i read a couple of novels

greetings reader

 

apologies for the (rather abject) lack of imagination for the title of this post. i am just a bit out of steam, if not out of sorts, for such things, look you see. surely, though, no harm can come from having a telling it like it is, or "does what it says on the box", title every now and then. 

it does feel quite some time since i had finished reading two (2) novels to go right ahead and document here for no immediate reason. true, one of them took quite some time to get through, with that being mostly the length of it but in part there wasn't too much of an inspirational rush to read it as quickly as possible. no matter, we are here now. 

so, as usual, a look at the 2 (two) what i gone done read, a brief, executive summary like overview and then each in some more detail. not, granted, all that much more detail, but all the same you may wish to skip that part if you're interested in reading either and want to avoid them "spoiler" things. 

going from left to right, which is (indeed) the order what i gone read them, Fairy Tale off of Stephen King was surprisingly, and to be honest, disappointingly pedestrian to the point of being average. this was, in 40 or so years of off and on reading his books, the least enjoyable experience doing so. after that it was The Pilgrim's Revenge off of Scott Mariani, which was to my surprise a really good read. 

quite likely that a further spoiler warning is excessive and (possibly) an insult to your intelligence, but all the same from here on out there are likely to be one or two (or more) "key plot details" or similar revealed. so, with that, read on with caution. 

putting out a novel which is north of 500 (or half of one thousand) pages in this disposable "blipvert" era which features limited attention spans is quite a move. all the same that is precisely what Stephen King has done with Fairy Tale. those of you who(m) for some reason get all interested in the provenance of my novels will not, i suspect, be too surprised to learn i picked it up as a Tesco clubcard "book of the week" thing for all of £4.50. 

the plot? one that feels vaguely familiar and so surprising that it does not already exist. a troubled teen with a tragic past inadvertently befriends a mysterious, apparently quite scary hermit like gent and, of some importance, his ageing dog. the teen (Charlie) helps the gent in his hour of need and, as more or less ("fewer") a consequence, ends up becoming the custodian to a magical secret. which is a secret he must embrace and become both the saviour and guardian of. or the other way around. 

it, the novel Fairy Tale, is not bad as such. took me quite some time to read, but that would mostly be due to limited time reading whilst waiting for various creams to dry on my feet (don't ask). at no stage, other than taking it along to the laundry, was i tempted (or, yet this sounds blunt if no harsh interested) in picking it up to read at other times. 

enjoyable without being all that engaging is probably the best way to describe my overall feelings on it. there was much to appreciate, if not love, here. by some distance the first third or so, when Charlie comes to care for the old man and forms a bond with the dog, Radar, is the better read. as and when he enters (you had spoiler warnings) the magical "hidden world" things tend to get a bit, surprisingly, dull and drawn out. maybe this was a deliberate, clever "subvert your expectations" thing, like when they reduced Luke Skywalker to milking a space cow in Star Wars, and i am simply too think to comprehend or appreciate it all. 

risking sounding repetitive and the major issue with Fairy Tale is that it feels all too familiar, and dare i say predictable. indeed i appreciate there is some "point" to that, what with it being heavily alluded to that this "secret world" is where writers have visited and written of as what we know as fairly tales over centuries. still, at no point was i prepared to "give up" on it so there is that. 

 

a novel i kind of not so much put off reading as went "oh go on then" would be The Pilgrim's Revenge off of Scott Mariani. some of you will be aware that this is the author of some 30 or thereabouts novels featuring Ben Hope, with quite a few being really good, or if you will, rollicking good adventures with various levels of preposterous. on electing to "retire" the protagonist of his novels for somewhere north of 20 years there was some interest in what he would write next. 

this, it turns out, is a whole new series, set in the (i think) 12th century. an era of crusades and what have you. in this novel we are introduced to his new protagonist, Will Bowman. with the second novel in the series sat here waiting to be read there are limitations on spoilers regarding what happens to him in this one. 

we get, for plot, introduced to Will Bowman as a man living an if not simple then humble life. this comes to an abrupt end when his pregnant wife is killed, his home burned down and he himself left for dead. on recovering he discovers the barbaric act was done by supposed knights heading off to join King Richard on his crusade. so, as the title suggests, he pledges revenge and, with nothing else to live for, sets off on a quest for vengeance. 

my concerns (for fears sounds too harsh) before reading this was that it would simply be the more outrageous, implausible aspects of the Ben Hope novels set a thousand years (or so) ago. delighted to find out this was not the case, allowing for one or two moments of stretching plausibility. it was really rather good, as in entertaining and genuinely fun to read. unlikely this novel will ever be given any serious study, but all the same i noted with interest the "clever" pacing - when Bowman is walking it is all slower, but picks up progressively as he moves in travel from horse to ship. nice touch. 

oh yes, as in no, provenance fans, you have not been forgotten. this is one of the more convoluted arrangements they have down at Tesco. it has come to be that some authors, and Scott Mariani is one, get selected for a "book of the week with newspaper" deal. effectively, armed with a clubcard, you get the book for £3 on condition you buy the Daily Mail newspaper at the same time. so i think the whole cost comes in at £4.10. 

it is with some caution i say that, after this solid start, i look forward to the rest of the series. let me qualify this, for i (really) doubt that Scott Mariani is going to be able to help himself with some truly absurd novel with his new protagonist (hero). remembering fondly that one Ben Hope novel where the plot was someone trying to cut the planet in half with a laser and, well, one suspects dragons or similar mythical creatures shall crop up at some point. for now, though, i shall merrily take what comes. 

 

righty-ho, that's about that. neither of these were "bad" reading experiences, but i do long for something as engrossing and remarkable as Project Hail Mary once more. unlikely that such will be the Jeremy Vine novel i showcased in a post not so long ago, but that may (very well) be the next one i go ahead and have a read of. 

my thanks, as ever, to you for stopping by and reading this. 

be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!