Science Fiction

My Favorite Reads – I Am Legend

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Alyce from At Home With Books features one of her favorite reads each Thursday and this week my pick is…

I Am Legend by Richard Matheson.

From the back cover: Robert Neville the last living man on Earth…but he is not alone.  Every other man, woman, and child on Earth has become a vampire, and they are all hungry for Neville’s blood.

By day, he is a hunter, stalking the sleeping undead through the abandoned ruins of civilization.  By night, he barricades himself in his home and prays for the dawn.

How long can one man survive in a world of vampires?

My thoughts: I know what you’re thinking…not another vampire book.  Recently, I featured The Historian, and yep, I seem to be feeling a theme.  OK readers, it is October, let’s all have a bit o’ creepy fun.  🙂  I know we’re all sick of the vampire thing but humor me — these are the GOOD ones.

I Am Legend is not your typical vampire book.  In fact, it’s more like science fiction.  (As a side note, this book was written in the 50s but takes place in the mid-70s.)  The world that Robert Neville lives in has been decimated by a disease and that disease has turned the world’s population into bloody thirsty fiends.  He spends his days alone trying not to descend into the darkness that inhabits his mind and of course vampire proofing his house and trawling empty grocery and hardware stores for supplies.  In many ways, it’s worse than actually facing the vampire hordes because all of what he experiences is more than possible without the vampire threat looming in the background.  The depression that comes from loneliness, the vampire-imposed confinement, and the vampire taunts that lull him to sleep each night only add to the tension.  In addition to being a vampire book, it’s also a psychological study into how much we as humans can take mentally.

The ending, and no I won’t be revealing too much here, is a strange bit of irony in that Robert Neville becomes the hunted.  I won’t say it’s a twist on the vampire tale but it makes for a much more exciting ending, at least for me.

Will Smith stared in the movie that came out in 2007.  Here’s the I Am Legend IMDB page if you’re interested.  I liked the movie but much was changed, and while it was good, I preferred the book.  Did you expect me to say anything else?!  🙂

My Favorite Reads – The Time Machine

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Alyce from At Home With Books features one of her favorite reads each Thursday and this week my pick is…

The Time Machine by H.G. Wells.

From the back cover: When the Time Traveller courageously stepped out of his machine for the first time, he found himself in the year 802,700 — and everything had changed. In another, more utopian age, creatures seemed to dwell together in perfect harmony. The Time Traveller thought he could study these marvelous beings — unearth their secret and then return to his own time — until he discovered that his invention, his only avenue of escape, had been stolen.

My thoughts: I read The Time Machine in 8th or 9th grade and it was my first brush with science fiction. I was fascinated by the idea of time travel and the ability to experience and observe new worlds. Wouldn’t it be amazing to witness firsthand the use of fire and tools by early humans, see dinosaurs roaming vast plains, experience the Ice Age, see humans evolve into what we are today, observe amazing creatures of the sea, see the building of the pyramids, and watch the Great Wall of China emerge stone by stone? Maybe this is why I have developed such a love of historical fiction — it captures a time and place in history and brings it to life.

I’ve read this book several times since my first initial bit of enthusiasm and have liked and enjoyed it each time finding new parts to be excited about. Our version is a bit dog-eared and passages are underlined but it only means that it’s well loved. I also love the cover art work of our little Bantam Classic book. It’s very Salvador Dali-esque. I can’t profess to be a big Dali fan, he creeps me out way too much for me to actually enjoy his work, but I like the starkness of the paining and of course the clock in the background gives it just that little reminder of what you are in for. According to the inside cover, the painting is Gentleman in a Railway Carriage by James Jacques Joseph Tissot.

In Great Waters

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In Great Waters

In Great Waters

By Kit Whitfield

Del Rey

ISBN: 978-0-354-49165-7

3 stars

In an alternative, middle ages world where people are ruled by Deepsmen, mermaid type men and women that can walk on land, the royal family is in danger of breeding itself out of existence. Few choices are left for members of the royal family, and while they hang onto the throne precariously, even they begin to wonder what is left. That is until Henry, a bastard child found abandoned on the shore and kept hidden by those that would like to see him in power, is not only able, but willing, to fight to rule.

I was very excited to read this book. I liked the idea of an alternative world ruled by Deepsmen — the possibilities seemed endless to me and I enjoyed several aspects of the story. The history of how the Deepsmen rose out of the waters to rule was particularly good and the politics of the court were exciting, but there was one thing that held me back, and that was Henry. He’s unlikable and he’s supposed to be. He’s a child a mother didn’t want, he fights all his life to survive in the water only to be thrown onto land, taken in, hidden, and taught about a world he doesn’t care about and doesn’t want to be a part of. He’s bitter, angry, and brutal but you don’t blame him. He should be that way but it made him infinitely unlikable for me. It threw the story into havoc and I had trouble recovering.

Whitfield does give you people to like. Anne for example. She’s the youngest daughter of the current king and queen who does her best to hide herself. She’s clumsy and has odd Deepsmen qualities, but is smart which becomes her only salvation. Unfortunately, when her story collides with Henry’s, I still couldn’t find sympathy for these characters.

I realize that my review has become more about the characters than the story itself. The story in this book is very imaginative and has some great fantasy elements that do make it worth the read. For me, unfortunately, I also need characters to join on the ride and here I had trouble becoming attached which stopped me from getting fully immersed in the story. Whitfield does a great job of bringing the court to life and the way she tells the story of how the first Deepsmen queen rose out of the waters in Venice is, dare I say it, believable. The politics of the world are complicated and add a lot to the story but it wasn’t enough.

Here’s the thing about it though — there was some very strong draw that kept me reading and wanting to know how this was all going to turn out. Would war break out, would Henry be accepted by the people, would Anne find it in herself to step up and rule? If you’re looking for something different, this might be a book for you. I liked the plot, setting, and the writing but had trouble with one character that made my loving this book a little hard. However, I plan to give Whitfield another shot and have her other book, Benighted, on hold at the library. There’s something about her writing that made me want to read more even if this book wasn’t a great fit.