Booklog 66/2022: Jim C Hines: Terminal Uprising - Janitors of the Post Apocalypse #2
Marion “Mops” Adamopoulos and her alien/human crew of ship-board janitors and sanitation specialists are more used to cleaning up plumbing disasters, but when a freak occurrence killed all the crew but the janitorial team, it put them in charge of a space-ship, the EMCS Pufferfish (i.e. they stole it). Humans are very much second-class citizens after all humans on Earth turned feral following a terrible plague, but some (like Mops) have been ‘cured’ and allowed to take up menial positions in the Krakau space fleets, or have become cannon-fodder in the ongoing hostilities between the Ktakau and the Prodryans. Mops and her crew have to go to Earth to see if they can discover the source of the plague, and discover a team of librarians made up of plague resistant humans. Perhaps humanity isn’t quite dead yet. This is the middle book of a trilogy (I have the last one lined up already) and Mr Hines doesn’t ease you into it gently by backtracking on the story in the first book. You need to be up-to-speed with the characters. I wouldn’t recommend reading this one before the first (Terminal Alliance), but it’s well paced and has some startling revelation.
This is a re-read for me via Audible. I like listening to audiobooks that I’ve read (and enjoyed) before. The Saint of Steel died and all his paladins ran mad. Only a few survived the shock and, four years later, are beginning to get their lives back. Paladin’s Grace is the story of Steven, and Paladin’s Strength is the story of Istvahn, a giant of a man, and Clara, lay sister of the order of St Ursa. Istvahn is travelling with a convoy of (empty) barrels while trying to find out more about the smooth men, who have left a trail of severed heads and headless bodies, not necessarily matching (and there are fewer bodies than heads). Clara is following a group of her sisters who have been captured and kidnapped for reasons that eventually become horribly clear. If I say any more it will be too spoilery. Suffice it to say that this becomes a romance between two middle-aged, somewhat over-sized people that is utterly charming. T Kingfisher is good at this sort of romance. Her dialogue is witty, and I forgive her for ignoring the fact that the two protagonists could get together far sooner if only they were honest with each other. Clara, in particular, has good reason for keeping her secret. Ms Kingfisher is extremely good at spinning out the sexual tension, and having the couple’s carnal intentions thwarted in a number of amusing ways.
This is the first Hornblower book chronologically, but the sixth in publication order. The series was written in the 1930s, through to the 1960s. This particular one being published in 1950. I can understand why these books made such a good TV series (1998 to 2003). Its nature is episodic and each chapter makes a good story in itself. Set in the French Revolutionary wars, Horatio Hornblower, a green seventeen-year-old midshipman is doubly green when seasick on his way to his first position, Seasick at Spithead are the words that dog his early miserable experiences of being a midshipman under a senior midshipman bully, and a weak captain. He comes into his own when transferred to the Indefatigable, presided over by the excellent Captain Edward Pellew. I read this book in my teen years, then watched the eight-episode series with Ioan Gruffudd perfectly cast as Hornblower, and Robert Lindsay as Pellew. There’s the story of the duel of honour, the cargo of rice, the fireship incident when Hornblower’s examination for Lieutenant is interrupted by an attack on the British fleet in harbour. Forester’s writing is as fresh today as it was when I read it in my youth. I thoroughly enjoyed revisiting Hornblower on audiobook, beautifully read by Christian Rodska.