Hello everyone, I have to confess that I've been looking forward to this week. I love science-fiction as a genre, but I feel so sorry for it because I think that very few people enjoy reading it because they're afraid of it being boring or they haven't found the type that suits them. You very rarely come across a large science-fiction section in a library or bookshop, and it's not often that you find a bookworm who says that it's their favourite genre. I think this is partly because it can be hard to write science-fiction properly, or because in our heads it's all aliens-invading-and-taking-over-the-universe stuff, which to us sounds clichéd and a bit silly. That's what I personally think people believe about science-fiction, but, whatever people say, it really is an interesting genre: it takes the imagination of fantasy, the thrill of adventure, the intensity of a mystery and the wonderful but terrifying prospects of science, technology, time and space. When I was younger, science-fiction wasn't really my thing - no one talked about it and no one read it. But I've taken an interest in it recently and have tried to read different books across the genre. This week, I want to talk about two books which I think show the variety in this genre and how it has something for everyone. The first book I want to talk about is 'Dune' by Frank Herbert. On the blurb (of my copy at least) it says: 'Before The Matrix, before Star Wars, before Ender's Game and Neuromancer, there was Dune - the greatest science fiction novel ever written.' Wow, I thought - that's a statement to live up to. So I started reading. At first, I was a bit like, 'Yeah, yeah, in the future, space travel, evil Emperor ruling the galaxy, stuff like that, whatever.' But, even after a few chapters, I realised that this wasn't just another save-the-universe job; it was the save-the-universe job, the original, the starting place. This book might have looked like a cliché, but I think that it made the clichés - as in, people copied the ideas and soon they were sort of fixed in our minds as the definitive 'science-fiction.' Immediately, as a reader, you feel unsettled by this book: there are so many things going on that you don't understand or recognise, and yet you still feel hooked and want to know what's happened. At the heart of the book there is a mystery: the desert planet, Arrakis, also known as Dune. We don't know anything about it, but we really, really want to know more. It's also quite disorientating to begin with. Kwisatz Haderach, Reverend Mother, House Harkonnen, Caladan, Fremen, Mentats, CHOAM Company, the Guild, the Landsraad Houses, Sardaukar ... so many things we don't know at first, and each presenting a little puzzle for us to wonder about and try to solve. You never feel like the book is deliberately trying to show things to you, or its going out of its way to make things clear - it almost takes your knowledge of the setting and the people as granted, and that is very unusual, but it works. It makes you feel like the book is part of a whole, something bigger, something darker ... it makes it feel more real. So, perhaps the book looks like a typical science-fiction thing, with the sort of redemption, coming-of-age discovery theme to it, but it is so much more than that. Every nook and cranny is filled with ideas and thoughts to explore, and many of them or covered or hidden, with bits and pieces for you to try and understand. The writing is immersive, and you never actually feel like you're reading a book; you're living through a moment in something much, much bigger, which don't understand entirely, but which is meaningful nonetheless. I really enjoyed it. It was different. And, as my mum said, whether you like it or not, 'you'll never read another book like Dune.' OK, so the other book I wanted to talk about was 'The Lost World' by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Wait - what? Conan Doyle? The Sherlock Holmes man? That's what you're all thinking. But it's true: it's the same author. This book looks at first glance like something completely new to science-fiction: the main character is a journalist who goes on an expedition to a remote plateau in South America where, separated from the rest of the world for centuries, dinosaurs and murderous ape-men still live in the last remnants of the prehistoric world. What's not exciting about that? And, more crucially, there are no invading aliens in sight. To begin with, I think this book would have been written very differently if Conan Doyle was alive today. The scientific references mainly include forgotten geologists or doctors who we've never heard of today, or a very bad representation of stereotypical dinosaurs. But, really, who can blame him? Science was very different in 1912, when the book was set, and also in the time of the author's life (1859-1930). Anyway, I think the naïveté of some of the science is part of the book's charm. However, on reading the book, it seems to diminish a little in originality. The ideas are sound, and the characters believable, but there runs through it a very old and over-played theme. There's the young main character, Edward Malone, in love with the beautiful Gladys, and she's the reason he goes on the expedition with the eccentric Professor Challenger, the mocking Professor Summerlee and the virile Lord John Roxton. They all go off following a dead explorer's notebook to guide them, have a few death-defying escapes, solve a few mysteries, then return to London and shock the well-to-do society before discovering that they had found diamonds on their travels and that they were all rich and famous. OK, that might be a bit of an exaggeration, but I felt like that was the general undertone to the story. It was, at heart, an over-used and over-played theme with a few cool things added on top. I enjoyed it, as I do have a particular soft spot for anything about dinosaurs, but I couldn't call it original. So, there we have it. Two books in the same genre, about completely different things, and both what you wouldn't expect them to be. As I said at the start, science-fiction is an under-rated genre, and I hope you find something out of the wide variety which suits your reading style. What do you look for in a book? Do you enjoy science-fiction? Which book in that genre has surprised you the most? Biographies next week...more books to explore....
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AuthorHi, I love reading all kinds of books. Here, we can talk about different types of books we're reading and recommend reads to each other. Maybe share with us your reading 'ideal meal' or one of your favourite books. Archives
August 2020
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