Review: The Tower at Stony Wood by Patricia A McKillip

The Tower of Stony Wood begins with the deceptive simplicity of a medieval style fairy tale. A lady in a tower and a knight on his dark charger. But the first lady we meet is no princess, but merely an errant baker's daughter who has sought to escape from her chores in a mysteriously magical place she does not quite understand. And the knight has to be persuaded by an unlikely tale to leave his somewhat happy life for a quest that may not even be real. And so the layers begin.

For there is more than one tower to explore and more than one enchantment to challenge. As the hero of this tale, Cyan Dag is a likely knight - the provenance of his family name is his main inheritance, but he lacks the means to woo the lady he loves. Melanthos is compelled to stitch together sense of faraway mysteries, but she does not quite realize that the greatest enigma has tangled itself into her own family. And then there is Thayne, who needs magic, but must also learn what to do with it once it finds him.

The characterization is stellar and enables interactions to be emotionally realistic throughout. Even relatively minor characters like Regis Aurum, Anyon and Gentian feel authentic throughout. Melanthos and Sel are exquisitely rendered and it's wonderful to encounter a female trickster for a change. The atmosphere of magic that permeates the story makes the plot seem hazy at times, but I suppose that is in the nature of tales of fantasy.

Review: Four Princes by John Julius Norwich

The Four Princes of the title (in order of appearance) Henry VIII, Francis I, Charles V and Suleiman the Magnificent were all born within a ten year span, born to be powerful rulers, collectively controlling a large chunk of Europe, as well as that portion of Asia once described as the center of the world. Together and separately, they made bold movements on the game-board that was their domain. But that's not to say they were necessarily in agreement. In fact, they were frequently split by seasons of warfare. Theirs was an era when Protestantism rose, when Islam was at the back door and on the porch of Western Europe and when art flowered as it had never before.

What makes this book so fascinating is the way Mr Norwich connects the dots to provide a detailed overview of a significant turning point in European history. Or perhaps we should say, a collection of turning points. With the specter of Brexit looming ever closer (at the time of writing), it's worth remembering that Britain had once before shocked Europe by breaking with it. Interesting details emerge, even about Henry VIII best known (to me) of the princes, through a comprehensive collection of anecdotes taken from contemporary observers. You will learn, for example, who had the largest cannons, why the Mona Lisa ended up in the Louvre and how a collection of plucky crusaders survived the ambitions of one of the largest armies of the 16th century.

Four Princes by John Julius Norwich is a huge recommend to anyone who loves history as much as I do.

Review: Numb by Sean Ferrell

For a book not classified as horror, Numb by Sean Ferrell has a lot of blood in it. The main character is unable to perceive pain, so every couple of pages he casually bleeds over something, someone or both. Sometimes this is accidental. Often it's intentional. I cannot tell you his name, because his other affliction is amnesia. Therefore he doesn't know who he is either. Professionally and personally, he goes by the moniker of Numb.

In most types of books where amnesia is used as a device, the pursuit of idnetity usually drives the plot. In this case, however, Ferrell plays another game entirely. He uses this blank canvas status and lack of personal history to turn his character into a metaphor, exposing society's voracious appetite for fame. Numb's unique relationship to pain becomes his brand and a mirror which reflects some of the hidden twists and kinks of celibrity - particularly how it impacts on friendship and relationships.

I'm not sure I liked any of the characters. Mal, perhaps. There is a very authentic feel to him, although it would have sucked to be his friend. Yet the book makes a compelling read. Recommended, if you can stomach all that random bloodletting.

Tales from an African Vet by Roy Aronson - a review (and a perspective)

I finished reading this book a few weeks ago and had I written my review then, it might have been just that. A review. Unfortunately, the book has in my consciousness become entangled in my response to a number of recent news stories, so I will now introduce it to you as a looking glass that exerts a considerable influence on my views on several other issues. I suppose I don't need to tell anyone who Cecil the Lion was, but I doubt whether too many of you are familiar with "King Gamka", the subject and target of the Great Karoo Lion Hunt, but more about him later....

Let's begin with the book, shall we? Tales of an African Vet is a charming collection of writings collected by Dr Roy Aronson over several years chronicling his personal experience in the practice of veterinary science. Dr Aronson is himself the founder of group of veterinary clinics in the Cape Town area. Although I have been taking my cats to the same group for a number of years, it is to a different branch. I do not know him personally. To those unfamiliar with South Africa, I had better add that whole country has only one veterinary training facility, the one at Onderstepoort which is affiliated to the University of Pretoria. Thus, through contacts, colleagues and alma mater, the good doctor had access to a number of veterinary doctors practicing their craft in more exotic fields, allowing him to sit in and participate in the treatment of animals ranging from crocodiles, lions, snakes, cheetahs, elephants, parrots and even the odd dog or two. The book is embellished with a collection of beautiful line drawings as well as photographs. For anyone interested in the management of wildlife or conservation, the book is a fascinating eye opener. We are introduced to vets who treat patients that could seriously injure or even kill them, without meaning to. A mere drop of the drug used to anaesthesize an elephant is toxic enough to kill the person administering it. A baby elephant can affectionately put his handler in hospital. In two instances, venomous snakes are treated. In another case, vets and trackers come face to face with a pride of lions. But the treatments are life changing. A lioness facing potential blindness through a congenital eye condition is successfully treated and a delinquent young elephant is given a lesson in manners. In several cases, the lives of young wild animals are saved through the intervention of veterinary science. I'm sure I already mentioned already that these brave doctors, handlers and doctors often risk personal injury in the performance of their duties, but the overriding objective remains to first do no harm.

And that is the overriding theme of my response to the events currently in the news now. The individuals who went to Hwange National Park, did so with the specific intent to do harm.

In my opening paragraph I referred to an event dubbed the Great Karoo Hunt. Here are the details. Early in June 2015, a three-year-old lion managed to escape from the Karoo National Park. This is an area where lions have only recently been reintroduced after the last wild lion in the area was shot and killed in 1842. Park officials stated that the escapee must have used the opportunity presented by a piece of fence damaged by heavy rain, but, as Dr Aronson mentions in his book, lions are members of the cat family and cats have no problem jumping. For almost three weeks, the Karoo lion evaded skilled trackers and lived on the sheep of nearby farmers. Even so, the overriding objective of this hunt for a lion that the Afrikaans speaking locals began to call Koning Gamka (or "King Gamka") remained to bring him back alive. And this they did. You can go to this link to read more about how they finally found their quarry on a mountain side and had to dart the lion without endangering him and without damaging the rotor blades of the helicopter used to track him in that confined space. Hair-raising stuff. Again, this news story has also increased my respect for Dr Aronson and his colleagues.

Above all, Dr Aronson's Tales of an African Vet providing fascinating insight into some of the valuable work being done at Hoedspruit's Endangered Species Center. I began to take an interest in this facility about a little more than a year ago, as this was the home of Gertjie (and now also Mathimba) a duo of orphaned rhinos who were being cared for at this facility. Dr Aronson's book, however, singles out a breeding program also at Hoedspruit, that is slowly helping the cheetah, the world's fastest land mammal charge back from the threat of extinction.

A general misconception is that, if we simply give wild animals enough space and leave them alone, it will be good enough. Unfortunately, I don't think we can afford the luxury of letting nature take its course anymore. We've left it too late for that. Thousands of miles to the north, in Kenya, 42 year old Sudan is the very last male Northern While Rhino alive. He is a returning emigree from a zoo in Czechoslovakia and if the Northern White Rhino survives at all, there is a high likelihood that it will be through artificial insemination and through the use of surrogacy with another species of rhino. Speaking of Czechoslovakia, it is thanks to a breeding program initiated at Prague Zoo that Przewalski's Horse, the last wild horses of Central Asia were brought back from the brink of extinction and re-introduced to the Steppes.

Letting an animal die of natural causes may have been acceptable, back in the day when most humans faced similar odds when sick or injured, but today, with all of the available technology, doing so now only comes across as cruel and voyeuristic. As Dr Aronson argues, if we can record and document an animal's suffering, then why not intervene...?

Review: The Tale of One Bad Rat by Bryan Talbot

Dreams and ideals are as important as what happens to us. In fact, they are more important. What happens to us, batters us against some breakwater over and over, until we bleed. We go Whew, I hope that never happens again. Once was enough. But dreams are the eternal companions of our soul, the wise guides we trust with an instinct that goes beyond this world, spanning across the multi-dimensional truth of who and what we really are.

In The Tale of One Bad Rat by Bryan Talbot, Helen is cast adrift by the toxically dysfunctional aspects of her family, long before she runs away to become the girl behind the 'Homeless, please help' placard. The only thread that guides her through a maze of hidden scars and secret pain, is a fantasy and a dream. In the struggle against incest and child abuse, the monsters stay invisible. Therefore, the soul's champion too must come from a source that hides beyond the physical world. And so Helen follows the signs and prompts from the imaginary world like a trail of bread crumbs, each one providing a moment's nourishment to keep her going until she reaches the home of her soul.

This is probably why the world needs stories like this and many more. Stories cast out a lifeline when no one in the 'real world' wants to get their feet wet to save someone who is drowning. The world says No, that child is fine (I've once read somewhere that No, I'm fine is probably the most common lie in the world) or She is just acting out. So often an unspoken truce is formed with the abuser, where the victim actually feels bad about each honest thought he or she has. As if somehow embarrassing the abuser would be a worse crime than what was already done to him or her.

To quote from the afterword of the book: The utter selfishness of the abuser is the common denominator - not class, race or creed. The psychological aftereffects - despair and withdrawal; low self-esteem; feeling worthless, dirty and bad - can last for life. The children take the badness onto themselves.