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A Sacred October Review
Nov. 12th, 2014 06:21 pmHey,
Finished up a couple more books.
First up A Sacred Landscape: The Search for Ancient Peru by Hugh Thomson. I've slowly built up an interest in Incan history over the years. This book starts with a search near Machu Picchu and then spreads out over Peru looking at the many civilizations that pre-dated and contributed to the Incas.
Thomson is a good writer, blending the ancient past, the history of archeology and Peru, and his modern-day experiences into an engaging whole. He talks about political turmoil as he drives out to a site where archeologists fought over credit for discovery.
One of the big drivers in the book is that the region of Peru where these civilizations rose and fell is subject to wild swings in climate. Peru is strongly affected by El Nino and good years will be followed by drought or flooding and this seems to be what topples most of the pre-Incan peoples. In a place where fickle Nature can crush you, all the civilizations developed sophisticated centers of ritual to appease the gods and keep their lives going for another year.
Thomson describes many of these complexes and how they might appear to supplicants arriving at them. Some use closed-in, labyrinthian mazes, others towering spaces of white stone and others use ceremonial paths to move you from place to place. Of course, without a recognized system of writing, many times we're forced to guess, but Thomson isn't keen on "ancient astronauts" and puts a very human face on things.
Next up was a book I read a bit too late, A Night in the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny. As you might guess from the title, it's a book oriented on Halloween. In fact, each chapter covers a day in October leading up to the climax on the 31st.
The book's protagonist is Snuff. Snuff is a watchdog. He works for his master Jack and keeps watch while Jack gathers ingredients and prepares for the Game. The Game is a gathering of occult-minded individuals who converge on a special spot on Halloween when the moon is full and Elder Gods are attempting to break into the world. Some of the players work to pull the Elder Gods through, some work to keep them out. Almost all of them have animal familiars like Snuff to help them out.
So, Snuff settles in and starts snooping around. He runs into other players (or their familiars) and tries to get a feel for who's playing in the game and where this round's chosen spot will be. Many of the players are quite familiar. There's the Count and the Good Doctor and his experimental man. There's the Mad Russian and the witch and Snuff's master Jack has a very sharp knife. There's also the Great Detective and his assistant who're very interested in what's going on.
It's Zelazny. I tend to like his stuff and this is pretty good. Despite the cast of characters the book is more spooky than horrifying or gory. It's mostly the animal companions hanging around and chatting. The only thing that might possibly be a nit to pick is that the book ends pretty sharply. It doesn't leave any loose ends dangling around, it's not an ongoing series (I mean, it was Zelazny's last book, but clearly nothing else was planned), but once it's done it's over very quickly.
Despite that, a fun read and one that would probably be pretty good for slightly older children looking for some Halloween reading.
later
Tom
Finished up a couple more books.
First up A Sacred Landscape: The Search for Ancient Peru by Hugh Thomson. I've slowly built up an interest in Incan history over the years. This book starts with a search near Machu Picchu and then spreads out over Peru looking at the many civilizations that pre-dated and contributed to the Incas.
Thomson is a good writer, blending the ancient past, the history of archeology and Peru, and his modern-day experiences into an engaging whole. He talks about political turmoil as he drives out to a site where archeologists fought over credit for discovery.
One of the big drivers in the book is that the region of Peru where these civilizations rose and fell is subject to wild swings in climate. Peru is strongly affected by El Nino and good years will be followed by drought or flooding and this seems to be what topples most of the pre-Incan peoples. In a place where fickle Nature can crush you, all the civilizations developed sophisticated centers of ritual to appease the gods and keep their lives going for another year.
Thomson describes many of these complexes and how they might appear to supplicants arriving at them. Some use closed-in, labyrinthian mazes, others towering spaces of white stone and others use ceremonial paths to move you from place to place. Of course, without a recognized system of writing, many times we're forced to guess, but Thomson isn't keen on "ancient astronauts" and puts a very human face on things.
Next up was a book I read a bit too late, A Night in the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny. As you might guess from the title, it's a book oriented on Halloween. In fact, each chapter covers a day in October leading up to the climax on the 31st.
The book's protagonist is Snuff. Snuff is a watchdog. He works for his master Jack and keeps watch while Jack gathers ingredients and prepares for the Game. The Game is a gathering of occult-minded individuals who converge on a special spot on Halloween when the moon is full and Elder Gods are attempting to break into the world. Some of the players work to pull the Elder Gods through, some work to keep them out. Almost all of them have animal familiars like Snuff to help them out.
So, Snuff settles in and starts snooping around. He runs into other players (or their familiars) and tries to get a feel for who's playing in the game and where this round's chosen spot will be. Many of the players are quite familiar. There's the Count and the Good Doctor and his experimental man. There's the Mad Russian and the witch and Snuff's master Jack has a very sharp knife. There's also the Great Detective and his assistant who're very interested in what's going on.
It's Zelazny. I tend to like his stuff and this is pretty good. Despite the cast of characters the book is more spooky than horrifying or gory. It's mostly the animal companions hanging around and chatting. The only thing that might possibly be a nit to pick is that the book ends pretty sharply. It doesn't leave any loose ends dangling around, it's not an ongoing series (I mean, it was Zelazny's last book, but clearly nothing else was planned), but once it's done it's over very quickly.
Despite that, a fun read and one that would probably be pretty good for slightly older children looking for some Halloween reading.
later
Tom
