well, what can i say, another two (2) novels read in quite quick time. much like the title says, look you see. in part, yes, this is down to me having some free time available to read, what with me taking some leave off of verk over Christmas. and New Year. but, also, as was the case with a novel last time, every now and then you are fortunate enough to pick up a novel that you find it difficult to put down, and certainly don't wish to ever end reading. i got lucky with this.
as usual, then, an image of the 2 (two) novels what i most recently read, and some vague, spoiler free comments. after that we (should you continue reading) are in the territory where *** POSSIBLE SPOILERS *** are a realistic possibility. been warned, you have.
from left to right, being in the order what i gone done read them, The Silver Serpent is (yet) another tale of adventure featuring the improbably still (in fiction) alive Ben Hope, off of Scott Mariani. this one was much, much better than the last two (possibly three, but my memory does not stretch so far), but note that not too great an effort would be needed to do so. after that it's Project Hail Mary off of Andy Weir. my solid advice to you, if you have not read it, is to stop reading this, stop doing anything at all except to procure a copy and read soonest, for it is superb.
plot? sigh. after getting totes completely and utterly busted up physically in the last adventure, protagonist Ben Hope is off to see his (uber rich) sister on a much earned, likely very much needed holiday. and then he gets a call that a relative of a colleague has gone missing in Australia, and so he asks his sister to have a borrow of her massive corporate jet, and so off he and the colleague what has a missing relative go to Australia, where they find a mystery to solve, with some shady villains and a good deal of violence. for an unusual change in the Ben Hope world of Scott Mariani novels (and i did have kind of a spoiler warning there for you) some sex, too. kind of. it's mostly just implied, or suggested, but still.
it was all the way in, or as far as, page two (yes, 2) of this novel when i had a quite ill feeling. there was evidence that this novel was likely to be a poor reading experience. care to see the evidence? sure -
ostensibly i would expect a novel, published and in my hands, to have gone through not only the author but also a proof reader and/or an editor. and yet this clanger, which i cannot bring myself to type, made it all the way through to the printed page. disappointing. is this something which annoys me? well, everyone i know of knows that if for some reason they wish to see me get quite cross, and possibly punch them in the face (like how Shatner did to Iman in Star Trek VI), this is the phrase to say to me to trigger such. should one understand the word "revert" then one knows that the word placed after it here is entirely pointless, if not redundant.
leaving that aside, actually this wasn't bad, as mentioned earlier. reading any Ben Hope novel requires a more massive suspension of disbelief than would be required for most novels, and with that in place this is one of the better adventures. bonus points for getting Aussie quirks mostly correct, in particular their proclivity to use the word "reckon" with odd frequency.
story and action wise, for one probably only reads these novels for lashings of the latter, it is rather good. there is some over-simplification of, say, several thousands of years of culture, but still, enough is presented to let the tale move along. what left me most baffled was the use of silver as the desirable object here. sure, it's worth something, but there are other things what could be found in the ground that are worth a great deal more. presumably the wish for the alliteration in the title made the choice. yeah, enough here to make me say "go on then", as in i will continue picking up and reading these novels. well, what else would i do with my time.
to the plot, then. i would love nothing more than to just write "a man wakes up unsure where he is" and leave it at that, as in leaving it for you to discover the wonders of this novel. alas, i think by now all shall be aware, like the previous two (2) novels off of Andy Weir, this one has a science fiction theme. so yes, he wakes up in a spaceship, but to be fair he doesn't know where it is, or why it is where it is, or why he is there. let me leave it at that, and if you can keep it as that's all you know going into it, well, you are in for a tremendous treat.
how fondly i recall reading The Martian. i remember ranting and raving to my (at the time but alas, no more) (considerably) better half (at that time in history) how it was wonderful, and remarkable that i had read over 100 pages in one go, with the majority of those pages consisting of tales of potato farming. granted, true, potato farming with a difference but still. happily, merrily, for different reasons it is very much so that reading Project Hail Mary brings back such a feeling.
exactly how plausible, or realistic any of this novel is (as in where science fiction meets science fact to compare notes) i don't know, or care, about. this is an unashamed, unbridled, brilliantly, wonderfully feel good, uplifting read. i grew irrationally fond of the characters in the book, and whenever i put it down, normally to go to sleep, i felt sad, for it was like i was leaving some of the most interesting people (ahem) i'd ever encountered. please, please, please give serious consideration to reading this novel, for as far as i am concerned the life of anyone who does shall be better for doing so.
up next is likely that second novel ostensibly written by (or at least attributed to) Bill Clinton (that one) and James Patterson. the latter appears to publish a novel a week. highly likely that further reading adventures shall take a bit more time, for holiday is (at the time of writing nearly) finished, and thus back to verk i must venture.
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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