Sir Apropos of Nothing

Rating:
Summary: Like chocolate and potatoes
Review: A previous reviewer compared this book to a mixture of Victor Hugo and Dave Barry. They say that like it's a BAD thing!!! Like chocolate and potatoes (try dipping french fries in a chocolate milk shake and you'll understand), it's two good things made all the better by the marriage of styles.

But then, I happen to ENJOY a healthy mixture of angst with the absurd. The kind of parody put forth in Sir Apropos is, to me, enriched EXPONENTIALLY by the element of seriousness.

I will say that this is a book that requires a certain acknowledgement and accpetance of the difference between two flavors. One has to realize that there is a time and a place to read certain elements in a certain light. Yes, frankly, you ARE expected to gloss over the repeated rapes. It's fiction. Not only is it fiction, it's utterly unrealistic PARODIED FANTASY. The TITLE ITSELF fairly screams out, "DO NOT TAKE ME SERIOUSLY."

But there is a time to take it seriously. And it isn't too hard to take the author's cues concerning when to do that.

No, it isn't a book for everyone. But it is a book for those rare few gourmets who live for that perfect recipe, that master chef's touch that can put together something as unlikely as chocolate and potatoes and churn out a feast for the senses.

Sir Apropos of Nothing is that kind of feast.

Rating:
Summary: More than just entertaining
Review: After I finished reading Peter David`s novel "Sir Apropos of Nothing" it took me a while before I was able to move on to reading another book. It left a very strong impression on me, something that is not unusual with his books. But this one is not the next chapter of my favourite series, New Frontier, or any other Star Trek written by him, this is something completely different. Peter David created his own universe, his own characters. He has written other non-media books before, but "Sir Apropos of Nothing" is his first non-media book I have read so far. Here we enter a world where we meet kings, knights, squires, witches and some more phantastic creatures. But Peter David`s version is not as simplistic as meeting a noble king who is surrounded by noble knights who go out into the world in order to do heroic deeds, slay dragons and save the odd damsel in distress. I am quite tired of that pattern and therefore I welcomed it that this book is different, much more complex. I often had the feeling that Peter David was challenging this pattern deliberately. We find out quickly that appearances can be very deceiving, that people who seem to be nice have some dark secrets. Sometimes good and evil can`t be separated easily. Sometimes good people are pushed into doing something bad. Peter David put very complex people into his book, people with strength and weaknesses, people who make mistakes. Peter David`s strength has always been characterizations and this book is no exception. The people in his book are very alive.

This is first of all the case with the main character, a young squire names Apropos. I liked him immediately. He is a very positive character but he has some darker layers as well which make him even more interesting. Apropos has a wonderful sense of humour. On top of that he is able to deal with all kinds of adventures and problems, mainly by using his wit. This makes the book fun to read. Some parts really made me laugh.

On the other hand, "Apropos" is not a comedy. Therefore I think comparing it with "Blackadder" is not accurate. The book also has some very serious scenes, a mix I find very intriguing. I find it remarkable with how much ease and skill Peter David combined the fun and the serious parts in this book. He is able to insert humour in some very dark scenes without ever giving me the feeling that it is forced. Sometimes I was caught between laughing and being touched by the seriousness of the situation.

Not only is Apropos a very likeable character, also because of his weaknesses, he is on top of that a very strong character. He makes mistakes and there are setbacks as well, but his determination, his cleverness is remarkable. We can see during this story that this character grows, that he is learning from mistakes. This is especially visible at the end of the book.

What I find also remarkable is how Peter David handled the topic disability in this book: Apropos was born with a physical disability. Being disabled myself I know what I am talking about, and I think he handled this aspect in a very realistic but also appealing way. I hate it when people with disabilities are shown as objects of pity and being helpless victims. Apropos learned from very early on to see and treat his disability as a challenge. In time he became more and more able to defend himself if he has to. But first of all he learned to use his wit and how to evade physical confrontations. I find this very interesting. Apropos reminded me in some ways of Miles Vorkosigan, the main character in Lois McMaster Bujold`s series.

Peter David is openly challenging cliches and prejudices, not only concerning the "heroism and chivalry" stuff in fairy tales and about disabled people, but there is a lot more. The book often made me think. One other aspect is that Peter David obviously shares my opinion that having feelings is not a weakness, it is a strength. He is also challenging the cliché of the overly male hero who is only allowed to show feelings of the more aggressive kind. Apropos also has a very sensitive side. The richness of his character also left such a strong impression on me because Peter David wrote the book from the first person perspective. He already showed me in the past that he is very skilled at using the advantages this form of storytelling has to its full potential.

"Apropos" is a whole story. It has a definite end. But it can also be seen as the first chapter in a series of books. Peter David is considering writing a sequel. I am very much hoping he will do that. I think it is an excellent book, very cleverly written with some surprises especially at the end. To me it is much more than just entertaining. In other words, if you ask me, it is definitely worth buying.

Rating:
Summary: Witty and Wacky and a MUST read
Review: Apropos, the result of the gang rape of a barmaid, starts life with a full set of teeth, a lame leg and all the bad luck the gods can sling at him-not to mention a hatred for the man who brought him into existence. He is still in his teens when his mother is murdered by a customer and he sets out to bring her killer to justice. Being a coward-or, as Apropos might have phrased it, being quick to save himself if danger is imminent-he has no desire to inflict the justice himself; that's a job for the King.

Petitioning the King sets off a chain of events that leaves him as the squire to an aged, derelict, nearly amnesiac knight by the name of Sir Umbrage of the Flaming Nether Regions. And it just gets worse. Apropos is no hero, what's more he has no desire to be heroic, and yet he gets thrown into position after position that require him to do just that. He is nearly killed by the children of the harpies, he nearly gets trampled by unicorns, he smashes the skull of his best friend, he (just barely) rescues a pyromaniac princess, he kills a man who might be his father. . . After the adventures are all over and done with, Apropos is a knight (of nothing) and much the worse for wear. Which, of course, is when things get even worse!

With Apropos, our anti-hero, it's one hilarious (mis)adventure after another, all provided at his expense, and I loved it! Peter David has written Apropos with his tongue firmly in cheek, throwing out puns, irreverence, spoofs and laughs, often when one least expects it. I laughed hard, read a LOT of it out loud and hated to see it end. Despite all the outrageousness, the fantasy is quite plausible; it's well-written, easy to read and hard to put down. Oddly enough, I cared about the scoundrel Apropos, and wondered with him if he really were a hero, or just a secondary character in someone else's story. Peter David has earned a place in my line of favorites, right up there with Douglas Adams and Jasper Fforde. This book rates a full five stars.

Rating:
Summary: If you like Terry Pratchett... read one of his books instead
Review: Awful, awful, awful. A must to avoid. If I could give this book a negative rating, I would. "Sir Apropos of Nothing" is full of cheap puns, weak characters, and contrived plotlines, all written in a cloying, self-amused (VERY self-amused) style that gets more and more irritating with every page. Peter David obviously read a Terry Pratchett book one day and said to himself, "Hey, I can do that." I'm sorry, Mr. David, but you can't. There is a crucial difference, sir, between you and Mr. Pratchett. He is funny, and you are not. Stick to writing comic books. You are at least good at that.

Rating:
Summary: The book that made me love Peter David
Review: First and foremost I must get out of the way that I am a big fan of the author of this book, Peter David. I must also say that it is because of this book that Peter David has become my favorite author and I now try to read everything of his.

So what was it about this book that made me fall in love with his works? Well, in short, it just is a great read, in fact one of the best reads I've ever had.

Why is this book so great? Well, for starters it is set in the realm of Fantasy, with made up kingdoms with made up regions. In fact, the names of the kingdoms and regions show how made up they are. The kingdom of Isteria, The Flaming Nether Regions, the middle finger... Next is the main character Apropos, the hero of the tale. He is unlike any fantasy hero period. He is lame a leg, bastard son of a whore. He possesses little skill aside from the little woodcraft he picked up from the friend he betrayed and his ability to lie. The most unexpected things happen in this book, and sometimes when you are expecting the unexpected the expected happens... unexpectantly.

Apropos goes from the son of a whore, to the squire of a senile knight, to trying to save the crazy pyromaniac of a princess. He pulls this off, sometimes, in the strangest of ways. Relying less on his strength, and more on his wit, he is able to do what may have been expected only for everything to change.

This book has all elements of fantasy, without the fantasy hero. It is has action, it has humor, and it has passion. It is by far one of the best books I have read, and has made me a major fan of the author. I would not hesitate to recommend this to anyone.

Rating:
Summary: Very funny! A *must read* for all fantasy readers!
Review: I had never heard of Peter David before reading this book, and now I find myself looking for his novels whenever I go to bookstores. The book is well written, it has an exciting story line, and one of he most interesting main characters I've ever read about.

How many fantasy novels tell a tale of bold heroes, born from nothing only to achieve everything they set out to accomplish? Probably a vast majority of novels follow this model. Not Apropos.

Not only does this book deviate from the beaten path, this is a book where you feel the emotions right with the character. He carries with him so many emotions. You will find yourself cheering for him, feeling his pain, his anger, and sometimes wishing he were right in front of you so you could kick him right in the rear for some of the crazy things this young man does (all these insane adventures take place before he is even twenty years of age).

Another thing I enjoyed about this novel were the few, well placed references to other fantasy works. For example: at one point in Apropos, Apropos and Entipy are dealing with some irate unicorns, and the comment made by Entipy was directly from Beagle's "Last Unicorn."

I don't think I have to go any further to show you that I loved this book. Any true fantasy lover will enjoy it!

Rating:
Summary: Definitely entertaining
Review: I tried, I really did. I wanted to like Sir Apropos but simply could not wallow through one more page of misery and despair set in a world where ABSOLUTELY everyone is happy to indulge in rape (I kid you not, there are 3 rapes in the first 150 pages), pillage, and murder. This is by no means a fast, fun satire -- as one reviewer claimed. Satire involves wit and an appreciation for the object being satirized. This is a book filled with loathing, self-obsession, and violence. It is drowning in its own crapulence.

Rating:
Summary: A Tragicomic Antihero
Review: I'd give this book three and a half stars if I could, but I can't quite justify a fourth star. It was very good in parts, and the idea of making a hero of the wry comic relief stock character was a good concept. But the book suffers from a bit of a cumbersome back story and a tendency to overstate the obvious. I did like the book, but I wouldn't follow this character's adventures through more than a couple books. If this is an open-ended series, I wouldn't pick up the next book. As of this review, there are three books in the series. If it's going to stop at 3, I might finish them. Time will tell.

It starts out with a genuinely funny situation in which Apropos is holding the sword that is protruding from the chest of a knight. Unfortunately, once out of that situation, the author launches into the origin story of how Apropos arrived in that situation - which lasts over 200 dull and somewhat depressing pages. If you can persevere past page 300, you might find the story entertaining after all. If the story were about 250 pages shorter, it would be a lot better, and a lot of that extra bulk could be taken out of this origin story.

The story is told from the perspective of Apropos, who is the product of the gang-rape of a tavern wench by a group of visiting knights. After the rape, she feels she has nothing left to lose and so continues to support herself by becoming a prostitute at that tavern. After Apropos is forced to leave home (is it a spoiler to tell something that has happened before page 1, but isn't told until page 200?) he goes to the court of King Runcible of Isteria to right some wrongs that were done to him, and instead becomes a squire to the doddering old Sir Umbrage. After he is sent on a mission to retrieve the Princess, who has spent the last several years being schooled in a far-off convent, his adventure truly begins. In his origin and early adventures, Apropos is a thoroughly contemptible character, very self-centered and cowardly. However many of the things he does out of greed or cowardice end up working out better than the heroic options might have. Later on in the story, he grows a little bit, which in a way spoils his appeal. His unheroic methods defined the character, and to see the resolution of the book hinge on his learned selflessness is a bit of a disappointment.

The main problem with this book is the same as with most of the fantasy I've seen labeled as comical satire or humor. With very few exceptions, the genre fails on the same point - it just isn't that funny all the way through. And given the comical nature of the title, along with the description on the back of the book, a lot of the book is far too serious. There are long stretches where it reads just like any other adventure novel. There are numerous puns populating the world of Apropos. Some of the puns are passable, but some are heavily strained, like the 3-page back-story to arrive at the pun-based name of the group of male harpies - the Harpers Bizarre. There are a number of very funny parts of this book, but they're rather scattered.

The writing itself is not as good as it could be. While parts of the dialogue are brilliant, there is a tendency to overstate a point in narration, needlessly complicating the prose. Almost every page for the first 400, I found a paragraph that, were I Peter David's editor, would have picked apart as shamelessly overwritten. David also has a tendency to overuse certain words. I counted about a dozen too many uses of the word "formidable" in various contexts in the first chapter alone. Almost as many "endeavor" abuses in later chapters.

So, other than the fact that it's too long, this is not a bad book. Not a must-read by any means, but not without its merits. It sets up the history and adventures of Sir Apropos of Nothing, with just enough comedy to keep it from turning into a serious attempt at heroic fantasy. The next books probably wouldn't be encumbered by the need to take 12 chapters out of the narration to set up the characters. Most of where it falls down is in the writing, with the writer taking three sentences to say what the reader already knows from one. It could have gone through a couple more re-writes before seeing print.

Rating:
Summary: Undeniably Hilarious Tale of Antiheroism!
Review: Peter David's "Sir Apropos of Nothing" introduces the titular character, an anti-hero that is equal parts George Castanza and Sir Percival. Crammed with more biting sarcasm than a Sam Kinison rant, chock full of (oft accidental) derring-do, and replete with enough terrible puns to choke a hippogriff, "Apropos" is a wonderful read for fans of the fantasy genre.

(Here's just one sample of the excruciating puns David tosses off so effortlessly -- a bunch of harpies mate with a gang of lepers, giving birth to a brood of insane male harpies . . . the Harpers Bizarre! As Charlie Brown would say, "Aaauuuugghhh!")

Be warned -- this book is not for everyone! Apropos, born lame (but with a full set of teeth and eager to bite) after his mother was gang-raped by seven nights, is a selfish, cynical, unfaithful, back-stabbing conniver and fast-talker, and he's surrounding by more incompetent boobs than you can shake a bastard sword at. Apropos has few motivations in this life -- avenging his mother's murderer, exacting vengeance on his father, and protecting his own skin. Oddly enough, he's rather capable and gets to pursue all three across some truly enchanted lands.

It's a general staple of the fantasy genre that our hero, invariably a down-trodden diamond-in-the-rough, will form up a merry little band of eccentric, talented diamonds-in-the-rough and lead them on exciting adventures, generally to their mutual advancement and well-being. Unfortunately, those who meet Apropos rarely end the day with a smile on their face. From Apropos' first true friend, the imminent hero Tacit, to the occasionally-insane/occasionally ravishing princess Entipy, to various and sundry knights, kings, and other characters, most finish the novel either dead or gnashing their teeth in frustration at the havoc young Apropos wreaks on their lives.

David keeps the reader jumping as the tale spins out over nearly 500 pages, but the book never seems to run out of steam. Things get a wee bit icky at the end, with some delicate family history coming to the fore, but for the most part this is a side-splitter for those who love the fantasy genre enough to watch it skewered, roasted, and washed down with a hearty dose of bile.

If you're looking for a parallel reference, at the risk of saying "If you liked X, you'll love this," allow me to say that if you were a fan of either "Bored of the Rings" or Piers Anthony's "Xanth" novels, this book should be right up your alley.

Rating:
Summary: I won't buy the sequels
Review: Sir Apropros of Nothing seems to start like a fantasy parody. That's what the cover indicated, at least. In the mood for a silly jaunt, I picked it up.

But there are actually two books here. One is a hilarious satire of most epic fantasy novels. The other is a serious depiction of a clubfooted young man, conceived when his mother was raped, physically abused, mistreated, and maligned.

I feel like someone mixed Victor Hugo with Dave Barry. If the book had just been serious, or just been silly, it would be excellent. As it is, we have discussions of Sir Umbrage of the Flaming Nether Regions amidst tales of a childhood upbringing that makes you want to weep. The combination doesn't work.