Review: The Loved One, Evelyn Waugh

Title: The Loved One
Author: Evelyn Waugh
Begun: June 30, 2007
Completed: June 30, 2007

Of all the books I've read in the past year, I think I've enjoyed The Loved One the most. Waugh is best known today for the depressing and homoerotic Brideshead Revisited, but The Loved One is an entirely different animal.

Were Waugh alive today, he would probably have made indie films. In its brevity and ruthless satire, The Loved One seems much less a book than a movie - and a good film adaptation would be both terrific fun and fit in well at Cannes or Sundance. It's a strange comparison to make, maybe, but the most accurate one I can think of.

We like to call well-done a satire "biting satire", but The Loved One is possessed of fangs. Waugh rips holes in people and communities we would never have thought to ridicule. I admire his acuity, not least because it made me laugh. A lot.

Review: Archangel, Sharon Shinn

Title: Archangel
Author: Sharon Shinn
Date Begun: July 1, 2007
Date Completed: July 1, 2007

Archangel owes Anne McCaffrey a very, very large debt.

It has been some time since I reread one of McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern books, but even so the similarities between Shinn's world and characters and McCaffrey's early books were both striking and slightly disturbing. The angels are almost exactly identical to the dragonriders - both are elite groups who dwell in high places and govern and protect their world. Also, they fly. Rachel, the heroine, could understandably be mistaken for Lessa and Gabriel, the hero, has several traits in common with F'lar. Their relationship, too, is uncomfortably similar to the romance that takes up much of Dragonflight.

But beyond characters, there is a sense that Shinn's Samaria is also populated by refugees from Earth, the the "magic" and religion are actually science provided by the original settlers, now long forgotten. And like Pern, music is of paramount importance.

This is not to say that Archangel is badly written. It is well-done enough for me to hope that the sequels deviate enough from McCaffrey's template to be worth reading. Grading it presented me with a problem - perhaps the similarities were accidental, certainly Shinn is a popular author and her style is engaging. But nevertheless, the similarities are there and they are blatant enough to bring down the grade quite a bit. So Archangel gets a C from me, with fingers crossed.

But if talking dolphins and Artificial Intelligence show up, I call foul.