Tim Bowler, Frozen Fire
Sometimes, I like to pick up a young adult’s book since they usually are quickly read and many of them are excellent and imaginative novels that can also be enjoyed by adults. Yet, Frozen Fire, written by Tim Bowler, who seems to one of the most appreciated writers for young adults in the UK, left me puzzled and disappointed.
Dusty is a sixteen-year-old girl who is a bit of a rebel. Since her brother Josh disappeared and her mother left, she has been left with many questions, and her father, a kind but weak man, does not provide much reassurance. Once, when her father is out on a date, Dusty answers a strange phone call: a young man, who pretends to be dying, says puzzling things to Dusty leading her to think that he knows what happened to her brother.
Dusty has now one goal: she wants to find the mysterious young man and confront him about her brother, but the young man is elusive, and also, could be very dangerous. Reports of his sightings are numerous, as well as reports of unspeakable acts he allegedly committed. Soon, a mob is after him and also after Dusty, who is suspected to help him.
Frozen Fire is a quite suspenseful supernatural novel, no doubt about it. My problem with it (beside the author’s poor writing style and mediocre descriptive powers, but let’s not get into this here…) is the absence of a true resolution to the riddle. In similar cases, there are two possibilities: the first is that the reader missed the clue or clues which enables to solve the whole thing ( I am an adult accustomed to reading about 2 books a week, very few of them which leave me with the feeling of not having gotten it, but, after all, I am only human and might have lacked concentration, but I just doubt it…), the second is that the author left to the reader the task to solve the mystery for him or herself, assuming he or she wishes to. I am OK with this as long as the clues are enough to arrive to an interpretation that makes sense. In this particular case, I call it a cop out: Tim Bowler had an idea but no clue where it was leading exactly, and did not hesitate to string the reader along to no end. What a lazy thing to do… (and I am not one of those readers who likes to have everything spelt out, but I think Bowler just took the easy way out, and I resent it). Young readers who rated this novel a five should read more novels, by different authors and in various genres, and come back to judge this one after they have enough material to compare. As for the novel being the winner of a prize (the Carnegie Medal), well, it is not the first time in the history of the novel that a mediocre book gets a distinction…
I am not sure I will try a Tim Bowler’s novel again. Try Sarah Wray instead, she writes really good mysteries for teens, carefully plotted and with everything neatly tied up in the end, and she doesn’t take the (young) reader for an idiot!
Rating: 2,5/5
Isaac Asimov, Prelude to Foundation
After completing the Robots series, I wanted to go on with the Empire novels, but those have been out of print for years. So, I proceeded to read the Foundation novels, hoping that I would not miss much in between. I was not disappointed, since Prelude to Foundation ties in nicely with the Robots series, in a completely unexpected way (by me, at least…)
Prelude to Foundation takes place in the years 12’000. Cleon I is emperor of the Galaxy, which counts millions of planets (at the time when the Robots novels take place, only a few planets are colonized). The Empire is more or less stable, but Cleon is uneasy: many emperors before him have been murdered, and there is always the possibility of rebellion. Trantor, the planet of the emperor, is where the risk is bigger: many different populations live on it, and some are quite powerful, since the empire is dependent on them for food or energy.
Hari Seldon is a young mathematician. While presenting his theory of psychohistory at a convention on Trantor, he is not aware that this theory, which says that prediction of the future based on a study of the history of the different planets of the Galaxy is “possible, but not practical”, is about to change the course of his life forever. The emperor, however, does not want to hear about impractical: if Hari is unable to predict the future, at least people could think that he can, and he could therefore ensure peace and stability for the Empire and their emperor’s reign. But Hari refuses to lie and decides to go back home. Chetter Hummin, a journalist, manages to convince him that Demerzel, Cleon’s counselor, is after him and will bring him back to the imperial Palace whenever it is suitable. He also insists that the empire is in danger, that it is decaying, and that it would benefit greatly from Hari’s theory, if Hari agrees to work on it. Despite the hugeness and improbability of the task, Hari agrees, and the Flight begins: from the university of Trantor, where he meets Dors, a female student in history who accompanies him on the rest of his Flight, to the poor and insecure region of Dahl, with an unpleasant stay with the austere Mycogenians, Hari flees from Demerzel and works hard on making his theory more practical…
With Prelude to Foundation, Isaac Asimov continues weaving the endless possibilities of human diversity, designing new populations with sociological evolutions that show his visionary powers as a writer. As I have mentioned before, with this volume, he establishes the link with the Robots series, and the study in evolutionism, with the Mycogenians as heirs of the Aurorians and the people of Dahl descending from the earthmen is particularly fascinating. Soon, Hari’s Flight becomes a quest, as he realizes that the impracticality of his theory could be partially solved by what he learns about the past of the Galaxy. Asimov’s influence on other sci-fi writers is always present, and this volume makes no exception: I saw in mother Rittah, from Dahl, an obvious model for The Matrix’s Oracle.
And once again, Asimov’s skills in plotting surprised me, as I was unable to foresee the final twists, which amply made up for some lengths in the development of the story.
Highly recommended novel, but please, if you’re discovering Asimov, start with the Robots series, since Prelude to Foundation would lose a lot of its meaning without a previous knowledge of Robots, Asimov’s universe being such a carefully constructed one…
Rating: 4/5
David Ebershoff, The 19th Wife
Jordan Scott is a twenty-year-old gay man who has been kicked out from Mesadale, where the Firsts, a dissident branch of the Mormon community, which still condones polygamy, lives unconcerned with federal laws. When his mother is accused of murdering her husband, whose 19th wife she was, Jordan visits her in prison and is soon persuaded that she is not guilty of shooting his father with a rifle. But a message, written online by the victim just before his death, says that the 19th wife has just entered the room, and makes a damning evidence against her. Jordan tries to convince his mother’s lawyer of her innocence, and goes back to Mesadale, in the hope of uncovering the secrets of this enclosed community, to which he used to belong before his excommunication…
Parallel to the story of Scott’s battle for releasing his mother from prison, we follow the story of Ann Eliza Young, 19th wife of Brigham Young, second prophet of the Latter Day Saints, who divorced her famous husband and fought for bringing an end to the practice of polygamy. For this part of the story, the author made a thorough research, using true testimonies, letters and documents connected to the historical figures involved. But the documents figuring in the novel are all fictional, though inspired by the truth.
Some months ago, I have read half of John Krakauer’s non-fictional novel concerning the Mormons: Under the Banner of Heaven. Although I found the history of this comparatively new religious movement quite fascinating, I found the writing tedious, and finally concluded that, despite the fact that it was interesting, there was only so much I wanted to know in details about this subject. Therefore, when I heard about The 19th Wife, I thought it would be a more pleasant way to have an insight into the world of Mormonism. In that respect, I was not disappointed. The tale of how John Smith, from farmer’s son, became a self-proclaimed prophet and managed to gather enough followers is told a with a lot less details than in Krakauer’s book, and makes for a quite enjoyable read.
I liked this novel, part history, part fiction, although I thought it was dragging on a bit, towards the end (Brigham Young’s journal in jail did not add much, in my opinion, and was rather tedious). The character of Jordan appeared quite unsympathetic at the beginning but progressively grew on me. David Ebershoff managed to show the complexities and psychological impact of plural marriages, both on wives and on children, particularly well. Although this could be a grim subject, he infused some humor and a lightness of tone that was very welcomed. All in all a good novel, but Ebershoff didn’t quite manage to make the parts concerning Ann Eliza Young, even when diversifying the points of view, quite as lively and entertaining as those concerning Jordan.