Conservative Book Talk

Book one of the Alex Rider series. I have a weakness for mental junkfood, which I prefer to indulge in those deliciously pointless kids books that make you feel like you are in the middle of a movie (instead of stuck in some doctor’s waiting room that smells like bleach and old socks). This one actually made it to the big screen (for the record, I haven’t seen it yet), which poster drew me to the book out of sheer curiosity. The author is British, which may explain why you haven’t heard of the series before. Allow me to introduce you.

Plot: Alex Rider is a fourteen year old orphan whose reticent uncle and guardian dies in a “normal” car crash that involved bullet holes in the car windshield. Naturally, being a “normal” teenager, Alex has been trained in gymnastics, 2 black belts, a nanny who worries but doesn’t discipline, and all the investigative skills of a professional reporter. As is normal for such a teenager, he also investigates into his uncle’s death after seeing some guys in black suits with guns at the funeral, and finds out that a) his uncle was a spy, b) he was killed because he got too close to the truth in a crucial investigation that could save England from utter destruction, and c) (brace yourself) the bad guys are now on alert, and spy agency knows of only one way to get in and find the truth before its too late. Alex Rider, teenage spy. Mission One: find out why a businessman wants to give away his greatest invention to all England’s people, yet is highly secretive about its manufacturing and has a small army protecting his factory.

Positive: Finally, a kid’s book that takes its main plot device seriously! Alex may be extraordinary, but at least the agency admits it (and owns to the liabilities associated with having a child do this kind of dangerous work in the modern world). Also, Alex struggles with the idea of being a spy. He finds the whole idea exciting… before he starts in. Being a secret agent is stressful (you could get killed if you mess up), painful (he actually has a hard time with adult boot camp), and downright dangerous (bumps, bruises, and cuts that add to the growing list of things he has to hide about himself); and Alex is real enough as a character to admit he doesn’t like it. Of course, if Alex was able to cop out, there goes the “Alex Rider, Teenage Spy” series. But his reasons for staying on are realistic. Alex’s reactions to death, fighting, and the tension stay real too, keeping the story grounded. Also, the author manages to breathe life into several of those more predictable parts, twisting the usual narrative structure so that small (and not so small) surprises abound. The book uses enough complex words to form complete pictures in your head, and for me played out like a very exciting movie.

Negative: Say it with me, “cliché”; if you can’t uncover the major plot points ahead of time, you need to get out more. It’s a teenager who suddenly finds their relative was a spy and, oh my, they’ve been trained perfectly to fill in their shoes; a villain who is happy to divulge his plan entirely when, oh my, our hero is on the brink of death; and an invention encased in black plastic with lightening for a logo that, oh my, isn’t actually going to do anything good. See “positive” for why that doesn’t equal a boring story (hint, note the “major plot points” above). Scary situations for little kids, and some slight foreshadowing of disrespect for government, and, a person is dies in an unusual way.

Overall: It’s a very well written book, and I have to admit, pretty cleverly thought out. I could figure out some of the tricks, but more than one came as a surprise even though I knew all the facts beforehand (ye posters requesting a good mystery with accurate clues, take heed. We may be close to a whodunit! I didn’t realize the motivation behind the villain until later, but we DO learn about it beforehand). RECOMMENDED, for fun, not edification.

Tags: Alan Horowitz, fiction, Mystery, Sincerelyornot, Spy, Stormbreaker, youth

Plot: The book begins by introducing us to our main characters, Roger, his cousins and aunt and uncle. Rogers father, Reuben, is captain of the uncle’s ship, the Swan. Reuben proposes to the uncle that he and other businessman take a voyage to the unknown regions, currently under Spanish control, yet still undiscovered. After much careful thought, the uncle agrees and a few weeks later Roger and Reuben set sail. They have been sailing for some months, stopping in at islands to trade for supplies, when they have a small run in with six Spanish ships. They escape with no damage to their vessel and leave the Spanish ships far behind. A few days later they run in to a storm, which lasts for several days, much to our dismay, the ship is wrecked with Roger as the only survivor.

He walks to a village and stays there for several months, the villagers think him a god, since he has white skin and not dark like theirs. While there, he befriends a slave girl, who teaches him her native tongue. A time comes when traders arrive to barter with the natives; eventually Roger agrees to go with the traders to their own land. After many days of travel they arrive at the island next to the capital of Mexico. Roger is warmly welcomed by the reigning king, his wife and his lovely daughter. Our hero has many days with his new friends, and many discussions, before the King of Mexico discovers that he is there. The king of Mexico, Montezuma, requests a meeting with Roger, which he agrees to. After the meeting, Roger returns to the other palace. We find that the ambassadors from our good king are having a hard time convincing the king of Mexico that Roger is not a threat. The greater majority of the priests want to sacrifice Roger, and Montezuma listens a lot to these priests.

Eventually Spaniards land on the coast and cause great excitement. Montezuma wants them to leave, but they don’t wish to; Montezuma is scared by the Spaniards because they are thought to be gods. For several chapters, the author focuses on the Spanish and their progress through Mexico, making their way to the capital. Roger is told that Montezuma is going to arrest him and have him sacrificed. The other king helps him escape and Roger is ultimately able to join the Spanish. Through many battles the Spanish make it to the capital. Montezuma keeps the peace for some time, but in the end the priests voices win out. An attack is made on the house where the Spaniards are staying; there is a great battle with much slaughter. At this point both sides are hostile to each other. The Spaniards see the danger, and General Cortez, leads them from the city. They are attacked on every side by the Aztecs, the latter being furious at the humiliation they endured and the ruin brought to their temples.

Positive: Our hero is a Christian; he abhors the human sacrifices and openly tells his pagan friends that their gods are false. Our hero risks much to save his friends, he stays loyal and true to the Spaniards, and even when they appear to be losing. Many of the Mexican people help our hero escape, even when it risks their lives and livelihood.

Negative: There are human sacrifices near the end of the book, being Aztecs; they believe it is what their god requires of them. We find that many thousands of captives are slain every year to the pagan gods of the Aztecs. There are battles where many die and several are wounded. A woman is wounded and becomes sick, though she does get better. There is a massacre, which occurs in cold blood.

Overall: I was directed to this book by my sister. She and I both enjoy G.A. Henty books. This one was rather long, but completely worth the time invested. I enjoy historical fiction immensely and I highly recommend this book.

Tags: By Right of Conquest, fiction, G. A. Henty, Hannasus, youth

The long awaited prequel sequel sequel! The basic idea behind the series is the simple question, “what happened before?” Where was Peter before he was on the island? How did he come to fly? If you haven’t read the first two books, head to the library at this point, or look up reviews on the first (also recapped by Matt) and second books. Peter Pan is still on Mollusk Island, but many unanswered questions from the last book remain. An interesting one, that I hadn’t thought of, is: how did the Starcatchers know ahead of time when the stardust was going to fall (so they could get to it all the other times) and why weren’t they in on it the last time, in Peter Pan and the Shadow Thieves
? They were warned it would come, by a group of people called the Watchers. And they have been compromised.

Plot: Nothing is as you expect it to be, and the first third of the book is exposition to catch you up to all the characters and plotlines. Molly and the Aster family are living in London and trying to figure out more about Lord Ombra and his organization. Peter has gotten over his ego, but with the other boys growing taller than him, life on the island is still getting harder. The Mollusks, our nice Indians, are about to be attacked by Scorpions (bad Indians. And I am pleased to say, the Indians are real people in this book, and I really like them now). Meanwhile, Lord Aster does his now-stay-here-and-I-MEAN-IT speech umpteen times (more on that in positives), Lord Ombra is injured but back (for reasons that, actually, make sense by the time this plotline is resolved), Lord Aster does his ‘Bout-time-you-kids-got-here-I-need-your-help speech a further umpteen times, and Molly and George have discovered why Peter was so oddly affected by the starstuff. Oh, and Black Stache is still trying to get back at Peter, and His Royal Highness III is being evil still.

Positive: Actually resolves plot issues from the last couple of books in an unexpected way, which I find very impressive. Most kids books that become serialized like this (and despite the trilogy bit, I want a prequel sequel sequel) have a TV series quality about them, and tend to create more open plot threads than they sew up. The most positive thing, I think, was the allegorical aspects of the story {SPOILER WARNING}. To defeat evil, Peter has to separate himself from his shadow (his naturally evil self) and its implied he couldn’t do this by himself. Peter’s father died trying to save Peter. Light and Darkness are shown to be in conflict, with light gaining constantly. For a couple of Atheists, the authors are almost exactly theologically correct on this one (although Lord Ombra makes a comment to trivialize the importance of earth in the cosmos, its implied he is trying to just discourage our heroes, and that the opposite is true). Some points of the allegory are more subtle than others, but the general idea comes through quite clearly; I won’t give it all away or it’ll spoil everything. Also, this was more of an adventure than the previous books, being funny incidentally instead of as a driving plot point. This made the characters more engaging, since they weren’t the objects of sarcasm as often (Tinkerbell, especially, won my heart this time. Oh, and George is just awesome). Speaking of which, the authors play on your expectations of children’s literature. The adults aren’t always wrong, and the girls aren’t always right (FINALLY!)

Negative: I had some pretty set expectations from the first two books, so the opening chapters were frustrating to me, since it wasn’t at all what I expected to find happening. So aside from my needing to put aside my expectations and let the authors surprise me… same as last ones. The entire book is written in a funny-drama way. But its more of campfire-side-oooh-the-bear-is-coming-bwahaha scary, with the exception of one scene that I really did not find necessary. As usual, it’s the bad guys and how nasty they are; Indians who go through painful initiation rituals, evil person gets a face full of unpleasant stuff, and Lord Ombra inhabits a couple of characters (one of whom scratches his own face until it bleeds, which is very out of character for this series, and the one paragraph that is not necessary to the plot, so why the editor left it in is anybody’s guess. It’s a paragraph I plan to blot out of my copy).

Overall: I really loved this book, and highly recommend the entire series. Its very creative in describing the origins of Peter Pan, and makes all our favorite characters lovable in the process. George is smart, Tinkerbell is hilarious as comic relief, and the other characters are all followed so satisfactorily that I can’t even begin to review them all.

You can buy it here.

Tags: Dave Barry, fiction, Peter Pan, Secret of Rundoon, Sincerelyornot, youth