Lowly’s Book Blog

This is the last of the books shortlisted for the CBC Older Readers category that I needed to read. And it took me much longer than normal simply because I found this book too difficult to read at night, and that is my main time for reading. Why difficult at night, because I found the ideas and themes too distressing to allow peaceful sleep.

But back to the beginning. Marty is a country boy with a very rough life. His mother is gone, and his father believes in toughening up his boys. Perhaps fortunately, Marty’s father is away from home for days at a time following work that is available in the country. So Marty looks after his younger brother and the farm. But Marty is really more sensitive than appearances would indicate. He has a beloved dog, Gwab, that he rescued as a tiny pup. And Marty loves growing trees.

Marty also has a shadowy memory of something traumatic that happened when he was little. He can’t remember what it was, and his father refuses to tell him anything. In the course of this book, Marty decides that he has to find this shadow on his life, and confront it.

This book really is about a young man’s descent into madness. The reader can see it happening, and yet is powerless to stop reading. When the traumatic event is finally revealed, I, as an adult reader, was absolutely horrified. How could anyone allow a child to see, and even become an accomplice to something like that. Sorry Heffernan, but although it plot was powerful, I feel it was unnecessarily violent.

Yes this book has been published to hold the attention of young adult men who would otherwise be spending their time on computer games, often equally violent as this story. And at that level, it will be excellent. However, some of those young adult men are also still boys. I firmly believe that reading is a powerful experience for young people because it enables them to experience life indirectly but still with a very powerful involvement. Sometimes the experience can be too powerful.

After reading Conspiracies of Rome, I went back to my bag of read but unblogged books and picked out this one. I finished during a class a few months ago, enjoyed it greatly, but never managed to find the time to write about it. Now is the time.

This tale is a far more traditional Roman history novel. The story is set in the final decades of the republic, and based on a real historical event. After Crassus destroyed the Roman legions (yes Crassus was the Roman) about 10,000 POWs were captured by the Parthians. No one knows what happened to them, but Lawrence has postulated that at least some Parthians were smart enough to offer these experienced soldiers work as mercenaries. Naturally any Roman mercenaries would be sent to the eastern edge of the empire if for no other reason than to reduce the likelihood of escape. The Partian empire at the time was based around modern Iran, but reached well towards India. This empire controlled the Silk Road, and it is likely that soldiers defending this road would have conduct with ancient Chinese from the Han dynasty.

Lawrence has taken this likely event from history and built a wonderful adventure story. The Roman soldiers, working to maintain their old ways, attract the attention of a young boy Ardavan, an orphan with no known history. Gradually Ardavan finds a place within this legion and helps protect them against internal political forces who believe that Parthian should only be protected by Parthians.

I really enjoyed this read, if for no other reason that it is a good story, told well, and maintains a very realistic atmosphere throughout. This is all too rare in books for children.

This is a book set in a most unusual period of history. Over the years I have read lots of books set in ancient Rome, but almost all of them are set in the final days of the Republic, Julius Caesar and all that. Occasionally there may be a book set in the time of the early emperors. Caligula and Nero are always fun.

Blake has set this book, the first of a trilogy, in the Dark Ages. Rome has been sacked by various barbarian tribes, the buildings are in ruins, the city services destroyed, and yet it is still one of largest cities in the world with an elite trying to pretend that the Empire is still there. The Catholic Church is just beginning to establish a power base in Rome and the English Catholic Church was in its infancy. Blake’s hero, Aelric, is a young Brit, highly intelligent, talented linguist, but not all that socially adept. After Aelric offends King Ethelbert, the bishop decides to send him to Rome in the company of another priest to gather books for the new library in Canterbury.

However, one Aelric arrives in Rome life gets a lot more interesting. He is involved in rescuing sacred relics from thieves and robbing those same thieves of a great deal of gold just before he arrives in the city. All this sudden wealth attracts unwanted attention from both the civil authorities and the church leadership. And then there is the Column of Phodas, multiple murders and even a good ration of heresy.

From this summary it may sound like this book is really only for the specialist reader. However, I found it fascinating. The mystery stayed confusing enough to keep me turning pages. There is enough swordplay to keep the adventure readers going. The sacrifices and ancient religions add a touch of horror. And sorry, but I even found the philosophy discussions interesting. I will be looking forward to more from this author.

This is one book that has been very difficult to categorize. I think it is certainly the best example of multimedia publication I have ever seen. Much of the book is in graphic novel format, but there are pages of narration, and even pages that are definitely picture storybook. At the back of the book is a CD of music to be listened to in conjunction with the story. And certainly the mature language use (colourful terminology abounds) will keep this book out of many libraries.

Then this week the CBC bravely includes it on the Picture Book of the Year shortlist. Certainly this list has had a long history of picture books for older children. And last year’s winner The Arrival was an astounding read for any age. However, I believe Requiem for a Beast is going to appeal to young adults and adults almost exclusively.

To summarise the plot, a young man is working on a station for the first time. On the last muster for the season the crew are searching for wild stock, especially a bull who is dangerous. At this level the story seems superficial. The extraordinary artwork and the intermingled story of an Aboriginal elder and a Minotaur add an incredible complexity to a story that could have been very very average.

I think the most amazing part of this creation is the fact that Matt Ottley did it all, composed the CD, painted the artwork as well as writing and designing the story. What an incredibly creative person Matt must be.

I love this reviewing job. Every now and then I find a new author with a tempting backlist. Someday I’ll even have the time to do all the reading. Not likely for this author who has been writing scifi for 25 years.

The Margarets is set in the not-too-distant future, like the late 21st century. Earth has been badly over-populated, all animals and plants gone and water is scarce. Other intelligent life forms have found Earth and ‘helping’ with the survival of humanitiy either by assisting humans to set up colonies elsewhere in the galaxy or enslaving the ‘excess’ humans as a workforce to support their own economies. Margaret’s parents are part of a scientific research party working to release the water from the Martian ice caps for use by humans on earth. As a result she grows up as the only human child around. Like many children, she invents secret friends, a queen, a healer, a warrior, etc. Together they provide her with a rich and varied friendship group. Then when Margaret is 12 the research project is closed down and the family is forced to return to Earth.

What follows is an incredibly intricate and involved story where each of the imaginary friends takes form and becomes real and each one moves to a different human colony. Years later the seven Margarets come together and humanity has a new beginning.

I once read a definition of science fiction that said that the best scifi had a very believable world view with one science fact twisted to fiction. In The Margarets the whole idea of subdividing Margaret takes a leap of faith. Tepper guides the reader through this impossibility gently and each Margaret becomes very real. Also this book could easily have become very disjointed, however Tepper’s invention of the ghrym parasite links all the different characters.

Tepper also sticks with known mythical characters in telling her stories. As the reader discovers the identity of Gardener, Mr Weathereye and Lady Badness suddenly the novel makes sense. Regular readers of this column will know how much I like that in speculative fiction writing.