Richard M. Marshall

This is a children's book written by a friend and ex-colleague. Knowing that I'm a bookworm and always review what I read, he asked me to read this - being a bit of a pedant, I also did a spot of proof reading too!

I've not really read any children's books since.... er.... I was a child, so it took me a moment or two to get into the right mindset. By that I mean that I shouldn't look at the story with adult perceptions: it would be hard to believe that the children in the book could be so resourceful etc. to be able to suceed in all the situations that they find themselves in. Also, the climate change theme seemed quite heavy handed, but I guess it would need to be to get through to a child.

It put me in mind of many of the books I read as a child: Enid Blyton, Malcolm Saville, Elinor M Brent Dyer etc. all wrote books where a group of resourceful children find themselves having an 'adventure' and winning through, beating their adult adversaries. I'm also put in mind of another book I read as a child: Heartsease, which is a post-apocalypse (pandemic) tale (think they eventually based 'The Survivors' on it) where people live in small groups, reverting to a more 'medieval' style of living, but with odd remnants of technology.

So, this is the tale of a post-fossil fuel world where climate change has led to drought and hunger and with climate change refugees washing up on the shores of Britain looking for a better life. Life has reverted to a more community based way of living with self-sufficiency and sustainability, the key. Our 'heroes' are a brother and sister who find a Spanish boy washed up on the shore. A group of 'raiders' find them on the beach, presume they are all refugees, and kidnap them. The rest of the story is about their captivity, escape and the adventures they have trying to get home.

I found the tale sped on at a pace, the background information was well thought through and it all held together well. I would think that a child would find it quite exciting. Not sure what age it's aimed at, so not sure if all the vocabulary fits its audience, but that's what parents and dictionaries are for - if we don't stretch children, they can't learn.

One thing did nag at me tho - Pepe: at the beginning of the book, he's speaking in broken English, almost pigeon. By the end of the book (possibly only 48 hours later) he's speaking in quite complex, perfect, English. Having said that, reading the whole story with him speaking broken English would be quite wearying, so probably for the best. To be fair, I'm pretty sure children wouldn't really notice.

Overall, I think it's very good & Richard should really try and get it out to a wider audience!… (mehr)

This is another book written by my friend and ex-colleague, this time Science Fiction. And once again being a bit of a pedant, I did a spot of proof reading too!

I finished reading it about a week ago and I'm struggling to find the right words. I enjoyed it, but it played to my preferences. I love science fiction and being a techie, all the computer jargon and technicalities worked really well for me. I'm just not sure how they'll play for anyone else.

The basic story is that the world has moved on from the way society is structured now. People don't really work in offices and travel is limited due to a dwindling fossil fuel supply. In the midst of all this is a news agency/gathering service (WIN) which is so highly protected that it's become the only news supply and the world's economy is extremely sensitive to anything that it publishes. Somehow someone has managed to plant a Network Sleeper in there and is planning to influence the world economy by planting fake news stories.

Cue our hero, Ian. He was one of the founders of WIN and is its technical designer. He has to travel to the headquarters to find out how the fake story was planted and then onwards following the trail of the mysterious 'Rouge' across Europe and beyond. Along the way we meet various colleagues and he gains a love interest all the while being chased, and sometimes caught, by various henchmen.

The story zips along at a pace and I certainly see shades of the author in Ian's character ;-) I liked some of the ideas of how things may change in the future (especially liked the idea of a Software Archaeologist), but some of them were equally horrifying - especially those that we know are already in development.

What I'm really interested in finding out is if any of my less techie friends will enjoy it as much or whether part of my enjoyment is the fact that I have some of the same techie background as the author.… (mehr)

The Botanist by Richard M Marshall - Good

Richard is a friend of mine and I beta read this for him a little while ago. It is his third book (second aimed at adults) that I've read.

This was written in the style of Manning Cole, as an homage. As I haven't read any of his works, I can't comment on how close Richard has got, but I can comment on the story and style etc.

It's kind of like a cosy spy thriller - no forensic/gory details: when someone dies, that's it, nothing detailed or bloody.

The setting is post-war France and our 'intelligence man' is looking into the death of a boffin that had retired to the south.

The backgrounds of the characters are very vague. Everyone was "something in the War" but not willing to say (pretty accurate for the times), but what we do get is pretty steady romp through the intrigue and adventure until our man wins out.

If you like period mysteries such as Agatha Christie or Josphine Tey then, as that is the sort of style Richard is aiming for, it's worth a read.

I really enjoyed it, it's Richard's best yet.

… (mehr)