Category: Books & Literature

KokkieH Reviews Secrets of Inferno – In the Footsteps of Dante and Dan Brown by Dan Burstein and Arne de Keijzer

Review based on free ebook received from the publisher (and in fact my first-ever read-to-review).

Secret of Inferno cover
Jacket design by Barbara Aronica-Buck
Copyright © 2013 by Squibnocket Partners LLC
Used with permission

Secrets of Inferno is a reader’s guide to the journey Dan Brown took us all on in Inferno.  The book gives readers the “back story” on particular plot points, Dante references, symbols, historical events, philosophy, art, music, and architectural works that Brown wrapped into his story.  It is also an intellectually enriching, intriguing, fresh and fun look at Dante, the Divine Comedy, the world of ideas circulating in Florence on the cusp of the Renaissance, and the relevance of those ideas to our lives and our world today.  In addition, the book turns to some of the leading experts in their field to address some of Inferno’s more provocative notions, including transhumanism and population control. – Book description from publisher’s website.

Dan Burstein and Arne de Keijzer have been unearthing the facts behind Dan Brown’s fiction since 2004 when their first book in the Secrets-series, Secrets of the Code, spent six months on the New York Times bestseller list.  I have not read any of their previous offerings, but I thoroughly enjoyed reading Secrets of Inferno in which they analyse Dan Brown’s Inferno (read my review of that novel here) which came out in May of this year. Click here to read more. As it’s non-fiction you don’t have to worry about spoilers

KokkieH Reviews Running With The Demon by Terry Brooks

Running With The Demon by Terry Brooks is an urban fantasy/fantasy thriller and the first novel in his Word and Void trilogy.  It is the ninth novel set in his Shannara universe, though chronologically it is the first, the events in it taking place more than two thousand years before The Sword of Shannara which was his first novel.

Running with the Demon - Terry Brooks
Cover illustration: Brom
Publisher: http://www.orbitbooks.co.uk

The novel, which takes place over the Fourth of July weekend, tells the story of Nest Freemark, a fourteen-year-old girl being raised by her grandparents in the fictional town of Hopewell, Illinois (there really is such a place as Hopewell, IL., but this Hopewell is actually based on the city of Sterling, IL., Brooks’s hometown).  Nest has a secret:  she has the gift of magic.  Along with the sylvan, Pick, and her mysterious protector, Wraith, she has to help maintain the balance between good and evil in Sinnissippi Park, one of the places on Earth where magic still resides. Read the rest of the review here. No spoilers. I promise.

KokkieH Reviews The Long Earth by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter

What if the Earth wasn’t the only one?  What if there were millions more Earths beyond ours, formed every time in that history went one way or the other while moving along the trousers of time?  What if ours was the only one where homo sapiens developed, leaving the others empty, unspoilt and there for the taking?  What if all you needed to do to reach one was step to the side?

Parallel universes are nothing new to Science Fiction, but the idea is given a wonderful new spin in The Long Earth, a collaboration between Sir Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter.

(Please note: there are some minor spoilers to follow, but I won’t reveal any major plot points.)

The Long Earth by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter
Cover design by R. Shailer
Publisher: http://www.transworldbooks.co.uk

Continue reading “KokkieH Reviews The Long Earth by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter”

On resurrecting the dead

On resurrecting the dead

The Guardian reported this morning that there is to be a new Hercule Poirot novel, written by Sophie Hannah.  Poirot is a Belgian detective created by Dame Agatha Christie who featured in thirty-three novels and more than fifty short stories.  The character died in the novel Curtain which was published in 1975.

When Curtain was published The New York Times ran a full-page obituary in Poirot’s honour, and he remains the only fictional character to get such treatment.

Hercule Poirot, a Belgian detective who became internationally famous, has died in England.  His age was unknown.  Mr. Poirot achieved fame as a private investigator after he retired as a member of the Belgian police force in 1904.  His career, as chronicled in the novels of Dame Agatha Christie, was one of the most illustrious in fiction.

You can read the full obituary here

David Suchet as Hercule Poirot
David Suchet as Hercule Poirot
Source – Wikipedia

Reviving deceased characters is nothing new. Continue reading “On resurrecting the dead”

Some more Dan Brown…the last time…I promise

I don’t hate Dan Brown.  I honestly don’t.  I own four of his books, after all (okay, five, but I got the last one for free, so it doesn’t count).  I have contributed, at least in part, to his current wealth.  I didn’t like Inferno, I’ve said so, and I was happy to let the matter lie, even after I coincidentally discovered a factual error.

But yesterday I typed “Dan Brown Inferno” into Quora.com, to see if people were discussing the novel, just out of curiosity, you know?  There I came across one question which exposed a plot hole…make that the plot hole, a plot hole so big that I didn’t even spot it because the entire novel was inside it.

(At this point it would again be pertinent to issue a spoiler alert, but does it make any difference?) Continue reading “Some more Dan Brown…the last time…I promise”