with how their disobedience inconveniences him and his plans; a man's first and foremost concern, naturally, should be himself, and if him having more means others have to make do with less, well, that's the way it's always been and always shall be. Stress over the delays has led to chronic insomnia, to the point where he's had to construct a soundproof subterranean sleeping chamber in his own home, and occasionally resort to the services of a mesmerist to enable rest. Some worry about the possible drawbacks of mesmerism, but West has never had anything go wrong... until now.
He wakes one morning in a strange room, with no sign of his manservant or his things, and a man - Doctor Leete - telling him impossible absurdities. How could Julian have fallen asleep in 1887 and woken in the year 2000? What kind of cruel practical joke is being played at his expense? But it is no joke, as he learns all too soon. The Boston he knows is almost entirely gone. In its place is a society so strange as to seem alien, a world in which the maxim that governed his age - dog eat dog - has been rendered utterly obsolete. As Julian learns more of this utopian future and experiences its wonders, he starts to see his own era in a new light.
REVIEW: Though very popular and heavily influential in its time (first published in 1888), Looking Backward is another classic that hasn't aged particularly well, save as a quaint-seeming relic of lost hopes for a future that would never be. It's not really so much about the characters or the plot, but more about Bellamy using both as mouthpieces and structures by which to lay out (at tedious length) his grand vision of a future free from greed and want and artificial class divisions/warfare, a clear hope that the violent strikes and unrest he saw erupting all around him would result in some lasting positive change for society (a change that, as we know all too well in 2023, never came to pass). It's unfortunately a "utopia" with some glaring flaws and holes, particularly related to its idealized vision of human nature, and the nature of the very class of people one would have to go through in order to reach anything like its utopia. That said, Bellamy put a considerable amount of thought into creating his future society, even if some elements are handwaved or glossed over. He even allows some place for women at the newly rounded table of opportunity and prosperity, for all that the relationship depicted in the (thin) plot could come straight out of Bellamy's own time. Some "wonders" are notably predictive: a "credit card", goods distributed through massive centralized warehouses, even 24/7 home entertainment via "wires" and telephone (a primitive vision of radio or the internet, without the spam or conspiracy rabbit holes). On the whole, while it deserves some credit for its vision and influence, Looking Backward today is less a call to action and more a wistful dream of a more optimistic yesteryear, when it seemed something better must be just over the horizon.
You Might Also Enjoy:
The Caves of Steel (Isaac Asimov) - My Review
Metropolis (Thea von Harbou) - My Review
Saturday, the Twelfth of October (Norma Fox Mazer) - My Review
Edward Bellamy
Blackstone Audio
Fiction, Sci-Fi
*** (Okay)
DESCRIPTION: In late 19th century Boston, a moderately moneyed gentleman named Julian West looks forward to marrying the love of his life, as soon as he can finish building the house in which they'll live... construction delayed time and again by inconvenient labor strikes. Like many in his social circles, he may feel some distant twinge of sympathy over the plight of the workers, but is far more dismayed with how their disobedience inconveniences him and his plans; a man's first and foremost concern, naturally, should be himself, and if him having more means others have to make do with less, well, that's the way it's always been and always shall be. Stress over the delays has led to chronic insomnia, to the point where he's had to construct a soundproof subterranean sleeping chamber in his own home, and occasionally resort to the services of a mesmerist to enable rest. Some worry about the possible drawbacks of mesmerism, but West has never had anything go wrong... until now.
He wakes one morning in a strange room, with no sign of his manservant or his things, and a man - Doctor Leete - telling him impossible absurdities. How could Julian have fallen asleep in 1887 and woken in the year 2000? What kind of cruel practical joke is being played at his expense? But it is no joke, as he learns all too soon. The Boston he knows is almost entirely gone. In its place is a society so strange as to seem alien, a world in which the maxim that governed his age - dog eat dog - has been rendered utterly obsolete. As Julian learns more of this utopian future and experiences its wonders, he starts to see his own era in a new light.
REVIEW: Though very popular and heavily influential in its time (first published in 1888), Looking Backward is another classic that hasn't aged particularly well, save as a quaint-seeming relic of lost hopes for a future that would never be. It's not really so much about the characters or the plot, but more about Bellamy using both as mouthpieces and structures by which to lay out (at tedious length) his grand vision of a future free from greed and want and artificial class divisions/warfare, a clear hope that the violent strikes and unrest he saw erupting all around him would result in some lasting positive change for society (a change that, as we know all too well in 2023, never came to pass). It's unfortunately a "utopia" with some glaring flaws and holes, particularly related to its idealized vision of human nature, and the nature of the very class of people one would have to go through in order to reach anything like its utopia. That said, Bellamy put a considerable amount of thought into creating his future society, even if some elements are handwaved or glossed over. He even allows some place for women at the newly rounded table of opportunity and prosperity, for all that the relationship depicted in the (thin) plot could come straight out of Bellamy's own time. Some "wonders" are notably predictive: a "credit card", goods distributed through massive centralized warehouses, even 24/7 home entertainment via "wires" and telephone (a primitive vision of radio or the internet, without the spam or conspiracy rabbit holes). On the whole, while it deserves some credit for its vision and influence, Looking Backward today is less a call to action and more a wistful dream of a more optimistic yesteryear, when it seemed something better must be just over the horizon.
You Might Also Enjoy:
The Caves of Steel (Isaac Asimov) - My Review
Metropolis (Thea von Harbou) - My Review
Saturday, the Twelfth of October (Norma Fox Mazer) - My Review
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