Elitist Book Reviews

EXTRA! EXTRA! Read all about it! Burton & Swinburne books to continue in amazing new adventure of intrigue and mayhem! Deviltry! Betrayal! Vampires! It'll cost ya more than a dime, but will be worth every ha'penny you spend to get it!

I don't know if I can accurately describe just how excited I was to dive into this book. Mark Hodder's Adventures of Burton and Swinburne were some of the most amazing books that I read in the last few years. Major anticipation in this corner. So the fact that this book was nothing like I thought it would be, AND ended up being Science Fiction, AND I still really liked it says something impressive about Mr. Hodder and his burgeoning array of great stories.

A RED SUN ALSO RISES, to all appearances, is a stand-alone novel in the same vein as Hodder's previous trilogy and definitely a not book that you'd find Arthur Krystal picking up at your local bookstore. Go ahead and check out the very fine book cover and tell me that it doesn't make your mind just go, SPROING! Seriously great artwork there. And the story ain't half bad either!

Inside, we delve into the life of Aiden Fleischer, a priest struggling to make the connection between playing the part of a man of the cloth and actually being one in truth. In short order, a woman comes into his life, Miss Clarissa Stark, and the both of them are soon romping around an alien planet, filled with the weird and strange lifeforms of Mr. Hodder's supreme imagination and trying to understand just what kind of world they've been thrown into. Massive bag aliens, and hybrid wolf aliens, and aliens erupting from other aliens-aliens. Seriously wild stuff.

The background is built upon many aspects of the history of our world, introduces a very large change, and then flies into the speculative stratosphere. Unlike Hodder's previous books, RED SUN was very much enamored with two foci that I see as being highly important to Science Fiction: exploration of the unknown and the exploration of God. An overwhelmingly large portion of the book was devoted to these two ideas, and yet they were all wrapped up and woven throughout the tapestry of the over-arching story so well that they frequently disappeared amongst the strata. A good thing in my book.

The downside was that the development of these aspects overtook a few of the other very important pieces of the story. Those being characterization and direction. Fleischer's character is well-drawn during the beginning of the book. Inner-torment over his priestly duties and his understanding of God and the presence of evil in the world (by way of a Jack the Ripper cameo) paint the conflict within Fleischer very well. Once the new venue made a showing however, the book made a pretty large shift. The adventure portion of the story took hold, and consequently the direction of the plot also became a bit more nebulous. This did make the story drag a bit in parts, especially toward the middle, but the end made for a rip-roaring mash-up where all the cards finally came tumbling out of Mr. Hodder's hand. I really liked how it all turned out.

I think Hodder's fans will like this new adventure, especially those whose tastes tend more toward the realm of Science Fiction. It's a relatively short read with a interesting premise, logical plot progression (peppered with wandering exploration), and a satisfying ending that will remind Hodder's readers of all the things they love about his work. Definitely one to add to the old bookshelves.

Recommended Age: 18+
Sex: Inclusion of sex without any scenes or real description
Violence: Themes surrounding Jack the Ripper. Quite grisly and violent in sections.
Profanity: Very low.

Find the book here: A Red Sun Also Rises

In my experience, history is a dry and rather boring subject that has made me more prone to "study by osmosis" than other, obviously more effective, methods of gray-matter absorption. There has been but one exception to that rule in my short lifetime, and that exception was my high school AP history teacher. History was not just another subject for her. History was LIFE. It had substance, it had breath; it had body and it had soul. Her passion for the stories of history and the people that populated those tales made me open my eyes and want to learn--not just to get a good grade in the class, or to see what I might glean from mistakes of the past, but to feel and know what it was like to be a part of that past. She made me love History, and no one else has ever had that same effect.

Until now.

EXPEDITION TO THE MOUNTAINS OF THE MOON by Mark Hodder is the third book in the Burton and Swinburne series and continues the tale of an alternate version of our own history’s Victorian England. It is a world filled with the power of science and steam. It is a world gone horribly awry--a world in which flora and fauna have been genetically altered and grown in giganteum to provide the utmost to mankind and their myriad devices. It is a story of a world fraught with the danger of extinction by forces and powers that were never meant to be wielded by the people of such an age. And yet, even though it's a fantastical world, it's populated with actual figures and places from our past, and what's not to love about something like that?

I think I'm going to have a difficult time relaying just how ridiculously much I enjoyed this novel. Right from page one, when Sir Richard Francis Burton is hiding beneath a bush to try and get a good shot off at Spring-Heeled Jack--a character from the very first book in the series and the divergence point for all of the mass-chaos and mayhem that has ensued ever since--I knew that I was going to love it. I would think that anyone who reads it would.

There are two main story-lines to this book, and each is immediately distinctive. The first is told mostly from Burton’s point of view as he’s traveling toward the Mountains of the Moon, and the oft-thought-of and once sought-after source of the Nile River, at the behest of the Prime Minister of England, Lord Palmerston. The second story-line is also headed by Burton, but in this one he’s suffered a mild form of amnesia and thrown into the war-torn fields of Africa forty years into his future. I know. Amnesia? When was the last time you actually read a book anywhere near half-good wherein a main character had suffered any form of amnesia. I agree, but Hodder totally pulls this one off. It’s so well-done, with locations and events naturally triggering Burton’s memories and not seemingly at the author’s whim, as so many other attempts I’ve read have sounded.

As with our previous outings with Burton and Swinburne, characterization is great, pacing is break-neck, and imagination soars through the upper stratosphere. Spider-Harvesters, flying fortresses, carnivorous plants, and even plant-human hybrids filled the pages with so much fun that I honestly had a hard time keeping up with it all. Another of the great things that Hodder has done with this novel is bring nearly all of the characters from the previous books into play again and then knock a bunch of them off. And let me tell you, my heart twisted each and every time one of them was lost. I’m not a man for tears when reading novels, and twice during this ride I was brought closer than I’d been to that point in a long, long time. The value and importance of every secondary character in this series was driven home by this book. Awesome. Just awesome.

And I even got more parakeets. Ha! Well, that’s actually a pretty large understatement. What I really got was a veritable tidal wave of parakeets, and let me tell you, I couldn’t have been more pleased.

The end of the book was completely satisfying for me, though it certainly didn't leave everything tied up with a bow. It was, however, a spectacular way to close the three-book story arc that started with The Strange Affair of Spring-Heeled Jack. If there’s any possibility though of this being the end of line for these two fine gentlemen, you very well may find me curled up in a closet somewhere, sucking my thumb. There’s definitely room for more stories here, and if given the opportunity I will devour every last word that I’m able to get my hands on.

Hodder has completely won me over with this series. Finding authors like Mr. Hodder is the single-most important reason why I read. What more can I say? Buy these books. Read them multiple times. They are just that entertaining. May this only be the beginning of his long and illustrious career.

Cheers.

Recommended Age: 16+
Language: Very little, but for a copious amount of parakeet insults!
Violence: A moderate number of grisly war scenes
Sex: None

Stop screwing around and buy this series:

THE STRANGE AFFAIR OF SPRING HEELED JACK
THE CURIOUS CASE OF THE CLOCKWORK MAN
EXPEDITION TO THE MOUNTAINS OF THE MOON

Every once in a while I come across a book, or series of books, that totally yanks the carpet out from under me. I don’t expect more than the ordinary when I pick ‘em up (other than, perhaps, noticing the amazing cover art). I plop myself down in a chair, open the thing up, and quite simply just get to it. Then it reaches out, smashes me in the face with its awesomeness, and says, “You love me!” Leaving me with naught to do but obligingly respond, “Yes. Yes I do.”

THE CURIOUS CASE OF THE CLOCKWORK MAN is the second of three planned Burton and Swinburne novels written by Mark Hodder and, after reading its predecessor, was every bit the book that I had hoped it would be. If any of you missed the announcement, Mark Hodder recently won the 2011 Phillip K. Dick award for THE STRANGE AFFAIR OF SPRING-HEELED JACK. Awesome that he won it? Yes. Even if I did have a few problems with the book, I still think this guy deserves the praise. So if there are any doubts niggling your brain as to the possibility of goodness in this second book, let me disabuse you of them forthwith.

Sir Richard Francis Burton is dead.

Well, okay, not really. He’s actually just trying to catch a break and get back to finding the source of the Nile, which, if you remember from the first novel, was one of his driving passions prior to SPRING-HEELED JACK. It isn’t long before he comes across the Clockwork Man of the title and things get moving. Immediately, Burton is entrenched in mystery and danger, and we very soon start to see the development of the much larger story of interest for the trilogy: discovery of the Eyes of Naga, several black stones of interest that came from a meteorite and have provided some very mystical powers to people, indeed. His search takes us down into the city sewers, out into the country, searching through lost legends, and quite literally down into the belly of a beast. Frankenstein-like monsters, ghosts, mind-control and more warp the very fabric of the pages. Nothing short of a barrel of fun.

This book had so many high points. Hodder’s prose is again super easy to read. When combined with the rapid evolution of the story, the pacing of the book stayed fast and furious. One of the things I was really happy to see was the development of Swinburne as a character. My impression of him from the first novel was less than stellar. He came across as somewhat of a peculiar ne’er do well with a penchant for mild philosophy. This time through, he not only adds to the plot but makes for a regular source of humor that had me in stitches more than a few times. Aside from this, Burton continues to get better, and I was absolutely enthralled by his character as he put the pieces of the various puzzles together.

Hodder is also very concerned in this book with how the world has changed as a result of the events in SPRING-HEELED JACK. The world is moving on from its divergence point, and the countries of Europe specifically are evolving at a frenetic pace. War is coming to Europe and its nations, only this time it’s powered by the Eugenecists and their newly-mangled scientific fare. All of the Eugencist-created cornucopia from the first book is here again, plus more. Giant swans that pull massive kite-conveyances through the air. Loads more insult-laden parakeet messengers. (Thank you!) Garbage eating crabs that incinerate trash left upon city streets. Massive millipedes that have been slaughtered, scooped out, and turned into cheap structures for city buses. Just wow. And, of course, there are the Clockwork Men. Yes, you noticed. There's more than one. :) Oh. And book three is set up absolutely perfectly, people. Can you believe that? A second book that not only preps for the next in the series but has a complete story as well? Seriously. How often do we see that?

There were only a few minor blips for me. The first is something that I see in nearly every mystery novel, so it’s somewhat forgivable. It’s the portrayal of a scene where the main character (Burton, in this case) finally knows what's going on and deliberately withholds the information from us. (As in, "Burton explained to everyone in the room what was going on. Then he laid out his plans to them.") Annoying, true, but given the quick pace of the novel it wasn’t very long before I found out what was happening anyhow, and so I can only complain so much about this. A second point is that the Clockwork Man of the title really only sets off the initial search, and though he was involved in the events that eventually played out (to great effect, I might add) he was never pivotal to the mystery. So, although I liked the title, based on the Clockwork Man’s involvement in the story, I probably would have changed it. Okay, now I’m quibbling. Can you tell that I just loved this book? I’m complaining about the title for crying out loud! Lol.

On the whole, this series is completely reminding me of the great Sherlock Holmes stories. In fact, I think that if someone doesn't pick this series up and make a few movies out of it, it'll be an entirely massive disservice to the entire world. The books would lend themselves perfectly to that medium, paralleling the Sherlock Holmes movies, which I loved, that have recently been released. In a movie-world full of copy cats I'm surprised that someone hasn't already done a Sherlock Holmes movie mock-up. If someone picks this one up, and does it right by staying true to the story, they could easily come out on top.

Can't wait for the next!

Recommended age: 16 plus
Language: Mostly mild, PG-13 worthy
Violence: Fairly tame for the most part, but quite graphic in a few sections toward the end.
Sex: A scene of mild S&M that was hilarious but still S&M worthy

Still the closest thing I can find to a Mark Hodder Website

Anyone else just LOVE the movie Mary Poppins? Yes, the one put out by Disney. Of all the movies I watched as a child, this is one of the few that I really remember enjoying every time I watched it. As I read this novel, my mind ran back to those days: I kept seeing that view over London when Dick Van Dyke took the group across the rooftops, I kept tapping my foot to Step in Time, and at random moments I would begin to whistle Feed the Birds. The atmosphere of this book was just...ah, well, I get ahead of myself.

THE STRANGE AFFAIR OF SPRING HEELED JACK, from all accounts, is Mark Hodder’s debut novel, the first of the Burton and Swinburne series, and quite the offering to genre fiction as such. Alternate historical fiction with a load of twists, this story takes us on a vigorous romp through Victorian England like nothing I’ve ever before read. Steampunk at a glance with coal-driven bicycles and helicopter/easy-chair mishmashes, but there are also mega-lithic horses, greyhound post runners, message-delivering parakeets with a penchant to adlib insults, and werewolves as well. The world Hodder has developed here is everything we expect from the foggy, gritty streets of London, but filled with oh so much more for the taking as part of the bargain. At times, some of this stuff almost had the flavor of Mieville. Almost.

Sir Richard Francis Burton is a cornucopia of a man--a known explorer, scholar, and swordsman--but recently his reputation has been brought into question by a former friend and accomplice, John Speke. But then, alas, the decrier shoots himself, and Burton is devastated. This is the tipping point for Burton. From there it isn’t long before the focus of our tale comes into play, Spring Heeled Jack, to tell him that John Speke has shot himself three years too early (time travel!) By the way, if you didn’t catch how utterly awesome Jack looks, go take a minute and drool over Pyr’s cover, because it seriously deserves your attention.

Finished? Good.

Unfortunately, the first several chapters were very tough to get through. Several mid-scene jumps through various character’s heads made things difficult to follow, and there was little to no characterization, information dumps galore, and a multitude of flashbacks. In short, it was fairly painful. After fifty or so pages though, Jack shows up and things finally get moving. Burton quickly garners a job from the crown, and the story turns toward the crux of the movement: the mystery of Jack.

Hodder’s prose here is excellent. Great descriptions, his pacing methodical and quick, as I started to mention above the atmosphere is just great, and the few characters that the story revolves around become well-developed as we spend time with them. Happily, the mystery of the lightning-ridden purveyor of violence is slowly meted out as Burton follows one clue to the next, bringing him ever closer to the truth. I loved this portion of the book. Every chance I had to get into its pages, I took with relish. The interaction between the various political thought-groups was grand, the introductions of science’s new products were comic and thought-provoking, and even the star-crossed love story caught my interest.

Then part two came along, and I was left in a fog of disappointment.

The book is split into three parts. The first focuses on Burton, and introduces his pal Swinburne in small measure, focusing mostly on the main story. The second part is entitled: Being the true history of Spring Heeled Jack. As I read this, I remember thinking, “But I don’t want the ‘true history of Spring Heeled Jack’. Can't I just have Burton's story ?” This section is exactly what it says it is: a history of Spring Heeled Jack--where he came from, why he was there, and his motivations behind everything he's done. In this, we see in detail everything he’s been through, and thus replay once more a large portion of the scenes from Part 1, only this time from Jack’s perspective. I found that reading this part of the book completely took the steam out of everything (no pun intended...okay, maybe just a small one). The mystery was gone, and I now knew everything. For a while, I was hoping that I would be able to just encourage you readers to skip Part 2 and come back afterward to read it, had you the desire, (kind of like an appendix of the non-fleshy variety, though every bit as optional), but that didn’t end up working out because without part 2, Part 3 wouldn't make any sense. Grumble, grumble.

In the end, everything about the story came together. The holes were filled in. The tale was complete, and for the most part I was a satisfied reader and considered that I had liked the book. More than anything though, I wish that it had continued in the vein within which it spent two-thirds of its pages. It's too bad that this was not to be the case, and I have to cry "disappointing execution". I’ll most definitely be reading his next book though. This is, after all, his debut, and he can only get better from here.

Just don’t take the easy route next time, Mr. Hodder. Please. Give us more stuff like Part 1. More story. Less appendix. Story is what we love. Character is what we crave. We believe in you. Now go write some more.

Recommended age: 16 plus, for violence and themes
Language: A decent amount, though infrequent
Violence: One fairly gruesome scene, general description of wolf-ravaged carnage, some sword fights
Sex: Addresses the concept of sexual assault upon a minor

Closest thing I could find to a Mark Hodder Website