Book Riot Read Harder 2018 in review: Android Karenina #BookReview #ReadHarder2018 #Blogmas

Category 5: A book set in or about one of the five BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, or South Africa) 

Android Karenina

Author: Ben H. Winters & Leo Tolstoy
Publisher: Quirk Classics 

Published: June 8 2010 (first published January 1st 2010)
Page count: 541
Genres: steampunk, historical, parody, scifi

Date read: August 13, 2018

Number of times read: 1

Format: paperback
Source: Chapters/Indigo (probably...either that or Walmart...)

Summary

Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters co-author Ben H. Winters is back with an all-new collaborator, legendary Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy, and the result is Android Karenina an enhanced edition of the classic love story set in a dystopian world of robots, cyborgs, and interstellar space travel.

As in the original novel, our story follows two relationships: the tragic adulterous romance of Anna Karenina and Count Alexei Vronsky, and the much more hopeful marriage of Konstantin Levin and Kitty Shcherbatskaya.These four, yearning for true love, live in a steampunk-inspired 19th century of mechanical butlers, extraterrestrial-worshiping cults, and airborne debutante balls. Their passions alone would be enough to consume them-but when a secret cabal of radical scientific revolutionaries launches an attack on Russian high society's high-tech lifestyle, our heroes must fight back with all their courage, all their gadgets, and all the power of a sleek new cyborg model like nothing the world has ever seen."

Filled with the same blend of romance, drama, and fantasy that made the first two Quirk Classics New York Times best sellers, Android Karenina brings this celebrated series into the exciting world of science fiction. -- via Goodreads

Review

It's funny I had the hardest time trying to figure out a book to read for this category and I'd resigned myself to reading something I knew I wasn't going to enjoy. And then I remembered that I own this. So that worked well for me. As a parody of the 'classic' Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy, this book is set primarily in Russia, with a brief sojourn to the moon (of course). You may be asking yourself, why did she put quotes around 'classic', that's what it is? Here I heave a sigh and go into my whole spiel for you. I'm a former English major - I'm a former English major who is absolutely bored by the so-called 'classics' and who thinks that what we consider the 'canon of English literature' to be completely and unforgivably biased. Now I know what you're thinking, in the historical context these were the big names of the time, of course, their books are still classics and everyone should read them. I wholeheartedly disagree, as a former English major, as a trained teacher, and as a library professional, I am completely against the idea of prescribed reading. One of the most famous sayings in the library world is that every book has its reader and every reader has their book. The idea of 'classics' and a 'canon of English literature' that must be read and appreciated completely goes against that idea. It's elitist, imperialist, and also tends to be sexist, misogynistic and/or racist (which ties in with it being imperialist). 

So what that long-winded tirade I just put you through boils down to is this: wherever possible I avoid reading anything considered 'classic' because with very few exceptions I haven't enjoyed most of the 'classics' that I've read and this is especially true of Russian literature (The Cherry Tree was the absolute bane of my existence for an entire semester in undergrad). But, I LOVE the idea of taking the classics and turning them on their heads with a good parody; it reminds me of AU fanfiction which I always enjoy. Plus I do really like steampunk. So when I found out that steampunk Anna Karenina was a thing I immediately wanted to try it as a way to actually become familiar with the plot of Tolstoy's original. And then, as with a lot of books I buy, it ended up languishing on a shelf for literally years. 

As you can see, I finally got around to reading it this year. And I can safely say, I loved it. I love the way Ben H. Winters seamlessly meshes his parody in with Tolstoy's original. It really did feel organic to me. Winters introduces the steampunk technology into 19th century Russian in an impressive way. The androids are a very interesting addition to the story and I thought his incorporation of Russian nomenclature into android naming conventions was inspired. I never found myself disengaged from the story, which is a problem I regularly have with straight-up 'classics'. Obviously, I can't say with 100% certainty, but I don't think Winters's parody loses anything from Tolstoy's original, and as I said what it added it added well. Even the parts about space travel and a moon colony didn't feel out of place. My only real complaint is that I feel like it dragged on in places, but I suspect that has more to do with the pace of the original vs. the parody itself. Probably the biggest praise I can give this book is that it made me considered wanting to read the source work because I really did enjoy the story at its base level in addition to enjoying the additions. 


If you've never read a parody of a classic I recommend this one, I'll definitely be checking out his other one, and not just because someone bought it for me as a birthday gift.

Overall Rating

4 bolts

Book Riot Read Harder 2018 in review: Hostage #BookReview #CanadianContent #ReadHarder2018 #Blogmas

Category 4: A comic written and illustrated by the same person

Hostage

Author: Guy Delisle
Publisher: Drawn and Quarterly 

Published: April 25 2017 (first published September 16 2016)
Page count: 436
Genres: biography, nonfiction, historical, comic/graphic novel

Date read: January 9, 2018

Number of times read: 1

Format: hardcover
Source: Chapters/Indigo

Summary

How does one survive when all hope is lost?

In the middle of the night in 1997, Doctors Without Borders administrator Christophe Andre was kidnapped by armed men and taken away to an unknown destination in the Caucasus region. For three months, Andre was kept handcuffed in solitary confinement, with little to survive on and almost no contact with the outside world. Close to twenty years later, award-winning cartoonist Guy Delisle (Pyongyang, Jerusalem, Shenzhen, Burma Chronicles) recounts Andre s harrowing experience in Hostage, a book that attests to the power of one man's determination in the face of a hopeless situation.

Marking a departure from the author s celebrated first-person travelogues, Delisle tells the story through the perspective of the titular captive, who strives to keep his mind alert as desperation starts to set in. Working in a pared down style with muted color washes, Delisle conveys the psychological effects of solitary confinement, compelling us to ask ourselves some difficult questions regarding the repercussions of negotiating with kidnappers and what it really means to be free. Thoughtful, intense, and moving, Hostage takes a profound look at what drives our will to survive in the darkest of moments. -- via Goodreads

Review

Having discovered Guy Delisle through the graphic novel collection at the library I work in I quickly devoured everything of his we had in our collection. I loved his travelogue graphic novels and his style. I wanted more. And then I found out about Hostage. It's a graphic novel biography which I haven't seen many of so I was really interested. I had never heard of Christophe Andre or what happened to him. Delisle told his story in an incredibly powerful way though. Obviously Delisle didn't write the story himself because it's a biography, so of course, Andre helped write it. But I don't think that that in any way precludes it from counting towards the category I've chosen it for.

There's an incredibly interesting juxtaposition in this comic. It's between Delisle's art style and the story that he is telling. Delisle has a very clean, simple art style that's almost got a sweet edge to it if you get my meaning? But he uses that really light and bright style of art to tell very punchy stories. In his travelogues, it was used effectively to show what life is really like in places like North Korea or Burma. Here he's telling the story of a man who was kidnapped and held against his will for months on end. He really puts us into Andre's mind and experience, the reader goes through it with him. I feel like Delisle's light style lends a thread of hope to what seems to be an utterly hopeless situation.

I don't really have anything bad to say about this book. I really enjoyed it and it moved me. That makes for a really short review though so I do feel a bit bad about that haha.


If you're interested in graphic novel biographies I highly recommend this one. Delisle has a fantastic art style and a real sense of how to tell a good story in pictures. Andre's story is moving and suspenseful. You will get invested and stay invested from cover to cover.

Overall Rating

4 bolts

Strictly Come Dancing 2018 - Week 11 Musicals Week

We're at Week 11, only two more weeks to go until the Glitterball winner is chosen.  Not only is it the Quarter Finals tonight, but it's also Musicals Week and another chance for the costume department, the makeup department, the props and the extra dancers to show what they can do.  Yes, almost as fun as Movie Week, it's always a spectacle and always a fun week.  Unlike Movie Week, at this stage in the competition, we're down to mostly the best dancers so the routines are likely to be second to none.

First of all, we start with a pro dance based on Mamma Mia and what a routine!  The casting was delightful with AJ and Dianne taking on the roles of Sky and Sophie, Anton du Beke was Sam and Karen Clifton was Donna, which may seem out of character but as she is the eldest of the female pro dancers at 36, it was the logical choice.  But it was the roles of Harry, Bill, Tanya and Rosie that were inspired.  These roles went to none other than our own four judges, Bruno, Craig, Shirley and Darcey.  Whilst Bruno and Craig looked like someone had booked their dads on a Club 18-30 holiday to Greece, Darcey and Shirley showed why they were award-winning professional dancers.  Even the celebs got in on the act and showed up at the end, but all in all, a truly stunning routine and a whole heap of fun.

But then it was on to the celebs to take to the floor and show what they have been learning in this past week.

First up were Lauren and AJ.  They were dancing the American Smooth to 'I'm In Love With A Wonderful Guy' from the musical South Pacific.  The last couple of weeks have been a bit dodgy for Lauren, she's been bottom of the leaderboard and lucky to stay out of the dance-off.  But what a way to come back and up your A-game! This routine was gorgeous, Lauren really brought out her personality and got into character, the connection with AJ was there, the routine was technically good and she scored her highest mark yet.  What a comeback.

Next up, however, we had Faye and Giovanni.  They were dancing a Charleston to 'The Lonely Goatherd' from The Sound of Music.  Whilst Giovanni's outfit seriously creeped me out, there was nothing scary about the routine, apart from perhaps how scarily FANTASTIC it was.  They were so completely in sync with each other, not a step wrong or an arm out of place.  It really showed off Faye's fun side, much like Ashley's Charleston did.  The Charleston has always been one of my favourite dances because it is a very fun dance to watch and Faye did not disappoint.  Craig's 10 paddle saw the light of day once more and earned them a perfect score of 40 and top of the leaderboard.

Our third couple to dance was Charles and Karen.  They were doing the notoriously difficult Rumba to the song 'Maria' from West Side Story.  It was beautifully acted and more importantly beautifully danced.  Karen highlighted the best of Charles and he stepped up to the mark, producing a beautifully tender yet passionate dance.  He earnt high praise from the judges and even Craig said it was the best male Rumba he's ever seen on Strictly.  That is high praise indeed.

Next up was the technically brilliant but utterly boring Ashley with her partner Pasha.  They were dancing the Quickstep to 'Don't Rain On My Parade' from Funny Girl.  It was a very quick Quickstep, there was hardly time to stop and breathe as they moved from step to step.  As I said, Ashley is a brilliant technical dancer, obviously having the training and I don't care if it's not ballroom training, Craig Revel-Horwood, it's still dance training so she knows how to listen to the music, how to move with a beat etc so yes she has an advantage.  However, despite her dances being technically good, her performances don't move me to emotion mostly.  I say mostly as there are a couple of notable exceptions such as her Tango, and her Charleston.  But on the whole, she's boring.

Next, we have Stacey and Kevin and they are dancing an American Smooth to 'I Dreamed A Dream' from Les Miserables.  Now, previously I have been supportive of Stacey.  I think for a non-dancer she has performed exceptionally well and has produced some totally stunning dances and having Kevin for a partner has helped as he is an amazing choreographer.  However, she is beginning to irritate me a little bit.  She's very over the top and has a very annoying habit of interrupting the judges when they are commenting on her dances and also host Claudia Winkelman when she's interviewing her.  Anyway, back to her dance and although she had the iconic musical of Les Mis, I felt this was very little dancing and mainly Stacey being lifted and passed around.  Also an American Smooth only allows a maximum of three lifts and there were more than that, at least six.  Yet there was no penalty in the marks which seems to show a little favouritism from the judges.  Still, the bits where she did dance were quite lovely and I really do love Kevin.

The final couple to dance was Joe and Dianne.  Joe is definitely coming out as my favourite as the series progresses.  They were dancing a Salsa to the Joseph Megamix from 'Joseph and his Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat (glad I only have to type that out once).  Joe has gone from quite a shy, nervous dancer to such a confident and relaxed dancer.  He throws everything he has at the dances he's given and really sells a performance.  And those lifts, never has the man been lifted like that before and that final lift into the air was incredible, he kept his frame so strong and straight and not even a hint of a wobble.  What a way to end the show!

So by the end of the show, the leaderboard is looking very very close

Faye & Giovanni	40
Stacey & Kevin	38
Ashley & Pasha	38
Joe & Dianne	36
Charles & Karen	35
Lauren & AJ	35

With only five points separating the top from the bottom, it's going to be an interesting results show.


So Sunday night's show opened with a Sweet Charity dance to Rhythm of Life.  It was good, except for the annoying clapping from the audience.  The show also saw a performance from Adam Lambert, showing just why he was chosen to sing with the remaining Queen members. I almost said to replace Freddie Mercury but no-one alive can do that, he was the greatest.  Still, Mr Lambert is extremely good and sang an excellent version of We Are The Champions.

However, you're here for the dance-off and it's sad to see Charles in there first of all.  Even sadder, when he's joined by Ashley because before they even dance again, it's pretty obvious how the result will go.  Predictably it's a clean sweep and all four judges vote Ashley through, however, I felt sorry for Charles as his routine and performance was the more heartfelt and had more depth.  I am sorry to see him go as he's grown so much as a dancer.

So it's on to next week and the Semi-Finals, where the couple will perform two dances instead of just the one.  The obvious weakest performer is Lauren but she is clearly getting a lot of public support whereas Ashley clearly isn't so anything could happen next week when it really all counts.

Until then my Strictly Stunners

Keep Dancing

Book Riot Read Harder 2018 in review: The Dark is Rising #BookReview #ReadHarder2018 #Blogmas

Category 3: A classic of genre fiction

The Dark is Rising

Author: Susan Cooper
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books

Published: October 1 1999 (first published 1973)
Page count: 244
Genres: fantasy, young adult, middle grades

Date read: September 3, 2018

Number of times read: 1

Format: paperback
Source: ...Amazon? I've owned it too long to remember where I actually bought it. I bought a box set of all 5...Nope according to my history this came from a physical bookstore!

Summary

"When the Dark comes rising, six shall turn it back, three from the circle, three from the track; wood, bronze, iron; water, fire, stone; five will return, and one go alone.”

With these mysterious words, Will Stanton discovers on his 11th birthday that he is no mere boy. He is the Sign-Seeker, last of the immortal Old Ones, destined to battle the powers of evil that trouble the land. His task is monumental: he must find and guard the six great Signs of the Light, which, when joined, will create a force strong enough to match and perhaps overcome that of the Dark. Embarking on this endeavor is dangerous as well as deeply rewarding; Will must work within a continuum of time and space much broader than he ever imagined. -- via Goodreads

Review

The Dark is Rising sequence is an award-winning classic of children's/middle-grade/YA fantasy. Here are the award credentials of this particular book: Newbery Medal Nominee (1974), Mythopoeic Fantasy Award Nominee (1974), Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for Fiction (1973). I'm honestly surprised that it took until adulthood for me to hear about this book series. I was always into fantasy as a kid and I practically lived at the public library but no one ever suggested it to me. At this point, I can't even remember when I bought the box set, it was probably in 2009 or 2010 when I was in teacher's college. What really matters is that I was well into my adulthood before someone mentioned this series to me, probably on Livejournal or Facebook. I'm 99.9% sure it was my friend Rachel. I kept meaning to get around to it and get around to it but I never actually bothered (this is a trend you will notice with books for this challenge). But I was able to find a way to shoehorn all 5 books from the series into a challenge this year, so YAY! I've read 3/5 so far.

I'd say this entry is arguably better than one in that it has more complex characters and a really interesting narrative. Over sea, under stone, was interesting but under-developed comparatively. The thing that lets this book down is that it's nearly a completely different cast of characters with no real explanation as to why we've completely switched perspectives. It does eventually become clear that Will's journey is very much tied to the adventure of the kids in the first story. The Dark is Rising does a really good job of setting everything up for the events that are to come in the rest of the series. Will is such an interesting character, you really come to love him over the course of the book and become invested in him. I was hopeful for the payoff of him up with meeting the original kids, but that doesn't happen until the third book in the series.

This entry in the series does a really good job of worldbuilding and setting the internal rules about magic up for the reader. A much better job than the first book did. The first book was more of a straight-up adventure, this one really delves into the magic and mythology of the world. It's trope-y but not in a bad way. Will is clearly a chosen one, but he's not infallible and fails nearly as much as he succeeds, but he's a kid and he's still learning so they cut him some slack even for his biggest failures. It's a solid book and definitely held my interest and made me want to continue the series, if only for wanting to see Will and the other kids meet up.


An interesting sequel that really builds on the world introduced in the first book and really sets up the stakes for the rest of the series. Don't let the fact that none of the kids from the first book are in this one keep you from reading it. This series entry really ups the magical and mythological elements.

Overall Rating

3.5 bolts

Calendar Girls - Dec 2018 - best book set in the winter - #CalendarGirlsBooks #CanadianContent #Blogmas

Welcome back to Calendar Girls, originated by bloggers, Flavia the Bibliophile and Melanie Noell Bernard it's now hosted by Katie of Never Not Reading and Adrienne of Darque Dreamer Reads. Calendar Girls is now in its second year as a monthly blog event inspired by Neil Sedaka’s 1961 song Calendar Girl. Just like in the song, they've decided to use a specific theme for each month and choose a book based on these themes! The event is meant to incite discussions with other bloggers about books we’ve read and loved, is meant to help bloggers meet other bloggers, and also for bloggers and readers to find out about blogs which they normally may not have come across! Want to know more? Click on the links above! And it’s never too late to jump on the Calendar Girl train! Join now!

Let it Snow: Best Book Set in the Winter 

You may have noticed a distinct lack of posting from me this year. I just completely fell out of the habit of blogging. Every time I thought about getting back into it I was just too busy or too uninspired to actually do it though. But I pledged to do Blogmas as a concerted way of getting myself back into blogging. So here we are on day 3 and Calendar Girls was a perfect tool to help me get back into the swing of writing. Now, onto the topic at hand, books set in the winter. A handful immediately came to mind, there's The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, of course, an almost lifelong favourite of mine which is set, at least partially, in a Narnian winter. Tree of Seasons was another good book that was also partially set in the winter. Then there's The Giver which ends in the winter. And, Susan Cooper's The Dark is Rising is specifically set over Christmas. I feel like all of those can count, but none of them is what I'm picking. No, my top 2 contenders are Kelley Armstrong's A Darkness Absolute and Tyrell Johnson's The Wolves of Winter. Both of which I really loved, and both of which are incidentally Canadian AND incidentally set in the northern territories of Canada in the winter.

Right then, which one ended up being my pick for the best book set in the winter? Let's see:

Book Riot Read Harder 2018 in review: Who killed my daughter? #BookReview #ReadHarder2018 #Blogmas

Category 2: A book of true crime

Who killed my daughter? The startling true story of a mother’s search for her daughter’s murderer

Author: Lois Duncan
Publisher: Open Road Media 

Published: August 28th 2012 (first published 1992)
Page count: 354
Genres: true crime, nonfiction, mystery, paranormal

Date read: November 17, 2018

Number of times read: 1

Format: ebook
Source: Kobo

Summary

On July 16, 1989, Lois Duncan’s daughter was chased down and shot to death in Albuquerque, New Mexico. After the police abandoned all leads, Duncan refused to give up her search for the truth.



In this tragic memoir and investigation, Lois Duncan searches for clues to the murder of her youngest child, eighteen-year-old Kaitlyn Arquette. Duncan begins to suspect that the official police investigation of Kaitlyn’s murder is inadequate when detectives ignore her daughter’s accidental connection to organized crime in Albuquerque. When Duncan loses faith in the system, she reaches out to anyone that can help, including private investigators, journalists, and even a psychic. Written to inspire other families who have lost loved ones to unsolved crimes, Who Killed My Daughter? is a powerful testament to the tenacity of a mother’s love. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Lois Duncan including rare images and never-before-seen documents from the author’s personal collection. -- via Goodreads

Review

This is one part true-crime saga, one part emotionally driven memoir, and one part narrative nonfiction about psychic phenomena. Being so many disparate things you might not expect a cohesive whole, you would be forgiven for thinking that, because you wouldn't be wrong. It's not entirely cohesive. Overall, it's written in a very narrative style and sometimes you can forget you're not reading one of Duncan's YA suspense novels. But this is very much nonfiction, it's about the as still unsolved murder of Lois Duncan's youngest daughter. A situation very much, as Duncan herself points out, that could have been directly ripped from the pages of one of her works. Indeed there are some eerie precognitive moments in some of her earlier works that are creepily correlated to circumstances surrounding Kait' murder.

Those parts of the book where Duncan is talking directly about the facts of the case, or where you get to experience the pure raw emotion of her as a mourning mother are the best parts of the book. And then she completely breaks the flow by inserting long, rambling, really hard to follow transcripts from a psychic. Yes, a psychic, Duncan and her family consulted with more than one psychic when they weren't getting anywhere with the police. Now, I am not a sceptic, never have been, but these readings drove me nuts. One of the psychics they consulted did something called automatic writing and the transcripts from those automatic writing sessions are the ones that are included in their entirety. They are so hard to read and follow that they really detracted from the book for me. 

The investigation itself was so completely botched you can't help but be completely enraged about it. You can very much sympathise with what Duncan and her family went through and why they did the things they did. Now that's granted that one of the biggest criticisms about this book is that it is one-sided so you do need to consider that. From what I've read the sequel Duncan wrote later delved more into actual evidence from the investigation but I haven't read that yet so I really can't comment on that claim. Just be aware that this book doesn't have an ending, like the leads in the case it just kind of peters out.

If you're a fan of Lois Duncan's fiction then this will be a fascinating and truly emotional read for you. If you're interested in a look at psychic work in a police investigation this could be a good choice. If you're looking for a hard-hitting true crime story then this is not what you're after. And definitely, don't read it if you don't like books that don't have an ending.

Overall Rating

3.5 bolts

Book Riot Read Harder 2018 in review: The Salmon of Doubt #BookReview #ReadHarder2018 #Blogmas

I thought that a good way to end the year and get back into blogging would be to do a series of reviews for all the books that I read for the Book Riot Read Harder 2018 challenge. An added benefit, there are 24 books so it will also be a good way to make sure I don't run out of ideas for Blogmas content like I did last year.

Category 1: A book published posthumously

The Salmon of Doubt

Author: Douglas Adams
Publisher: Del Rey

Published: May 28, 2002
Page count: 298
Genres: science fiction, biography, comedy, mystery

Date read: November 7, 2018

Number of times read: 1

Format: eAudio book
Source: Waterloo Public Library

Summary

Douglas Adams changed the face of science fiction with his cosmically comic novel The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and its classic sequels. Sadly for his countless admirers, he hitched his own ride to the great beyond much too soon. Culled posthumously from Adams’s fleet of beloved Macintosh computers, this selection of essays, articles, anecdotes, and stories offers a fascinating and intimate portrait of the multifaceted artist and absurdist wordsmith.

Join Adams on an excursion to climb Kilimanjaro…dressed in a rhino costume; peek into the private life of Genghis Khan—warrior and world-class neurotic; root for the harried author’s efforts to get a Hitchhiker movie off the ground in Hollywood; thrill to the further exploits of private eye Dirk Gently and two-headed alien Zaphod Beeblebrox. Though Douglas Adams is gone, he’s left us something very special to remember him by. Without a doubt. -- via Goodreads

Review

This book was published in 2002 after Douglas Adams passed in 2001. It's a strange book in that it's a mixture of bits of writing that were found after Adams's death and random interviews and pieces he'd written over the years. So with that in mind, it's both fiction and non-fiction. It's both autobiographical and a fantastical mystery. Now that it's been a few weeks since I read it and I'm sitting here thinking about how to review it I'm not entirely sure how I feel about it. My coworkers and I were talking on Friday about Go Set a Watchman and how it's exploitative, and I've come to the conclusion that that's what's wrong with this book for me, it feels exploitative. It always feels weird to me to think that an author's desk gets raided after they pass and that the contents/manuscripts as fragmented, unfinished, and incomplete as they may be are then put together and sold as a complete book. It just feels weird to me. Now maybe I'm wrong, maybe there was something in his will and he was okay with that happening. 

Now, let's move on, to the content of the book. The tributes at the beginning of the book from authors and celebrities who knew and worked with Adams were touching and funny. I think my favourite piece of the whole collection was the piece about the time Adams climbed Mount Kilimanjaro while wearing a rhino costume. That was pure comedic gold. At one point I think one of the stories was repeated twice? I can't remember totally at this point, but at the time I remember thinking "God, this story sounds very familiar." The way the pieces were organised were very slipshod and haphazard. I feel like this book really could have benefitted from much, much better editing than it seems to have had. They put it together more like a novel than an essay collection and I think that's to its detriment. 

Obviously, the central piece of this book is supposed to be the unfinished manuscript of the titular Salmon of Doubt. This is the first 10 chapters of what had been throughout the previous portions of the book alternatingly identified as either a Dirk Gently vehicle, a potential Hitchhiker's sequel, or a completely unrelated new work. Have read and loved (most) of Adams's Hitchhiker books, and having recently read (and enjoyed less) the Dirk Gently books, that was what really intrigued me to select Salmon of Doubt as my option for this challenge. Prior to the discovery that it was published posthumously, I was intending to read Ian Fleming's Man with the Golden Gun which was also published after the death of its author. But I digress, back to Salmon of Doubt. In this version of the manuscript, the story is very clearly a Dirk Gently mystery. It's fantastical, with a hint of sci-fi. And honestly, the portion of the manuscript that is extant is, in my opinion, better than both of the previous Dirk Gently books put together. It wasn't as esoteric as Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency and it was much less rambling than Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul. I'm not sure if having finished it would have ended up making it better or worse really. But I did enjoy reading it.

If you're looking for a proper Dirk Gently mystery or the mad-cap hijinx of the Hitchhiker's cast, then skip this book. But if you're just an overall fan of Douglas Adams's humour then you can't go wrong giving this book a shot.

Overall Rating

3.5 bolts