The Prophecy Machine

Rating:
Summary: Outstanding
Review: "There's no use blaming yourself for this grievous turn of events. It is your fault, of course, but there's little you can do about that. Wisdom comes easily to the man who's waiting for the axeman's blade to fall. For the first time in his life, he knows exactly where he's going next."

This quote, uttered by an argumentative mechanical lizard named Julia Jessica Slagg, exemplifies "The Prophecy Machine". Neil Barrett Jr. wrote two of these delightful comic fantasy novels. I read the sequel, "The Treachery of Kings", last year, and found it to be one of the most brilliant and eccentric novels I'd ever read. I'm actually a little bit less enchanted with "The Prophecy Machine", but it's still a quite impressive achievement.

Master lizard-maker Finn and his lovely wife Letitia Louise are trying to take a vacation, but an unfortunate set of circumstances strands them in the land of Makasar. Along with them is the aforementioned mechanical lizard, a creature named Julia Jessica Slagg, with a sharp tongue. This odd trio makes for one of the most entertaining sets of relationships in imaginative fiction. The dialogue they trade, and the subtle interplay of their personalities, is delightful. Barrett's intuition for comic timing is amazing, and his dark, cynical sense of humor cuts through all pretense.

Now I could go into a further plot summary, but I think I'll let you discover all the clever parts of this book for yourself. Barrett's name is not widely recognized, even among fantasy geeks, but the same could be said of many today's most talented writers. After "The Prophecy Machine" and "The Treachery of Kings", he certainly deserves to enjoy the same fame as Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett.

Rating:
Summary: Outstanding
Review: "There's no use blaming yourself for this grievous turn of events. It is your fault, of course, but there's little you can do about that. Wisdom comes easily to the man who's waiting for the axeman's blade to fall. For the first time in his life, he knows exactly where he's going next."

This quote, uttered by an argumentative mechanical lizard named Julia Jessica Slagg, exemplifies "The Prophecy Machine". Neil Barrett Jr. wrote two of these delightful comic fantasy novels. I read the sequel, "The Treachery of Kings", last year, and found it to be one of the most brilliant and eccentric novels I'd ever read. I'm actually a little bit less enchanted with "The Prophecy Machine", but it's still a quite impressive achievement.

Master lizard-maker Finn and his lovely wife Letitia Louise are trying to take a vacation, but an unfortunate set of circumstances strands them in the land of Makasar. Along with them is the aforementioned mechanical lizard, a creature named Julia Jessica Slagg, with a sharp tongue. This odd trio makes for one of the most entertaining sets of relationships in imaginative fiction. The dialogue they trade, and the subtle interplay of their personalities, is delightful. Barrett's intuition for comic timing is amazing, and his dark, cynical sense of humor cuts through all pretense.

Now I could go into a further plot summary, but I think I'll let you discover all the clever parts of this book for yourself. Barrett's name is not widely recognized, even among fantasy geeks, but the same could be said of many today's most talented writers. After "The Prophecy Machine" and "The Treachery of Kings", he certainly deserves to enjoy the same fame as Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett.

Rating:
Summary: Outstanding
Review: "There's no use blaming yourself for this grievous turn of events. It is your fault, of course, but there's little you can do about that. Wisdom comes easily to the man who's waiting for the axeman's blade to fall. For the first time in his life, he knows exactly where he's going next."

This quote, uttered by an argumentative mechanical lizard named Julia Jessica Slagg, exemplifies "The Prophecy Machine". Neil Barrett Jr. wrote two of these delightful comic fantasy novels. I read the sequel, "The Treachery of Kings", last year, and found it to be one of the most brilliant and eccentric novels I'd ever read. I'm actually a little bit less enchanted with "The Prophecy Machine", but it's still a quite impressive achievement.

Master lizard-maker Finn and his lovely wife Letitia Louise are trying to take a vacation, but an unfortunate set of circumstances strands them in the land of Makasar. Along with them is the aforementioned mechanical lizard, a creature named Julia Jessica Slagg, with a sharp tongue. This odd trio makes for one of the most entertaining sets of relationships in imaginative fiction. The dialogue they trade, and the subtle interplay of their personalities, is delightful. Barrett's intuition for comic timing is amazing, and his dark, cynical sense of humor cuts through all pretense.

Now I could go into a further plot summary, but I think I'll let you discover all the clever parts of this book for yourself. Barrett's name is not widely recognized, even among fantasy geeks, but the same could be said of many today's most talented writers. After "The Prophecy Machine" and "The Treachery of Kings", he certainly deserves to enjoy the same fame as Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett.

Rating:
Summary: Custard and Clamsause!
Review: 'The Prophecy Machine' is the answer to the homogeneity so many are decrying in the fantasy genre: an original piece of work. Rather than being yet another Tolkien knock-off, The Prophecy Machine defies description. The characters are bizarre. The setting is absurd. And the prose is delicious. In short, another Neal Barrett novel.

The story isn't the best. In fact it may leave you feeling a little off-kilter, saying to yourself, 'What exactly happened there?', but in the end it's an enjoyable, relaxing, fast-paced read. This one is worth reading solely for the pleasure of encountering Bizarre's twisted universe. Even though it lacks the Importance of other novels, I place this one near the top of my favorite fantasy books of 2000. I eagerly await the promised sequel.

Rating:
Summary: Strikingly Original
Review: 'The Prophecy Machine' is the answer to the homogeneity so many are decrying in the fantasy genre: an original piece of work. Rather than being yet another Tolkien knock-off, The Prophecy Machine defies description. The characters are bizarre. The setting is absurd. And the prose is delicious. In short, another Neal Barrett novel.

The story isn't the best. In fact it may leave you feeling a little off-kilter, saying to yourself, 'What exactly happened there?', but in the end it's an enjoyable, relaxing, fast-paced read. This one is worth reading solely for the pleasure of encountering Bizarre's twisted universe. Even though it lacks the Importance of other novels, I place this one near the top of my favorite fantasy books of 2000. I eagerly await the promised sequel.

Rating:
Summary: How very very strange and wonderful....
Review: ...this is a thrill ride into the strange and bizarre world of Mr. Neal Barrett Jr. and what a wonderful world this is...

It has a lot of ideas that I haven't seen anywhere, and even though it seems a bit weird and at times childish, it is... but it is also its strength.

I would like to say something about what the book is about, but it would take some of the fun out of reading it... so I won't.

Enjoy it!

Rating:
Summary: A very odd story...
Review:
An odd couple (inter-species?) with an odd vocation (lizard-maker) and an unusual companion (a mechanical lizard) get waylayed in a strange land with weird customs and nonsensical religions and are forced to take refuge in a bizarre house with a strange family and fight through a ton of weird situations to extricate themselves.

A variety of plotlines are left hanging and the "prophecy machine" itself is not explored very much and even in the end there are a lot of unanswered questions. Furthermore the action itself is somewhat unsettling, kind of like watching a sci-fi fantasy train-wreck spoil the heroes' vacation. Although it's a page-turner that keeps you reading I couldn't really call it enjoyable - the house, offkilter and dizzying, could in fact be a metaphor for the effect this book has on the reader.

I give it three stars for general quality and a fourth star just for the weird originality that is it's defining characteristic.


Rating:
Summary: Custard and Clamsause!
Review: I read books extensively. Occasionally I'm fortunate enough to come across a excellent piece of prose such as this book. Esoteric but enormously entertaining. The way it is structured constantly keeps you turning pages. Neal builds a "Alice in Wonderlandish" world where what you can expect is the unexpected. You get a chance (that you don't get in other novels) to visit a place you've never been before. In the case of this book...a very strange place indeed. The inside of Mr. Barrett's head must contain contain a amusement park for the eccentric.

Rating:
Summary: One of the Best Lately
Review: Sci-fi or fantasy fans are always looking for something new -- a new twist, a new concept, or a new world-view -- to challenge their voracious appetite for the new and unread. Neil's newest foray into space-time has a new flavor -- perhaps flawed by an unformed or undefined raison d'etre that leaves the reader longing for a more definate explanation of the forces behind the action or forces -- but then, mystery leads one onward. My review is, of course, colored by a sci-fi background which seeks answers rather than mysteries, but mysteries are tolerable in that they provoke thought rather than rendering palatable answers. Anyone that enjoys "Time Bandits" or "Brazil" (over and over again) will enjoy this book.