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In the not so distant future mankind has retreated beneath
their domes, away from the pollution, away from the light.
With their world in its last death throws they turn their
eyes to the heavens to find a new home. By a quirk of fate
the destiny of the human race rests in the hands of Aurora
Gazers and Ethan Knight and, although they do not know it,
their story will also be the story of earth's demise or its
eventual resurrection...
Children of the 23rd Century: The Secret of the Lost Planet
is the first in a six book series by new novelist Mel
Hogan. Hogan had already made a name for himself as a musician,
but after an unforeseen accident decided to turn his talents
toward works of fiction for children.
Okay.
So I'll come right out and say that I did not like this book.
Although it only runs to around two hundred and twenty pages,
it took forever to wade through the leaden prose. When I did
eventually get around to writing the review it was so negative
that I decided to wait, until I could come up with something
more constructive to say, and start again. I am, after all,
of the opinion that talent should be nurtured and anyone who
has gone to the trouble of writing at least deserves an honest
appraisal.
The book contains a number of problems, which could conceivably
be remedied in future instalments. First off there is an almost
complete lack of description of the environment in which the
story takes place. Vehicles, places and people are labelled
but very rarely are they examined or explored. Dickens may
have been justifiably lambasted for his overlong descriptive
passages, but to have almost none leaves the story effectively
happening in a vacuum. I suppose a case could be made that,
the less description one gives the more the imagination of
the reader is engaged. Lets face it, Tolkien gave almost no
description of his most famous creation, the Hobbit. However,
even given that example, the lack of detailed description
of the hobbits was set against one of the richest and most
realised fictitious worlds ever published - a world rich in
descriptive detail.
The next problem is the language. I'm not really sure what
access Mr Hogan has to sixteen year olds, but having had way
too much access whilst my daughter was growing up and filling
the house with her friends I have yet to meet any that spoke
in such an anachronistic manner. I have to question just how
many teenage girls Hogan has met - his take on their language
patterns is most unusual. They use terms like "Hoot"
and call each other "girl". You're only five pages
in when you come across such highlights of teenage English
prose as:
'You look fab and dangerous, you foxy lady. Oh! I do like
that on you babe,' Crystal said laughing...
I
presume that she was laughing as she appears to have turned
into the linguistic equivalent of a melding between a '60s
movie villain and a '20 airhead flapper. The male characters
fare a little better, but can still be found spouting the
odd "blimey" and "flippin' 'eck", I kept
waiting for Dick Van Dyke to leap upon the page and sing "Me
Old Bamboo". Whilst Hogan's portrayal of his female
characters is fairly one dimensional, his male characters
do not seem to know whether they are wide-eyed, naïve youths
or space captains. Their gravitas, and our insight into their
character, should come from the language that they use, but
if that language is inconsistent the characters start to merge
into one.
Another problem with the book is that Hogan starts his characters
at the height of their powers. Both Ethan Knight and Aurora
Gazes have nowhere to go, as far as their ambition is concerned,
nor do they have any tests of spirit and character to get
them there. At the start of the book Ethan, at sixteen, is
already up for the captaincy of his own starship, and Aurora
is an accomplished physicist and geologist. Sure they go on
an adventure - and to be honest this part is not too bad -
but where is the youth plucked from obscurity that goes on
a spiritual and physical quest? Joseph Campbell would be spinning
in his grave.
The PR blurb states that the book should appeal to: "readers
of Harry Potter, Bladerunner, Laura Croft
and Lord of the Rings", which explains a lot about
quality control. Two are works of fiction (which can
be read), one is a computer game (and movie franchise) and
one is a film, neither of which could conceivably be thought
of as having readers (unless they meant Do Androids Dream
of Electric Sheep in which case I'd be interested to know
what The Secret of the Lost Planet has in common with
a classic book about identity written by a speed addict).
I read an interview with Mr Hogan where he claimed that he
had never read a book before - much less written one. If this
is true then it explains a lot. At the end of the day, for
a novelist, Mr Hogan makes a great musician.
Charles
Packer
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