Nona the Ninth

 

Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir (2022 St Martin’s Press Kindle 480pp)

 

Where to start with this one? I wanted to like it and at some points I liked it a lot but, in the end, it left me feeling a bit ‘meh’

This is the third book in Tamsyn Muir’s “The Locked Tomb” series and if you haven’t read the first two (“Gideon the Ninth” & “Harrow the Ninth”) then do not even think about picking this one up. Absolutely no recap is given and the reader is dumped straight into the story head-first. Even after reading the preceding books, I was confused and found most of what was going on confusing. Probably a good idea to read the earlier books again before diving into this volume – I didn’t and now wish I had as the significance of certain characters’ past relationships and antagonisms had faded from my memory and I was left scratching my head for a large chunk of the plot.

Most of the novel is seen from the viewpoint of the titular Nona, a pure innocent who six months earlier woke up in someone else’s 19-year-old body and is being protected by a pair of women with familiar names from the earlier books. She works as a teacher-aide in a school located in a bombed-out, strife-torn city on a planet facing impending doom. Unlike the setting of the earlier books, we seem to be in a near contemporary civilisation with such things as cars, guns, radio and TV.

Nona hangs out with a gang of kids younger than herself each with odd nicknames like “Hot Sauce” and “Beautiful Ruby”. She gets involved with their schemes and adventures as their society slowly falls apart.

Also active on this world are the “Blood of Eden” militants that oppose the Empire which tries to rule the remnants of mankind and its God-Emperor John Gaius. The Edenites consist of more characters I think I’m supposed to recall from the earlier books but couldn’t quite place.

After about 100 pages of this, things start to make a little more sense when some answers are given in info-dumps but I remained puzzled until the end.

Between chapters there is an account of a dream-like experience where Harrow (I think) is talking to John Gaius and we slowly learn the story of his ascent to God-hood. While it was interesting to finally get some back-story, I think it fell flat in the end for me. Plus, the fact that it all seemed to kick off in rural New Zealand made me take it somewhat less than seriously.

In fact, Muir who hails from New Zealand is leaving little NZ-isms throughout the book like ‘Easter Eggs’ for her kiwi fans. As a New Zealander myself I found some of these moments very odd and I was often thrown out of the story by them.

The author is great at creating worlds and characters but her plots leave something to be desired for this reader. The rivalries and back-stabbing of a bunch of people all of which I disliked continue on from the previous books and I found them dreary and forgettable then and even more so in this volume.

Things started moving in a hurry towards some sort of conclusion a couple of hundred pages in but then it just became plodding and by around the 300-page mark I was just hoping it would end soon. There were still nuggets of fun stuff and good writing but by then I just didn’t care.

One more book to go in the series - will I bother after this?

 

To Be Someone

To Be Someone by Ian Stone (2020 Unbound Kindle 303pp)

Ian Stone is a UK stand-up comedian and writer. I have to admit I’d never consciously heard of him until I listened to him interviewed about writing this book on a podcast recently.

In recent years my reading taste seems to have branched out to include many books like this – memoirs cum social histories, usually set in the UK and usually written by men. I think in a way it may be a way of reflecting on my own life by reading the experiences of those of a roughly similar age during the same era I grew up in.

The twist in this book is that the young Stone had a dismal life, growing up largely ignored by his parents and disengaged at school. He instead found solace and mentoring in music, in particular the music of the band “The Jam” fronted by Paul Weller.

We follow him in his early teens as he attends a Jewish school with its own cast of quirky characters and runs the gauntlet of hate and violence around him. His large nose takes a starring role – he’s never more than paragraph away from worrying about how it looks or being insulted about it by some lowlife. His memory of the drab late 1970s is given colour by the people around him and the often-dangerous antics he gets up to. His Mother wouldn’t let him go to a concert for years but thought nothing of him travelling the country alone to attend football games – often complete with riots and thugs.

His parents argue continuously and when his largely useless father loses his job after faking a bomb-threat to get out of work, his mother demands a divorce but ends up having a mental breakdown and attempting suicide.

Meanwhile the young Ian is learning about class, politics and love through the music of “The Jam”. His Mother eventually relents and soon he is off around the country following the band. He and his friends develop a special relationship with the musicians and are given free reign to attend sound-checks and post-show activities.

In-between each chapter there are amusing cartoons by fellow comedian Phil Jupitus and short sections contrasting life in the 1970s/80s with what we have today.

I enjoyed this book and raced through it in a couple of sessions. There’s nothing spectacular about the prose, its all very straight-forward but the author is great at evoking a certain time and place for the reader and if you have any memories of the time period discussed it will certainly resonate more.

 

How to Write Everything/How to Be a Writer

How to Write Everything/How to Be a Writer by David Quantick (2014/2016 Bloomsbury paperback 180pp/220pp)

 

David Quantick is a UK writer who over his 40 plus year career has written just about everything – from television to fiction to journalism and even poetry. He always seems to being on the verge of fame, just about a household name but not quite. He most recently has been producing several well-received novels and has appeared as a guest on several podcasts which is where he first came to my attention.

In these two books he attempts to pass on his experience and wisdom to budding writers and those just interested in what goes on behind the scenes.

The first volume “How to Write Everything” is a more practical guide to the craft. The author starts with general musings on writing and writers before moving on to the thorny old question of ‘where do ideas come from?’ From there the book is divided into sections, each exploring a different form of writing – comedy, films, scripts and journalism etc. In areas in which he feels he lacks expertise he interviews those more directly involved.

There are tips and hints and general encouragement along the way as well as a certain attitude recognising that writers are compelled to write anyway and it may not be something everyone can do.

The second volume “How to Be a Writer” is a bit of a change of pace, consisting mainly of Quantick’s interviews with his fellow writers and others involved in the writing business. Some famous faces such as Caitlin Moran make an appearance. The author attempts to keep the theme to what a writer’s typical day consists of but the discussions go all over the place. A frequent topic is money and financial issues – it seems nobody is getting very rich in the writing game.

Both books are written with a great sense of humour and charm. Quantick can’t resist a gag and displays a typical UK style of sarcasm and irony. At around 200 pages each both volumes are a quick read and you’ll feel entertained and perhaps enlightened. These are not the usual ‘follow your dreams’ self-help guides you might have expected.