BOOK UPDATE - Inkpot's 31 - 35

A recent update from Inkpot:

31. BATTLESTAR GALACTICA REBELLION by Richard Hatch and Alan Rodgers.
I enjoyed watching the original Battlestar Galactica series very much. Apollo, played by Richard Hatch, was the hero and married Serena, played by Jane Seymour. My favourite was wise cracking hot shot viper pilot, Starbuck, played by Dirk Benedict (aka Face from the A Team). A few years ago, Richard Hatch approached a TV studio to make a new series of BG, catching up with the same characters twenty years on. He even bankrupted himself making a trailer for the proposed series. The studio didn’t bite and a few years later went with a‘re-imagining’. Hatch, undaunted, turned his ideas into a series of books, of which Rebellion is one. Unfortunately, the book is almost unreadable. I don’t know who is responsible. Hatch is an actor and Alan Rodgers is a horror writer, or so the back of the book tells me, but whoever wrote this book comes across as nearly illiterate. It changes tense every couple of paragraphs, over abounds in eclipses, and tells the reader everything without showing a peep. It is almost worth reading as an example of how not to write – almost.
1/10 Darren Shan-tastic.

32. WOMEN WHO THINK TOO MUCH by Dr Susan Nolen-Hoesksema
This is an excellent, thoughtful and insightful book about identifying and eradicating over thinking (negative, obsessive, unrelenting thoughts about problems and situations). I would highly recommend it to anyone who feels they are prone to over thinking.
9/10

33. ICEBOUND by Dean Koontz
Icebound is the story of a group of scientists stuck on an iceberg and their efforts to get off. Koontz describes the cold and horror of the situation superbly, keeping the tension and the pace of the book at break neck speeds, while still fitting in his characteristic touches of human story to the characters, the strong bond between husband and wife and the hint of Catholicism. In the author’s note at the back of this book, Dean says he wrote Icebound as homage to the works of Alistair McLean. I have never read any of the famous scot’s work, so I can’t judge whether he pulled it off. Altogether, Icebound is a taut, enjoyable thriller.
7/10 Not bad


34. REDWALL by Brian Jacques
Imagine Kenneth Graham’s The Wind in the Willows, add in a touch of The Animals of Farthing Wood and a hint of the Crusades and you have Redwall. Simply written, one moment quaint, the next dark and brutal, I couldn’t help thinking as I read this that it wouldn’t get published today (it was first published in the 1980’s). Enjoyable in a very putdownable way. It was good to read, but I didn’t rush back to finish it.
5/10 Readable


35. DEMON SEED by Dean Koontz
I’ve been struggling recently to finish a couple of long boring books, and, as a result, my book count has slowed down significantly. What better way to revive my flagging reading, I thought, than turning to old reliable Dean Koontz. Demon Seed was originally written in the late seventies and made into a film around that time as well. I had seen the film, although I had no idea until I started reading the book that the two were related. The film was not great, but it was very creepy and left a strong impression on me – as well as a lot of modern movie makers, as it is often referenced in TV shows and movies (there is one Simpsons episode about it). The book is quite different from the film in that it is told from the antagonist’s point of view, but it is just as creepy and Deanie does a wonderful job of creating a very disturbed creature.
8/10 I like it
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