The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, by Stieg Larsson

This is a who-dunnit, with the main protagonist being an investigative reporter who takes up a commission to write an old man's biography. But his real mission is to investigate the disappearance of a young girl.

The journalist's task is complicated by the fact the events took place many years previously and there is considerable antagonism displayed by other family members to the supposed biography. In addition, the journalist faces an impending spell in prison and is embroiled in a messy love life.

This is the first book of a trilogy and I confess I haven't read the other two in the series yet.

What I liked about this book: I liked the density of the story. There was a real sense of place and the characters were well rounded. Tension and uncertainty were maintained throughout the book and the resolution of the mystery was credible but unexpected. The plot was complex. There was no artificial happy ending.

What I didn't like: The book began slowly and I was put off by the extended family and the parade of different characters with their foreign names, making it hard to follow who was who - despite the helpfully provided family tree.

In fact, the main problem I had with the beginning of the story was my uncertainty about who to identify with. Initially, it seemed unclear who the main character was, until the author appeared to settle on the journalist. It was brought home to me how important this element is to a reader. Near the beginning of any book, we expect to know who the story is about. Who do we focus our attention on?

There is a part of the book, near the end, where a particularly horrendous series of crimes is uncovered. This is never satisfactorily dealt with (maybe it is revisited in subsequent book in the series) and almost pushed aside as being too complex to address. I felt the late revelation of this aspect of the story, and the almost dismissive trivialisation of the crimes, was unsatisfactory and undermined some of the realism of the rest of the book.

But this is a great book and well worth reading. It demands some attention. I plan to read the next two books in the trilogy, but I am waiting for some dedicated reading time to appear in my schedule.

---

Everything You Need, by A.L. Kennedy

I had read an extract of AL Kennedy's work for a writing assignment and I have seen her on television. She has a great reputation and comes across as intelligent, articulate and funny. So I was really looking forward to reading one of her novels and I was pleased when I found this one, Everything you Need, in my local library.

You can't fault the writing. This book is written in a high literary style. Every paragraph, every sentence, every phrase is perfectly crafted. Words are used in new and different combinations. The evoking of place and atmosphere is spot on. The author's considerable abilities shine through. The writing is stylish. Elegant. Clever. Thought provoking.

But, after getting half way through, and having renewed my loan for the third time at my local library, I decided life is too short to read something that is a chore, rather than enjoyable.

Why did I find this book so difficult to read?

•  it is far too long,
• the characters are unlikeable,
• the basic story line seems implausable
• the writing is so rich and, in places, so convoluted, that it requires far too much attention
• nothing really happens.

In other words, it didn't suit me. I like a story that is driven by - well - by a story. For the 567 pages of this, nothing much really happens. Actually, a few things do happen, but they could have been compressed into a third of the space, without losing any of the complexity of the plot.

(Although, since I only got half way through, it may possibly be that amazing things happened in the second half of the book. I just didn't stay  and continue past the 259th page to find out.)

I guess I found the basic premise simply unbelievable. I just couldn't believe this young woman - who did not appear to be either a very writerly or a scholarly person and who had just discovered sex  - would leave the only world she knew and take herself off to a small writer's commune on a remote island in Scotland and spend several long, boring, lonely, celibate years with a small group of unlikeable, older people.

I did skip to the last few pages and I did read the ending. It was pretty predictable, but I won't spoil it for you.

However, I do think A.L. Kennedy is a great writer. This book just wasn't for me. I have been back to the library and I have just reserved a collection of her short stories, Indelible Acts. Hopefully, I will find her short fiction more enjoyable to read.

The Longest Way Home, by Robert Silverberg

Having just read Silverberg's The World Inside, I must say I was expecting a different sort of book. The World Inside is almost a collection of short stories, each chapter with a different main character and each character with a different 'voice'. I described this book previously on this blog.

The Longest Way Home is a first person narrative with the story related by a 15 year old boy on a colonised planet where the human race is divided into Masters and Folk. The boy is the eldest son of a powerful Master, sent to visit distant cousins. But, while he is away from home, the local Folk rise up in rebellion. In the ensuing mayhem, he flees for his life and attempts the long walk home to his father's city.

Along the way he survives due to the indifferent help of various alien species and the unwitting help of non-colonised Folk. Along with learning some vital survival skills, he grows in understanding and self awareness.

The story ends with the possibility of a sequel but, as far as I know, there is none.

What I liked about this book:
The narration was gripping and I could hardly bear to pause in my reading; I was so keen to find out what happened next.

The depiction of the two divisions of human was, pretty obviously, a parable about slavery and/or serfdom. The various types of alien sentient species were wonderfully depicted as being entirely different from humans in both their anatomy and physiology, and in their society and culture.

The boy's plight was realistic. I enjoyed the moral ambiguity and the hero's dawning realisation that perhaps his people's superiority was not a given right.

There was a gentle love story but no forced happy ending. The real ending was satisfying with a variety of possibilites still open for the future of this young Master.

What I didn't like about this book:

Well, there was nothing to not-like, really. Maybe the first person narrative constrains the story - it would have been interesting to understand what the aliens (for example) were thinking about the young Master who lived with them. And the 'Folk'.

Maybe this book isn't really a Sci Fi novel? Apart from the setting on an alien planet, there was no real 'science' or technology involved. But, as a 'what if...' story, it was great.

Also, I am delighted to discover a new (to me) and great science fiction writer who seems able to write in different styles and can create SF worlds with great conviction.

---

The World Inside, by Robert Silverberg

This novel is set on a future Earth where most of human kind lives a highly artificial life in giant skyscrapers, freeing up the surrounding countryside for food production.
 The constraint of living in an enclosed, structured and crowded society has resulted in social customs that include extreme politeness and the free sharing of sexual partners. Fertility is encouraged. Contraception is a sin. Any dissent from the social structure results either psychological reprogramming or in a death sentence - where the offender is hurled down the chute into the furnaces at the base of the towers.

Like the society it depicts, the book is highly structured too, in an interesting way. Each chapter is narrated from the point of view of a different character or couple. And each chapter is almost a short story on its own. (Indeed, initially I thought this was a collection of short stories; but some of the later chapters bring the characters together.) The ending is grim and hopeless.


What I liked about the book:


This was a fantastic and vivid portrait of a possible future world. The beliefs of the high-rise society were really well portrayed in a very sympathetic manner. Different view points are well conveyed. Each narrator had his own distinctive voice - not an easy thing to achieve when presenting the views of members of a highly co-ordinated and homogeneous society.


What I didn't like about the book:


Now, I am quibbling, because there is little not-to-like in this great book. But, initially published 40 years ago in 1971, some aspects of the world see strangely old-fashioned. For example, the 'nightwalkers' of the tower block are men; women wait to be visited. The men have jobs; the women stay at home and look after the children and order the meals.

Having said that, it is amazing how many aspects of this book seem bang up-to-date; the electronic music with light shows, the computer and databases, the requirement to be 'politically correct', the intensive farming methods ....


Kindle edition and paperback edition:

---

Talyn, by Holly Lisle

I have been following Holly Lisle's excellent short courses and bought her PDF book, Create a Plot Clinic.

Then it occurred to me. I am learning from a writer whose books I have never read. What if I hate her novels? What if her writing is poor, sloppy, uninteresting or just plain bad?

I was seized with an immediate need to find a Holly Lisle novel and read it.

This was not as easy as it sounds. Holly is American and I couldn't find her books in our local bookshops. Neither was she on our library's shelves. But, I tracked one of her books down to a library in deepest, darkest Lincolnshire and ordered it.

So, what's it all about?
Talyn is a female soldier experiencing a crisis of national and personal identity. The story is set in a world Holly Lisle has created. There is magic and Talyn uses magic to defend her city and her country. There is also sex - quite a lot of sex and some violent sex - so this book is not for children or for prudes.

Points of View
Although Talyn herself narrates the story, some parts of the book are written from the point of view of another person; an enemy soldier. There is no device used to do this and sections of the story flip-flop between Talyn's first person narrative and the soldier's third person sections. (I believe this story structure is unusual and, indeed, can't think of another book where this happens.) Initially, this caught me by surprise, but the shifts were handled elegantly and I found the story was enriched as a result.

---

What I liked about Talyn.

• The alternating point of view.
• The page-turning adventures.
• The sex scenes with a definitely female perspective.
• The strong female lead.
• The incredibly real world, created for this novel.

Holly Lisle talks in details about world building, for this book and others, on her website.

---

What I didn't like about Talyn.

• Um..
• ... hang on, let me think.
• Maybe the book was a bit too long.
• Maybe the villain was a little bit OTT evil.
• And I am never keen on magic as a device in books - although this is all the rage these days.

I am back on a mission again - to find another Holly Lisle book to read.