REVIEW: THE PRINCE OF LIES

Cover by Larry Rostant

THE PRINCE OF LIES

NIGHT'S MASQUE VOL. III

BY

ANNE LYLE

ISBN: 978-0-85766-281-1

Pages:

Publisher: Angry Robot Books

Published: 29 October 2013

On the cover:

(From the publisher's website)

Elizabethan spy Mal Catlyn has everything he ever wanted – his twin brother Sandy restored to health, his family estate reclaimed and a son to inherit it – but his work is far from over. The renegade skraylings, the guisers, are still plotting – their leader, Jathekkil, has reincarnated as the young Prince Henry Tudor. But while he is still young, Mal has a slim chance of eliminating his enemies whilst they are at their weakest.

With Sandy’s help, Mal learns to harness his own magic in the fight against the guisers, but it may be too late to save England. Schemes set in motion decades ago are at last coming to fruition, and the barrier between the dreamlands and the waking world is wearing thin…

   This is the last book in a trilogy, so it's not really an ideal starting point. If you are completely new to the Night's Masque books, I suggest you start with The Alchemist of Souls (review).

   After going abroad in the previous volume, we are back in familiar territory this time; London at the time of Will Shakespeare. A minor supporting character here, but a name that may be familiar to some readers. The Bard isn't the only historical person to make an appearance, there's also some other names that will be familiar to those who have picked up a history book.

   As before the historical backdrop is a major strength of Lyle's. This is in my opinion foremost Alternate History of the kind that can be easily mistaken for Historical Fiction. (If you have a friend who likes Historical Fiction who you want to try SFF, I suggest getting them started on the Night's Masque books.) Those who have read this blog before will know that I like history, and that for me a solid historical background is a great plus for me in a novel.

   Lyle is almost a little to good at it. There were times I wanted to look up some of the character's true history, only for my brain to catch a moment later that they are products of Lyle's imagination. If you find Tudor courtly intrigue an interesting basis for fiction, you'll get plenty of that here. Just not from our historical timeline.

   There's action and suspense in this story pretty much from the beginning. Apart from a very well handled few chapters that gets us up to date there's not any passages in this novel that lack anything happening. The pacing is reminiscent of an Action Thriller, and that works very well. Well, unless you really should be going to sleep. I got so carried away by this story that I had to finish the book, it was past 5 am when I finally lay down to sleep. But let's face it, that is a huge compliment to Lyle's storytelling ability. This is a book it's really hard to put down.

  I mentioned courtly intrigue before, and parts of this story takes place in the middle of the royal court of England. Maliverny Catlyn has certainly circled such places before, but this time he's taken much closer to the centre, and that adds a lot to the stakes this time around. Not that what has happened in the two previous volumes has seemed inconsequential, but now we get to really see what the prize in the game that is being played is all about.

   Lyle does keep the tension high throughout this novel. Once the reader knows who the players really are, it also becomes clear that the outcome is in doubt. That feeling does not let up. It isn't until the final few pages that you get a resolution...of sorts. And that's the only thing I can really say didn't sit perfectly with me in this novel. I am still ambivalent about the ending. It is by no means bad, and it brings the story of this trilogy to a satisfying end. But there's a hint of more here, and I know Lyle is working on something else for now. So I can't really decide if it's teasing  to hint at more, or keeping our hopes -as readers- up that we will be able to return at some point to this excellent world. (I wouldn't mind a short story now and then.)

   Before I finish off this review I need to mention the characters, they are an excellent troupe. Mal is of course great as usual, and Lyle manages to give him even more depth than previously. Coby again gets to shine, and show off that she can handle herself in any situation that is thrown at her. 

   There's other characters in here too, and they by no means become cardboard cutouts. The whole cast here not only supports the story, they have an integral part in it. Even the aforementioned Bard is more than a throwaway reference, he has an actual function in the story.

   As the third book in a trilogy goes, this is an excellent one. I mentioned the only point I had problems with above, but that is really a non-issue. Whether you like Alternate History, Historical Fantasy, or Historical Fiction there is plenty to like here.

   Lyle has given me a great three volume journey through an excellent world that is just slightly skewed from the one we live in. I can state without a doubt that the ~1,500 pages of reading have been very much worth it, and I will not hesitate to encourage others to start on it.

NOTE: I got an e-ARC of this novel from the publisher/NetGalley.

REVIEWS: The Alchemist of Souls  The Merchant of Dreams

LINKS: Anne Lyle  Angry Robot Books

REVIEW: THE MERCHANT OF DREAMS

Cover by Larry Rostant at Artist Partners.

THE MERCHANT OF DREAMS

NIGHTS MASQUE VOL. II

BY

ANNE LYLE

ISBN: 978-0-85766-278-1

Pages: 519 (+ acknowledgements)

Publisher: Angry Robot Books

Published: 18 December 2012

On the cover:

Exiled from the court of Queen Elizabeth for accusing a powerful nobleman of treason, swordsman-turned-spy Mal Catlyn has been living in France with his young valet Coby Hendricks for the past year.

But Mal harbours a darker secret: he and his twin brother share a soul that once belonged to a skrayling, one of the mystical creatures from the New World.

When Mal’s dream about a skrayling shipwreck in the Mediterranean proves reality, it sets him on a path to the beautiful, treacherous city of Venice – and a conflict of loyalties that will place him and his friends in greater danger than ever.

   The second book in a trilogy can sometimes become bogged down in being nothing more than a transition between a beginning and an end. This is not the case with this second volume. It is of course the middle volume in the sense that it does follow on from a book it helps to have read, and that it doesn't hide that there's another book to come, but we do get a story that has both a beginning and an end here.

   After the events of the first book, we have left London behind when this book begins. Although I was fascinated by Lyle's alternate history London, I think going abroad was a good choice. Expanding the setting means that there is also room to explore several aspects of this alternate history. Especially the skraylings get put into a bit of a larger context by the change of surroundings. And perhaps more importantly, the change of setting gives us a natural backdrop to learn more about the skraylings and their place in this version of the Elizabethan Era.
   This is perhaps the aspect of SFF in general, and Alternate History in particular, that fascinates me the most. I am into history, so I like my SFF to have a sense of history behind it. To have grown "organically" from some point into what I am presented with. Especially important for anything with an alternate timeline, of course.
   Lyle doesn't disappoint in this regard, there is a solid history in the background of this story. And despite the introduction of the alien skraylings, it feels very real. It is a tangible, vivid world, that feels like it is really alive. The feeling that this is Historical Fiction is present throughout.

   A solid setting doesn't make a book though, it's an important backdrop, but there also needs to be a story in there to make it a novel. Fortunately there is one, and it is one filled with interesting events. These events are centered on the Catlyn brothers' strange relationship to the skraylings on one level, and on the greater scale of the politics having to do with the skraylings' place in the world. Those two parts of the story not only intersect, they are inseparable.
   There is quite a lot going on here, on both personal and geopolitical levels. I'm not giving away much when I say that we will be going to Venice, and that the city will be the springboard for some very interesting events. Things happen fast in this story, but it doesn't actually feel like it all the time. Lyle's style of writing means that the story flows so smoothly that when I finished the book I had a bit of trouble accepting that I had actually read five hundred pages. And I absolutely mean that as a compliment.
   Trying to think through why I almost felt like I was tricked by the pagecount, I came up with a sort of explanation. Lyle is a great storyteller, and she delivers the story without a lot of fuss. Although there are a lot of events that have major implications, they aren't really advertised as such. So at the end of the novel I had to think about if there really was five hundred pages of story here; and that there is. This is free of any padding, and it "reads leaner" than it is. And when you spend time with these characters, time -and pages- really fly.

   The characters here are excellent. Maliverny Catlyn is as excellent a swashbuckler as he was last time, and he gets to do a bit of growth in his personal life. We also get to see quite a few of the supporting characters from last time again, while we get to meet some interesting new faces. But the one who I think really shines this time is Jacomina Hendricksdochter (, that's her with the pistol on the cover). She was prominent last time around too, but this time she really gets to come into her own. We get to see her grow into a women, and take up the fight when needed. And by the end of this novel, we can really see that she has started on a new path in life.

   There really is a lot to love in this novel. Lyle gives us a story that has suspense, intrigue, and action. Set in an alternate reality that feels totally real. The characters feel alive, and are very interesting companions on the journey the story takes the reader.
   This is excellent Alternate History/Historical Fantasy/Historical Fiction, and if any of those three genres sound like they are interesting to you, you should do yourself the favour of picking up Anne Lyle's Night's Masque books. This sequel is simply a great reading experience.

REVIEW: The Alchemist of Souls 

LINKS: Anne Lyle  Angry Robot Books

REVIEW: DEATH COMES TO PEMBERLEY

Cover illustration by Neil Gower

Cover design by Faber

DEATH COMES TO PEMBERLEY

BY

P. D. JAMES

ISBN: 978-0-571-28817-5

Pages: 324 (+ afterword)

Publisher: Faber and Faber

First published: 3 November 2011

This edition published: 5 July 2012

On the cover:

The year is 1803, Darcy and Elizabeth have been married for six years, and the orderly world of Pemberley seems unassailable. But all this is threatened when, on the eve of the annual ball, a chaise appears, rocking down the path from Pemberley's wild woodland. As it pulls up, Lydia Wickham - Elizabeth's younger, unreliable sister - stumbles out screaming that her husband has been murdered.

   This is in a way a sequel, as it follows up Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. I've not read Pride and Prejudice, and neither have I seen any of the TV or movie adaptions, so my opinion of James's book is not in any way influenced by Austen's work.

   I have read almost all of P.D. James's books, but this one differs quite a lot from those. Sure, there's a murder here too, and there's some doubt about how it really happened. But this story is set in a time before detectives, or even what we would call murder investigations. So this is quite a bit removed from the kind of murder mystery we are used to finding Adam Dalgliesh in.
   Not only is the story-type different. There is also a marked difference in the writing style. James writes this in a way that is pretty close to what it would be at that time (, as far as I know from my limited experience of reading novels from that time). I found it to take a little bit of getting used to that this wasn't a "standard" James book.
   That is not a criticism by the way. It shows that James can write outside of contemporary crime. And in my opinion she can do so very well. The style is very well done, and it feels both authentic and very appropriate. It does of course feel a bit old-fashioned, but that is a feature and not a bug.

   Style isn't everything in a novel, it needs a story to back it up. The story here has a good core, so I'll concentrate on that first and expand from there. At it's core this is a pretty short murder and trial story, and it's pretty good. It is however nothing special. It's simply too slight. There is very little development, the story moves to quickly for that. This also means that we loose any sense of suspense, things just move from one state to another without any build-up. And there are some events happening towards the end that do feel a bit like cheating, and they didn't quite ring true to me.
   I do think that this would have made a good shorter story though, certainly nothing longer than a novella.

   What does give this story a lot of it's "padding" is the surroundings. I use surroundings to mean both the time the story is set in, and the social level it's set at.
   Some of this has to be present. There's quite a bit of space devoted to setting up the surroundings, and getting the atmosphere of that across. And I found that to be very well done by James. I got a real feeling for how these people lived, and of the time they lived in. But even while this was done well it felt a bit infodumpy, it just became too much at times. But this was perhaps more connected to the characters...

   The characters are my main problem with this novel. They are simply a despicable bunch of utter bastards. To me they showed no redeeming features at all. They started of as uncaring upper class twats, and I didn't get any closer to them in a way that made my sympathise with them through the story. On the contrary, what I learned about them made me think much lesser of them.
   They care much about appearances, and how things will effect their standing. They don't seem to have a shred of empathy, or even real feelings. They all seem to calculate everything according to how it will impact their social standing.
   I understand that this is actually realistic. What I have read about the history of that time agrees completely with these people's way of thinking, which is why the French built guillotines. Half way through this book I wanted it to turn into a serial-killer murder spree that left everyone dead before the end.

   As you can see above I really hated the characters, I really can see nothing redeeming in them. That also means that I had a problem with the upper-class setting. The way that is here does not appeal to me at all.
   Despite that, I do not hate the novel. I thought the writing was very good, and the story is pretty good when you put away all the things that annoyed me. It's not one of James's better books, and it doesn't really work as a murder mystery, but it has plenty of atmosphere - although I found that "unpleasant".

   I started by saying I haven't read Pride and Prejudice, and I can't really comment on if this will be a satisfying follow-up for those that like that. What I can say though, is that if you like novels set in that time period, you should like this one.
   Despite being slow in development it flows really well as a novel, and it wasn't a slow read for me. And despite my loathing for the characters I didn't hate the novel. Which I think is a sign it is actually very well written.
   Basically, I think this will be either love or hate for most readers. Those that have read Jane Austen before will probably have a good idea of whether they should give this a try or not.

REVIEW: THE ALCHEMIST OF SOULS

Cover art by Larry Rostant

THE ALCHEMIST OF SOULS

NIGHT'S MASQUE VOL. I

BY

ANNE LYLE

ISBN: 978-0-85766-214-9

Pages: 518

Publisher: Angry Robot Books

Published: 27 March 2012

On the cover:

When Tudor explorers returned from the New World, they brought back a name out of half-forgotten Viking legend: skraylings. Red-sailed ships followed in the explorers’ wake, bringing Native American goods – and a skrayling ambassador – to London. But what do these seemingly magical beings really want in Elizabeth I’s capital?

Mal Catlyn, a down-at-heel swordsman, is seconded to the ambassador’s bodyguard, but assassination attempts are the least of his problems. What he learns about the skraylings and their unholy powers could cost England her new ally – and Mal his soul.

   For Historical Fantasy or Alternate History, two of the genres this book belongs to, the pace of this book fells pretty slow. But when you look at this as Historical Fiction, something the story also is, the sedate pace becomes much more understandable. Expectations can influence how you look at the tempo a story is told, and I went into this expecting more of a Historical Fantasy/Alternate History structure, basically something a bit faster paced. It took some time before I got used to this having a structure more common in Historical Fiction, but once I realised and accepted that, I stopped waiting for the pace to pick up and instead got much more enjoyment out of what this really is.

   What this is, is a very detailed and interesting journey into an alternate version of the Elizabethan Era. Lyle paints a really vivid picture of the London of Elizabeth I. It's very easy to get pulled into the setting and immersed in the world this story is set in. There's lots of details that help with this immersion, but Lyle writes in such a way that the setting doesn't intrude on the story. The details that add flavour are in the background and don't intrude on what is going on.

   And there really is a lot going on. I mentioned the sedate pace earlier, but that doesn't mean boring in this case. The story may move along at a leisurely pace, but it is not uneventful. Much of this is due to a very excellent cast of characters.
   Lyle's troupe of players is a very interesting group of individuals. The main character, Mal, is absolutely someone that has enough in his background to drive a narrative all by himself. There's lots of secrecy around him in the (story's) present day but also some things from his past that contribute a lot to making him a well rounded and interesting character. But Mal isn't alone in this story, there are quite a lot of other players around. Most of them have stories that rival Mal's in terms of how interesting they are.
   What really lifts this story's ensemble for me is the way they interact, and play against each other. Every one of them brings something with them when they enter the stage, and they all feel as an organic part of the whole. Even the aliens have a depth to them that make them much more interesting than they often are in Historical Fantasy.

   Yes, I said aliens. The main element that pulls this away from being pure Historical Fiction is the non-human race that inhabits this world. I found it especially interesting how Lyle has managed to integrate them into the story in the way she has. Often creatures such as these seem tacked on, blatantly there to be played against for the protagonists. In this case they are not, without them the story of some of the characters would be very different. (And of course this world would be quite something else too.) This is definitely one of the best novels out there when it comes to the natural integration of a non-human group/race into the narrative. They actually feel part of the history of this Elizabethan England.

   I have mentioned how this story is not a fast paced one, and how it takes its time. That by no means should be taken as there being no suspense, or action, present in the course of the novel. There's plenty of suspense here. Lyle is very good at holding back enough information from the reader to make this a book you are likely to read in a fairly short time, while nicely avoiding holding back so much that it gets annoying for the reader.
   When it comes to the end of the novel, that is certainly an action-filled and fast paced affair. After the relatively sedate pace previously in the novel it can almost be too much when things start moving this quickly. It can be jarring when there's such a great difference in pace from what the reader is used to. But Lyle can't really be faulted for this change of pace, it feels natural. It's the way things happened in the story, and I can't really see how they could have been different.

   As someone who has both a greater than normal interest in history, and is a fan of SFF, this was a perfect novel for me. This novel bridges the gap between the historical and the fantastic extremely well, and I think this story is a great meeting place for fans of Historical Fiction and Historical Fantasy. I have absolutely no doubts about highly recommending it to fans of both genres, and I think Alternate History fans are close to obligated to give it a try.
   I'll end with saying I'm very thankful that I have the second volume in this series sitting on my TBR pile as I write this.

LINKS: Anne Lyle  Angry Robot Books

THE LAND OF PAINTED CAVES

Cover art (Lions): Larry Rostant

Cover photo (hills): Irene Suchocki/Trevillion Pictures

THE LAND OF PAINTED CAVES

EARTH'S CHILDREN BOOK SIX

BY

JEAN M. AUEL

ISBN: 978-1-444-72057-0

Pages: 774

Publisher: Hodder/Hodder & Stoughton

First published: 29 March 2011

This edition published: 22 November 2012

On the cover:

 A STORY FROM THE BEGINNINGS OF OUR TIME

A remarkable woman - a huntress and healer who challenges every rule, but who yearns for acceptance.

Ayla lost her own people when she was a child. In the harsh landscape of the Ice Age, where to be alone is the greatest threat, her life has been a fight for survival - and a search for belonging.

But Ayla has an overwhelming sense of destiny that pulls against the needs of her heart. She hungers for knowledge and experience of the world. And what she learns will change life forever.

   This is the final volume in the story of Ayla. And as a enjoyed the previous ones I was really looking forward to see how her story was going to end. Unfortunately I was left rather disappointed.

   Auel is very good at telling the history of the people of the Stone Age/Ice Age, and it was my interest in history that brought me too these books in the first place. And that aspect of the novel works very well, you get quite a good insight into daily life in the period it's set, and there's no doubt that much of it is at the very least plausible.

   Before I go into specifics, I think I should mention that reviewing books has made me a more critical reader, and I may not have felt that the book had as much problems if I had been reading this before I started reviewing.

   The central story is in itself an interesting one, Ayla is taken in a direction that means we get closer to certain aspects of Stone Age life, but there's not really enough story in this journey to fill all the pages of this book. -And it shows.

   There is a lot of infodumping here, and while much of it has to do with Stone Age life and is quite interesting in itself, it breaks up the narrative. It can even be confusing at times as to where the non-fiction description in the narrative starts and begins. Personally I would have preferred this to be separated out with footnotes that referred to an appendix at the back of the book.
   In itself these non-fiction passages wouldn't have bothered me much, but there's lots of other small things that slow down the narrative and seems unnecessary.

   Repetition is a problem, we are told the same thing several times. This got on my nerves quite often, and it seemed like Auel was trying to hammer home things that were clear the first time. There is also much repetition of what has happened in the previous volumes, and even though it's more than five years since I read those I felt it was way too many reminders. Some of them where even repeated.
   Further repetition is made in the story itself. There are elements, that while happening at different times and locations, are very much alike. These come while Ayla is travelling, something that I felt was the strength of the previous volumes, but just didn't work here due to there being very little new on the journey.

   This novel isn't all bad. Despite the problems I have outlined above, there is really much that is good here. Auel still tells a very interesting story centered on Stone Age society, and the history is really fascinating. There is no doubt that Auel has done her research, and although it does shine through too much, it is really good to see a story that really feels like it could be a story from the time it is set in.
   The delving deeper into shamanism is also done very well, and it makes for the most interesting part of the book - and also what feels the freshest.

   I had some trouble with the ending of the book. It just didn't feel like a satisfying end to the story of Ayla, and it felt a bit abrupt.
   But to be fair, it was good to read about Ayla, Jondalar, and all the others again. And I do think that those who have liked this series so far will find it a good read despite its shortcomings. I know I am glad I read it, and I in no way wish I had refrained from reading this novel.
   This is a flawed finish to the Earth's Children series, but it is well worth reading anyway. Other readers may not find what I have mentioned as distracting as I did. And for those who have an interest in Stone Age history I would say the series as a whole is essential reading.

LINKS: Jean M. Auel  Hodder & Stoughton

REVIEW: WOLF'S BROTHER

Cover art: Jackie Morris

Cover design: HarperCollinsPublishers

WOLF'S BROTHER
BY
MEGAN LINDHOLM

ISBN: 978-0-00-742543-3
Pages: 266

Publisher: Harper Voyager

Originally published: 1988

This edition published: 28 April 2011

On the cover:

 Kerlew stared at the immense stone that jutted up from the tundra. Power radiated from it like heat from a fire. It attracted the boy and filled him with fear. There was a brush of sound, of dark moving shadows and then the sudden flash of a glistening eye. He pressed his palms back against the stone’s rough surface and faced the night creatures that surrounded him.

Every day, Kerlew's magic grows, reaching out to his guide, the Wolf. But the magic also calls to Carp, the evil old shaman, who is pursuing Kerlew and his mother, Tillu, across the frozen waste. Meanwhile, someone - or something - is committing terrible atrocities in the village that Tillu now calls home. With fear and suspicion at fever pitch, a strange old man appears, with an offer of help...

   NOTE: This is the second half of a split book, the first half, The Reindeer People, is reviewed here.

   As with The Reindeer People this is not very action packed, but there is actually a lot more happening in this book. In fact it is almost jarring when there comes a relatively fast paced sequence after getting used to the slow pace of the story.

   But this second half of the story is in many ways about wrapping up what started in The Reindeer people, and this means that everything is given more urgency. It also means that things feel a little bit rushed at times.

   The characters development is done very nicely, they seem to find their roles and accept them here. This goes especially for Kerlew, who has a special journey of his own. And it is his journey that is perhaps the most interesting, and also the most Fantasy-like. However I don't think it is fair to call what is actually part of shamanistic religion Fantasy as such.

   There is also a bit of a romantic plot going one, one that has been building since The Reindeer people. And I think many who read this will be satisfied with the conclusion to that part of the plot.

   All in all this was one of those stories where the journey as a whole was much more interesting to me than its parts. Lindholm has written a story, in two parts, that is both interesting and in many ways exotic. If you like a story that takes its time, and is very centered on the characters inner journey this is two books I urge you to pick up.

   I would also like to say that it is interesting to see both the differences and likenesses of Lindholm's and Hobb's writing styles. This isn't a bad place for Hobb fans to get a taste of the former.

REVIEWS: The Reindeer People  The Inheritance

LINKS: Megan Lindholm  Harper Voyager  Voyager Blog

REVIEW: THE REINDEER PEOPLE

Cover art: Jackie Morris

Cover design: HarperCollinsPublishers

THE REINDEER PEOPLE

BY

MEGAN LINDHOLM

ISBN: 978-0-00-742544-0

Pages: 348

Publisher: Harper Voyager

Originally published: 1988

This edition published: 28 April 2011

On the cover:

Living on the outskirts of the tribe Tillu was happy spending her time tending her strange, slow dreamy child Kerlew and communing with the spirits to heal the sick and bring blessing on new births.

However Carp, the Shaman, an ugly wizened old man whose magic smelled foul to Tillu desired both mother and child. Tillu knew Carp’s magic would steal her son and her soul. So begins the Harrowing and desperate pursuit across the winter-ravaged lands, as Tillu's flight leads them into an uncertain, and deadly, new future.

   This isn't an action-packed book, the pace is slow and what happens in the story takes a long time to arrive anywhere. But that isn't a negative in this case, that is just how the story is structured.
   I'm pretty much OK with books that take their time, but I did have a problem with how you could see important plotpoints coming a long way in this book. The narrative uses a long time to come to things that are obvious to the reader and this removes much of the suspense in the story. Normally this would put me off the story, but here that is not the case. I found the story both compelling and interesting.

   There are two elements that makes this story a good one, the characters and the setting. The characters are all interesting, and as an ensemble they work very well together. That being said, they are pretty standard. It doesn't take long before you get a grip on their place in the story and where it is going to take them. But as with the slow pace I mentioned above, it works. You get sympathy for them and they are interesting to follow on their journey.

   The setting is what I liked best about the story. I don't know if Lindholm has used the Sami of northern Scandinavia, and north-east Russia, as a template for the setting but I strongly suspect she did. Lindholm is very good with this setting, and especially the nature of it. As someone who has grown up in Norway I am sensitive to descriptions of winter that doesn't ring true. That is no problem with Lindholm's writing here, she makes the winter come to life very well.

   It may seem from what I've written above that I didn't like this book very much, but I did. The individual elements may not work very well isolated, but they come together top make an interesting and well written story.
   I also have to say that this is not Fantasy, it is Historical Fiction. And comparisons to Jean M. Auel's Earth's Children series are a bit unavoidable. In that respect this compares favourably, and I would urge any fan of Auel or Pre-History in general to pick it up.

NOTE: This is a split novel, I have reviewed book two, Wolf's Brother here.

REVIEWS: Wolf's Brother  The Inheritance

Links: Megan Lindholm  Harper Voyager  Voyager Blog

REVIEW: 11.22.63

Cover photo: Press Association Images

11.22.63

BY

STEPHEN KING

ISBN: 978-1-444-72729-6

Pages: 740

Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton

Published:  8 November 2011

On the cover:

Jake Epping is an English teacher in Lisbon Falls, Maine, who makes extra money teaching in an adult education programme. One day, he receives an essay from one of his students - a harrowing first person story about the night, fifty years earlier, when Harry Dunning's father came home and killed Harry's mother, his sister, and his brother with a sledgehammer.

Later, Jake's friend Al, who runs the local diner, divulges an extraordinary secret: his storeroom is a portal to 1958. He enlists Jake on an insane - and insanely possible - mission to try to prevent the Kennedy assassination.

Inspired by his desire to put things right for Harry Dunning, Jake leaves a world if iPods and mobile phones for a new world of Elvis and JFK, of big American cars, root beers and Lindy Hopping. It is a haunting world of a troubled loner named Lee Harvey Oswald and a beautiful high school librarian named Sadie Dunhill, who becomes the love of Jake's life - a life that transgresses all the normal rules of time.

   A new Stephen King novel is always a treat for me, and I had been looking forward to this one since I first heard about it. King tackling time-travel sounded especially interesting. 
   King manages to tackle the time travel very well, he's not exactly doing it in a Hard SF way and this may disappoint science fiction fans. But I thought the idea of how the world was affected by it in the small scale was very well done. I also liked what happened when a subsequent travel takes place. (Sorry for being vague, but I feel it is too much a spoiler to be more specific.)


   The book starts out as a pretty traditional style time travel novel. And it continues in that way for a while, but then King changes tracks. Jake Epping is staying for a long time in the past, and the book becomes much more about how America was in the late fifties and early sixties. Something King has written about before, and something he is very good at. There's even room for an excursion to post-IT, something I, and I'm sure any other fan of IT will enjoy. From there the novel moves from King's "comfort zone" in New England and into the south, and it is here that the main part of the story takes place.


   The historical part of this novel centres around Lee Harvey Oswald, and we really learn a lot about the man. I found this part of the novel fascinating, although at times it seems that King is using a lot of space to paint Oswald as a villain. The events he describes may be historically correct, but I didn't really feel they added enough to the story that so much of it had to be included.
   The most interesting part to me, is the part of the story were we see Jake Epping settling into his new life in the past. King handles this expertly, even the romance he has found place for is very well done and feels realistic.


   This is by no means King's best novel, and I doubt it will make it into many peoples top five King novels, but that doesn't mean it is a weak novel. I thoroughly enjoyed following Jake Epping on his journey in the past, and there is enough action and suspense here to make it a book that seems a quicker read than its page count suggests it is. 
   You don't have to be a King completist to enjoy this, it is a great novel for anyone who likes King. And for anyone with an interest in the JFK assassination and Lee Harvey Oswald this is a must. It's not a bad starting point for anyone who hasn't read King either, there's not any SFF here except for the time travel, so anyone not familiar with SFF should be able to get into it easily.
   With the holidays coming up, this is a great book to put on your wish list and read while you wait for the New Year to come around.


Reviews: The Shining, Bag of Bones, Four Past Midnight

Links: Stephen King, Hodder & Stoughton