"Wanderer of the Wasteland" by Zane Grey--Fiction Review

We’re heading out to the old west today, Obscurists. Today’s book is Zane Grey’s “Wanderer of the Wasteland,” which was suggested to me by Kate Reading—no joke—that Kate Reading for those of you who are audiobook fans. Kate Reading, who has actually done tons of real stuff and narrated a mountain of awesome books! 

She also took the time to suggest to some obscure blogger—who primarily talks to himself on the internet—a book, this book, read by her husband Michael Kramer, another fantastic narrator. Sure, this interaction happened because I miss-attributed another book read by Michael Kramer on Twitter to @Kramer_Reading their joint account, which is primarily managed by Kate. Still, lesson learned, and by apologizing, I got to read this book, so it was a great mistake to make.

***The Non-Spoiler part of this review***

What I love about this book:

Something about the desert is fascinating—I’ve never actually been to one, but I’ve read many stories and nonfiction books that feature them. It’s one of those archetypical foreboding landscapes. The land where no one belongs. Right off the bat, I was drawn in by this novel’s setting, even though I can’t begin to count how many westerns in one form or another I’ve consumed over the years. So far, I’ve never grown sick of them.

Ultimately, “Wander of the Wasteland” is a survival story—but not just in the sense of the body. It’s also a survival story of how the main character retains his humanity, even in the starkest wilderness imaginable, despite it, or maybe because of it.

This next point is a minor spoiler, but it’s also really inciting action that gets the story rolling and is in most summaries of the novel. So I feel it’s fair game. Ok? Ok. 

“Wander of the Wasteland” takes a famous biblical story plotline—that of Cain and Abel—and turns it on its ear. It imagines a story of, what if Abel killed Cain instead of the other way around? It makes for an exciting thought experiment, and I thoroughly enjoyed the concept.

What I don’t love about this book:

This is a novel published originally in 1923 about the old west, and Grey certainly had—let’s say—thoughts about women. Some good, some romantic, others were weird, but mostly his views about women were just ignorant. When he wrote the novel, I don’t think back then he would have been considered controversial for his views or even was considered to have poor taste. Still, the world moves on, and it certainly moved on from the cultural reference frame he lived in while creating his classic stories.

As you might guess, since Grey’s novel has some antiquated views on women, it also features some out-of-date opinions on anyone who isn’t white. The noble savage routine is used a few times in this book, which probably seemed progressive when it was published. You can almost hear someone say in old-timey racist talk, “see here now, fellas, some of these Mexicans and Natives are like people—they’re the good ones.” That flavor of racism.

So I’m odd because I like biblical allusions in stories or events in a novel seemingly informed by scripture, but as for actual bible talk—pretty bored. It’s not even talking specifically about the bible that loses me. I can do that just fine. It’s the constant reading of God’s intentions in everything, no matter how mundane. As if that person knows. I’m not sure when this belief that God is like our own personal invisible friend became popular, but I’ve never got it. What I’m getting at is there are some preachy moments in this book, and outside of character building—it was fine—I guess.

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***The Spoiler part of this review***

***Ye be warned to turn back now***

The quick and dirty synopsis:

The novel starts with Adam Larey taking off, swearing that he’ll have nothing further to do with his brother Guerd. Adam is going to go make his own way out west.

"At the Mountains of Madness" by H.P. Lovecraft--Fiction Review

Ok, Obscurists, I’ve talked about this author numerous times, but I’ve never reviewed any of his books before here on WIO. So today, we’re talking about my absolute favorite story from H.P. Lovecraft, “At the Mountains of Madness.”

***The Non-Spoiler part of this review*** 

What I love about this book:

The setting of this story is Antarctica, and while I don’t like the cold—ok, I hate the cold—but Antarctica has somehow always been fascinating to me. It’s so vast—so different from the rest of Earth and the last place on the planet to be really explored. Especially when Lovecraft wrote, “At the Mountains of Madness,” so if you put yourself into that mindset, then really anything could be there—a literal here be dragons sort of place in modern times.

Without giving away too much of the story yet, this story is complex in that it isn’t just a horror story but a detailed adventure story focusing on exploration. That’s an element in Lovecraft’s canon, which is common but isn’t as focused on in such detail as this story. Typically someone is exploring something against their will or by total accident. Usually, Lovecraft doesn’t bother himself with the practical details of exploration like in “At the Mountains of Madness.” I find this focus on real-world details about the expedition’s tools and methods makes the world he’s building for us feel all the more authentic.

Since Lovecraft makes this world feel particularly close to reality, the horror when Lovecraft-style monsters show up is all the more compelling. When flesh and bone people suddenly come in contact with protoplasmic nightmare creatures at the bottom of the world, the atmosphere of isolation and terror has crescendoed into an all-out panic.

In addition to his typical masterful use of terror, dread, and oppressive atmosphere—the best tools in his writing—Lovecraft employs something different in this story as well that I’d never seen him use before I read “At the Mountains of Madness.” He uses, albeit sparingly, empathy for the other—he has one of his characters express pity for and even imagines the perspective of their antagonist. Lovecraft was a product of his time, which means that if he were alive today, he’d be judged an odious racist and white supremacist. “At the Mountains of Madness” was written toward the end of Lovecraft’s career, so any expression of empathy toward an “other,” in this case winged space monsters from beyond time immemorial, is a huge breakthrough in his writing.

What I don’t love about this book:

Sadly, Lovecraft died a few years after writing “At the Mountains of Madness,” and it wasn’t that successful while he was alive. He’d thought the story his masterpiece—a sentiment I agree with—and his confidence was shaken when it didn’t take off with his usual outlets. That’s why I believe we see a regression in style and scope with “The Shadow Over Innsmouth,” written later that same year. It’s a fine story in pacing, atmosphere, and horror, but another one that relies heavily on his crackpot preoccupations with race and degeneration—so on and so forth. 

“At the Mountains of Madness” might be one of Lovecraft’s best attempts at character development—there are actual people with names and defined relationships to one another. But, still, a published author of his caliber and experience should be able to muster a bit more dialog and inject more robust character interaction than the C+ effort he puts into this story.

Lovecraft was quintessentially a short story writer, and that shows in all of his longer works in differing degrees. This one is no exception. Often, I feel like I’m being summarized—at, which would mean he does a lot of telling and not a lot of showing in the modern parlance. There are some terrific sequences of immediate peril toward the end that aren’t like that, and they’re awesome. In the middle of the story, however, lots of telling. It’s nowhere near as bad in this regard as “The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath,” which legit, in my opinion, Lovecraft wrote a sort of horror/fantasy “Lord of the Rings” style epic in just over 42,000 words. Sounds like it should be kickass! But—it isn’t—because it’s like reading an outline of a book series which should have been three or four full-sized novels, which he was painfully incapable of writing.

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***The Spoiler part of this review***

***Ye be warned to turn back now***

The quick and dirty synopsis:

The story begins with a framing story of a professor of Miskatonic University, William Dyer, warning and pleading that no one should return to the site of his expedition in Antarctica. Dyer is reluctant to tell his story because he’s certain that he’ll be labeled either a liar or madman.

"A Girl Called Ari" by P.J. Sky--Fiction Review

Today obscurists, we’re talking about P.J. Sky’s “A Girl Called Ari,” a post-apocalyptic adventure and journey to get back home—where ever that may be.

***The Non-Spoiler part of this review***  

What I love about this book:

This story isn’t a reimagining or even directly references this at all, but “A Girl Called Ari” reminded me of the feel of “Journey to the West.” I feel this way because of the relationship between the two protagonists and their adventures together. Characters from different worlds must travel together, in this case over a post-apocalyptic wasteland—and there are numerous challenges and setbacks that must be overcome. 

I like Ari, the character the story is titled after a lot. I’m always a big fan of a practical person who can—albeit sometimes with a bit of coaxing—see the value of empathy. Plus, Ari shows herself to be tough, resourceful, and creative in her own ways—typically when she’s employing violence, but hey, she’s lived almost all of her life out in the wasteland.

I also appreciated that P. J. Sky never feels the need to info dump or over-explain how the world has gone to shit. They just throw you into the story, and the details come in time when pertinent to the story.

What I don’t love about this book:

Without spoiling anything, directly at least, one of the protagonists at the end of this story makes a decision that just baffled me. It’s kind of telegraphed in an earlier conversation, so it’s not totally out of left-field. Still, it wasn’t a conversation that the character initiated, so I guess my problem is I had a break in understanding this character’s motivations, which I wasn’t a fan of at basically the conclusion of the novel. I’m guessing it’s addressed in the sequel.

Dogs are present in this book, and it doesn’t work out well, and that always makes me very sad. It’s effective in terms of getting me to instantly despise a character—so there is that. But if a character hurts a dog—I hate them. Rarely can I see beyond that point and be understanding.

Like Starla, I don’t really understand the antagonists’ motivations in this story. Power and influence over her father, maybe? But why did it involve a kidnapping plot that relied on leaving the city? There might be good reasons why keeping a hostage in the city wasn’t desirable compared to out in the wasteland, but I missed them. This meant, for me, the reason we’re out in the wasteland is that the plot demands it and not that it was logically inevitable.

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as an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases

Author's Website: https://pjsky.wordpress.com/

***The Spoiler part of this review***

***Ye be warned to turn back now***

The quick and dirty synopsis:

Starla Corinth, daughter to the mayor of “the city,” goes to a party on her 18th birthday. Despite her privileged position, she’s dissatisfied because she feels as if she’s trapped in an ivory tower—with no real control over her life. Not much is revealed yet about this “city” other than it’s surrounded by a wasteland. Shortly before her father gives a speech at the celebration, a mysterious young man cryptically warns her that she’s in danger.

Micro Mention "The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood"

Everyone knows Robin Hood—steals from the rich gives to the poor. But I've never read Howard Pyle's "The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood" before now. It's foundational to many modern incarnations of the character. I also never realized how many times Robin gets the stuffing beat out of him.

Unlike many more modern approaches to telling Robin Hood's story, this book is firmly meant for children. There is some violence here and there, and a couple characters don't survive, but most of the short stories that make up this book ends with everyone surviving and having a bit of a laugh. It is aptly called The MERRY adventures of Robin Hood, after all.

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as an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.