The Kent Montana Adventures

The Eyre Affair (©2001)

This is a book that came to me from a good friend of mine who lives in Japan. He made a point of sending me the book with a revised cover and with little more to go on than “Read this.” So I did. Which made this all the more fun to read as I had no preconceptions going in – as they say I was coming in blind.

At it’s simplest it’s a twisted alternate history tale where things are familiar but different enough to have a delightfully fresh feel. Here we have England still at war with those pesky Russians in the Crimera and popular culture is obsessed with the classics: Shakespeare, Dickens, and of course Charlotte Bronte. Richard the III is staged along the lines of a sing along version of The Sound of Music crossed with The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Thursday Next is the heroine, and she’s a member of The Special Operations Network, SO-27 (literary detectives). Early in the adventure Thursday gets temporarily assigned to SO-5 (weird stuff) and there meets up with a pretty bad dude named Hades (which is bad) and this guy is near the tops of the bad guy list. Along the way this bad man steals original manuscripts – why is a bit of a mystery, until it’s revealed that he has found a way to change the source material, thereby changing all subsequent versions of the story forever. This leads to real fun when Hades snatches Jane Eyre. For those who are familiar with the story it’s a lot of clever fun, and if you’re not so familiar with the story it’s still a lot of clever fun.

This is one of those strange little books that borders on being too smart at times, but the story is equal parts mystery, adventure, historical romance and comedy that sucked me in early and really kept my attention the whole way through. There are a number of great moments throughout such Thursday’s time traveling father who pops up asking about various historical figures and blaming the French for screwing things up. Or the aunt and uncle who have real bookworms (if you’ve not read the story, don’t go looking for spoilers) and know how to use them.

The Eyre Affair is one of those novels that comes around every so often that is smart, funny, and most importantly entertaining. There are a few more Thursday Next stories out there, and I’m going to be on the lookout for them in the near future.

To my friend Tony who sent me the book in the first place with all the spoilers from the back cover removed (click the image to enlarge), thanks.

Reviewed March 2, 2009

The Third Twin

Jeannie is a young and upcoming scientist, who as a teenager was a punker. She's kept her nose ring, and Follett mentions it about fifty times over the course of the novel.  Her research project is trying to solve the "Nature / Nurture" argument by studying twins raised apart. We get some half baked DNA mumbo jumbo to support her argument.  She meets Steve, who is accused of raping Jeannie's best friend. Along the way, we discover that there are twins out there who are the product of generic manipulation. This book features a cast of evil people, and a heroine that must beat the odds and save the day.

For a "cutting edge" thriller there were some pretty lame bits, particularly with regards to computer technology. What type of large institution uses modems and AOL? Ever hear of a computer network and a good old T1? That being said, as far as a fast paced nail biting adventure this book was a page burner. If you like lots of mindless fun, with over the top villains this is good brain candy.

Night Over Water (©1991)

I’ve enjoyed all of the stories I’ve read by Mister Follet, and Night Over Water is no exception. I liked the idea of relating the story around early transatlantic flight, particularly the idea of a luxury floatplane. The story itself is set on the eve of the Second World War. While there is a central thread to the story (Mister Follet introduces enough characters to choke an elephant) there isn’t a lot of depth to them either, they feel as lifeless as an old drugstore wooden Indian. That being said the author deftly maintains the tension through a series a fast cuts and sub-storyline changes. In some ways it’s kind of cheating since it’s more a literary slight of hand device than it is a narrative tool.

Still, that aside I enjoyed the story and it was good chewing gum fun. Which when all is said and done is what I was looking for.

Reviewed October 20, 2005

Code To Zero (©2000)

Luke wakes up one morning and finds he's a homeless bum, with no memory and a niggling feeling he's not what he appears to be - in fact he thinks he a rocket scientist. Set at the height of the cold war, Follett pulls out all the stops and shamelessly uses every cliché in the book to tell his story. And you know what? It works - I think I got a blister on my finger from turning the pages so fast. In fact the book goes by so quickly you hardly have time to pay attention to what's going on.

Along the way we get two different stories working from the past to the present, the present to the past, and the present to the end, and when it's all done all of the loose ends are tied up into a nice little bow. Just like the last one I read it's true here too - If you like lots of mindless fun, with over the top villains this is good brain candy.

Reviewed February 2002

The Princes of the Air (©1982)

This was an unusual book. If taken for the title and the dust jacket blurb then this was a complete and utter disappointment. I had expected one thing, and it took my brain a while to change gears and allow the story to unfold as written, not as preconceived. "They have the fastest ship in the galaxy - and faster wits!" What a load of horse apples. However, there is a really solid story in here, it's just that it's not the easiest thing to pull out of the pages.

Okay, here's what works. The narrative is propelling, and the story (such as it is) unfolds revealing more and more tidbits to the reader. I'm still not sure what this was about really, but in the end there was a bad guy, a climax and an ending. The blending of hi and lo tech is well done, brings to mind elements of Dune. The way the author uses robots (samechs) is really well done.

Too bad the people at TOR marketed the book so poorly. A different title and a different take couple have pushed this better. Although it really is a hard one to classify. Still not sure if it was successful or not, but there was an interesting story, and some different characters in here.

In a way this is almost cyberpunk space opera, before the cyberpunk stuff took off.

Who knows?

Reviewed March 8, 2004

Design for Great-Day

As an Alan Dean Foster book, this is a total dud.  Really sad and outdated. However, having done a little reading about the co-author I found out that this book is just an expansion on a 1950's novella (okay, some of the reading was on the inside of the dust jacket).  Now it makes sense.  The story doesn't really hold up all that well over the years, but it does have its moments of fun.  A might makes right story, that old Gene would've taken exception too.  No Prime Directive Nonsense.  Just another example of manifest destiny.  The pacing is even, and is not a demanding read.  Mildly entertaining, but nothing special.