Book Log 23/2012 - Una McCormac: The Way Through the Woods

A Doctor Who novel

I'm always wary of tie in novels. However well written they are never going to deliver surprises because the writers are not allowed to change canon. Having said that I'm always willing to read tie ins by people I know and whose writing I admire and Una McCormack is one of those people. Already well known for her Star Trek DS9 tie-ins this is her first Doctor Who novel, though not her last. It’s a story featuring Eleven, Amy and Rory, set some time after Rory and Amy have tied the knot, and delivers a stand-alone story involving creepy goings on in a bit of ancient English woodland. Once every fifty years someone disappears. The locals know all about it, but there's a conspiracy of silence. Things are about to come to a head when a new policeman comes to town determined to get to the bottom of the latest disappearance. If only the Doctor wasn't locked in the cells he might be able to help, but Amy's on the case, only a hundred years behind Rory.

At around 50,000 – maybe 55,000 words, this could be read and enjoyed by anyone of 9 and upwards but adult Whovians won't find it beneath them. It achieves an excellent balance. The story is intriguing, slightly surreal, a bit scary and some nice tension, but not gory and with a nice satisfactory ending.

Book Log 23/2012 - Una McCormac: The Way Through the Woods

A Doctor Who novel

I'm always wary of tie in novels. However well written they are never going to deliver surprises because the writers are not allowed to change canon. Having said that I'm always willing to read tie ins by people I know and whose writing I admire and Una McCormack is one of those people. Already well known for her Star Trek DS9 tie-ins this is her first Doctor Who novel, though not her last. It’s a story featuring Eleven, Amy and Rory, set some time after Rory and Amy have tied the knot, and delivers a stand-alone story involving creepy goings on in a bit of ancient English woodland. Once every fifty years someone disappears. The locals know all about it, but there's a conspiracy of silence. Things are about to come to a head when a new policeman comes to town determined to get to the bottom of the latest disappearance. If only the Doctor wasn't locked in the cells he might be able to help, but Amy's on the case, only a hundred years behind Rory.

At around 50,000 – maybe 55,000 words, this could be read and enjoyed by anyone of 9 and upwards but adult Whovians won't find it beneath them. It achieves an excellent balance. The story is intriguing, slightly surreal, a bit scary and some nice tension, but not gory and with a nice satisfactory ending.

Movie of the Week: Frankenstein

Not quite a movie, this is the filmed-as-live National Theatre production of Frankenstein starring Johnny Lee Miller and Benedict Cumberbatch. The two actors swop roles on a turn and turn about basis and though the advertising said the version we were going to see was Johnny Lee Miller as the Monster and Benedict Cumberbatch as Frankenstein we actually got it the other way round. And what a brilliant Monster Cumberbatch makes. First of all the makeup is excellent both from a distance and close-up, and Cumberbatch's physicallity is jaw dropping.

The stage opens on the birth of the Monster. He falls from his artificial womb, ill-formed, (mostly) naked and unable to do even the most basic things, such as control his limbs. He is, in effect, a full grown newborn baby and must learn to stand and then to walk. This first sequence seems to last forever, the audience thoroughly entranced by the Monster's rolling and jerking as he tries to control his own motor functions. It's an endurance feat of physical acting beautifully realised... and then all of a sufdden it's over. Rejected by his creator the Monster runs into the forest and  finds refuge with a blind professor. Thus begins his education. This Monster has a voice and intellect, a quick mind and insight into his own state. And that's the key to his own tragedy and the tragedy he brings on the house of his creator.

You're probably familiar with the story so I won't go into detail. The Monster and Frankenstein are locked in a cycle of mutual destruction and the story plays out excellently.

Watching a stage play on the big screen I was struck by the difference between cinema and theatre - even theatre which has been filmed. The stage setting is minimal, but hugely effective, with a revolving stage and a swathe of lighting created with hundreds of individual light bulbs dangling like the arm of the Milky Way. I'd love to see this at the theatre, but I do feel as though I've seen the next best thing, bearing in mind I'm unlikely to travel to London. I'll certainly be looking to see other National Theatre cinematic productions.

There's a short clip here:
http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/ntlive

Movie of the Week: Frankenstein

Not quite a movie, this is the filmed-as-live National Theatre production of Frankenstein starring Johnny Lee Miller and Benedict Cumberbatch. The two actors swop roles on a turn and turn about basis and though the advertising said the version we were going to see was Johnny Lee Miller as the Monster and Benedict Cumberbatch as Frankenstein we actually got it the other way round. And what a brilliant Monster Cumberbatch makes. First of all the makeup is excellent both from a distance and close-up, and Cumberbatch's physicallity is jaw dropping.

The stage opens on the birth of the Monster. He falls from his artificial womb, ill-formed, (mostly) naked and unable to do even the most basic things, such as control his limbs. He is, in effect, a full grown newborn baby and must learn to stand and then to walk. This first sequence seems to last forever, the audience thoroughly entranced by the Monster's rolling and jerking as he tries to control his own motor functions. It's an endurance feat of physical acting beautifully realised... and then all of a sufdden it's over. Rejected by his creator the Monster runs into the forest and  finds refuge with a blind professor. Thus begins his education. This Monster has a voice and intellect, a quick mind and insight into his own state. And that's the key to his own tragedy and the tragedy he brings on the house of his creator.

You're probably familiar with the story so I won't go into detail. The Monster and Frankenstein are locked in a cycle of mutual destruction and the story plays out excellently.

Watching a stage play on the big screen I was struck by the difference between cinema and theatre - even theatre which has been filmed. The stage setting is minimal, but hugely effective, with a revolving stage and a swathe of lighting created with hundreds of individual light bulbs dangling like the arm of the Milky Way. I'd love to see this at the theatre, but I do feel as though I've seen the next best thing, bearing in mind I'm unlikely to travel to London. I'll certainly be looking to see other National Theatre cinematic productions.

There's a short clip here:
http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/ntlive

Book Log 24/2012 - Obsidian and Blood (Part 1)

Aliette de Bodard: Servant of the Underworld
Obsidian and Blood #1

Note I have the e-arc version of the omnibus, but have chosen to log them one book at a time rather than as the whole trilogy.

Set in the Aztec Empire the story centres on Acatl, High Priest of the Dead who is called to solve a murder. A priestess has gone missing, leaving behind nothing but a pool of blood and a fast-fading trail of magic. Neutemoc has been caught red-handed, literally. but Acatl can't let himself believe his estranged brother is responsible. This rapidly becomes more than a murder mystery, though. One puzzle nests inside another until finally Acatl realises there are powers at work that might bring about the end of the fifth world itself - the world of men.

The setting is Tenochtitlan, the capital if the Aztec world - the remains of which can still be seen today in Mexico City. Ms de Bodard's setting is unusual and intriguing. It feels well researched. Since I know nothing about Aztecs i can't say absolutely but I suspect a lot of sound research and additional authorial verisimilitude. The magic is blood magic, very different to magic schemes usually encuntered in fantasy books, and it's down tho the skill of the author that we take ritual sacrifice for granted because that's the way this world works. It doesn't horrify Acatl, so it doesn't horrify us either. Sometimes it's Acatl's blood, sometimes it's an animal or bird, and though the author doesn't focus on it in graphic detail human sacrifice is a legitimate part of this world.

The biggest stumbling block to this fascinating story has been getting my head around the multi-syllabic Aztec names. Yaotl and Eleuia are relatively easy, but the names of people, places and gods such as Ceyaxochitl, Xochiquetzal, Mahuizoh, Tlatelolco, Chalchiutlicue and Huitzilpochtli tend to make my brain feel as though it's been poked with a sharp stick. I have no idea how to pronounce these names and therefore find myself stumbling over them. Yet by the end of the book familiarity is starting to work in my favour and they no longer seem quite as strange. I'm sure when I go on to the second book in the omnibus edition that it won't be a problem at all.

The characterisation is excellent. Ms de Bodard gets under the skin of Acatl, born a peasant, educated, and choosing the priesthood against his parents' wishes. They wanted him to be a warrior like his extremely successful brother and never forgave him for choosing another path. At the age of thirty he is called from his backwater position in the provinces and raised to be High Priest to Miclantecuhtli, Lord Death, ruler of the underworld, and when the book starts he's still uneasy with this unwanted promotion, largely leaving the running of the temple to Ichtaca, his second in command.

Teomitl inserts himself into the story, an eager young man, determined to apprentice himself to Acatl, and is as outgoing at Acatle is introverted. There's something about Teomitl which kept me guessing. I expected one reveal and got another. Events in the story lead Acatl into his first brush with power politics, but it's unlikely to be his last because the current emperor is dying and we are on the threshold of change.

There are shocking revelations all round. Neutemoc turns out to be not so perfect as Acatl has always thought. Acatl learns something about being himself and being High Priest. Do they save the world? Well this is the first book in a trilogy so what do you think? As to how they save it, you'll just have to read for yourself.

Highly recommended.

Book Log 24/2012 - Obsidian and Blood (Part 1)

Aliette de Bodard: Servant of the Underworld
Obsidian and Blood #1

Note I have the e-arc version of the omnibus, but have chosen to log them one book at a time rather than as the whole trilogy.

Set in the Aztec Empire the story centres on Acatl, High Priest of the Dead who is called to solve a murder. A priestess has gone missing, leaving behind nothing but a pool of blood and a fast-fading trail of magic. Neutemoc has been caught red-handed, literally. but Acatl can't let himself believe his estranged brother is responsible. This rapidly becomes more than a murder mystery, though. One puzzle nests inside another until finally Acatl realises there are powers at work that might bring about the end of the fifth world itself - the world of men.

The setting is Tenochtitlan, the capital if the Aztec world - the remains of which can still be seen today in Mexico City. Ms de Bodard's setting is unusual and intriguing. It feels well researched. Since I know nothing about Aztecs i can't say absolutely but I suspect a lot of sound research and additional authorial verisimilitude. The magic is blood magic, very different to magic schemes usually encuntered in fantasy books, and it's down tho the skill of the author that we take ritual sacrifice for granted because that's the way this world works. It doesn't horrify Acatl, so it doesn't horrify us either. Sometimes it's Acatl's blood, sometimes it's an animal or bird, and though the author doesn't focus on it in graphic detail human sacrifice is a legitimate part of this world.

The biggest stumbling block to this fascinating story has been getting my head around the multi-syllabic Aztec names. Yaotl and Eleuia are relatively easy, but the names of people, places and gods such as Ceyaxochitl, Xochiquetzal, Mahuizoh, Tlatelolco, Chalchiutlicue and Huitzilpochtli tend to make my brain feel as though it's been poked with a sharp stick. I have no idea how to pronounce these names and therefore find myself stumbling over them. Yet by the end of the book familiarity is starting to work in my favour and they no longer seem quite as strange. I'm sure when I go on to the second book in the omnibus edition that it won't be a problem at all.

The characterisation is excellent. Ms de Bodard gets under the skin of Acatl, born a peasant, educated, and choosing the priesthood against his parents' wishes. They wanted him to be a warrior like his extremely successful brother and never forgave him for choosing another path. At the age of thirty he is called from his backwater position in the provinces and raised to be High Priest to Miclantecuhtli, Lord Death, ruler of the underworld, and when the book starts he's still uneasy with this unwanted promotion, largely leaving the running of the temple to Ichtaca, his second in command.

Teomitl inserts himself into the story, an eager young man, determined to apprentice himself to Acatl, and is as outgoing at Acatle is introverted. There's something about Teomitl which kept me guessing. I expected one reveal and got another. Events in the story lead Acatl into his first brush with power politics, but it's unlikely to be his last because the current emperor is dying and we are on the threshold of change.

There are shocking revelations all round. Neutemoc turns out to be not so perfect as Acatl has always thought. Acatl learns something about being himself and being High Priest. Do they save the world? Well this is the first book in a trilogy so what do you think? As to how they save it, you'll just have to read for yourself.

Highly recommended.