Thin and inane.
A fantasy novel that combines modern apocalypse (or close to it), Greek mythology and Roman domestic life…and doesn’t work on any level.
The apple of the title is The Apple, the one that started the Trojan War. It seems that it’s being kept in a basement storehouse in Hopes Fort, Colo., guarded by Frank Walker, whose health hasn’t been too good recently. Concerned about his decline, his daughter Evie comes to visit and can’t help but notice those strange people who show up to get things out of basement storage. What would they want with a sword, a glass slipper or 12-league boots? The scene shifts abruptly from Colorado to ancient Troy, in the final days of the Trojan War. Odysseus’s friend and cousin Sinon (aka The Liar) is inserted into the walled city and persuades the Trojans to accept the gift of the wooden horse, but just as the Greeks begin to celebrate their victory, Sinon is taken prisoner by Apollo, not at all happy with the way events turned out. Apollo forces Sinon to become his servant and cupbearer, and also watches voyeuristically when Sinon has sex with the local nymph. (And it’s also hard to imagine Apollo would really say to Sinon, “Make love to me, my Achaean warrior.”) Meanwhile, back in Colorado, Hera has shown up and is looking for the apple, for she wants to reintroduce even more discord into the world so it will destroy itself and begin anew. Evie’s mysterious companion Alex, who now and then mutters in Greek, turns out to be Sinon in modern dress. In fact, a parade of mythological characters makes their way to Colorado, including Merlin and Arthur, fighting on behalf of Evie, Robin Goodfellow, who’s relatively evanescent and wispy until Evie clubs him with a cast-iron frying pan, and the Wanderer, who years ago met Christ and found him a “good preacher.”
Thin and inane.Pub Date: July 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-7653-2554-9
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: June 3, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2010
Sci-fi, Monty Python-style—as West England villager Arthur Dent becomes the only survivor of Earth, rescued by Ford Prefect of Betelgeuse, a roving researcher for The Hitchhiker's Guide: when Earth is destroyed (demolished by the Vogons to make way for a hyperspatial express route), the two of them escape into a Vogon spaceship.
The hideous Vogons torture our heroes by reading poetry to them, but then they're miraculously picked up by the Starship Heart of Gold—which is powered by "the Infinite Improbability Drive," commanded by Galactic President Zaphod Beeblebrox, and staffed by an epically depressed robot named Marvin with a smart-aleck computer that sings "You'll Never Walk Alone." They're all headed for the legendary planet Magrathea, where roaming Arthur discovers Slartibartfast, the guy who originally made Earth ("Norway. . . that was one of mine. Won an award, you know. Lovely crinkly edges") and is now working on Earth Mark Two. And finally there's a confrontation with the Magrathea rulers—Benjy mouse and Frankie mouse—who want to mince Arthur's Earthling brain.
Lots of pure silliness, too many English references for U.S. readers, but—like moviegoers who sat through Life of Brian for the sake of a few good chuckles—fans of absurd deadpan parody will happily flip through this likable send-up in order to extract a couple of dozen fine giggles.
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1980
ISBN: 1400052939
Page Count: 271
Publisher: Harmony/Crown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1980
BOOK TO SCREEN
An exciting fantasy/romance debut: action-packed, emotionally charged, and skillfully plotted.
When Cat, a mysterious circus soothsayer, is captured by Griffin, a wily warlord who recently won his kingdom’s crown, she's disarmed by his strength, honor, and integrity, but she's afraid that tying her heart to his can only bring weakness and complications.
Cat has spent years in a circus, hiding from her past and avoiding the destiny that’s been ordained by an Oracle, until Griffin discovers her ability to know when people are lying and forces her to return with him to his kingdom. At first he's determined to use her as a weapon to help his family, which has recently taken the throne, but soon Griffin realizes that beneath Cat’s prickly personality lies a loyal heart and a font of magic unlike anything he’s ever seen—possibly unlike anything anyone has ever seen. Sexual and emotional tension crackles as they and their small band of warriors fight to get back to Griffin's kingdom, with Cat pledging her grudging allegiance after they're attacked by such a variety of enemies that it's hard to tell who’s after Griffin and who’s after Cat. Griffin is tired of magical royalty and nobility who look down their noses at their nonmagical subjects and ruin their kingdoms through selfish greed, and he's intrigued by his soothsayer, who clearly has noble breeding but has turned her back on her own past. She isn’t giving any secrets away, but as clues trickle out, it becomes clear that someone out there wants to take her alive and that the power Griffin has seen may be nothing compared to what she’s capable of, yet fighting her feelings—for Griffin, his team, his family—becomes almost as hard as hiding her magic. Debut author Bouchet tells a swashbuckling tale through Cat’s irreverent, diffident, yet still somehow buoyant first-person point of view; this is an exquisite high-fantasy romance with masterful worldbuilding based on Greek mythology.
An exciting fantasy/romance debut: action-packed, emotionally charged, and skillfully plotted.Pub Date: Aug. 2, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4926-2601-5
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Review Posted Online: May 31, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2016
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