The BFG
by Roald Dahl
ISBN: 978-0-141-32623-8
I'm sure I read this as I child but I can't remember any of it so time to refresh my memory.
A Feast for Crows
by George R.R. Martin
ISBN: 978-0-00-64812-1
Absolutely incredible book! Can't wait for Dance of Dragons!
My well-read 1986 edition of The Jesus Incident
At the start of the book Earth is a long distant memory. The remains of humankind have been living aboard Ship, a VoidShip that was given conciousness but at the same time accidentally granted godlike powers.
Ship has brought humanity to a small ocean world it has named Pandora. Led by their Chaplain/Psychiatrist, or Ceepee, humanity has been trying to colonise Pandora's small, inhospitable landmasses. Inhospitable because of the 'demons': Pandora's native fauna takes many varied forms but all are extremely vicious and unpleasant.
Oakes, the Ceepee, doesn't believe Ship is God and is trying to cleanse Pandora of its demons so humankind can live on Pandora independantly of Ship.
Ship, seemingly bored with the current situation, awakens Raja Flattery. Raja is another Ceepee, like Oakes. Ship tells Raja that it is disappointed with humanity. It wants humans to learn how to WorShip properly and Raja is tasked with leading the humans in finding the correct way to WorShip. The incentive? If Raja fails then Ship will erase humanity from history!
From this starting point the authors lead us on what is, quite frankly, a bit of a mind bender.
Each of the main characters has their own agenda. It's not like a group of them are off to do good, more like each man/woman/clone for themself! A bit like a predecessor to Lost.
Before long we have poets trying to communicate with kelp, bizarre genetic engineering and plenty of people questioning whether that voice in their head really is Ship.
Anyone who has read much Frank Herbert will recognise his trademarks in this book. Plenty of theological musings and introverted deliberation. Each chapter opens with an extract from a fictional written work, such as journals of the main characters. Again, a typical Frank Herbert touch. Unusually, though, the chapters average about five or six pages each. This means if you're reading in bed and feel your lids getting heavy you don't need to struggle to make it to the end of a chapter (I hate putting books down mid-chapter).
I very much enjoyed this read. There is a definite eco message in this
book – mankind must be careful what it does to its environment but there
is certainly more going on than just that. If you fancy having your noodle bent a little then this
is well worth finding.
• The Day of the Triffids
• The Quest for the Holy Ale
• 1012 Facehugged Meeple