Book Review: The Four Fingers of Death by Rick Moody

I saw this book at my local book shop several times and I was so tempted. This is a beautiful big book, an American print (i.e., nice and floppy, stays open on the page that you fold it open on – unlike European paperbacks). So, after three separate visits to the shop staring at the book, I bought it.

It’s an intriguing story, science fiction. But it’s also very weird! It’s a big book, densely written. It took me a while to finish this one.

The Four Fingers of Death: What it is about

This book consists of four parts: an introduction and an afterword by “the writer” of the main story, Montese Crandall, and the actual story, in two parts, one taking place on Mars, the other on Earth.

Montese Crandall lives in 2025 and is a dealer in rare baseball cards. He meets and befriends a man with whom he plays chess. This man has been assigned to write a novelization of a 1963 horror movie, The Crawling Hand. Crandall and the man play chess with the novelization at stake: Crandall wins, and so he writes the book.

Crandall’s book is about a Mars exploration, with 3 manned space pods (each with 3 people inside) landing on Mars to start colonising it. Many things go wrong and in the end, it’s only one man that returns to Earth, that is, his arm does.

The second part of Crandall’s story is about the arm returning to Earth. It is contaminated with flesh-eating bacteria that will kill everyone (slowly) that comes into contact with it. Unfortunately, it can still move around by itself and somehow manages to travel some distance. This part of the story is centred around a scientist, Dr. Koo, who has been injecting a chimpanzee with the brain tissue of his deceased wife with interesting results. His assistent, Noelle, and his son Jean-Paul, also play a large part.

The Four Fingers of Death: What I thought

Monteses Crandall’s introduction was a little weird, but OK. I loved that it took place in the future, with things just a little bit different from now. Then the story about the Mars exploration: I loved that and totally bought it. I didn’t expect to see most of the crew die off one by one, but it all seemed very possible and I wouldn’t be surprised if Mars is a lot like it’s described in the book (and an exploration to Mars would follow roughly along the same lines).

I felt really present on Mars, with the Earth a long way away. Communications took over 30 minutes one way, so long discussions weren’t possible. Because of that, quite soon the crew started to ignore the instructions they had been given and filled their days the way they liked best. Still, there was the constant worry that one or more of the crew had been given a secret mission that might not be in the best interest of the rest of them. There were very believable quarrels and fights (and a love match) among the crew.

The second half of Crandall’s novelization was incredibly weird. I don’t mean run-for-your-life-and-don’t-look-back weird but more in a sense of where-did-that-writer-get-those-ideas? The Korean scientist has frozen his wife’s body and used parts of it on a chimp. A crawling arm infects some of the population and people who get into contact with the arm don’t bat many eyelids upon seeing such an arm.

I liked the post-apocalyptic feel of the Californian town where this part of the story took place. But the writing was very dense in places and not always held my interest. In this part, I skim-read some, maybe about 30 or so pages in total. The story of Jean-Paul story (the son of the scientist) was partially in the form of stream of consciousness which I really dislike.

So in the end, while I didn’t real all of the book, I very much enjoyed the experience of reading the book. Had the book been just about the Mars exploration, I’d probably have given it 5 stars. The second part could have been a sequel (or just left out) – although the second part was really the main story, as the Mars exploration was the preliminary to the crawling arm appearing in California.

Rating: 4/5 stars

Number of pages: 742

First published: 2010

Genre: science fiction

Quick Book Review: 172 Hours on the Moon by Johan Harstad

I found this book in the YA section in the library when I was looking for a book for my son (14). I’ve read two of this writer’s books (written for adults) so I was excited to see another of his books. My son liked it loads and I enjoyed it too. I’ve previously read Buzz Aldrin: What Happened to You in All the Confusion, and Hässelby by this author from Norway.

***

There’s a… problem on the moon and NASA needs to get back there after they haven’t been there for many years. There is a secret base on the moon which will be used for the first time ever. But there is a money problem. So, to get lots of media attention (and the accompanying funds), they hold a lottery for teenagers between 14 and 18 years old. Three lucky teenagers from all over the world will join five astronauts in their trip to the moon.

So, Midori from Japan, Mia from Norway and Antoine from France train in the USA for their trip up into the skies. Before they leave for the moon, a few strange things happen to them. And once on the moon, things are not quite as they expected, either. The 172 hours that they were to spend on the moon will be spend differently than planned.

This book combined the fascination of the author with moon travelling from Buzz Aldrin: What Happened to You in All the Confusion with the rather unexpected ending of Hässelby. I loved reading this book and towards the end, when it was clear something was very wrong, I was really spooked. I very much wanted to know what was happening, but I also wanted the book to last a bit longer.

A very enjoyable story. The book follows the three teenagers but Mia from Norway has a slightly bigger role in the story. She didn’t actually want to go but hoped it would be good publicity for the rock band that she’s in. During the stay on the moon, the teenagers are forced to take a more active role as time passes. This is done in a believable way, I thought. The children weren’t made more heroïc than could realistically be expected of them, as you often see in children’s fiction.

There were a lot of pictures, too. They were all photographs of situations in the book and maps of the space station. I really liked this, as it made the book more realistic.

A scary story that you won’t want to put down!

Rating: 4.5/5 stars

Number of pages: 368

First published: 2008

Genre: science fiction, YA

Book Review: Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

This book was on the shortlist for the Indie Lit Awards in the Speculative Fiction genre. I read it because I was in the jury for this genre, which was a pleasure to do! (And actually, I wanted to read it anyway, not just for the awards). Oh, and the book won!

I enjoyed this book all the way through. Although it is set in the future, it was like I was reading something real, that was happening now.

Ready Player One: What it is about

Wade Watts, 18 years old, lives in a trailer on top of many more trailers. He is living with his awful aunt and is very poor. He spends most of his time in a van on a junk yard. There are junk yards with piles of cars everywhere, because petrol cars cannot be used anymore as there is not enough petrol left in the world.

In the van, Wade logs into OASIS to go to school. This is a huge online system. With some special glasses and gloves on, it feels as if he really is present at school, or playing online games after school hours. Wade is especially interested in finding a treasure, that has been left in the system by the inventor of OASIS, John Halliday, as a legacy after his death. Many people have tried to find it but so far no one has ever found even the first of three hidden keys.

Wade, however, does manage to find the first key and his online friends (or people that will become his friends) follow suit. But the Sixes are also after the keys. They are a large group of organised people who will do anything to find the treasure. They pressure Wade to tell them where the first key is as there will be severe repercussions if he doesn’t comply.

Bit by bit Wade discovers more clues to the prize, but has to fight off the Sixes at the same time.

There are a lot of references to old computer games and movies (from the 1980 especially), many of which Wade has to play with a perfect score in order to get closer to the keys.

Ready Player One: What I thought

I loved this book so much! I thought it was fantastic. From the description you might think this book is for computer geeks and it is. But it’s also for people that have an average interest in computer games.

I was totally immersed in the book while I was reading it. When I wasn’t reading, it was as if this acquaintance of mine, Wade Watts, was somewhere out there fighting a difficult battle. Only when I finished the book, and the issues were resolved, was I able to let go of the story.

It was a dystopian story in which the big corporation that the Sixes were working for, was in charge of most of what happened in the country, with lots of people working for them in a kind of slavery situation. Wade Watts is determined to undermine them and gets himself in dangerous situations to achieve this.

The world building could have been a bit more comprehensive. At times I felt I was looking through a tube, seeing Wade and his actions, but not really having a good idea what the rest of the world might look like and what its people were doing. This didn’t matter much, as the pace of the book was high and there was little time to stop and reflect on such matters.

My favorite moment was when Wade is in OASIS looking for a key and finds himself in a movie, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and discovers that he is a character in this movie. He has to (and can, as he has seen the movie many times) reproduce the exact dialogue of his character at exactly the right time. If he passes through the complete movie with few errors, he will be allowed to go to the next level of the search for the treasure. What a brilliant idea!

This is an absolutely wonderful book if you like science fiction-type books. A little computergames-geekyness doesn’t hurt, but even without that, this makes a great read.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
I got this book: for review from Crown publishers for the Indie Lit Awards.
I read this in: English, the original language
Number of pages: 363
First published: 2011
Genre: science fiction
Extra: An interview with Ernest Cline, after winning the Indie Lit Awards

Book Review: 11/22/63 by Stephen King

This book was on the shortlist for the Indie Lit Awards in the Speculative Fiction genre. As I was in the jury for this genre, I had to read it, which was a pleasure to do! (And actually, I wanted to read it anyway, not just for the awards).

It’s a huge book, and it could have been a bit shorter for my liking, but a good read anyway.

11/22/63: What it is about

Jake Epping, a 35-year old high school teacher, is asked by hamburger concession owner Al to go back in time to stop president Kennedy from being assassinated. Al has found a portal to the past in his store room. He is too ill himself to make any more journeys into the past (although he’s been there many times) and so he hopes Jake will do this for him. Every trip, however long it takes in the past, only lasts two minutes in the current time.

Before he makes up his mind, a mature student tells him about a horrific incident in which his father killed most of his family. Jake decides to interfere in this incident which happened in 1958, the year that the portal leads to.  Then he waits until 1963 to try and stop the Kennedy assassination. But while waiting, he falls in love.

11/22/63: What I thought

I enjoyed this book a lot. I loved the 1950s feel. It was clear that King had spend time researching the details to make this a convincing story.

The first 100 or so pages were a bit slow, but then the story took off. There were some slow bits in the middle too. At least, Jake spends several years seeking out Lee Harvey Oswald and making plans to stop him from murdering Kennedy. This I found a little boring at times. Too much focus was given on this. I enjoyed the love story with Sadie much more.

The book felt a bit disjointed at times because of the different story lines. The result of Jake’s visit to the past was surprising and could maybe have been expanded on a little more.

But overall, this was a very good read with a great feel for the time.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

I got this book: for review from Simon & Schuster for the Indie Lit Awards.

I read this in: English, the original language

Number of pages: 850

First published: 2011

Genre: science fiction

Book Review: I Am Legend by Richard Matheson

As far as I remembered, I’d seen (and very much enjoyed) the movie of this book, so I was keen to read it. It turns out, the book is not much like the movie I’ve seen. The initial few chapters could  be the same as the beginning of the movie, but after that?

However, according to the Internet Movie Database it is the same movie, but it seems to be only very loosely based on the book. The name of the main character is the same in both book and movie (played by Will Smith), the situation he is in is the same, but after that, it diverges quite a bit.

Not a problem: I enjoyed the movie AND I enjoyed the book!

I Am Legend: What it is about

Robert Neville is probably the last living human on earth. After a virus has infected most of the population, they have turned into vampires who are after his blood. He lives in his family home, boarded up so the vampires can’t get in and during the day, when the vampires are comatose, he goes out to find food, kill as many vampires as he can find, and generally gather items that he needs to make his life as best as it can be.

The story takes place between January 1976 and January 1979. It is not a continuous story, because after learning how Robert is getting on at a particular moment (several days or weeks), we then move forward in time to the next moment that is being focused on.

At some point, Robert starts to spend a lot of time on trying to find a vaccine against the virus. He experiments on vampires that are asleep during the day but there are so many what-if’s and why’s that he finds it incredibly hard to make sense of his data. Slowly he gets closer to the solution.

Meanwhile, the vampires aren’t giving up, and it’s only a matter of time before they will get him. Unless Robert can fabricate a vaccine that will work against them.

I Am Legend: What I thought

I lapped it up, most of the book. I loved the story, how Robert is keeping himself alive, how he’s trying to work on a vaccine, the world he was living in. Until near the end. The set up of the story was great, the middle was good, too, but the ending was a little too coincidental and sudden. I think we could have done with a little bit more information about the situation in the world at that particular time. If that sounds cryptic: that’s fine! I would not want to give away the story.

I love post-apocalyptic stories: the world is changed and people are trying to survive for better or worse. A good post-apocalyptic story is interesting when the new world is described in detail and you can feel that the author has thought about it to a great extend so that everything makes sense and fits together well.

In this case, there was some world-building but it wasn’t quite clear what the situation was when Robert was cut off of information about the world (i.e., radio and television no longer working). Were there pockets of people still living out there? What about other countries? Why didn’t anyone set up a system so survivors could contact each other, etc.

On the other hand, the “world-building” inside Robert’s house and life was comprehensive. It was clear how he went through each day and how he managed to keep electricity, water and food stuffs. His ideas about the virus and how it might be beaten were also comprehensive and well thought-out.

I loved reading this book and it was a real pity it’s so short! If you’ve enjoyed the movie: this is nothing like the book, so do read the book if you haven’t done so yet.

Rating: 4.5 stars

I read this in: English, the original language

Number of pages: 164

First published: 1954

Genre: science fiction, dystopia

Extra: I read this for the Magical March Challenge by Roof Beam Reader

Book Review: The Human Race by O. C. Heaton

This is the Leeswammes’ Blog Officially Ugliest Book as voted by my readers. And I can tell you, I didn’t get used to it while reading the book, either. In fact, whenever I took a break from reading, I put the book down on its front cover so I didn’t have to look at it.

The book wasn’t a bad read. It was less in-your-face than the front cover might suggest. Part of it takes place in Iceland which I enjoyed a lot but overall, it was a bit too long-winded for me.

I read this book as part of my TBR Slash challenge which stated that I could stop reading at page 75 if I had had enough – I’m happy to say I read the whole book!

The Human Race: What it is about

Uma Jakobsdóttir has the secret to cheap travel that would save the world from a lot of CO2 output. She lives in Iceland when she continues the work of her deceased father. Ethan Rae is one of Britain’s richest investors and he is asked to finance her venture to distribute it all over the world.

There is one problem: in the wrong hands this would be a dangerous weapon. Enter the wrong hands: Samuel Reynolds III, heir to an airline in financial distress. He stops at nothing to get hold of this new technology.

Soon, Uma and Ethan’s lives are in danger as the battle is fought in Iceland and New York.

The Human Race: What I thought

I enjoyed reading this book overall, especially the scenes in Iceland, as I’ve been there myself and I’m fascinated by the country. In fact, I loved the scenes in the Blue Lagoon! They were the best part of the book for me.

There was a mist hanging over the warm waters of the Blue Lagoon and it was night, so the sky was dark. Not much could be seen and then a body floats towards Ethan in the water. I’m not revealing much here, just that it was very suspenseful.

Some of the book was rather technical: there were explanations of physics and environmental politics, as well as computer hacking. I didn’t mind these, but they took too much of the story, I thought. But the same is true for the rest of the book: it was a bit too long for me.

The Blue Lagoon scenes really made the book interesting for me, as well as the scenes in the interior of the country, but otherwise, I found this book just-interesting-enough to finish.

Rating: 3.5/5

I got this book: from the author in a giveaway

I read this in: English, the original language

Number of pages: 440

First published: 2009

Genre: science fiction, contemporary fiction

Book Review: The Surrogates by Robert Venditti and Brett Weldele

A few years ago I saw the movie The Surrogates on t.v. As I like SF/dystopia types of stories, this movie appealed to me a lot. I had no idea that it was based on a novel, let alone that it was based on a graphic novel.

But then Trisha at Eclectic/Eccentric held a giveaway in which this book was one of the choices. I entered for this book, and I won!

The Surrogates: What it is about

In 2054, most of us stay at home and use a surrogate, an artificial human being, to live our lives. We’re connected to it, control it, and can feel everything the surrogate feels. It’s safe, we never have to leave our building.

When surrogates are being killed in the middle of the night, two police officers (or more correctly: their surrogates) go on the hunt for the killer. There seems to be a religious group that is against the use of surrogates and they are the first suspects.

After some intelligent research they find out who the killer is and manage to apprehend him. Interestingly, along the way, the surrogate of one of the police officers is damaged and rather than getting a replacement, he decides to leave his house and handle the investigation as himself.

The book I had contained all 5 episodes of this story, that were previously printed separately. It also contained pictures of the original five covers, as well as a discussion on how the book was conceived and the technicalities behind drawing the pictures.The book also contained further full-page pictures of the detectives and of the suspect.

The Surrogates: What I thought

I loved the movie, I liked the book. It is a very interesting concept and the fact that we are connected to the internet so much even now suggests that a future where we are connected to a surrogate, is a possible option, although technologically still very challenging.

I don’t read graphic novels very often, so I can’t judge how this book fits in with others. But I found some of the drawings overtly simplistic (as in “a 3-year old can do these”) while others were much more sophisticated. I think there was a reason behind it: when someone was seen from afar, his drawing tended not to be very clear, as you’d get when seeing someone in real life.

There were a lot of pictures without text, and I had to watch out not to skim them, but take good notice, as they were definitely part of the story.

The pages were beautifully shiny, and while most pages weren’t in full colour, the pictures always had a background colour (the same colour for all pictures on a page). I felt it was done really beautifully.

Rating: 4/5 stars

I got this book: from Trisha of Eclectic/Eccentric

I read this in: English, the original language

Number of pages: 208

First published: 2006

Genre: graphic novel, science fiction