Sons of Destiny

This book is the final instalment of Darren Shan's vampire saga - and as such, I will in this post be giving away major spoilers for the series as a whole in my ruminations on the series' overall plot, characters, themes and whatnot. You've been warned. (Check through all 11 of my previous posts this month if you want extremely-brief spoiler-free overviews of all the other books in the saga. If you're not bothered about me spoiling what is a Thoroughly Solid children's/teenagers' fantasy series, go ahead and read this one.)

   First off a quick note on the premise as a whole. While there have been a slew of vampire series across both adult- and youth-oriented reading markets in recent decades, and admittedly I have read very few of these (yes, I've never read Twilight, and I'm not likely to), the creative approach taken towards vampirism in world-building terms here is well-developed and innovative in ways I doubt many comparable series have been. They have culture, history, traditions, and so on, that go far beyond just "sparkling in the sunlight and having beef with werewolves". And across the saga you really get a feel of immersion in the vampire world; helped no doubt by the fact that Shan, while he could never be accused of being some poetic or prosaically-experimental genius, is a damn good writer who consistently comes up with good, bitesize stories, and tells them well, using both well-fleshed-out characters with meaningful arcs and punchy dynamic descriptions and action scenes to do so.

   Thematically, I think the saga can be split into four distinct chunks that parallel its sub-trilogies. The first three are a pretty by-the-book coming-of-age deal, albeit with vampirism as a context, in which the protagonist (also, confusingly, named Darren Shan) learns how to stand on his own two feet and assert himself as a person, bonds with new people who accept him for who he is and a mentor who promises to take him to new heights, falls in love, yada yada yada. The next three are much more concerned with how one as a newfound adult tries to integrate with a new strange society (so just, society then); the challenges faced by Darren in books four to six really force him to grow in the main ways we saw he was stunted in the introductory three. The third sub-trilogy doesn't impose much depth of character development from its happenings, and so the themes of growth and self-worth are less clear, but here also we should consider that it is going on against the backdrop of the vampire-vampaneze war - and this makes for great stuff in that it can really get into dealing with themes of hate, revenge, right and wrong in messy conflicts; things like that. Finally the fourth wraps up the whole saga pretty much perfectly on a developmental level in my opinion, dealing heavily with concepts of destiny, mortality and sacrifice - woven deftly into the narration as Darren has to face these weighty themes head on.

   Plotwise I've talked briefly about all eleven prior instalments already, and am hesitant to talk about what happens in this the final one, because that does really spoil the whole series, and I'm already going to be dropping several fat spoilers in the next paragraph about characters, so I'll do you the mercy of not ruining the saga as a whole. But trust me, the ending is pretty epic; unexpected, well-earned, and totally logical within the constructed world. Looking back over the whole saga it is honestly hard to spot anything that stands out as an obvious plot-hole, which is pretty impressive for a twelve-book teen series - and while the pacing may feel too slow or too fast at times, it packs its punches where it needs to and tells everything that needs to be told; there are actually not many elements you could take out of any one book and have the whole thing have the same story impact. Which is a sign of great writing.

   Okay, and finally - the characters. Major spoilers coming up in this bit. Darren, the narrating protagonist, is arguably quite bland and overdependent on luck or contrivance for his victories; but I don't have a problem with this for two reasons: firstly, bear in mind that he is functioning not only as a vampiric being in his own right but also as the "innocent" audience-explanatory bridge into that world, and the tensions of this probably made him pretty hard to write about, let alone from; secondly, aside from the fact that luck is a touchstone of vampire religion anyhoo and so this is a silly criticism, I actually think the ways in which his successes are contrived are well-explained enough by the lore to be able to overlook this criticism as well. My primary gripe with Darren as a whole lies at the very beginning of his story - I know he had to save Steve, but the kid we're introduced to at the start of the book just deciding that becoming a half-vampire vampire's assistant for the rest of his now-much-longer life is a step he's willing to take to see his friend survive struck me as something of a leap. But now we've mentioned Steve, so let's talk about Steve; and, oh, Steve Leonard/Leopard, why are you the way that you are? Getting rejected by Mr Crepsley must have been a blow, but a blow serious enough to devote your entire life to hunting and killing vampires, even becoming a vampaneze (even the Vampaneze Lord later on), in order to enact vengeance upon? As a revenge motive it doesn't quite ring true. But then, Mr Crepsley did say his blood had darkness in it; and we can kind of see this - Steve is by any account not a nice kid at the start of the series, even though he's Darren's best friend; and the fact that even at such a young age he devoted so much time and effort into researching the occult does sound the warning gong to my ears. The "I can taste evil in his blood" explanation is a little hokey but it feeds directly into the final set of conflicts and betrayals in the last six books so I can accept it. Next up, Mr Crepsley - and I've gotta say, I don't actually have much to say about him; the archetypal grouch-with-a-heart-of-gold that anyone plunged into the vampire world would want as their father substitute; my only complaint would be that he died too early, but it was entirely justified and in fact demanded by the story, so, yeh. Then of course Kurda Smalht/Harkat Mulds - the Vampire Prince who turned traitorous ally-to-the-vampaneze and was executed then brought back as a Little Person to aid Darren and Mr Crepsley in their quests. I just love this character, on both sides of his afterlife. Or however the story's internal metaphysics is meant to conceptualize this kind of transformation, I'm not entirely clear. Kurda is a brilliant vampire character for his willingness to transgress the strictly-upheld norms of his society with excellent reasoning behind why he does what he does, even if you (as the readers) won't notice or appreciate it at the time. Harkat is just a fantastically different, sturdy, amusing absolute dude who brings a weird kind of morbid liveliness into every scene he plays any significant role in. Oh man, there are so many great characters in this series that I would be here all night if I were to talk about all of them; Debbie and Alice Walker, Vancha March, Seba Nile, Gavner Purl, Mr Tall, RV... the list continues. But the final one I will talk about here is, you guessed it, that most superlatively sinister of evil entities, Mr Tiny. I think Shan in writing Tiny as the supreme antagonist to the whole saga is a stroke of pure brilliance; he's so unassuming in his depiction and yet oozes a malevolence in dialogue that very few "bad guys" achieve and the whole thing strikes a totally discombobulating inscrutability that genuinely sets you on edge. And then as the series progresses from your first introduction to Mr Tiny and you see, or rather come to suspect via hearsay (which only adds to the mystique) of all the truly heinous acts he has committed, the schemes he's schemes, the machinations he's machinated; and by the revelation of his final goals in the last sub-trilogy you are literally even rooting for the vampaneze over Mr Tiny.

   As I think I may have mentioned in my post about the first instalment of this series, this is a saga I've read before - but only once, when I was about fourteen. Revisiting it as an adult I still enjoyed it a great deal; in fact probably moreso in many places as I was able to appreciate the depth of obvious plot-planning and integrated world-building that Shan has put into this, as I was reading it, from knowing what was coming up. There were also many bits that I'd forgotten and were great second-time-round surprises that even with foresight the text itself does make it hard to see coming. I'd strongly recommend this to teenage readers with a thing for horror or fantasy, all the way down to age eleven or so if you're a kid with a strong stomach - because dark and gruesome as it is, it's the kind of thing that will exhilarate you far more than give you nightmares. Though it may well do that too. You have been warned...

Lord of the Shadows

This book is the eleventh and penultimate instalment of Darren Shan's vampire saga (see post about the first one to get a handle on how I'm doing posts about the whole series).

   Obviously, ramping up to the end of the saga, a lot of plot threads are starting to wind up their intensity toward the ultimate climax. In this instalment, having completed their quest in mystical far-away lands, Darren and Harkat are plunged back into the vampire-vampaneze war - even as our narrator journeys back to his hometown, dark revelations are brewing that throw the future of vampire and vampaneze both into existential turmoil...

the Lake of Souls

This book is number ten in Darren Shan's vampire saga (see post about number one for how I'm handling posts about the whole series).

   Starting off our fourth and final sub-trilogy within the overall saga, this book is where things all in all start to get really wacky. Taking a time-out from the vampire-vampaneze war, Darren and Harkat are sent by the devilish Mr Tiny on a fantastical quest across strange lands, encountering bizarre beasts and testing ordeals; their objective - to reach the lake of souls, basically a giant pond in which the spirits of people who haven't reached the afterlife properly swim about for basically eternity, and fish out one particular soul (of whom, for sake of spoilers, I will not say until my post about the final book).

Killers of the Dawn

This book is number nine in Darren Shan's vampire saga (see post about the first one for my explanation of how I'm handling posts for the series).

   So, in this one - the culmination of the saga's third sub-trilogy - Darren and Mr Crepsley find themselves beset on all sides, with enemies new and old, the police, vigilante vampire-hunters, and more, all chasing them down; leading to an intensely dramatic climax which I won't spoil until my post about the last book...

Allies of the Night

This book is number eight in Darren Shan's vampire saga (see post about the first one for how I'm handling posts about this series).

   Aside from the fact that the vampire-vampaneze war is raging and Darren and his comrades Mr Crespley, Harkat Mulds and Vancha March are right in the thick of it, new problems seem to be surmounting on all sides. First off, there's a vampire hunter on their trail. Then old faces start popping up in new, surprising ways (saving all spoilers for my post about the last one). And worst of all... someone has told the police that Darren (who despite being several decades old at this point, because of the vampiric aging process still has the body of a fifteen-or-so-year-old) isn't going to school! So yeh, that's the nub of this instalment.

Hunters of the Dusk

This book is number seven in Darren Shan's vampire saga (see post about the first one for an explanation of how I'm handling the posts for this series).

   Six years have passed since Darren's ascension to become the youngest Vampire Prince (oop, spoiler there - sorry) and the war against the vampaneze is raging. Following the prophecy from the mystical-but-super-evil Mr Tiny that a vampaneze Lord will arise and end the vampires forever, unless one of our heroes finds and ends him; Darren is thus embarked on a hunt for this enemy leader along with Mr Crepsley, the blue-robed Harkat Mulds, and another of the Princes, one Vancha March (who, say what you will about this series, but he's a super cool character).

the Vampire Prince

This book is number six in Darren Shan's vampire saga (see post about number one for how I'm handling posts about this series).

   Having performed questionably in the vampire trials, and experienced several other dramatic events which for spoiler reasons I won't mention here, Darren at the outset of this instalment finds himself an exile living among wolves. But the vampaneze are up to something, and nobody but our narrator seems to know. So he risks everything to return to Vampire Mountain, where a crowning ceremony for the next Vampire Prince is about to take place. Needless to say, his arrival and his news cause quite the stir...

Trials of Death

This book is the fifth instalment of Darren Shan's vampire saga (see post about the first for explanation of my treatment of this series post-wise).

   Having arrived and settled at Vampire Mountain, things are not all  hunky-dory, as it is soon decided that Darren, for a variety of variably-legitimate/odd reasons, has to undergo the Vampire Trials, which are extremely dangerous. And so it is that he undergoes a horrendously intense training regime, and all his friends are extremely worried about him. Then the trials - he has to dodge a bunch of spouts of fire coming out of the floor, crawl through a cavern filled with super-sharp stalactites and stalagmites, fight a wild boar, and to top it all - contend with the arcane politics of the vampire Generals themselves...

Vampire Mountain

This book is the fourth in Darren Shan's vampire saga (see the post about the first one for how I'm treating posts for this series).

   In this instalment, Darren and his master Mr Crepsley are called to the administrative capital of the vampire world - the eponymous mountain. Their journey is long and hard, but softened by the presence of the supremely likeable Gavner Purl. Once at the mountain we are introduced to a whole host of other cool characters, like the smooth sharp Kurda Smahlt, the quartermaster Seba Nile, and more. We are also treated to several insights about the nature of the evil Mr Tiny and his blue-robed servants, but for spoiler reasons I will save all reflections about any series-spanning themes/elements to the final post.

Tunnels of Blood

This book is the third in Darren Shan's vampire saga (see my post about the first one for how I'm dealing with writing up my thoughts on the whole series).

   Mr Crepsley has been called by the Vampire Generals onto a secret mission, and he takes Darren and Evra with him. They settle in a city and try to keep a low profile, but Darren befriends a girl called Debbie regardless. All is not well however - corpses drained of blood keep turning up, and Darren suspects his master is behind it. That is, until we meet the real culprit - a mad vampaneze* called Murtagh - and the shit hits the fan...

* Sort of cousins to vampires, the key difference being that vampaneze always kill their victims by drinking all their blood instead of just a little bit, as proper vampires do.

the Vampire's Assistant

This book is the second instalment in Darren Shan's vampire saga (see my post about the first one for how I'm doing my posts about the series).

   Now serving as Mr Crepsley's assistant, Darren is thrown into the madcap life of a travelling freak show. He befriends the performing snake-boy Evra Von, as well as local normal kid Sam and an eco-warrior called RV. Without wanting to give away too many spoilers, this new circle of friends causes a lot of problems for the Cirque de Freak, with bloody brutal consequences...

Cirque du Freak

This novel is the first in Darren Shan's vampire saga. I'm reading the whole series in one long go* so I'll save my reflections on characters, themes, style, and the overarching plot - as well as my recommendations about the series as a whole - until my post about the final instalment, and here will just give a quick [spoilers] outline of the plot.

   Darren Shan is a pretty normal kid. He and his best friend, Steve Leonard, manage to get tickets to the Cirque du Freak - a travelling freak show. A fair amount of the book is just them at the freak show and descriptive depictions of all the acts (which include a bearded lady, a wolf-man, a two-bellied man, and a snake-boy); though chief among these for story purposes is Mr Crepsley and Madam Octa, his trained spider. Darren loves spiders and is immediately envious of Madam Octa - but after the show he overhears Steve talking to Mr Crepsley and realises that the spider-training freak is an actual vampire. So he steals the spider and leaves a blackmail note saying that if Mr Crepsley tries to get Madam Octa back he'll tell the world he's a vampire. Unfortunately however - Darren's new pet spider bites Steve, and to save his friend's life from the spider's venom our protagonist has to strike a deal with Crepsley: become a vampire himself and serve as Crepsley's assistant.

   Pretty great premise to kick a series off with, don't you agree?

* I have read the whole saga before but I was about 14 so this was half my life ago. Feels like it warrants a revisit to see if it holds up reading it as an adult.

The Hobbit

This book, the children's introduction to Middle-Earth by J. R. R. Tolkien, is a straight-up classic. Before diving into description of or reflection on it though I will just hazard to say that the edition linked there is virtually* unillustrated - which for me would be a deal-breaker as the version I have is fully and beautifully pictured by Alan Lee, that veteran Tolkien illustrator.

   Often described as a prequel to the Lord of the Rings trilogy, I think this description is as unfair as it is inaccurate - Tolkien wrote this first, after all - as it, as a story, has completely different aims in mind to its more epic successor. The Hobbit was written up after its various elements had emerged from bedtime stories Tolkien was making up for his kids, and it kind of shows. Not in a bad way, just in the sense that it feels quite episodic in places - the natural breaks being of course "no, that's it for tonight, you've had nearly two-thousand words of story, now go to sleep Christopher" - and the prose is somewhat whimsical, juvenile in places even.

   Brief overview of the story then - spoiler warning, if that needed to be said. Bilbo Baggins is a hobbit, who lives a quiet comfy life. Until, that is, a wizard called Gandalf comes round, and invites a dozen dwarves to his home for tea. Bilbo is not happy about this. It transpires that Gandalf and the dwarves (who are led by one particularly stern dwarf called Thorin) are planning a heist to recapture their ancestral kingdom from the dominion of a dragon called Smaug; and Bilbo is to be their party's burglar. Despite the notion of this adventure terrifying him at first, our eponymous hobbit acquiesces and finds himself soon leaving home with the wizard and dwarves. They have a short altercation with a trio of trolls, find a bunch of cool ancient weaponry, and continue into the mountains; however they are soon captured by goblins. Gandalf rescues them, but as they're running away through the mountain tunnels Bilbo falls down a ravine and becomes isolated. He finds a ring on the floor then meets a strange creature called Gollum, who lives in an underground lake, and, as is promptly made clear, wants very much to eat Bilbo - the pair have a contest of riddle-telling/solving, which Bilbo wins** when Gollum can't guess what's in his pocket (i.e. the ring). Gollum then decides to use his magic ring (same one as Bilbo has found) to turn invisible and eat the hobbit anyway, but Bilbo - no prizes for guessing this - uses the magic ring to turn invisible, and escapes. Meeting back up with the dwarves and Gandalf outside, the party evade goblins and wolves by the skin of their teeth and then go to visit a man called Beorn who can change into a bear. After this hospitality, Gandalf leaves them for business of his own wizardly kind, and the dwarves with Bilbo travel to the great forest Mirkwood, where they get lost, then captured by spiders, then liberated by Bilbo, then captured by elves, then liberated again by Bilbo (who is making great use of the ring by this stage). After escaping prison, they make their way down the river (quite literally, in barrels) to Lake Town, near the mountain where Smaug lives in the dwarves' old home with a shit-ton of treasure. The human inhabitants of Lake Town have mixed reactions to their arrival; some recall prophecies that when the dwarven king returns to take his throne prosperity will greatly increase in the region, while others think their meddling will just result in Smaug causing a load of carnage. Next, our party creeps up to Smaug's lair and Bilbo manages to sneak in through a secret door - once inside, and invisible obviously, he has a brief conversation with the dragon, and also manages to find the Arkenstone (a gem of immense value to Thorin), before sneaking back out. As the folk of Lake Town feared, it all does indeed backfire, and Smaug goes on a fiery rampage of destruction, until he is killed by an archer called Bard in something of an anti-climax. The dwarves' troubles aren't over yet though - once inside the mountain Thorin succumbs to "gold-madness" and gets very cross that he can't find the Arkenstone, while armies of goblins and wolves are drawing near, and an army of elves seeking revenge for the dwarves' jailbreak arrive and start asking for a share of the treasure (as apparently a fair bit of it was plundered from them by the dragon). Thorin gets increasingly paranoid, so Bilbo gives the Arkenstone to Gandalf and the elves for a bargaining chip. Then the evil armies arrive, there's a huge battle, Thorin is wounded badly, and dies after forgiving Bilbo; then all that's left to do is take his share of the treasure and travel home.

   In terms of my own reflections on it, I don't really have anything profound or even interesting to say - I just think this is a rollicking good story, one that entertains adults just as much as children, and breathes life into a fantastical world in ways few writers*** can pull off. Would of course highly recommend to anyone with a love of imaginative fiction, especially if you happen to be under the age of about twelve. Like, I first read it when I was six, and other than Gollum scaring the shit out of me I loved it to bits.

* I say "virtually" because it does in fact have nine black-and-white illustrations, as well as two maps, by Tolkien himself - but my edition has well over fifty full-colour illustrations as well as those original maps, so...

** One of the biggest injustices in Tolkien's whole canon, if you ask me. Never mind the fact that "what have I got in my pocket" is definitively not a riddle, if only Bilbo hadn't found the ring or even better given it back to Gollum when he realised it was the poor creature's property then Sauron would never have got wind of it and the wars at the end of the Third Age wouldn't have happened.

*** And even fewer film-makers - I mean, have you seen Peter Jackson's Hobbit trilogy? The first one is okay, but the second two are utterly awful - overall it falls so far short of Jackson's prior work on the LotR trilogy that it almost beggars belief. I mean, the main mistake was their need to make it into a trilogy at all. It should have been one single two-to-three hour film with Guillermo del Toro at the helm; and it should have retained the child-friendly fairy-story tone instead of selling itself as a tonal and narrative prequel to LotR - just - eurgh. Martin Freeman as Bilbo though was inspired casting.

Rebecca

This book, arguably the most famous novel by Daphne du Maurier, was another that I've been reading on my family holiday in Cornwall - where it is set, appropriately enough. In fact I acquired my copy of the book from Jamaica Inn when we were here last year - and as a tourist destination I would recommend this museum as a spotlight into 19th-century trade and culture. But enough said about that, onto the novel.*

   Narrated by an unnamed young woman, we are introduced to the high-society world of late-19th-century tourism. The narrator is working as a professional companion to a terrible lady on holiday in Monte Carlo, but her life is turned upside-down when she strikes up a relationship with Maxim, a handsomely wealthy man. She becomes his wife, quits her job, and travels with Maxim back to Manderley - his Cornish mansion/estate. However once there she soon finds herself becoming increasingly isolated in the bigness of the house and the rich shallowness of the life; and these factors are compounded by, in the flesh the creepy housekeeper Mrs Danvers, and in spirit by the memory of Maxim's first wife - Rebecca - who has been dead for several years. So follows a romantic mystery that I will not spoil here.

   I enjoyed this novel a lot more than I thought I would - historical romances not really being my favourite genre - and found myself shocked in many places at Maxim's cold treatment of his new bride, Mrs Danvers's scheming, and the unfolding of the plot. The characters (and alongside the main four I've already mentioned there are a wealth of side-characters) are extremely well-drawn and breathe vivacity and believability into the story, which is powerful in itself, and extremely skilfully told: du Maurier is a writer of immense subtlety and potency, and everything in this novel from the descriptions of Manderley's grounds to the narrator's inner turmoil are laid out in exquisite prose. I think leaving the narrator unnamed was a stroke of genius, as it really pulls you into her struggles in an empathic way.

   So, on reflection, I would highly recommend this book to anyone who likes period-piece drama/romance, with the caveat that what the story turns into is far more drama than romance - aside from, of course, Maxim's continuing obsession with the late eponymous Rebecca - and less strongly but still positively would recommend this if you just like a good novel. It's beautifully written, psychologically realistic, and narratively compelling; it will make you both envy and pity those who lived the kinds of lifestyles in the kinds of houses that these characters do.

* If you're into film versions, there are several - I've watched the classic old black-and-white version as well as the Netflix adaptation, and in all honesty enjoyed the latter more, but you do you.

Jurassic Park

This book is probably Michael Crichton's best-known novel. I am a big fan of the films* as most 90's kids typically are (who doesn't love dinosaurs?) and had read the book before - though way back when I was an easily-scared thirteen-year-old who wasn't thoughtful enough to get the most out of the story and its themes, so a reread was well overdue: as such I've been powering through it on holiday in Cornwall with my family.

   If you live under a rock and need a brief (spoiler free I promise) overview of what the book is about, here goes. An uber-rich science funder called Hammond has figured out a way of cloning dinosaurs by extracting their DNA from blood in mosquitoes fossilized in amber. His plan is to open a theme park where visitors can come a observe these ancient creatures doing what they do; but to settle various legal and ethical issues his project is (arguably unsurprisingly) suffering, he brings in a small team of experts to audit the park. Included among these are palaeontologist Alan Grant, palaeobotanist Ellie Sattler, and chaos theoretician Ian Malcolm. Everyone is blown away by the successes of the cloned dinosaurs - but the experts have their fair share of hesitations, which become more and more salient as the park starts to break down and the dinosaurs start causing violent havoc.

   On the surface this is already a great novel - an exciting, original premise; believable and well-sketched characters; deftly economic prose; pitch-perfect pacing. But it's the themes I really want to talk about. A good science fiction novel should force us to question not merely the ramifications within the story of what new scientific possibilities exist - it should prompt us to think about how those ramifications have implications for the conduct of science and culture in our actual reality. And this novel does that incredibly potently. Hammond's primary motives are profit and reputation; the problems and dangers with cloning creatures that have been extinct for 65million years or more barely occur to him. Hence the audit (during which, it is worth noting, the only "expert" who doesn't have strong reservations about the park is the lawyer who is on Hammond's payroll). The subtext prevalent throughout (often bubbling up via dialogue into the actual text also) provokes a great deal of thought about the ethical limits of science, what it means to "play God", surety and predictability, the natures of nature itself and the human relationship to it, and such.** However that is not to say at all that Crichton's novel is a mere think-piece - it is a powerful, compelling story in its own right, and helped change the game of what contemporary science-fiction could aspire to do. Plus the velociraptors are cool as heck.

   So - yes, I would immensely recommend this to anyone looking for a good read, even if you're not that big into conventional sci-fi as this (despite the dinosaurs, who in fairness are portrayed pretty much in just animalistic terms) stands up alongside more realistic novels on its own terms. Even if it weren't for the phenomenally successful film franchise it has spawned this will go on to become a modern classic.

* The original trilogy, that is (especially the first one, which is by far supreme). Jurassic World can do one; I haven't even bothered watching its sequels.

** A quick note on the "realisticness" of the science elements: Crichton has clearly done some not-inconsiderable legwork in his research into genetics, palaeontology, chaos theory, computer science and probably a couple of other fields I'm forgetting - and while it still requires some suspension of disbelief at least the characters in the narrative know what they're talking about. So even though one of the fundamental scientific premises of the novel has been debunked, if you're not too much of a nit-picker it still holds up as an internally-coherent and logically-satisfying fictionalization of science.

the Art of War

This book, the ancient Chinese classic by Sun Tzu, available for free online from that link, is one I've read before - and I don't really have anything new to say about it. I'm just re-reading to allow its insights to percolate a bit. Sorry for the disappointing post.

Tales from the Perilous Realm

This book is a collection of short fantastical stories* and poetry by J. R. R. Tolkien, master of the modern myth; as such they read like faerie tales. I will briefly describe each component in turn before a bit of reflection about the book as a whole.

• Farmer Giles of Ham: a farmer, named Giles, from a place called Ham, gets into a bit of a pickle with a giant, but after defeating it ends up becoming a seasoned blunderbuss-wielding adventurer even capable of overcoming a problematic dragon. Oh, and he has a dog that Tolkien is very keen to make sure all readers know is a cowardly idiot.
• The Adventures of Tom Bombadil: the collection of poems - ranging very little in style, but that doesn't matter because it's a nice familiar style. Most of them are about the life and attitudes towards nature of the eponymous Bombadil - remember he was that kind of pointless character from The Fellowship of the Ring - but several are more narrative and adventurous.
• Leaf by Niggle: an artist, Niggle, wants to paint a tree, but is so dedicated to his craft that after years of work he has only painted a single leaf despite the grandiose vision of his finished project in his head. Eventually he dies and sees "his tree" realised to its fullest in heaven.
• Smith of Wootton Major: a magical star gets baked into a cake, and a dude called Smith accidentally eats this star - which gives him the ability, unique among humans, to travel to and through the lands of Faery - you'd have thought he'd just shit it out or summat.

   So, there you have it. There are strong thematic elements that clearly spread out over all four "tales" included in the book, but no plot or character overlaps - which makes this collection a perfect bitesize way of experiencing Tolkien's unique style. And I know he hated allegory, so I will do him the justice of not trying to read any overarching metaphors into these tales - but in terms of applicability, which was a concern of his with regard to writing, there is a lot to take away from these stories. From Tom Bombadil's almost symbiotic relationship with the forest, to Niggle's dutiful perfectionism, to Smith's willingness to step into the unknown, to Farmer Giles's bravery - there's a lot going on here in terms of morals and messages.

   I would recommend this book to any Tolkien fan who has not yet read it - as herein you will find something perhaps more akin stylistically to The Hobbit but unconnected to Middle-Earth - which makes for a refreshing new taste of the great myth-maker's craft. Even if you haven't read any Tolkien at all, I'd recommend this book as something from which you can read to children, as I'm quite sure they were written with that "faerie tale" purpose in mind.

* Four of these - but the first one included in the book available from that link, Roverandom, is for some reason not included in the edition of the book that I have and read, hence why I'm only discussing three.