Anno Dracula

 ***** Entertaining alternative sequel to a classic of Gothic literature

This novel can be considered in all respects a fan fiction of Bram Stoker’s “Dracula”.

It starts from the premise that the end of the story of “Dracula” is different (Dracula prevails over Van Helsing) and from there creates a sequel in which vampires live alongside the “warm” in 1888.

Yes, I know that, being a classic, these types of novels are defined as retellings and not fan fiction, but using a different name doesn’t change the substance.

That said, this is undoubtedly an excellent piece of fan fiction that anyone familiar with the story of Dracula (i.e., those who have read Stoker’s book) and a bit of all Gothic and non-Gothic literature from that period, as well as the history of the Victorian era, can only appreciate.

In fact, it is not only the famous vampire that is involved, but in “Anno Dracula” numerous characters from other famous works appear (both written and cinematic inspired by the latter), as well as several historical figures.

By the way, the edition I read (the Italian one) has a helpful list at the end of the book to check once you’ve finished reading to see if you recognised them all!

 

I found the story itself entertaining. Perhaps a little too slow for much of the book, but with a truly delightful acceleration at the end.

The ending is open and therefore leaves room for the sequels that were written later (it’s a novel from 1992). At the same time, it doesn’t make them absolutely necessary, as it closes the narrative arc in a satisfying manner.

 

I’d prefer not to add anything further as I believe the most enjoyable part is discovering the events as they unfold and, in the meantime, soaking up the atmosphere.

Being a horror novel, there are some rather gruesome passages, but it is up to each reader’s imagination to interpret them in the way they prefer, lingering or not on the details.

Kim Newman (who, despite the name, is a man) has certainly created a compelling world, giving it his own clear stamp, but one that fits in very well with that created by Stoker and the other authors of the Gothic genre.

 

I bought this book way back in 2011 for a few euros on Amazon. And it was sitting there on my shelf, maturing for all these years.

I can say that I’m happy I waited.

In a time when it seems to me that books coming out are more or less all the same based on a well-defined structure dictated by the genre, this work, almost experimental at the time, is a breath of fresh air for my thirst for blood… ahem… good stories!

Purchase Anno Dracula at Amazon.

Open — Andre Agassi

 Tennis and life, tennis is life

Photo taken by me

Reading this book, especially in the first chapters in which Agassi talks about his childhood, it doesn’t seem like a true story at all. It reads like one of those literary fiction novels whose protagonists live such strange lives that they can only have sprung from someone’s imagination.

A father so obsessed with tennis who forces all his children to practice and play until one of them becomes a champion? But what the hell is this?

It is true that sometimes reality is so incredible that it far surpasses fantasy.

Agassi’s story is interesting, beyond his particularly troubled youth and the great successes he had in his career (after all, he was one of the greatest tennis players in history). What makes it truly compelling is that it offers the reader, and especially the tennis fan like me, a window into the mind of a tennis player. In fact, we who love to watch this sport observe the players during their matches and suffer a little with them, but we have no idea what goes on in their minds. Not really. We can only make assumptions based on their actions, their looks, their body language. We hear and read their interviews, but even then, we don’t know what they are really thinking or whether it matches their words or not.

Being able to access such intimate aspects of Andre Agassi’s mind gives us an idea, even if only from a single point of view, of what we cannot see about our favourites, of what it must mean to find yourself alone on that court, facing an opponent and struggling with your own emotions, your concentration that tends to get lost, your body that sometimes betrays you, your hopes and disappointments.

At the end of the reading, not only has Agassi become almost a friend, as far as we have got to know him, but we feel a little closer and more aware of anyone who plays tennis at a high level, who does it for a living, who continually fights against the worst of opponents: themselves.

Regardless of how much one loves tennis, I think “Open” can be an engaging and informative read for anyone.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Irony, twists and turns, and ancient mysteries in “Saranythia Part 3 - The Secrets of the Margspakr”

We get to the heart of “Saranythia” in this third part of the story. The protagonists begin a journey that will lead them to encounter ancient mysteries, not forgetting to entertain the readers.
The reading flows pleasantly between irony and twists, while the story unfolds on three narrative lines that intertwine with each other.
While in the first two parts we got acquainted with new and old characters and witnessed what brought them to this point in the story, in “The Secrets of the Margspakr” the action moves faster, keeping you glued to the pages, and the various previously introduced elements begin to interact with each other and take on a clear place in the plot.
There is no shortage of moments of hilarity, thanks to the edgy jokes of some characters and, above all, to the gags of the twins Erik and Dag.
As always, Richard J. Galloway manages to merge elements from the fantastic that seem to belong to magic or supernatural with real science, used as an explanation of the same elements. It’s very fascinating how he explains a real physical phenomenon, related to the behaviour of light, and then uses it as the basis for the extraordinary theory of the nature of the universe proposed by one of the characters.
In short, an exciting reading that has one flaw: having to wait for the publication of the next volume to finally know how the story will end!
In the meantime, I asked Richard to introduce the book in his own way and to answer some of my questions.
Here’s what he told me.

 

Time passes. Memories of events fade.
Half remembered history, blurred by embellishment, becomes myth.
More time passes. Generations of people are born and pass on.
Myth becomes diluted, sanitised, and relegated to long ago tales of heroes and kings.
Epic events of the past reduced to half remembered bedtime stories from childhood.  

And so it was with The Margspakr. To some, they were Wisemen from ancient times, advising the hero before battle and healing him afterwards, the basis of stories from their early years.
Others, like the Red Friars of the Saratarian Order, knew who The Margspakr really were, but not what they did. To them, The Margspakr were an unsolved mystery, a secret society who vanished without trace, taking their secrets with them.

For Amantarra, a journey beckons. A trap? That’s a good probability, but as a new player reveals himself, there seems no alternative other than to walk into it. It’s on this journey that they find evidence of The Margspakr, along with some of their secrets.

Stories from Earth hold their own mysteries, which the new player is very interested in. He claims to have explanations for the true origins of ghosts and twisted causality, but how exactly do you win a medal for falling off a beer crate?

With this third part of “Saranythia” we get over the mid-point of the story. At the end of the previous part, a twist had pushed the protagonists to a new course of events, namely to embark on a long journey to visit the Witch of Fossrauf. And it is precisely around the journey that this part of the story develops, which is joined by a couple of fascinating characters: the twins Dag and Erik, unbeatable warriors, but also great talkers.
Did you draw inspiration from something or someone in particular in creating these two characters?

Dag and Erik, yes, they had an interesting evolution which started with their opening argument as to which name should be introduced first. An argument that very quickly descends into farce. This opening salvo was based on the Tweedledee and Tweedledum characters played by Matt Lucas in the 2010 film Alice in Wonderland. So, Dag and Erik are identical twins born into a world where mind reading is the norm. It was obvious to me that they would grow to be two minds as one. They don’t perform well when they are separated, but together, in a fight, they are unbeatable two on two. Similarly, their explanation of why they are coming on the expedition to visit the witch appears almost scripted, with one warrior finishing the other’s sentences as they work towards a common goal.

After immersing ourselves in the medieval context of Setergard (except for some bits of Bruwnan technology), in the third part of “Saranythia”, as your readers can already guess from the cover of the book, our protagonists come across some advanced technologies. One of the most fascinating aspects is the way Pheenar’s characters react to technologies whose functioning is beyond their comprehension. And their reactions are funny, but most of all they seem realistic.
How do you put yourself in their shoes? Does it come spontaneously or do you use any particular tricks to identify with them?

The premise on which the story is based is that to primitive cultures all advanced technology looks like magic, or in the case of the peoples of Pheenar, divine. The Bruwnan technologies to which they are exposed are gifts from their God and not meant to be understood. The visitors from Earth bring new objects to be marvelled at, and as they are not divine, possibly understood. The reactions of the locals to things we take for granted is entirely spontaneous, I’m very good at getting hold of the wrong end of the stick. The humour comes from the complete misunderstanding of what they are being shown. Commander Vartii has a particular fascination with how things work, but he tends get overwhelmed by concepts, seeing things as a whole instead of breaking them up into more understandable component parts. Thus, the ropes, pulleys, and counterweights of a simple lifting platform fill him with awe and wonder. It’s through his eyes I introduce the fact that the people of Pheenar were once more advanced than they are now.

Let’s talk about the Margspakr. This is an Old Norse word, right?
Tell us a little more about its origin and why you decided to give such a name to these figures from the past that appear in the book.

Yes, it is Old Norse. “Margspakr”, this can be broken down into two parts: “Marg” (a shortened version of “Margr”) – meaning many, and “Spakr” – meaning “Wise”, so its literal translation is “Many Wise” or taken as a whole, “Very Wise”. I’ve taken the liberty of applying it to a collective to give the meaning “Wise men”.
Why Old Norse? Well, 16.3% of my DNA is Scandinavian, so I decided to release my inner Viking by basing the society on Pheenar very loosely around Old Norse culture, well the names at least anyway. This decision was clinched by a partially one-sided conversation I had with my dentist on the strange sounding place names we have here in the North East of England. Not being from the region she was curious about their origin and was fascinated to learn, between pauses in the drilling, that they were Norse.
“Fossrauf” is also Old Norse, “Foss” – meaning “Waterfall”, and “Rauf” – meaning “Hole”. So now you know that our intrepid band are travelling to “Waterfall Hole” to visit the Witch. If you’re wondering about “Setergard” it means “Mountain Pasture Farm”.

Angels Flight - Michael Connelly

**** A formidable and very human detective, who however revels in his own misfortunes

Harry Bosch is undoubtedly one of the best literary detectives I have ever come across. Since the first book of this series, “The Black Echo”, I immediately found myself in tune with him, with his tearing apart the rules to find the culprit, with his weaknesses and his sad past. What makes these novels by Connelly real crime thrillers is the way in which the protagonist is personally involved in the cases he works in, so much so that the cases themselves are a tool of conflict that contributes to the evolution of the character. The problem arises, however, when the series gets longer and, in order to continue to have a protagonist who takes some personal demons with him (i.e. a flawed hero), every time that in a novel his life seems to take a positive turn, in the next one, what he got has to fall apart.

It was what I feared would happen in “Angels Flight”, which is why after I finished reading “Trunk Music”, featuring a happy ending, I hesitated for years before going on. Unfortunately, I had already bought the book; otherwise, I would have stopped at the previous one.

Obviously, my bad feeling has come true.

In “Angels Flight”, we see Bosch dealing with a murder that took place on the Angels Flight funicular. The victim is a black lawyer who is famous for cases against the police.

As always, Connelly expertly mixes fictional events and characters with real ones, giving us a realistic picture of social tension in Los Angeles in the late 1990s. What I particularly appreciate about this author is precisely the care he puts into detail, a sign of in-depth research work and a remarkable understanding of the subject. In this credible context, our Bosch moves, navigating among the press, colleagues who get in the way, intolerance towards the rules and the people who are under investigations. He does it as always with wit, following the evidence and his own intuition, and also risking his neck.

In this novel in particular, investigations lead him to discover inconvenient and unspeakable truths, which tend to lead him astray. The culprit will eventually turn up. I admit that I had guessed their identity simply by ruling out the others. But here the author adds a master stroke, giving us an unexpected and dramatic ending, and at the same time a perfect one.

What I didn’t like about this book, however, concerns the personal sphere relating to Bosch. As I imagined, the balance and happiness he finally achieved unexpectedly (and perhaps too easily) in the previous book are immediately shattered, and eventually he finds himself back to where he started. His character undergoes an involution whose purpose is to make sure he is the same flawed hero in later novels (which I have no intention of reading).

In particular, I did not appreciate the evanescence of an important character like Eleanor Wish, who in the first book of the series was crucial in defining Bosch in the eyes of readers, but who both in “Hard Music” and “The Spider” looks more like a soulless puppet, whose purpose is to bring him up and then make him fall again (poor Bosch!). It’s a shame, because I liked Eleanor, and she deserved a lot more substance.

Angels Flight at Amazon.

The Prometheus Deception - Robert Ludlum

***** Prophetic

I really like Ludlum’s books, although I realize how the author often reuses the same types of characters (especially the protagonist, who, in the end, is always the same) and the same themes. He has the ability, however, to readjust them to situations, settings, and plots that manage to maintain a certain amount of originality. In particular, I am fascinated by his older works, precisely because they show a present that is very different from the current one and in which a spy’s (or similar figure) life was made a little easier by the fact that technology did not permeate every aspect of reality.

“The Prometheus Deception”, on the other hand, is one of Ludlum’s last books (the penultimate, if I’m not mistaken), in fact, it is from 2000, so while reading it, you find yourself inside a more familiar reality. This is even more true thanks to the author’s ability to imagine invasive privacy technologies that, unfortunately, have largely become reality. The incredible thing is that he wrote about it before the 11/9 attack happened, but at times you get the impression that he had the chance to peek into the future to get inspiration.

To tell the truth, I guess Ludlum didn’t really believe that what happens in his book had a chance to come true. His was obviously a creative endeavour. Often a writer shows extreme scenarios just for the sake of trying to imagine the consequences and to create a conflict where throwing their characters almost in jeopardy, to see how they cope. In doing so, however, he was nothing short of prophetic.

Sure, it’s a long book with a truly complex plot, unfolding through a series of characters’ turnarounds and twists around every corner. On the other hand, the word “deception” in the title gives you a hint about that. You have to be patient and go all the way to be able to put all the threads together. When there are a few pages to go, it really seems all lost for the protagonists, but even then, there will be a nice twist, which will change everything, again.

The Prometheus Deception at Amazon.

The Dark Circle - Linda Grant

**** The circle of former TB patients

This book by Linda Grant, whom I had already quite appreciated in “Upstairs at the Party”, transports the reader to a British sanatorium in the 1950s where tuberculosis patients were kept, or perhaps the most correct word is segregated. The story takes place at a time when streptomycin had already been discovered, but had not yet arrived in the UK, so the characters live in the hope that they can be cured sooner or later and not end up like all their predecessors.
The story specifically follows two teenage London twins, Lenny and Miriam, who are sent to a sanatorium in Kent by the British National Health System. Here they live with people from a very different social background, but the disease that unites all of them smooths out the differences and allows the creation of very close relationships.
The author uses tones that are sometimes light in telling the stories of the protagonists, but alongside this she describes the painful, cruel and useless treatments, as well as the psychological abuse, to which all patients are subjected. The contrast between the two leaves its mark as you read, as you go from laughter to horror, anger and sadness, and makes you mull over when you close the book.
The characters come out of the pages and their banal daily vicissitudes, in the way they are shown to us by the author, become almost compelling, as well as one is shocked to enter the sick mind of the doctor who is supposed to cure them.
For me it was also an opportunity to learn more about the historical period in relation to the clumsy attempts to treat tuberculosis, before effective and definitive cures were available.
I didn’t put the fifth star on because of the bittersweet ending. Perhaps it was difficult to come up with a better one, given the story, but, as happened with the other book by the author that I read, I had the distinct impression that there was a drop in tension and excessive dragging into the final part of the book.

The Dark Circle on Amazon.

Blue Mars - Kim Stanley Robinson

 

*** A look into the future, but without a plot

It was really difficult for me to finish reading this book. If I hadn’t purchased the print edition, I probably wouldn’t have gone beyond the first 30-50 pages. Yet I had read the previous ones, “Red Mars” and “Green Mars”, and thought I was prepared.
Well, I was wrong.
“Red Mars” actually had a nice, intriguing storyline, starting with a murder and then taking us back to make up what had happened. It was full of pure scientific speculation in the field of astronautics and the colonisation of Mars. Sure, those parts were long, but they were well balanced with the events narrated, and since I found them interesting, their reading had gone smoothly. Less interesting were those related to psychological topics, which in fact I’m not at all ashamed to say I skipped. However, despite everything, it had a plot that, for better or worse, developed throughout the novel. There was a bit of intrigue, even suspense, which made me want to keep reading to find out what happened next (or what had happened before). Although I did not appreciate the ending, I had no doubts that I had read a novel with all the elements necessary to be defined as such.
With “Green Mars”, things got more difficult. The author focused more on the individual stories, one by one, which tended to end when I began to get attached to the characters. The minor appreciation I had in reading this book led me to delay reading the last of the trilogy for several years. I only started reading it because I already had it and it seemed only right to get to the end of the story.
What I would not have expected was the absence of a real story.
“Blue Mars” is Robinson’s attempt to imagine the future of humanity’s conquest of space, starting from Mars and then going beyond. World building is, in fact, exceptional and represents the reason why I decided to give the book three stars, instead of the two that better reflect my feelings.
Robinson certainly did some huge research to write it. And he shows an immense fantasy. I can only bow to these two aspects.
Moreover, with his beautiful prose, he describes a terraformed Mars that is certainly fascinating.
But he forgot that he was writing a novel, which, as such, needs a plot, in which the characters must have a purpose to achieve, conflicts to deal with and a growth of some kind, and above all that the reader expects a story arc.
But there was none of this.
Each part is narrated from the point of view of a character, but in fact, nothing or at least nothing relevant happens. We continue to move forward in the decades and to pass from one telling to another of political developments and the description of places. Through numerous long pages, full of reports, everything is told and almost nothing is shown. The few real scenes, that is, those in which the characters interact or even speak to each other, add nothing to the narrative, since there really isn’t one. The characters are in fact just a side element.
The reason it took me over four months to read this book is that it bored me terribly.
And, when I was not bored, I felt a sense of sadness for the glimpses of existence (often depressing) of the characters that the author threw there, from time to time, to avoid turning the book into a speculative essay on the future.

Blue Mars on Amazon.

Cari Mora - Thomas Harris

***** Quick and ruthless

Nobody writes about evil like Thomas Harris, in all its nuances, ranging from fear to fascination. Also for this reason he is my favourite author, despite (or perhaps thanks to the fact that) he isn’t very prolific. Therefore, when I learned that a new book of his was about to come out thirteen years after the previous one, I was looking forward in anticipation of his reading. Obviously, I didn’t buy it as soon as it was published. Like all the books of my favourite authors, I let it mature, I looked around, I read the unflattering reviews that it collected and, with every bad review I came across, I felt it would be a great read. And I wasn’t wrong.

“Cari Mora” is concise. A captivating prose with no frills or unnecessary information. Each word is a precise brush stroke on the protagonists of this story and on the ruthless world in which they move, where nobody is good, but everyone is bad or damaged (or both). Someone more, someone less.

It’s quick. There are no reflections, pauses. Everything happens very quickly. It looks like a story designed to be turned into a film. It would be a great film in the hands of the right screenwriter and the right director.

The title is nothing more than the name of the main character, but the author doesn’t just linger over her. He enters deeply the minds of the supporting characters and in particular of the antagonist. And a shiver runs through your back as you face, even if only for a moment, the thoughts of the latter. But there is no time to mull over it, because the story continues, fast and inexorable.

As in all Harris’s books, you can’t just stop reading. The book calls you during the day, it demands your attention. I’m not a compulsive reading person who forgets everything else to read. Only Harris’s books have this effect on me.

The most exciting part is undoubtedly the ending, in which you feel in serious danger like Cari, but fight for your life, breathless, your heart racing. Here the character expresses itself to the fullest and shows a glimpse of the immense potential it possesses.

If I didn’t know how much Harris is reluctant to write with a certain frequency, I would think that “Cari Mora” has the purpose of presenting this character (and that of the policeman), as the first of a series of books. But perhaps what Harris wants is only to offer us the elements for our imagination to go ahead on its own. Or we must expect a TV series inspired by this novel in the future.

I don’t know. I only know that I hope Harris will write again.

Cari Mora on Amazon.

Immortal - Dean Crawford

** Deceived by an inappropriate comparison with Crichton

This is a classic example of how bad marketing choices can harm a book. On the cover is in fact written “Michael Crichton for the next generation” referring to the author of the book. Well, Crawford has nothing to do with Crichton, nothing at all. Anyone like me who has bought his book expecting a techno-thriller focused on a scientific topic and supported by careful research is bound to be disappointed.

The only vaguely scientific thing there is the basic idea, i.e. that some bacterium is able to prolong human life. But there’s no more than this.

The only positive elements of this book, as far as I am concerned, are precisely the basic idea, but it wasn’t developed from the scientific point of view, some nice jokes of the characters, even if at a certain point they are too many, and some twists, that would have been interesting if I hadn’t stopped reading a thousand times, since the story just couldn’t appeal me.

But it’s not the fault of the book itself. The point is, it wasn’t the book I wanted to read.

This is the classic commercial action thriller (nothing bad in itself, but, again, it is not for me) with the usual stereotyped characters: the old super rich villain (for no particular reason) on one side, the infallible hero on the other, with a joke always ready and that, despite meeting the worst possible situations, doesn’t get even a scratch, and a partner who is the usual cliché of a strong and irascible woman with whom the hero has a relationship that seems to transcend friendship, but never goes further.

They are elements that, with the mere replacement of the bad guy, allow you to create a theoretically infinite series of this type of thrillers, readable in any order and in which the main characters, being completely two-dimensional, do not undergo any growth.

I repeat, I have nothing against this type of books, apart from the fact that I prefer to read something different, but the point is that they have absolutely nothing to do with Crichton. Since the publisher tricked me into buying by deception, the negative review is a must.

I am sorry for the author, because it is evident that he can do his job very well.

Immortal on Amazon.

Midaq Alley - Naguib Mahfouz

***** Irony, drama and chatter towards oblivion

This is the second time that I run into the wonderful pen of Mahfouz. The first time was with a collection of historical novels set in ancient Egypt. This time, through this short work, the author narrates about an almost contemporary Egypt. “Midaq Alley” was in fact written in 1947 and tells the story of the inhabitants of an alley in Cairo towards the end of the Second World War. However, this is not a realistic representation of the life in an alley in his city, but a splendid attempt to recount the thousand facets of humanity through its inhabitants.

In fact, in the Midaq Alley, people of the lower and middle classes live side by side, and for some reason others belonging to higher classes end up running into them. Each character represents a type of individual: the virtuous, the proud, the corrupt, the greedy and so on. This is not a slice of real life in the classical sense of the term. The author doesn’t want to create realistic characters, but uses them to show the reality of human nature, in its strengths and miseries, making each of them an example brought to excess.

All this happens through a series of episodes that oscillate between irony and drama, in which the characters go one by one to meet their fate, while the alley continues to be always the same. The clamour for every event, even the most tragic, is lost in a short time among the ceremonious chatter of its inhabitants until it falls forever into oblivion.

Midaq Alley on Amazon.

Red Moon - Kim Stanley Robinson

**** Unexpectedly engaging

I decided to read this book because I needed to immerse myself in the lunar atmosphere while writing my current WIP (work in progress) and I must admit that, after the experience with “Red Mars” and “Green Mars” (I have yet to read the third book in the trilogy) I was afraid of being thrown into a scientific-political-psychological treatise, studded with short stories of different characters. Instead, I was positively surprised to realise that this novel had only a few characters and only followed their stories.

Of course, Robinson can’t help but stuff his writing of information, especially on political matters, but the fact that the perspective of the narrative originated mostly from Chinese characters (hence the “red” of the title) caught my attention.

“Red Moon” is a book that tries to imagine the political evolution, linked to the technological one, of China in the near future, and it does so through a small number of characters with different characteristics, well shown to the reader, with whom it is easy to immediately feel close. This makes the reading flow quickly, due to the way in which the narrated events follow each other without pause and also thanks to the non-excessive length of the novel.

Actually, the Moon does not occupy the whole story. A good part of it takes place in China, a China of the future that is shown to us in an effective and engaging way. Yet the Moon is at the centre of everything.

The technological part is as always very accurate and characterised by a remarkable plausibility, able to push the reader’s mind to see the events as a future that will be become real in due course.

Personally I appreciated the choice of the author to show some places of the Moon, such as the base at the south pole, the one in the libration zone and the settlement inside a crater, both for what regards the real landscapes, recreated perfectly in my mind from his beautiful evocative prose, and for his imaginative ability in proposing what humanity will build in those places.

Everything is favoured by a smooth reading, in the good meaning of the term, that is to say that, even through a language that is anything but simple and banal, the desire to know what would happen later pushed me to go on and the beauty of Robinson’s prose made things easier.

Red Moon on Amazon.

Troika - Alastair Reynolds

***** Disquieting and with an unexpected ending

This science fiction gem differs from the epic novels that Reynolds has accustomed me to, not only because of its length (it is indeed a novella), but above all for the apparent simplicity of the plot. The story is told from the point of view of Dimitri Ivanov, a Russian cosmonaut, on two parallel timelines. It offers a pessimistic image of the future, in which space exploration has practically stopped due to the interaction with a mysterious huge artefact of alien origin, which the Russians call Matryoshka.

In a timeline, we see Dimitri escaping from a structure for mental patients and trying to reach someone to reveal what he discovered in his last space mission. The mission is shown in the other timeline, in which he and two other colleagues are approaching the Matryoshka and preparing to take samples.

In the alternative future in which the events occurring to this cosmonaut are narrated, only Russia has maintained a minimum of space activity, while the rest of the world surrendered to the impossibility of revealing the enigma concerning the alien artefact. And the same Russian cosmonauts are driven in their search more by necessity of survival than by the desire for discovery. If what they discover won’t be pleasing to their government, they could still come to a bad end.

A sense of anguish pervades both timelines and the absence of division into chapters urges the reader, prompting them to complete the reading as soon as possible. I particularly appreciated the whole space part of the story, which, as in all Reynolds’s works, mixes rigorous science with aspects which, due to their origin, go beyond our ability to establish how realistic or not they can be. The more I went on, the more I grew curious to know what was hidden within the Matryoshka.

And the answer comes in an unexpected and therefore satisfying ending, not so much for its content, which, when you think about it, is anything but original, but rather for the skill of the author in distracting the reader and then surprising them.

Troika on Amazon.

House of Suns - Alastair Reynolds

***** Splendid space opera that leaves you open-mouthed

This is Reynolds’s third book I’ve read so far and once again I find myself faced with something totally different. In “Century Rain” I’d found a completely original approach to time travel and uchronia, without being either of them. In “Revelation Space” I had immersed myself in a dark and pessimistic space opera. In “House of Suns” instead I was overwhelmed by the irrepressible imagination of the author, who astonishes the reader and presents them with a future characterised by a considerable optimism.

Despite the enormous differences between these three books, I could recognise the author thanks to his highly refined, rich prose and, of course, the presence of numerous elements of hard science fiction, despite being space opera. Indeed, it’s evident that Reynolds is a scientist in the choice of themes to be explored through narration. Although having to incorporate technologies that are very distant from the current ones (and very probably never reachable), he still manages to maintain a certain scientific plausibility on some of the dynamics of the story’s development (for example, through the use of spaceships that do not exceed the speed of light), mixing, with wisdom, imagination and astrophysics and thus giving the reader the opportunity to learn something new, while scenarios that leave them speechless unravel in their mind.

Even I, while following the adventures of the two protagonists (the clones called Campion and Purslane), found myself vividly imagining the places in space shown through their eyes, almost as if I could see those places or were there with them.

At the beginning, their adventures proceeded without me having the faintest idea where the book was getting at. Moreover, the choice to use the first person for both protagonists and for a third narrative voice (Abigail Gentian, the creator of the Gentian line, to which the clones belong) is quite destabilising (at the beginning of each chapter you need to figure out who is talking) and I believe that, along with the length of the book, it could discourage from reading. And in my case, it was almost succeeding. But then I realised that I had done well to continue, as the various open threads began to connect and the first twists occurred. The very choice to always use the first person showed a well-defined meaning, taking away from me the fear that it was due to some sloppiness on the part of the author. At a certain point, I didn’t care anymore to try to understand the direction of the story, but I preferred to let myself be dragged by it, happy that there was still so much to read and that the end was far away. And as I got closer to it, my wonder and enjoyment increased.

I cannot and will not say more about the plot, since it is so vast and complex that any attempt to indicate some salient points would be insufficient. I just say that I rarely happened to see so many ideas in the same novel and all so well developed. It’s a long book not because it has a slow rhythm, but because a lot happens, enough to satisfy, at least for a while, the hunger for new stories of anyone who loves to read science fiction.

And in fact, once I finished reading it, it was hard for me to find another book to read that could stand comparison with this one.

House of Suns on Amazon.

Sphere - Michael Crichton

***** Sci-fi technothriller, with a psychological twist

In general, when I read a book on which a film was based, I like to make comparisons, to understand the choices made to make this type of transposition possible, and to give the characters the faces of the actors, during my reading experience.

In this case I couldn’t do it, because I couldn’t remember anything about the film. I thought that going on in reading my memory would be awakened, but that wasn’t the case. I don’t know if it is due to the fact that the film had not impressed me (yet it seems to me that I liked it) or the excessive differences between the two products. The fact is, I found myself reading this book without knowing anything about the story and I could therefore enjoy all the twists.

This novel is part of a pattern typical of many of Crichton’s successful works. The core of it is a scientific/technological topic, in this case the extreme conditions of a submarine base to which a sci-fi “discovery” is added (I won’t give any details to avoid spoilers), on which the author provides us with a lot of information throughout the book. Around it he creates a story with a protagonist, a psychologist called Norman, which is narrated from the point of view of the latter. Then he adds another whole series of characters, each with their own role and characteristics. In this context, the scientific/technological element appears perfectly under control, but in reality this is only what the characters are falsely convinced of. At some point, however, something goes wrong, yet another demonstration that making a not entirely considered use of science and technology, driven by curiosity and the desire for discovery, is always a big mistake. And from that moment on, the characters begin to die, except for a few, who are eventually saved.

To all this, in this novel, a strong psychological element is added. Yes, because the answers that the characters are looking for are not in the subject of their research, but inside themselves. And “Sphere” is nothing but Norman’s psychological journey, who as a normal man in an exceptional situation brings out the worst and the best of himself.

Everything takes place whilst keeping the reader turning the pages and forcing him to continue reading a book that has a structure that is anything but traditional (there are no numbered chapters, but a set of scenes without interruption, occasionally interspersed with a title), up to the ending, which, if we think about it, is the only one possible for such a story.

Sphere on Amazon.

Amnesia - Michael Ridpath

**** Story with a predictable outcome, saved by a smart expedient towards its end

I immediately want to say that the final expedient has nothing to do with the plot. This is an idea that mixes fiction and reality, which I always appreciate a lot in novels. In this case it was able to increase my rating by one star.

The novel, for my taste, is not worth more than three.

But let’s proceed in an orderly fashion.

The book develops in two timelines. The one set in the present sees the young protagonist Clémence, who finds herself having to look after the eighty-three-year-old Alastair after the latter has lost his memory due to a fall. The one in the past is the book that the two of them are reading together and that tells some events of the man’s life when he was young, culminating in the death of the love of his life.

The part in the past is undoubtedly the best part of the whole novel. Here the characters come to life, also thanks to the evident greater familiarity that the author has in showing them through the point of view of a man. The story unfolds between France, Capri and then Scotland, and each place emerges from the pages with all its colours, involving the reader and giving them the impression of being there.

In contrast, the part set in the present (which is actually 1999) seems to be written by a novice author. The character of Clémence is two-dimensional. Her being overly naive and gullible appears unrealistic. Her reasoning seems a bit of a stretch to say the least. No person would arrive at certain conclusions, on which their decisions are then based, evidently driven by the need to bring the plot in a certain direction and not by logic. Moreover, the setting and the small number of characters, instead of contributing to the increase of the suspense and the claustrophobic sense of the narrative, end up highlighting the weakness in the characterisation of the same characters, which appear far too banal.

As for the crime at the core of the story, as much as the author strives to send us astray, in such a shamelessly obvious way, this has very little mystery. Just think about it for a moment and you realise that only one person can be the murderer: the only one who would gain an advantage from the death of Sophie. I never had any doubts about their identity and I found the fact that the other characters, especially Alastair, didn’t even think about it for a moment simply impossible to accept.

Towards the end we find some details that were not deductible from the rest of the plot and only for this reason I must say that I read it almost greedily. The narration of how the events rush to the resolution, together with the above-mentioned final expedient, save the book, but only because, in fact, they are at the end.

Finally, I found it a bit strange that they were talking about a novel in the novel, when, taking into account the length of the chapters read by the characters (which they said were the whole book), you can at most end up with a novelette. Yes, I understand the limited space in the book, but then they would have rather specify that some parts had been skipped (read by the characters and not reported, because not important) or that it was simply a long story.

Overall, however, it was an interesting read, if only because this novel has a certain originality in the way it was structured. I also realise that it is probably a rather hasty work, which the author enjoyed writing to develop an idea that had come to him, without any fancy of giving rise to a product of high literary level in the scope of thrillers. But, all things considered, despite its faults, it plays very well its entertaining purpose.

Amnesia on Amazon.

Night Without Stars - Peter F. Hamilton

 ***** A sumptuous conclusion (for now?) for the Commonwealth Universe

Every time I read a new space opera by Hamilton I think this author has reached the maximum of his expression and that the next book, especially considering that this universe contains seven of them, cannot possibly be better than this.

Every time I find out I was wrong.

“Night Without Stars” is a wonderfully complex novel. It is the second part of the duology titled “Chronicles of the Fallers”, yet, having read the first book (“The Abyss Beyond Dreams”) more than a year ago and remembering very little of it, I think you can almost read this last one as standalone (although I do not recommend that), as it mostly has a narrative arc of its own, within which the links to the previous volume of the series are quickly explained and what is needed in relation to the entire Commonwealth Universe is mentioned.

Before starting to read it, I wondered what Hamilton could have come up with, since the story took place again on the planet Bienvenido. I feared a revival of the themes already seen but, instead, I had really nothing to worry about.

The story, after some introductory (but no less exciting) chapters, moves forward for two and a half centuries, a period of time that determines significant changes on Bienvenido, now that it has been expelled from the Void and can finally make use of technology, including the aerospace one (so dear to me). And in this renewed setting new characters come to life, around which parallel narrative lines are created and in which it is natural to the reader to identify themselves, despite often those characters are one against the other. Each storyline is compelling even without having to look at the big picture and, in this regard, I find the idea of dividing the work into books very apt.

There are also some old characters, which I had to get acquainted with again because of the time passed after reading the previous book (and the Void Trilogy), and which allow the reader to accurately reconnect the threads of the general plot and be led towards its complex development.

And it was to this very complex story, which accompanied me for a few weeks of (deliberate) slow reading, that I returned with interest every evening, and then left it without regret for sleeping, certain that I would find it there waiting for me the next day.

The rhythm at the beginning is slow, to allow the reader to settle in (and what a wonderful setting!), then it becomes a crescendo that in the last quarter of the novel turns into a succession of twists tending towards an ending that is almost impossible to predict.

Meanwhile, Hamilton does not just make you live on Bienvenido, but also shows you other unimaginable worlds (apart by him, of course), other more or less peaceful alien species, introduces you to new aspects of the villains, the alien species called Fallers (who “eggsum” their prey and replace it), and even manages to make you like one of them (or at least he succeeded with me).

It is difficult to tell anything else about this novel without revealing too much about the plot. I can only say that, if you have come to consider the idea to read it, a sign that you certainly already know and appreciate Hamilton at least from the previous book, this time too you won’t be disappointed.

Night Without Stars on Amazon.

Before I Go To Sleep - S. J. Watson

***** Excellent suspense, even if it does not maintain its originality until the end

I definitely liked this thriller. It has everything you need to define a good book: a basic theme not yet overused, a good twist towards the end with a breaking out of events that leads to a resolution and a perfect open ending.

Memory loss during deep sleep, in fact, isn’t a easy theme to use in a novel, especially if the novel is all told from the point of view of the character who suffers from this particular type of amnesia. I believe the author has succeeded in identifying himself with Christine’s mind and transmitting this identification to the reader.

It is also clear that he did some research.

Some passages reminded me of a documentary I watched several years ago about a man suffering from a serious short-term memory disorder: it was reset every seven seconds, while he remembered well the times before the onset of the disease. And so he lived in a state of confusion, with the constant feeling of having just woken up from a coma, and it all happened every seven seconds. A real hell, witnessed by his useless attempts to keep a journal in which he kept writing, in a crescendo of frustration, that had just woken up and that what was written in the previous pages was not his work.

Something of the kind also appears in this novel in relation to Christine’s condition at the beginning of her infirmity (perhaps the author watched the same documentary?), then evolved into a form of more “manageable” amnesia, which allows the author to create a story around it from the point of view of the person affected.

Also in this case there is a journal, which actually is the majority of the text of the book.

I find the idea of using a journal quite inspired, although it forces you to suspend your disbelief from time to time to accept the fact that the protagonist finds the time to read it all every day, given its length (or even that by reading only some parts always catches those that will then come in handy on that day), but then fiction has accustomed me to quite other artifices.

Of course, the twist towards the end was obviously awaited, because it was clear that, in the sea of insecurity in which the author had made us surf for so many pages, some truth had to be hidden that had not been well developed (on purpose). Rather, the way in which a certain subject is avoided as much as possible immediately led me to suspect that the solution was there. In fact, compared to the main character, I knew I was reading a thriller and that therefore there had to be a villain. And in such a context it was obvious that the bad guy was a certain person, but the way this person was placed in the story could hardly be inferred from the elements made available to the reader. And that’s why for me it was a twist, in spite of everything.

But there is a criticism that I feel I have to rise. The character of the villain isn’t completely clear to me. The way in which it wasn’t properly developed, just to avoid bringing the reader’s doubts there, makes it yet another cliché. Perhaps this story would have been truly original if that character had not been the villain.

And this is the only element that jars in a decidedly enjoyable book, to whose pages I used to return every evening with curiosity.

Perhaps even the resolution of the story is a bit hasty, and a bit too lucky for the protagonist, but despite these flaws I decided nevertheless to give this novel five stars, especially thanks to the open ending, which is much more honest and, above all, realistic than any happy ending.

On this book the film of the same name was based, starring Nicole Kidman, Colin Firth and Mark Strong.

Before I Go To Sleep on Amazon.

Park Lane - Frances Osborne

*** Great premises, but plot full of flaws highlighted by the ending

I loved this book until before the last chapter, then everything collapsed. I was captured by the London setting just before the First World War, during and after it. The historical reconstruction is so accurate that it brings that period back to life in the mind of the reader.

I found particularly interesting the way in which people’s mentality is represented, above all the way in which women tended to feel insecure, inferior, for the simple fact of being women, aggravated in the case of one of the two protagonists (Grace) by her social class.

Although Beatrice (the other main character) has become part of the suffragettes, she lacks the self-confidence expected in a “revolutionary”. She feels continually out of place, gripped by the fear that drives her to desire to escape so that she can return to the tranquillity of her tedious life as a rich young woman, but at the same time she does not escape, for fear of that tranquillity, which makes her feel useless. What moves her is not idealism, but the search for the emotion that lacks her everyday life. She is very far from the strong woman who is the typical heroine in the novels and this makes her somewhat realistic.

But what glued me to the pages of the book is the unexpected way in which the characters find themselves interacting in the story. The curiosity to find out what would happen next pushed me to read one chapter after another.

And during this reading there were more than a few things that bothered me, but that I put aside, looking forward to the discovery of the next event.

Among these is the character of Grace, so submissive that I had trouble imagining her as an adult. I always thought to see a timid, weak girl.

Another element of annoyance is due to the numerous coincidences. It’s fine that there’s a coincidence in a story. It’s fiction. But when they start to be two, they become less credible.

The same applies for the tragic events, linked to elements of pure bad luck, which seem a kind of stretch to bring the story to a certain direction. Which would also be fine if the result were satisfactory.

Another stretched element is added to this: the characters make important decisions that will have consequences on their lives in a moment, because of the whim of the moment or a misunderstanding that in reality would be easily clarified. This makes them completely unrealistic.

You could even overlook this, if the story ended in a way that gives meaning to everything and satisfies the reader.

But it isn’t like that.

The coincidences that emerge in the eyes of the reader slowly throughout the book are revealed to Beatrice in a moment, in the last scene. The very fact that she gets to understand everything from a few elements is in contrast with the total lack of insightfulness shown during the novel, the one that has made her a victim of huge misunderstandings. To be honest, I do not think even a person who was very perceptive could have come to the same conclusions on their own in a second without even asking a question.

That whole scene is unlikely to say the least and brought down that suspension of disbelief which I had clung to until then in order to give a positive judgment to the book, to whose reading I would return with trepidation every night.

Then the coup de grace was the fact that the book ended there, without showing anything of the consequences of that revelation, as if it were a cliffhanger, but which was not followed by another chapter or a sequel to the novel . It would’ve taken very little to transform it into an open ending, able to leave the reader at least the choice to imagine for themselves what would have happened later. And yet it wasn’t so.

In an instant, faced with that sudden and insipid ending, everything was shattered and the flaws of the book became clear to me. The worst of all is the lack of true inner growth of the characters, who remain crystallised in their flaws, without giving any real meaning to their existence within the story.

Yes, because in the end you find yourself wondering: what is this story about? What does it really want to tell?

The characters look like puppets used only to show a historical period, without playing their main role: being the reason why a story is told.

Park Lane on Amazon.

The Midwich Cuckoos - John Wyndham

***** Dangerous children

John Wyndham is one of those authors who in their career have explored a genre, in this case science fiction, in every possible direction and each time have created unique and unpredictable stories, through which they took the opportunity to develop interesting food for thought.

This time, Wyndham deals with the theme of alien invasion, without ever mentioning aliens, but only talking about something that like the cuckoos put their “eggs” in the “nests” of humans and from them children were born, or rather Children, with extraordinary and worrying qualities. This is accompanied by a reflection on the interaction between two species that are competing for the same territory and of which only one is destined to dominate.

A veil of uneasiness covers every page of the novel, without ever reaching excessive drama. Between long conversations characterised by British calmness and the attempt to give the whole situation a logical explanation, in the faint hope that this leads to a resolution, and watered by an excellent tea, the protagonists welcome us to Midwich, where, following a day in which the inhabitants have lost their senses (the so-called Dayout), all the women have become pregnant. Over time the Children will reveal to be something else, despite their human appearance, until they become a threat, in a crescendo of tension.

The expected resolution, given that the book was ending, but at the same time both unexpected, because of the sudden way in which it occurs, and almost obvious, takes you aback and satisfy you.

An interesting element, which I noticed in other works of his, is the role of chance. The narrating voice is found by chance outside the village with his wife on the day of the Dayout and therefore he is spared a direct involvement. Nevertheless, he closely follows the story and finds himself back in Midwich just when it is resolved. In all this we deliberately see the hand of the author who, in my opinion, with great fun, builds a perfect plot, in which every detail has a specific purpose, which, while generating disquiet, also gives a sense of security that suggests that somehow everything will be fine. And it is precisely the curiosity to know how you can ever resolve a seemingly impossible situation that drives the reader to turn one page after another and complete the reading of the book in a short time.

The Midwich Cuckoos on Amazon.

Ad Martem 12 - Giulia Carla Bassani

***** Young Martians

Written by an aerospace engineering student who dreams of becoming an astronaut, “Ad Martem 12” is a little jewel of hard science fiction aimed at a young audience, but that can be appreciated by all ages. Although with some licence and simplification (it is still a book of fiction, not an essay), in a background of plausible technology and science, the author tells the story of the first three children born on the Red Planet, who, reached the age of sixteen, begin to wonder about their origins and Earth, from which all the other people living in the Aresland station come from. The story is told from the point of view of one of them, Jordan, and this is done in such a way as to facilitate the identification of the reader in the character.

Although I have not been a teenager for quite some time, in finding myself aware of his thoughts, fears and sensations, I managed to recover a portion of that part of me from the past and therefore to understand his motivations and actions.

The protagonists, in fact, are not just the usual talented young people who are going to face an adventure like an adult that you can find in most of the young adult stories. In them you can see all the characteristics of the age in which you are no longer a child, but at the same time you are not yet an adult. They are prepared, intelligent and smart, but also naive, distracted and reckless, like any teenager. The problem is that they live on a desert and lethal planet, and the slightest mistake could cause their death.

Between desire to know, dangerous accidents and unexpected feelings, Jordan, Anna and Yan begin a journey to discover the truth about their past and especially about the future awaiting them. With an engaging style, in its refined simplicity, which at times manages to be evocative of landscapes from another world, Bassani allows us to accompany them and be ain trepidation with and for them, until the comforting ending that succeeds in being profound without falling into banality.

Ad Martem 12 on Amazon.