Moon Over Soho – Ben Aaronovitch #2

I loved the first in this series, Rivers of London, and have been looking forward to reading more. I was not disappointed.

This book, like many that I read, is part of legacy of Terry Pratchett: comic science fiction. I always think that sounds like a terrible genre of literature and doesn’t in any way reflect how brilliant some comic science fiction can be. Obviously there are plenty of ‘hilarious’ fantasy/sci fi books that are actually bloody annoying and far too knowing about the ‘quirky’ nature of their humour; this is not one of those books.

PC Peter Grant (who also happens to be training as a wizard) is called to a rather gruesome murder. And also a less gruesome murder. Both seem supernatural in nature and, since that’s the branch of The Met he’s a part of, it’s his job to look into said suspicious deaths. Jazz, it seems, is somehow involved and PC Grant has to act fast to prevent more deaths. That’s the crux of the story, obviously there’s a bit more to it than that but for the sake of this reviewlet*, that’ll do.

Obviously Aaronovich is nowhere near as brilliant as Pratchett but, for the genre, I think he’s rather good. Anyone who isn’t already a fan of comic fantasy/science fiction should probably give him a miss though and just go for the classics: Gaiman, Pratchett, Adams.

 

 

*reviewlet = small review

 

The Long Earth – Terry Pratchett & Stephen Baxter

It seems I have become a Terry Pratchett convert: after avoiding him for years I’m now so drawn to his books that I buy them spur of the moment in Sainsbury’s when I’m bored (just like you shouldn’t go food shopping when you’re hungry, you shouldn’t browse books when you’re bored.)

I’ve never read anything by Stephen Baxter before – I’m not even convinced I’ve heard of him before – but, from what I can tell, his science fiction is more ‘serious’ than Pratchett’s Disc World series. This mix of the ‘serious’ and the mental makes The Long Earth an interesting book: the concept is brilliant and the tone is less jokey than I’m used to from Pratchett but the craziness still comes through (un-nunlike nuns, singing humanoids, a computer claiming he’s a reincarnated Tibetan motorcycling repairman).

Unfortunately, the brilliant concept (there are alternate Earths just a “step” away and people have learnt to step across universes and explore along the many Earths. There is, quite literally, a long way to go with that concept) flags a bit by the end. The central action is the exploration of the Long Earth by Joshua – a young man with the ability to “step” unaided – and the aforementioned Tibetan-man-who-is-now-a-computer. They are aiming to go as far along the Earths as they can, however there isn’t really a solid reason for this exploration other than just to see what’s out there. Curiosity can’t quite sustain the suspense in a novel.

The Long Earth is a good book however the balance between Pratchett and Baxter is too heavily in Baxter’s favour: I would have preferred Pratchett-heavy prose. I’ve read that there is to be a sequel and a threequel which hopefully will fix the poor ending to this novel. Also, either a bit more intrigue or a bit more wit is sorely needed to give the definitely-brilliant concept the book it deserves.

Boxer Beetle – Ned Beauman

I really want to read The Teleportation Accident by Ned Beauman. It is, however, slightly beyond my usual budget for books (more than £3 is far too much) so, instead, I bought Boxer Beetle by the same author to see if his writing was good enough to warrant going £5 over my limit.

My reasoning for wanting to read The Teleportation Accident is that the book appears to be categorised as “slightly mental sci-fi with a hint of historical fiction” and that sounds right up my street. Boxer Beetle is similar but different: it’s about Nazi memorabilia, a crazy eugenics scientist (what eugenics scientist isn’t crazy?!), an unconventional-looking boxer, trimethylaminuria and some very special beetles. It’s fantastical yet historical and rather unpredictable (a feat that few authors accomplish, especially since there are only 7 plots to choose from.)

Beauman is my sort of author. He’s a bit like Jasper Fforde, Nick Harkaway or Ben Aaronovitch – there’s even hints of the big guns: Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett. What I’m trying to say is that I was predisposed to like this book and it didn’t let me down.

Also, Beauman sounds ridiculously cool, for example here’s a snippet from an interview with Guernica Magazine where he explains how he finds ideas for plots: “There are some methods which reliably return great stuff. The list pages on Wikipedia are brilliant. The list of unusual deaths article, for instance. Or the list of sieges. The list of inventors killed by their own inventions.”

So, yeah, while I realise I haven’t said much about Boxer Beetle or why I liked it I will most likely be buying myself The Teleportation Accident because Ned Beauman is quite clearly my kind of guy.