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knewton7's review
I wanted to like it but I just couldn't get into the characters or the plot.
nwhyte's review
http://www.strangehorizons.com/reviews/2006/03/ghosts_of_albio.shtml[return][return]This is the first novel, though not the first joint production, from the team of Amber Benson, who played Tara in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Christopher Golden, author of (I am told) several of the better Buffy novels and much else besides. In this, the first of a promised series of novels picking up the characters and settings from the BBC webcast stories by the same authors, siblings William and Tamara (not, repeat, not Willow and Tara) are the chosen Protectors of Albion, magically gifted teenagers charged with protecting their country from its supernatural enemies (so it is completely different from any other story or TV series you may have encountered). The year is 1839; they have three ghostly allies, Lord Byron, Lord Nelson, and Bodicea; their father, possessed by a demon, is locked in the attic; and they must defeat a sinister force threatening to destroy Britain (I suspect not for the first or last time).[return][return]This probably falls in the category of harmless fun rather than Great Literature, and will no doubt go down well with its target teen-goth audience. One striking point is the positive portrayal of the young female characters, Tamara and Sophia, William's girlfriend, as sexually confident, in comparison with William's repressed insecurity. (There are assertive men in the book, but they are either demonically possessed rapists or dead like Lord Byron and the vampire Nigel Townsend or just embarrassed like Tamara's suitor John Haversham.) It's a refreshing riposte to the Victorian (and later) portrayal of female sexuality as fundamentally irrational and evil.[return][return]Our baddies, on the other hand, are much more conventional. The villain has hit on a method of populating London with demons by transforming her male victims into reptilian creatures which then forcibly impregnate women with their evil spawn, leading to some particularly gruesome scenes. Indeed, in general the descriptive writing is pretty vivid, and the evocation of the atmosphere of 1830s London largely credible, though not always done with great deftness of pacing; furthermore, the American authors are not always successful in their efforts to capture the literary style of the period.[return][return]Having said that the setting is credibly evocative, there are times when it feels curiously divorced from history. It's striking that although Byron and Nelson, two of the three ghostly allies of the Protectors of Albion, had died only a few years before the story is set, they are treated as characters as distantly historical as the misspelt Bodicea. At one point we are told that Tamara reminds Nelson of his daughter, Horatia. If he wants to be reminded of his daughter (who was born in 1801 and lived to be eighty), why not pop down to Tenterden in Kent to visit her and his eight grandchildren?[return][return]But the most jarring notes in the book are struck by our old friends, race and class. The demonic plague infesting London has been hitting Indian immigrants for weeks, but only when it hits their aristocratic social group do our protagonists tackle it. They undertake a brief fact-finding mission to a wholly unconvincingly portrayed India. One senses the authors trying to grapple with the evils of the colonial system but finding their hearts are not in it; much better to stick to fictional and supernatural nastiness. It turns out that the entire plot is a rivalry between a nice Indian mage who is willing to cooperate with his colonial masters and the sinister forces of evil who want to overthrow them and have India rule England instead.[return][return]Let us hope that nobody will believe this book as a historical guide to England's relationship with India, which we are told is "a conquered nation under the rule of British generals" (and properly explaining the errors in that brief sentence would take an article the length of this review). Readers of a more revolutionary cast of mind may wonder why raising an army of supernatural creatures to destroy the British royal family and end colonial rule is necessarily such a Bad Thing. But we are not the target audience. Its intended crowd will enjoy it, and maybe some of them will have their interest sufficiently piqued to read more, and better, books about the period.
b1llz1lla's review
3.0
This book was loaned to me by a dear friend, and I'll admit I was skeptical of it at first. It was co-written by an actress who portrayed the character Tara in Buffy the Vampire Slayer (You Buffy fans out there probably know what this means; I haven't a clue if that's good or bad), which, I suspect, is how my friend found out about it in the first place.
It was quite entertaining. The premise is that there are wizard-ish types out there who are the protectors of the land in which they live, and have some kind of spiritual bond with that place. Someone has a mad-on at the British Empire (1838: could be 75% of the world back then) and has hatched an elaborate scheme to undermine Things, which includes unleashing a horde of semi-possessed reptile men, who run around raping women, causing each of the victims to give violent (and fatal, I'm afraid) birth to a batch of big, ugly frogs. They play this part up for a while, which made me increasingly uncomfortable, then finally they got over themselves after flogging that particular dead horse to death. I mean, as a writer, you don't have to use a metaphor until it bleeds -- or so I've been lead to believe. Once demonstrated, and once or twice hinted at would have sufficed; I got the picture long before they were done showing it to me.
Overall, I enjoyed the book, though they did have a tendency to repeat descriptive themes when talking about the characters -- they repeatedly mentioned that the ghost of Queen Bodicea, a recurring character in the book, and one of the allies of the "good guys," was naked, and ferocious, and carried a spear menacingly. It was quite clear to me they were being paid by the word. :-) Features one or two mildly hot (non-rape) seduction scenes.
Still, the idea was good, even if the execution was a bit lacking in some respects. If this book had been half as long, I might well have thought it brilliant. As it is, (and unpleasantness aside) it is merely a diverting read. Pretty interesting characters, though. I'm leaning towards reading the sequel in the next year. Apparently this first novel is based (or a sequel to) a web comic, or a web serialization - I'm unclear on the specifics - that was a cult hit in the UK.
It was quite entertaining. The premise is that there are wizard-ish types out there who are the protectors of the land in which they live, and have some kind of spiritual bond with that place. Someone has a mad-on at the British Empire (1838: could be 75% of the world back then) and has hatched an elaborate scheme to undermine Things, which includes unleashing a horde of semi-possessed reptile men, who run around raping women, causing each of the victims to give violent (and fatal, I'm afraid) birth to a batch of big, ugly frogs. They play this part up for a while, which made me increasingly uncomfortable, then finally they got over themselves after flogging that particular dead horse to death. I mean, as a writer, you don't have to use a metaphor until it bleeds -- or so I've been lead to believe. Once demonstrated, and once or twice hinted at would have sufficed; I got the picture long before they were done showing it to me.
Overall, I enjoyed the book, though they did have a tendency to repeat descriptive themes when talking about the characters -- they repeatedly mentioned that the ghost of Queen Bodicea, a recurring character in the book, and one of the allies of the "good guys," was naked, and ferocious, and carried a spear menacingly. It was quite clear to me they were being paid by the word. :-) Features one or two mildly hot (non-rape) seduction scenes.
Still, the idea was good, even if the execution was a bit lacking in some respects. If this book had been half as long, I might well have thought it brilliant. As it is, (and unpleasantness aside) it is merely a diverting read. Pretty interesting characters, though. I'm leaning towards reading the sequel in the next year. Apparently this first novel is based (or a sequel to) a web comic, or a web serialization - I'm unclear on the specifics - that was a cult hit in the UK.
fictionista3's review
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
krisrid's review
1.0
This sounded like my kind of thing - ghosts of famous people, protectors with magical powers, world at risk, demons, drama, excitement - but it didn't work for me.
There were good things about this story. The characters were interesting, and the story was well-written. The pacing was also very well-designed to keep the reader reading. The problem for me was that the underlying tone was extremely dark, with violence that was - for me - just too much. There was also sex that was ugly and disconcerting. All of this made sense within the story the authors are telling, but it was too much for my sensibilities. I found myself wincing a lot, and rather than enjoying the story, I felt uncomfortable.
There's a good story here, it just wasn't the right book for me.
There were good things about this story. The characters were interesting, and the story was well-written. The pacing was also very well-designed to keep the reader reading. The problem for me was that the underlying tone was extremely dark, with violence that was - for me - just too much. There was also sex that was ugly and disconcerting. All of this made sense within the story the authors are telling, but it was too much for my sensibilities. I found myself wincing a lot, and rather than enjoying the story, I felt uncomfortable.
There's a good story here, it just wasn't the right book for me.
otterno11's review
2.0
Retro review*
I recall feeling ambivalent towards this book when I read it some years ago. Finding it at the library after watching all of the fun little BBC flash animations online (remember those?), I thought that it might be interesting. On the one hand, I felt that the main characters introduced in the web series, such as siblings Tamora and Will and even the ghosts, were very well portrayed in the novel, with their personalities and motivations very distinct and believable, and more or less true to the early 19th century English setting (at least for a silly novel about superhero ghosts). The plot, on the other hand, was so cliched and rather over the top at times it seemed more like the set up for a video game. While some disturbing and out of place cursed statues led to some grim scenes, the monster overload with various beasts from Indian folklore popping up in hoards was a little much, even in a book where ghosts show up all the time. I felt that the main villain could have been interesting, but was left pretty one dimensional. In the end, I felt that the book was a little two sided; on the one hand, the main characters were likable, and the scenes without reference to the main plot were extremely enjoyable. On the other, they weren't able to express themselves much when dealing with the stereotypical monstrous army about to descend on unsuspecting London. Could this have been the results of the two different authors competing for space?
*This was the first book review I posted on the internet back in '06, slightly edited and reposted here.
I recall feeling ambivalent towards this book when I read it some years ago. Finding it at the library after watching all of the fun little BBC flash animations online (remember those?), I thought that it might be interesting. On the one hand, I felt that the main characters introduced in the web series, such as siblings Tamora and Will and even the ghosts, were very well portrayed in the novel, with their personalities and motivations very distinct and believable, and more or less true to the early 19th century English setting (at least for a silly novel about superhero ghosts). The plot, on the other hand, was so cliched and rather over the top at times it seemed more like the set up for a video game. While some disturbing and out of place cursed statues led to some grim scenes, the monster overload with various beasts from Indian folklore popping up in hoards was a little much, even in a book where ghosts show up all the time. I felt that the main villain could have been interesting, but was left pretty one dimensional. In the end, I felt that the book was a little two sided; on the one hand, the main characters were likable, and the scenes without reference to the main plot were extremely enjoyable. On the other, they weren't able to express themselves much when dealing with the stereotypical monstrous army about to descend on unsuspecting London. Could this have been the results of the two different authors competing for space?
*This was the first book review I posted on the internet back in '06, slightly edited and reposted here.
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