GREAT READS FOR JULY, 2015
Chappy, by Patricia Grace
It is ten years since
Patricia Grace’s last novel, ‘Tu’ was published but her new novel ‘Chappy’ is
worth the wait, for Ms Grace thrills her dedicated readers yet again with the
beauty of her story, and will doubtless gain thousands more new converts to her
unique and loving view of life in New Zealand, then and now, for the Tangata
whenua (People of the Land).
Daniel Knudsen is the son of a Maori mother and a Danish
father – the great Dane, his mother’s family call him, because he is a
prosperous banker based in Switzerland, where Daniel was born. Twenty one year-old Daniel is a
malcontent; can’t really settle to
anything; doesn’t know why he is
enrolled (at his parent’s suggestion) in a prestigious German university
reading German literature – where will that lead him in life? Until a car accident convinces his
exasperated mother to send him back to his Maori kin in New Zealand: if they can’t whip him into shape, then
no-one can.
As a treat for his sister and mother, Daniel, who is
staying with his grandmother Oriwia, makes a written record of the family’s
oral history, particularly that of the mysterious Japanese grandfather who died
before he was born. He is fascinated
with the diversity of his lineage, and means to unearth as much as possible
during his stay, particularly from his ‘double-adopted’ great-uncle Aki who
lives alone (‘in the bush, the fool’ says Oriwia). And Aki is ready to talk into Daniel’s little
tape-recorder; he is ready to unburden
himself of the weight of history and family connections: it is time to speak.
Aki is a boy of fifteen when he is taken on as a seaman
on a ship in the port of Wellington. He
considers himself lucky for these are the Depression years, years of terrible
hardship for everybody, and Aki’s family is depending on him to help them when
he can – which he does, and he finds the seagoing life and working his way
round the world an admirable fit; it
also eases his aching heart, for Aki and his family are no strangers to sorrow,
and it is a relief to be away from the ghosts – until he sees one on a corner
of the deck one night.
The ‘ghost’ turns out to be a sick, starving Japanese
stowaway, so ill that Aki doesn’t know if he will survive the journey to
Wellington, but Aki’s gifts of food and kindness make enough difference to
ensure survival and the smuggling of the ‘Chappy’ off the ship, onto a train
and up the coast to Aki’s family, an exotic extra gift on top of everything
else: ‘A little Hapanihi, from
Chapan.’
All branches of the family take Chappy to their hearts,
particularly Oriwia, (even though she and Aki had an agreement to marry made
during arithmetic at school) and she decides that it would be an excellent idea
for she and Chappy to marry – it’s all very well having an ‘understanding’ with
Aki (who already has met the love of his life in Hawaii) but what use is muscle
and hard work if it’s always somewhere else?
Oriwia knows she has found the right man and she and
Chappy know great happiness – until Japan bombs Pearl Harbour on December 7th,
1941, and Chappy is now an enemy alien.
Ms Grace’s research of this terrible time is exact and
sure, conveying with elegant clarity the grief and lasting sorrow of absence
and loss; the mystery of a loving,
staunchly loyal man’s motives for staying separated from his family for decades
until found, once again, by Aki; and the
endless understanding and forgiveness from a huge family; huge in number and huge in heart: Daniel’s trip home to Aotearoa has whipped
him into shape, and it didn’t hurt a bit.
This is a great story: it was worth waiting for. Highly recommended.
The Liar’s Key, by Mark Lawrence.
Prince Jalan Kendeth of
Red March returns to entertain and delight readers yet again with his utter
lack of scruples, eye for the main chance and a remarkable propensity for
attracting enemies by the shipload. His
reprehensible behaviour has not improved since Book One ‘The Prince of Fools’
(see 2014 review below); he still lies,
cheats and tries to flee at the first sign of danger to himself (too bad about
anyone else!) and the only reason he leaves the comforts of the snowbound inn
he and Snori ver Snagason have been wintering in is the usual pursuit by various
cuckolded husbands and outraged women who considered themselves his only true
love. Yes, it is time to leave before
his enviable looks are spoiled and he has been made to eat certain essential
parts of his anatomy, and Snori, an honourable man who still (despite so much
proof to the contrary) considers Jalan his friend, is the perfect bodyguard.
But Snori is on a seemingly hopeless quest, and will not
be dissuaded: he has possession of
Loki’s Key – Loki, the trickster God of Norse mythology, Loki the Liar, Loki the
Cheat who fashioned a key that can open any door, including that of the
Underworld. Snori means to find that
door, open it, and search for his dead family.
He will bring them back, or die in the attempt, for his life is
meaningless without them.
Needless to say Jalan (right up there with Loki at lying
and cheating) is horrified at Snori’s reckless pursuit of a sticky end, but
will travel with him (the Norseman might be mad but he’s superb insurance
against the dangers on the road) as far as Vermillion. Even though Jalan is only a minor princeling
it will be wonderful to return home, where he can embellish shamelessly the
stories of his exploits – and where he will at last be warm. He thinks.
Jalan is indeed warm, but the welcome from his family is
not; yet again he is forced to flee
from creditors who are tiresomely demanding their money and he finds to his horror that he misses his
travelling companions – Christ on a bike – he must be ill!
True to form, our cowardly hero undergoes much privation
(usually his own fault), battles disturbing visions from mages, necromancers et
al as they try to find out what he knows about Loki’s Key and its whereabouts –
‘A key? What key? I am a prince of Red March. What use have I for keys!’ Yeah, right.
Those sorcerers aren’t fooled for a second. Jalan is the conduit: when he reunites with Snori, the Key will be
theirs.
It is not easy to create sequels that are successively
better with each volume but Mr Lawrence is one great storyteller who seems to
manage this feat effortlessly; he leaves
the reader always wanting more, hanging out impatiently for the next episode –
which will see Snori and craven companion Jalan exactly where he does not want
to be: in Hel, searching for Snori’s
beloved family. My only complaint about
this book is that I shall have to wait at least another year for Mr Lawrence to
enlighten me. I’ll be doing it
hard! Highly recommended.
Prince
of Fools, by Mark Lawrence
Jalan Kendeth is a prince
of Red March, a southern kingdom blessed with bountiful harvests and buxom
wenches. He is young, handsome and
filled with boundless energy – but not for anything constructive. He freely admits to being irresponsible, (he
is hugely in debt to a sadistic moneylender) feckless, (no woman is safe from
his doubtful charms) and famously disinterested in the affairs and business of
ruling his country – which is fortunate;
he is tenth in line to his grandmother the Red Queen’s throne and as
such would never be considered for the crown.
Also, he is considered the runt of the litter of his family of older
brothers, for despite his fine height and good build he is ‘The Little
One’. They dwarf him, every one.
Well, who cares? Not him:
he’s quite happy to remain one step ahead of the moneylender (and he’s a
damn fine runner!), and to worry about consequences for any of his actions after he has acted – until he becomes
involved with a huge Norseman, a captive of his grandmother who has been freed
because he gave her vital information about a huge and frightening army
preparing to attack from the frozen Northern wastes of the Bitter Ice. Through a dreadful twist of fate – and a
ghastly spell concocted by a witch (truly!) – they are bound together by the
good and bad strands of the spell and compelled to journey North to try to stop
the advance of the Dead King and his ghastly army of corpses. Snorri ver Snagason, the Norseman, is happy
to begin the journey: his wife and
children are captives in the North and he means to rescue them. Jalan, needless to say, feels exactly the
opposite. Heading purposely towards
certain death is not on his agenda, but such is the power of the spell that he
has no choice and begins the journey with a quaking heart and loud
protestations.
And, regardless of his
fears, he and Snorri travel inexorably northwards, most of the time with little
food and no money, and depending more than once on ‘the kindness of strangers’,
until they reach Ancrath, home of Jorg, Prince of Thorns, who is back in favour
– however temporarily - with his father,
King Olidan. Jalan makes much of his
princely status while he can, until Olidan’s Queen tries to bribe him to kill
Jorg, but Jalan has no stomach for such a task, especially when he sees the
Prince of Thorns and is victim of his thousand yard stare. No:
it’s time he and the Norseman resumed their journey – fast!
Once again, we are off on
a marvellous adventure through Mark Lawrence’s great fantasy of Europe after
The Big Bang, the Explosion of a Thousand Suns,
the setting of his superb ‘Prince
of Thorns’ trilogy.
Jalan Kendeth’s story runs
parallel to the action in the first trilogy so he is bound to cross paths again
with the deadly Honorous Jorg Ancrath;
it will be fascinating to see if his and Norri’s travails have given him
an injection of the courage he honestly acknowledges he lacks, but by the end
of Book One our expectations are not high – instead, what is certain is that
Mark Lawrence has produced once again a fantasy of the highest order, with
characters that readers truly care about, and more action than you can shake a
stick at. There are Unborn, Undead and
Unnaturals littering every chapter, not to mention witches, bitches and seers
by the score: what more could a
dedicated fantasy reader ask for, except top quality writing and plotting. Mark Lawrence does it all. Highly recommended.
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