Jack Rhys-Burgess

Books Shorts

This is a section dedicated to smaller, less structured reviews of books. Essentially a few lines rather than a few paragraphs.

This page will be a (soon-to-be-big) list of reviews, alphabetised using author name.

Update

A

Arkady & Boris Strugatsky

Quick storygraph summary:

The setup of aliens visiting Earth temporarily, not acknowledging humanity’s existence and leaving behind numerous ‘junk’ artefacts for humanity to deal with is certainly an evocative setup.

And its explored in a down-to-earth manner, told mainly from the point of view of Redrick, a stalker struggling to get by, his life entirely dependent on the ‘Zone’ and the aftermath of these alien artefacts appearing, in a few discrete and distinct times of his life - with just one chapter focused more on the scientific aspect, where we get some nice philosophical discussion and musings around the aliens and human intelligence, and produces both the best parts of the book and the “Roadside Picnic” analogy that titles the book. Very much focused on building an atmosphere rather than the most concrete of plots, but this reads as a deliberate authorial choice.

Its also quite fast-paced given each chapter is relatively self-contained, which can make it feel quite disjointed, but allows the passage of time to kick in without much downtime, and allows it to develop some of the more weird and sinister afflictions the Zone curses upon this town of Harmont.

A worthwhile read, and while it ends rather abruptly, the strands of hope imbued within the characters despite the utter melancholy and negativity of what little of the world is presented to us sticks with you, alongside the more philosophical rumination of human intelligence.

D

Douglas Adams

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A classic and quintessentially British book. Tons of playful yet clever writing, oodles of jokes and punchlines (42 as a punchline is now permanently etched upon the human consciousness) and a great sense of comic absurdism - the universe is a joke, illogical and nonsensical but we can enjoy the ride along the way, or at the very least be baffled and bermused while dragged along for the ride.

Is this book perfect? Strictly speaking no, it has a big introductory beginning and a lengthy ending with little in the way of connecting middle tissue, and towards said ending there’s something to be said that a new sudden plot curveball is thrown every few chapters - one too many coincidences is usually a sign of a weak plot, but given the fun and the absurdity of it all, it really doesn’t bother me much at all. It has had a profound and tremendous cultural impact upon the world, and it is entirely deserved.

Quick storygraph summary:

A textbook sequel, its more of the same, all the elements from the first book are here and runs the same formula, but it just doesn’t quite stand up to the original outing. It feels a little more unfocused, with the ensemble cast being split apart in differing strands of adventure for large chunks of time, only meeting up for certain occasions like the centerpiece/namesake Restaurant visit. It also feels like a disparate grab bag of ideas that didn’t quite make the first book, and while some are still very very funny, it doesn’t add up to something super substantial - likely hindered by the fact that this is the middle book of the initial trilogy.

But its still a light, breezy read and there’s an awful lot of funny things still going on here, with Adams’ sense of humour still shining through, sometimes even stronger than the original, such as the initial chapter and anything involving the Golgafrinchans. It fundamentally achieves what it set out to do, being yet another lighthearted romp through the Galaxy exercising Adams’ boundless imagination for quips and jokes - it just doesn’t elevate too much beyond that.

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The 3rd in the Hitchhiker series, and its here on out that the books all start to do their own thing - this one is the closest Douglas Adams comes to writing a book in the series with a traditional front-to-back plot, focusing around the saga of the Krikkit people and their bloodthirsty tendencies. That plot focus is a double-edged sword, it does give some modicum of structure to what is generally quite a silly and chaotic series but can also suffer due to its ‘overconnectedness’, where what would usually be non-sequitur end up being important plot points (Chapter 3, and Hactar come to mind), and the time travel shenanigans can interfere with sensible plot following

Despite that focus, there are still plenty of funny set-pieces (bistromathics, Agrajag, Wowbagger the Infinitely Prolongued and The Longest Cocktail Party) that still allow Adams to exercise and stretch his absurd and creative muscles for quips, and as someone who enjoys cricket myself - the numerous connections and references scattered throughout the plot amused me, although I can definitely see non-fans being utterly baffled, even moreso than the typical fare that Adams’ usually serves up.

Overall I would see this as a slight step-up from the 2nd, and the slight mix-up on the formula has worked well - the ensemble cast are better used once again (Trillian is finally useful!) and the ending is the most satisfying of all the books so far.

Quick storygraph summary:

The 4th in the Hitchhiker series, and this is really where it goes downhill, unfortunately. Douglas Adams decided he wanted to write a romance novel instead, and so shoehorned it (and I mean shoehorned, any simple, basics questions like “how was the Earth not destroyed?” are glossed over) into the Hitchhiker setting - or rather borrowed Arthur Dent, a every-man interesting when juxtaposed with the weird and wacky aliens of the Galaxy but dull as dishwater back on Earth. I have no idea why Arthur was so infatuated with Fenny/Fenchurch, and I don’t know why Adams thought we would care to read about a romance between an every-man/reader insert and one of multiple rather nondescript female characters - the little Ford Prefect and meta-literary sideshows poking at this fact say little other than the author has run out of ideas.

There’s still funny jokes here (American Express, pub sandwiches, Rob McKenna the Rain God) but what does it serve, what does it matter? In this literal down-to-Earth story, they feel out of place and incongruous.

“There was a point to this story, but it has temporarily escaped the chronicler’s mind.”

Quick storygraph summary:

DO NOT READ THIS BOOK! STOP AT #4, STOP AT “SO LONG, AND THANKS FOR ALL THE FISH”, TURN BACK NOW. THERE IS NOTHING HERE FOR YOU, BUT DESPAIR, MISERY AND REGRET. DO NOT PROCEED.

…but if you have to…

This is a strange, depressing book, where no-one appears to be having much fun existing in the galaxy and the story written out for them. Trillian is busy chasing around her glitzy reporting career and doesn’t seem to be enjoying it - and for inexplicable reasons has a daughter, Random, and spends most of her time neglecting her and eventually dumps her with Arthur, turning his own life upside down. Random is unhappy for existing, and is perpetually insufferable throughout. Ford, meanwhile, is unhappy with the marked changes and dulling up of the Guide. Marvin and Zaphod are nowhere here, and Fenchurch has been written out of existence by one passing remark - a baffling decision that makes the previous book functionally worthless.

The irreverent, whimsical and absurdist take on the Galaxy, the very thing that made the series so enjoyable and fun to read to begin with, has been completely supplanted with a sense of melancholy, dread, and nihilism. Achieves the rare feat of not only being a unenjoyable book, but putting a great damper on the entire preceding series simply by existing, especially due to the ending where, surprise!, the Earth blows up yet again - but no one escapes akin to the first book. Everyone is presumably dead. Gone. Kaput. The Vogons win.

I did not heed warnings from similar reviews not to read this book, and did not heed said warning. For that, I can only repent by warning others, DO NOT READ THIS BOOK!

N

Neal Stephenson

Quick storygraph summary:

Snow Crash is about a lot, perhaps too much at once. Stephenson has crammed an awful lot of ideas and combined them in interesting, if sometimes totally ludicrous ways - but it never takes itself too seriously, so the obvious flaws of a loose and chaotic plot, plenty of fluff and exposition and some inconsistent pacing don’t really seem all that important if you buy into Stephenson’s enthusiasm to tell you about all these interesting ideas that he’s had around future technology, neurolinguistics and ancient Mesopotamian history - and fusing them all together.

Its uneven, in both pacing and quality, the ending section wraps up all-too-quickly and characters are frustratingly underdeveloped, but I’m listing all these negatives because I’m massively conflicted - my all-too-logical brain sees all these issues but my heart really enjoyed going along for this chaotic ride. Not only that but there are small sections and chapters are utterly fantastic in their own way, the over-the-top no-fucks-given “Deliverator” opening that kicks the book off, Hiro’s utter disdain of corporate & government programming, YT’s strained “parents just don’t understand” relationship with Mom, and Fido. God bless Fido.

I would wager this book to be extremely ‘marmite-y’ and polarised in people’s opinions and thoughts - by being a 20-something guy I feel ridiculously pre-disposed to enjoy this power fantasy despite all rationality nagging away in my mind.

S

Stanisław Lem

Quick storygraph summary:

Some really interesting ideas, thoughts and takes on humanity through the lens of scientists trying to make contact with Solaris, an alien planet and ocean that appears wholly disinterested in mankind - until an experiment of bombarding the planet with Xrays goes awry, with Solaris responding by sending “visitors”, unique simulacra that take after a singular person important in each scientists’ memory. Our protagonist, Kris Kelvin, for instance quickly gets a visitor in the form of Rheya, his late wife who took her own life years before - the other visitors are only alluded to in passing.

This is a fantastic set-up, but there’s a lot of… fluff for a lack of a better word. Long flowing and very science-y descriptions (as much as one can describe a fictional alien sentient planet) around Solaris, how it behaves and the long expansive history of researching it - fascinating sure but felt extremely out-of-kilter in what really appears to be a rather human-oriented story. There’s also a lot of waiting around, stalling and days, chapters, conversations where little is done - and for all the thinking and rumination said scientists on Solaris do their actions are often frustrating, and don’t seem to understand the very book they were written for.

W

William Gibson

Quick storygraph summary:

Dispensing ideas about old, genre-defining books can be difficult. Both in the sense of coming out with any sort of novel or interesting opinion, and also not succumbing to the fact that what was undeniably groundbreaking, can look quaint and relatively unimportant after years and decades of providing inspiration either directly or indirectly.

Regardless, as a casual reader with some interest in Sci-Fi, Neuromancer is still absolutely worth reading for its influence alone. It has plenty of interesting ideas, themes and Gibson really nailed the aesthetic and atmosphere of what a cyberpunk world would look, sound and feel like.

However, that is part of the problem, as you are pretty quickly immersed in a world with all this (now outdated and retro) technobabble and lingo, with neither Gibson nor the characters involved feeling generous enough to allow you to get a grip on the world created. You either let your imagination run wild, infer what you can from the technical jargon and flowery prose and breeze past what is quite a simple story told in quick yet abstract fashion, all whilst enjoying every second. Or you don’t, and instead chafe against the lack of detail, the chaotic storytelling and the inability to visualise the world built from incoherent snippets of detail.

The litmus test is the first few chapters and you’ll quite quickly recognise whether you gel with the uncompromising prose or not. I did, with some reservations throughout, leading to a similarly incoherent rush of thoughts when reading that did not really come much clearer even upon a re-read a year later. Either way, I enjoy Neuromancer a lot more when I let my brain run wild with crazy visualisations, allowing the plot to drag me every which way and simply admiring the whole piece at a fuzzy distance like a grand painting - and I enjoy Neuromancer a whole lot less when I’m picking against slang, jargon, the frenetic storytelling and judging individual brushstrokes with undue attention.