Review – Snuff – Terry Pratchett #Fantasy

Snuff (Discworld Novel 39)

I love Terry Pratchett’s Discworld fantasy series. I love the characters – particularly Sam Vimes who features in several books including Snuff. Pratchett’s world is dark, yet humorous; fictional yet a great reflection of humanity with all its foibles; and most importantly it’s a believable world.

In this tale Commander Sam Vimes, Duke of Ankh Morpork, Blackboard Monitor is persuaded to take a holiday in the country. He’s not keen. Vimes is not a country gentleman, and he reckons it’s going to be boring.

Smugglers, slavery, murder, the rights of goblins, the question of what makes a sentient people, music, drugs, books about poop, the age-old class struggle – it most certainly is NOT a boring holiday! As ever Pratchett keeps the pace, and the wry humour going all through.

As with many of the later books, there’s a message here, cleverly woven into an awesome tale. The Discworld is medieval Europe (sort of), and the people therein are a window into humanity. What makes a group of creatures ‘people’? What you see, might not be what you get. Treat others how you wish to be treated. Good and evil – are in all of us, and ‘I was only following orders’. These are some of the themes running through this book, and many of the others.

All in all a cracking good tale of bravery, flawed heroes, frantic chases, goblins, and solving small crimes, so bigger ones can be solved.

5 stars!

 

Review – Lawyers in Hell #Sharedworld #darkfantasy #historicalfic

https://amzn.to/2pPSKtm – AMAZON UK

https://amzn.to/2GkYHWw – AMAZON

Lawyers in Hell forms part of the Heroes in Hell shared world. As usual with these anthologies, there is an eclectic mix of stories. Some I enjoyed more than others, but there was nothing I didn’t like. From Guy Fawkes trying to sue Satan (Fawkes believes he is a martyr and thus should be in heaven) to Leonides dealing with a recalcitrant Alexander, to ex-presidents, to succubi causing mayhem and Erra and his Sibbiti (an ongoing theme) there is mischief afoot in Hell.

It shows the talent of these authors that although the stories are clearly written by different people, feature a bewildering array of historical characters in all sorts of weird situations they flow smoothly in a brilliantly crafted world.

Humanity will be humanity – even in hell. And thus individuals wish to sue other individuals and the lawyers who worth and the Hall of Injustice are kept busy. Of course, being hell, nothing is simple, nothing works properly and there’s always a hidden agenda. All the characters have some form of penance to pay – be it taking cases they cannot win, representing demons, facing monsters, dealing with the unpredictable technology, and generally trying to survive Hell. The stories are sad (as I said humanity seeks to be humanity with its many faults), darkly humorous, clever, weird and enticing.

5 stars.

Reviews 2018 – The Hinge Factor – Erik Durschmied – History/Military History

Amazon UK link The Hinge Factor: How Chance and Stupidity Have Changed History  

Amazon.com link The Hinge Factor

From the wooden horse at Troy to a harrowing photograph snapped in Vietnam, from Robert E. Lee’s lost battle plans to the evacuation of Dunkirk, world history has been shaped as much by chance and error as by courage and heroism. Time and again, invincible armies fall to weaker opponents in the face of impossible odds, when the outcome had seemed a foregone conclusion. How and why does this happen? What is it that decides the fate of battle?

The Hinge Factor is an instructive, fascinating look at how the unpredictable, the absurd, and the bizarre have shaped the face of history in war.

5 Stars.

What is the ‘hinge factor’? Basically, it is the pivotal event that led to a particular outcome of battle – from generals despising each other and not coming to one another’s aid, to the weather, to misunderstood orders, to a war-journalist capturing an iconic shot – which turned a nation against a war. It’s a ‘what if’.  What if it hadn’t rained at Agincourt? What is it had been cloudy when the Enola Gay dropped the bomb? What if the Trojans hadn’t fallen for the ruse of the Wooden Horse? In many cases, the outcome and possibly history itself would be very different.

The accounts are fairly lengthy but taken from reliable sources (relatively). Yet each and every one reads like a tale of heroes, courage and, often, sheer bloody stupidity. The author is a correspondent – and it shows. He knows his stuff, and he knows what makes a good story and what is important. (check out his Wikipage Erik Durschmied). 

The Vietnam account is actually the author’s own account of what happened in those terrible years, and how news coverage changed the tide of that particular conflict.

The accounts make one wonder how many lives would have not been lost if only the General’s hadn’t behaved like morons, if only it had been cloudy, or hadn’t rained, or the retreating soldiers had spiked their own guns.  I found it quite a moving book – history does indeed repeat itself first as tragedy and then as farce (Karl Marx).

The account I found most interesting was the Berlin Wall. I remember seeing that on TV – something many people would never believe could happen. Within a few hours the tide that had been building suddenly erupted and flowed inexorably towards freedom for East Germany (as it was then). It was the only revolution and ‘battle’ in history where no blood was shed. But what if the border guards had started firing at the crowds? What if the orders had come to stop the tide of humanity? There would have been a bloodbath.

As usual, I am meandering into history, so back to the book.  It’s well written, well researched, thought-provoking and a must for lovers of history, fate and military history.

Reviews 2018 – Eurekaaargh!: A Spectacular Collection of Inventions That Nearly Worked

Eurekaaargh!: A Spectacular Collection of Inventions That Nearly Worked – Adam Hart-Davis

4 Stars

This work presents 100 stories of weird and wonderful inventions, full-blown and well-developed disasters of what seemed to be brilliant inventions that fell at the first fence, or sometimes the second, like the first steam-powered submarine, still lying on the seabed off North Wales.

I love books like this – the real and rather sad history of things. Most of us remember learning about the Montgolfier balloon; the Wright brothers at Kitty Hawk; George Stevenson and his steam engine; and other notable inventors. But what about those that came before and failed? Or did not have the money to patent their invention? Or those whose inventions were too far ahead of their time to be viable. This is a book about these folks – the men (mostly – sorry ladies) who tried (and sometimes died) to better mankind with gadgets and machines and came to a sorry end.

Mr Hart-Davis has done his homework and tells a good tale. The tone is light-hearted, yet informative. There is enough information to draw in the reader but not so much as to get boring, or confusing.  One could dip in and out of this book, entertain one’s friends with it, or simply wonder at the ingenuity and foolishness of people.

Please note most of these are British inventors.

Recommended for fans of history.

 

 

 

Reviews 2018 – Victorian Murderesses: A True History of Thirteen Respectable French and English Women Accused of Unspeakable Crimes

Victorian Murderesses: A True History of Thirteen Respectable French and English Women Accused of Unspeakable Crimes

3.5 stars

This is not a bad book, but it’s not particularly good either.

The cases included in this text are:
– Marie Lafarge and Euphemie Lacoste;
– Madeleine Smith and Angelina  Lemoine;
– Celestine Doudet and Constance Kent;
– Florence Bravo and Henriette Francy;
– Gabrielle Fenayrou and Adelaide Bartlett;
– Florence Maybrick and Claire Reymond.

Good points:

• The French cases were largely unknown to me and that aspect was interesting. The comparisons between French and English middle-class society and the position of women were fairly well discussed.
• There was a mix of cases, although all were ‘respectable’ women from the time. What was expected of middle-class women, and her own expectations – marriage, children and running the household – were discussed at length.  Many had arranged marriages – often to men much older, or totally unsuitable. Divorce was not a viable option, especially as the father would have maintained control of any children, and the money. Thus most of this women were stuck in relationships, not of their choosing (with the exception of Madeleine Smith – who was in a relationship with a man below her station and disapproved of by her family).
• Although the cases were discussed fairly sympathetically there was a lot of the authors own views on whether the particular murderess was guilty of the crime she committed. Not all were, and those who were found guilty may not have been. At least one was judged on her moral crimes (adultery) as much as the actual murder.
• The author had done her research and it showed. The social comparisons were good and I think the most interesting aspect was the emerging position of women in both France and England during the 19th century.  There was good focus on the societal aspects of what may have caused these women to take, or consider taking, the ultimate solution to their woes.

Bad points:

• The book jumped around a lot. All the time. It became hard to follow and sometimes wasn’t clear which case was being discussed. References to other cases made things more confusing.
• The accounts were long and meandered. They became stories in their own right. Why is this bad? For a book that is meant to be a non-fic there was too much of the ‘newspaper’ style telling. Give me the facts – if I want a fiction on the subject I’ll read historical fic about the cases.
• There were quite a few formatting issues.

I just couldn’t really get into the long, often dry accounts of the crimes. It’s a shame because the sociological side of the book was interesting for the most part. If the book had been more structured then the rating would have been higher.

 

Review – Schotts Miscellany

Schotts Miscellany is one of those ‘dip in and out of’ books. It’s a collection of the interesting, the weird and the varied – from Morse Code signs, to collective nouns, to country flag colours, to cricketing terms – there is something of interest to everyone.

It’s not the sort of book to read in one sitting, largely because there aren’t really any links between the facts and thus can be a little confusing. That said, it a lot of fun and if you’re the sort of person who likes to toss in weird knowledge or be the smart arse in a conversation (like me), then this is the book for you.

You can never have too many odd, weird and possibly useless facts.

5 stars. (Although the print is VERY small so get your specs out….)

 

Blurb

Schott’s Miscellany” makes few claims to be exhaustive or even practical. It does, however, claim to be essential. It will afford you great wisdom in the morning, several conversational bons mots for the afternoon, and many an enlightened smile after dark. Where else can you find, packed on to one page, the thirteen principles of witchcraft, the structure of military hierarchy, all of the clothing care symbols, a list of the countries where you drive on the left, and a nursery rhyme about sneezing? Where else, but “Schott’s Miscellany”, will you stumble across John Lennon’s cat, the supplier of bagpipes to the Queen, and the brutal methods of murder encountered by Miss Marple? An encyclopaedia? A dictionary? An almanac? An anthology? A treasury? An amphigouri? A commonplace? A vade-mecum? Well – yes. “Schott’s Original Miscellany” is all these, and, of course, more. A book like no other, “Schott’s Original Miscellany” is entertaining, informative, unpredictable and utterly addictive.

Schotts Miscellany on Amazon.com