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dustydigger
Posted 2014-05-24 11:20 AM (#7800 - in reply to #6198)
Subject: Re: The Pick and Mix Challenge.		Quote Reply



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Location: UK		18. Beth Revis - Across the Universe.Oh dear, the premise of this book is excellent - cryogenically frozen scientists will sleep away 350 years till they arrive at the planet they are to colonise, meanwhile support staff live on the ship, a generation ship. Some cataclysmic changes have taken place before Amy is prematurely aroused from sleep. Lots of secrets on this ship, lots of authoritarian control, murders and a teenage romance. . . . All completely ruined for me by the whiney childish Amy. She is either very angry or crying in self pity, and she irritated me unbearably. Cardboard characters and improbable events just added to the wish for the book to be over. I suppose teenagers, at whom the book is aimed, have very little knowledge of science fiction, so perhaps they were awed by this book, but all in all, a waste of a great (though derivative) idea.
Do yourself a fvour, if you want intelligent YA science fiction, check out Laini Taylor's impressive Karou sequence, and see how it should be done .
19. Susan Cooper - Over Sea,Under Stone.When Simon, Jane and Barney Drew go to stay with their Great Uncle Merry in the Cornish village of Trewissick, they are all looking forward to a long summer holiday of hilltop picnics and seaside jaunts. But when Barney discovers an ancient map from King Arthurs day, they suddenly find themselves up against the minions of a mysterious dark power, many of whom appear in the unlikeliest of guises. Luckily for the children, their enigmatic uncle turns out to be something of an expert on ancient maps and Arthurian legend, with mysterious powers of his own. Can the Drews decode the map and discover the invaluable treasure it leads to before the dark forces manage to get their hands on it?
This first book in Susan' Cooper's Dark is Rising sequence starts out a a Enid Blyton like mystery adventure,but it rapidly becomes darker.Characters on the surface maybe seemingly harmless,but they may be quite cold,ruthless and willing to stop at nothing to obtain what they desire.The villains here are really quite unsettlingly dark and even terrifying.Several times I had a definite frisson of unease and anxiety along with the children.The beautiful scenery of Cornwall in the blazing summer heat covers something quite cold, nasty and genuinely frightening.Gradually too the exciting treasure hunting becomes a part of the battle of good and evil that will be developed in Cooper's later books.
Well written,with unusual characters,a brilliant sense of place,and unrelenting tension and adventure,this is an excellent puzzle book too,as the children solve the mysteries in a convincing way,and of course there is the enigmatic Merry Lyon - Merlin. Very enjoyable.
20. Neil Gaiman - Anansi Boys.We first mey Anansi the Spider god, owner of all the world's tales, in the much darker American Gods.Here,after he purportedly dies his son Fat Charlie the shy bumbling ineffectual office worker is surprised to find he has a brother Spider, who is his opposite in every way. Spider moves into his life and takes it over, including his girlfriend, and desperately Charlie has to ask for help from magical beings to get his life back.
Once again Gaiman is affirming the significance and importance of song and story in the world, but on a much lighter even humorous level. I found this a fun and engaging read, not as dark as most of Gaiman's stuff, but funny and charming. It lightened the dull dark stormy winter days for me.
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