"Dune" by Frank Herbert

“No more terrible disaster could befall your people than for them to fall into the hands of a Hero.”

There's no doubt that Frank Herbert's "Dune" is one of the most popular science fiction novels ever. It is still widely read today and it is not too difficult to see how this massive work has influenced modern icons like "Star Wars" and "Game of Thrones", to name just two.

In the far future, humanity has spread throughout the galaxy. Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV assigns control of the planet Arrakis (aka 'Dune') to the Atreides family.  But the rival House Harkonnen is not very happy with this, as the planet, though barren and dry, is the only place in the galaxy where 'melange' can be found, a spice which is used to increase mental abilities. Mining this spice is a very lucrative business. The power-hungry Baron Vladimir Harkonnen has Duke Leto Atreides murdered and tries to wipe out all House Atreides. But then he hasn't counted on the survival of Paul Atreides, the son of the late Duke and the Bene Geserit witch Jessica, who is destined to become a religious prophet, the Muad'Dib, ànd a great ruler in his own right.

OK, so it isn't easy to summarize a complex book like "Dune" in just a few lines, but believe me: it absolutely deserves its legendary status. What I really enjoy about it, is the scope of the storytelling. Herbert created a living, breathing world, which is absolutely fascinating. There's politics & religion, mythology & environmentalism, love & betrayal and a cast of characters which are all captivating. And I'm not even talking about the giant sandworms.

The author wrote five sequels to "Dune" and his son Brian, along with Kevin J. Anderson, extended the series with another dozen or so novels. I might end up reading some of them. Then again, I might not, because the original novel is just perfect in its own right.

Author: Frank Herbert
Title: Dune
Publisher: Gollancz, London
Year: 2007 (orig. 1965)
Number of pages: 611
ISBN: 9780575081505

"Moving Pictures" by Terry Pratchett

“There’s a saying that all roads lead to Ankh-Morpork, greatest of Discworld cities. (...) And it’s wrong. All roads lead away from Ankh-Morpork, but sometimes people just walk along them the wrong way."

"Terry Pratchett was born in 1948 and is still not dead." That's the way the author is introduced in the editions of his books that I own. Typical Pratchett humour, but it does sound a bit bitter now that he is dead. Anyway, despite the sadness for his passing, if you're looking for something laugh-out-loud funny, Terry Pratchett is always a safe bet.

A new invention is changing the Discworld. The alchemists have developed the technique of making 'moving pictures' (which involves tiny demons in a box and a highly explosive substance called 'octo-cellulose'). Young wizard-in-training Victor Tugelbend is lured to the city of Holy Wood, although he doesn't quite know what he'll be doing there. What he finds is a booming new industry of movie-making, and he soon becomes a leading actor. But strange things are happening: people are acting totally out of character and animals are starting to speak. Creatures from another dimension are breaking through. Holy Wood is bending reality in the Discworld and Victor Tugelbend seems to be the only one who can stop it...

I've read about a dozen of Pratchett's Discworld novels and this one is certainly among the best. Outrageously funny and full of references to real life. In this case it's obviously a spoof of Hollywood. Yes, there are ruthless producers and smug starlets. There's aggressive merchandising and Oscars. There's popcorn and hot dogs. In between the lines, you'll recognize Marlène Dietrich, Marilyn Monroe, Humphrey Bogart and Lassie.  There are references to titles like "Singing in the Rain", "Gone with the Wind", "Conan (sorry, Cohen) the Barbarian", "Tarzan of the Apes", "King Kong" and many others, albeit most of them with a twist. Even if you miss half of the hints (which I'm sure I have) you're in for a rollicking bit of fun.

Author: Terry Pratchett
Title: Moving Pictures
Publisher: Corgi, London
Year: 1998 (orig. 1990)
Number of pages: 333 p.
ISBN: 0552134635

"Great Expectations" by Charles Dickens

“Heaven knows we need never be ashamed of our tears, for they are rain upon the blinding dust of earth, overlying our hard hearts. I was better after I had cried, than before - more sorry, more aware of my own ingratitude, more gentle.”

I started reading this novel with quite some anticipation. Many still consider Charles Dickens to be the greatest novelist ever, and this book is widely recognized as one of his very best. Great expectations indeed.

The book's Great Expectations, of course, are the main character's. Philip Pirrip, Pip for short, is an orphan who is raised by his mean older sister. As a child, he is invited by the wealthy Miss Havisham to be a regular companion. At her place, Satis House, he meets Estelle, Miss Havisham's beautiful, but cold and rude adoptive daughter, whom he falls in love with. Her upper class life style soon becomes his ideal. He realises, though, his apprenticeship with his brother-in-law, a blacksmith, will never get him to lead the kind of life he yearns for. But then, very unexpectedly, a lawyer, Mr Jaggers, appears with the news that a mysterious benefactor is willing to invest in Pip's dreams. With quite a fortune in his hands, Pip heads to London to become a gentleman and to make his great expectations come true.

Dickens is a joy to read. His writing is inventive, incredibly witty and dramatic. His descriptions are phenomenal: Pip's meeting with an escaped convict in a graveyard, the creepy atmosphere at Satis House, where the old spinster Miss Havisham is still wearing the faded and cobweb-covered wedding gown she wore when she was abandoned at the altar,... These are all scenes and characters that are unforgettable. The story meanders quite a bit, especially in the middle section, but this was a characteristic of most Victorian novels, of course. The best novel ever? Well, maybe not, but it's easy to understand why Dickens is still held in such high regard.

Author: Charles Dickens
Title: Great Expectations
Publisher: Penguin, London
Year: 2003 (orig. 1861)
Number of pages: xxv + 514 p.
ISBN: 9780141439563

"Indigo" van Sterre Carron

"De nacht voelde aan als een vijand."

Vanja Mybach droomt dat ze haar broer Sebastian verliest. Een drama voor haar, want Vanja had eerder al visioenen die waarheid zijn geworden. En inderdaad: niet lang daarna wordt Sebastian vermoord teruggevonden. Maar zelfs dan gelooft niemand haar wanneer ze voorspelt dat er nog erge dingen staan te gebeuren. Enkel hoofdinspecteur Rani Diaz, die de moordzaak in handen heeft gekregen, lijkt enigszins geloof te hechten aan haar verhaal. Maar ook zij kan niet voorkomen dat er nog slachtoffers vallen.

Alweer de vijfde thriller over Rani Diaz en het is weer een goeie: vlotjes leesbaar, met een sterk plot en waarin de auteur schokkende scènes niet schuwt. Het thrilleraspect wordt netjes gecombineerd met een whodunnit. Een reeks als deze valt of staat ook met het hoofdpersonage en hoe dat zich ontwikkelt. Rani Diaz is een sterk, geloofwaardig personage, waarmee Sterre Carron erin slaagt om de lezer niet enkel geboeid het verhaal te laten volgen, maar ook emotioneel mee te laten leven. Na enkele boeken waarin tragedie op tragedie volgde, wordt Rani ditmaal op persoonlijk vlak relatief met rust gelaten. Ze zit vooral met de liefdesperikelen van haar collega in het hoofd - realistisch, wellicht, maar iets te soapy voor mij. Gelukkig ligt de nadruk echt wel op het hoofdverhaal.

Na de vijf boeken in de 'Rani Diaz'-reeks gelezen te hebben, krijg ik wel de indruk dat Carron vooral sterk is in het beschrijven van vrouwelijke personages. Bij de mannen herken ik toch eerder stereotypes: de Arrogante Klootzak, de Ideale Man, de Onuitstaanbare Baas, ... Redelijk zwart/wit dus. Collega Bert Simons is nog het best uitgewerkt, hoewel hij mij toch vaak de indruk geeft vooral als gimmick gebruikt te worden. Wellicht een goed idee om een nieuwe, sterke mannelijke antagonist in de serie te schrijven, die net zoveel 'tinten grijs' vertoont als Rani zelf. Dat zou nog vonken kunnen geven.

Auteur: Sterre Carron
Titel: Indigo
Uitgeverij: Witsand
Jaar: 2015
Aantal bladzijden: 367 blz.
ISBN: 9789492011329

"Goudeiland" van Robert Louis Stevenson

"Het volk van Flint is het ruigste volk dat ooit de zee heeft bevaren. De duvel zelf zou er niet graag in zee mee gestoken zijn."

Op een kaartje dat in mijn exemplaar van "Goudeiland" zit, informeert de 'Regie van telegrafie en telefonie' mij dat 'op 20 januari 1982 de bezettoon en de overbelastingstoon worden verwisseld'. Een weinig interessant historisch gegeven, ware het niet dat het mij erop wijst dat ik dit boek al minstens sinds die datum ongelezen in mijn kast heb staan. Kasten, beter gezegd, want het heeft al meerdere verhuizen meegemaakt. Niet dat het beroemde verhaal van Robert Louis Stevenson me niet bekend was, natuurlijk. Via strips, bewerkingen voor de jeugd, een tv-reeks, een gedramatiseerde audioversie, meerdere verfilmingen, ... ken ik het verhaal door en door. Misschien was dat precies de reden dat ik de versie van Stevenson zelf nooit heb gelezen.

"Billy" Bones, een oude, ruige zeeman, sterft aan een beroerte in de herberg van de familie Hawkins. De jonge Jim Hawkins ontdekt in de koffer die de zeebonk bij zich droeg een kaart, waarop de locatie van de verborgen schat van de beruchte piraat Kapitein Flint staat. Samen met de plaatselijke dokter Livesy en jonker Trelawney, zoekt hij de ervaren kapitein Smollett op, om hen naar het 'goudeiland' te varen. Maar ook de oude compagnons van Flint azen op de schat. Onder leiding van Lange Jan Silver (Long John Silver - in vertaling klinkt het een beetje belachelijk) volgen ze Jim en de anderen naar het eiland, waar het tot de onvermijdelijke confrontatie komt.

Erg origineel klinkt het allemaal niet, maar dat toont enkel aan hoe invloedrijk dit boek van Stevenson was. "Treasure Island" is de blauwdruk van het populaire imago dat er vandaag de dag over piraten bestaat. De huidige generatie fictieve piraten (van Captain Jack Sparrow tot -godbetert- Piet Piraat) hebben hun bestaan aan deze roman te danken. Duidelijk geschreven voor jeugdige lezers, en ik ben ervan overtuigd dat het ook vandaag nog zeer leesbaar is voor dit doelpubliek. Maar ook volwassenen kunnen hieraan nog veel plezier beleven, al is het maar om nostalgische redenen.

Auteur: Robert Louis Stevenson
Titel: Goudeiland (Oorspr. titel: Treasure Island)
Uitgeverij: Van Holkema & Warendorf, Bussum
Jaar: ? (Orig. uitgave: 1883)
Aantal bladzijden: 208 blz.
ISBN: 9026978812

"The Drowned Word" by J.G. Ballard

“Nothing endures for so long as fear. Everywhere in nature one sees evidence of innate releasing mechanisms literally millions of years old, which have lain dormant through thousands of generations but retained their power undiminished."

J.G. Ballard's science fiction novels are some of the very few that are also recognized outside the SF field as masterworks. In fact, Ballard will very rarely be spoken of as a science fiction writer, although quite a few of his books are futuristic stories. "The Drowned World" was his first major novel.

The year is 2145. Solar radiation has melted the ice caps and the world is flooding. Tropical jungles have appeared all over the world. The surviving humans have retreated to the Arctic and Antarctic regions. Doctor Robert Kerans leads a team to investigate the area that was once London. What they find is a radically altered world, with tropical swamps and lagoons being populated by giant iguanas and albino crocodiles. Then some of the team members start having weird dreams about a pulsing, scorching sun. The dreams turn out to be genetic memories of a distant past. Like their surroundings, humans are starting to devolve - reverting to a million-year-old state of being.

"The Drowned World" seems to have all the elements of an exciting adventure novel, but it turns out to be a surrealistic story, which has far more in common with Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" than with adventure stories like "Jurassic Park". It is a dark, haunting and very atmospheric novel - a great book but don't pick this one up if you're looking for an easy read.

Author: J.G. Ballard
Title: The Drowned World
Publisher: Gollancz, London
Year: 1999 (orig. 1962)
Number of pages: 175 p.
ISBN: 1857988833

"The Wheels of Chance" by H.G. Wells

"He did not ride fast, he did not ride straight, an exacting critic might say he did not ride well - but he rode generously, opulently, using the whole road and even nibbling at the footpath."

H.G. Wells' name will forever be associated with early science fiction novels like "The Time Machine", "The War of the Worlds", "The Invisible Man" and others. Few know, however, that Wells was a very prolific author, who also wrote comedies, social realistic novels and nonfiction on diverse topics such as politics, wargaming, history, theology and biology. All in all, he published well over a hundred books. "The Wheels of Chance" is one his early novels, a comedy, written in the same era as all of his famous scientific romances.

Mr Hoopdriver, employee in a drapery shop, decides to spend his hard-earned holiday on his newfound hobby: the bicycle. While exploring the country roads and villages, ànd finding out the pros and cons of his two-wheeler, he meets a pretty young lady, whom he falls in love with head over heels. Sadly she seems to be travelling with another gentleman. But Mr Hoopdriver soon starts to suspect that this man's intentions are anything but gentlemanly. Like a knight in shining armor, like a new Don Quichote riding his (rather metallic) Rocinante, he decides to follow the couple and rescue his Dulcinea from the tentacles of this wicked man.

"The Wheels of Chance" was published in the same year as the dark "The Island of Dr Moreau" and these two novels couldn't be more different. "The Wheels of Chance" is a lighthearted,  funny little story. Wells later admitted that some parts of the novel were inspired by his own experiences trying to master the art of riding this means of transport, which was quite new at the time. A delightful read. Hard to find these days, but it's definitely worth tracking down.

Author: H.G. Wells
Title: The Wheels of Chance
Publisher: Dent, London
Year: 1984 (orig. 1896)
ISBN: 0460019147