The Thirty-Nine Steps

Shockingly, it has taken me many weeks to read the book I'm going to discus this week. Far longer, as I'm sure you'll all agree, than it ever should have. Why?

Well, it's certainly not because of the page count; the things barely more than a pamphlet.

And it isn't due to the somewhat over egged, melodramatic language used (which I'm aware is a product of both it's time and the genre the author was attempting to emulate), because if you can get through as many Terry Goodkind books as I have, you lose all fear you may once have had of impenetrable language.

It isn't even the somewhat elitist, racist and unsympathetic central character, although he is all of those things.

In truth, the reason it took me so long to conquer the scant 98 pages that comprise The Thirty-Nine Steps, is that I lacked the motivation to do so.

The flaws I mentioned above are all real. They are also, in large part, understandable. John Buchan was a product of his time and of his class; he crafted, in Richard Hannay, a character every inch the 'hero' figure of the day.That we look upon him slightly less kindly is more a problem with our understanding of the historical context, than with Buchan's writing. Similarly, in attempting to emulate a particular genre (the disposable 'Dime' Thriller), Buchan found himself following the conventions of said genre; conventions which perhaps didn't survive their trans Atlantic journey in particularly good shape. There are, after all, some very good reasons why we don't make 90210 in Britain, and why Darren Starr never attempted a remake of Crossroads.

So those issues aside; as I was more than willing to overlook them; what did affect my motivation to finish The Thirty-Nine Steps? Put simply, once you get past the initial set-up, which moves like a freight train (a murder in chapter one, the hero on the lam by chapter 2, all done in 17 pages combined), it quickly settles into a formulaic rut, so that urge, that need, that all the great books give you, to know what happens next; that unputdownable, pageturner element; is totally missing. You don't need to read on, because you know what'll happen next; a few pages of Hannay describing the scenery, a hint of danger from a circling plane that just misses spotting him, a close call with his pursuers on the ground and a vaguely comical encounter with a passing civilian.

In all fairness, the pages that describe the scenery are undeniably well written and infused with a genuine affection by the author (perhaps unsurprising given Buchan's background), and the implacable, relentless nature of his pursuers allows for a degree of tension, if not to the extent that the author intended (and certainly not to the extent implied by the hype). As far as the supporting characters go, however, they verge so closely on caricature as to render the suspension of disbelief impossible.

What then, was my final analysis of this book, once I did finally bite the bullet and trawl through the closing chapters? Well, I didn't enjoy it; let's get that out of the way first, although I doubt it comes as a surprise after the preceding paragraphs. Honestly though, everything I said in those comments would have been forgiven, had the book built to a satisfactory conclusion. Give a story a good ending, and that is what people will often take away from it; all earlier sins, if not forgiven, then perhaps forgotten. Buchan, in perhaps his biggest failing of them all, doesn't do that here.

Hannay manages, by some pretty lucky guesswork (we're told that Hannay has a history of making assumptions that turn out to be correct, so he's willing to accept his own guesswork as fact; OK), to figure out where the bad guys are, heads up there, confronts his suspects, thinks he might be wrong, decides he isn't because one of them does a distinctive hand gesture, and then there is a bit of a perfunctory scuffle before the bad 'uns are all arrested. The end.

It's strange, given how fast the first couple of chapters moved, but once Hannay goes to the villains house to confront them the story, which should be accelerating to it's conclusion, slows down dramatically and grind tortuously through one of the dullest hero/villain conversations ever, before resolving itself in two pages once the action finally does start. The pacing, to be frank, is all over the place.

So there you go; my first attempt to write up something regarded as a 'classic' on this blog. It didn't go well, did it? Sorry. Although I do genuinely think that this is one of those books that s called a classic because a few people decided it was, a few others didn't want to rock the boat, and it just snowballed from there. It really is nothing special.

Fables: Legends In Exile

The Big Bad Wolf teams up with Snow White, both under the employ of Old King Cole, to investigate the disappearance and possible murder of Rose Red.


Suspects include Bluebeard and Jack (of Beanstalk fame, amongst other things). Oh, and Snow White herself, for a while.

The pair are distracted by; the return to town of Snow's ex-husband Prince Charming, her having to deal with the marital problems of Beauty and the Beast and him having his sofa invaded by one of the Three Little Pigs; and numerous other bumps in the road.

Are you laughing yet, shaking your head in disbelief at the notion that this story was ever written? I'm sure that was the reaction of many people when the Vertigo comic series Fables was first launched, all those years ago; I know I certainly had less than positive expectations when I first heard about it. Happily though, I am a terrible 'trade-waiter' when it comes to comics and not even a particularly efficient one either so by the time I came to thinking about adding a new series to my reading list Fables had been around a good while and the almost universal praise being thrown it's way convinced me to give it a go. I adored it from the off.

SNOW WHITE
All of these characters, and many more, are being forced to co-exist in a small immigrant community in New York because they have been forced from their respective homelands by a fearsome all-conquering enemy known only as 'The Adversary'. Far from a cohesive race, they are constantly dealing with a lot of old tensions, that no amount of general amnesties can expunge. This means that despite his working as the Sheriff, 'Bigby' Wolf is still mistrusted by many of those he wronged in his days as 'Big Bad Wolf'; the thought of Rose Red having a relationship with Bluebeard (he of the unfortunate wives) rubs Snow White up the wrong way; and the wicked old witch of yore is questioned, lest she have 'grown tired of the taste of gingerbread'. As who-dunnits go, it's a doozy.

BIGBY WOLF
The key to the whole thing is that it is played totally straight. We all know, as readers, that the premise is ridiculous, but this series works because the creators say "yes, it is a ridiculous premise but if it weren't; if these characters were real, what would they be like and if they were forced to live in secret among normal folk, what effect would that have on them? Personally, I'm a big fan of taking the ridiculous seriously; two of my favourite TV shows had premises which, when you read them on paper seemed like something you'd see in a half hour kids slot but when produced, by a team that took them seriously, became fantastic mature drama. I speak of 'the college student who is really a secret agent for the Government' (Alias) and 'the High School student who is actually a crack PI' (Veronica Mars). With that in mind, I probably should have given the creators of Fables more of the benefit of the doubt from the get-go but, you know, we all have our lines in the sand.

This 1st storyline, which comprised issues 1-5 of the ongoing comic, and is collected in the trade paperback Legends In Exile, is a pretty much textbook example of how to kickstart a 'hopefully' long running series, the who-dunnit aspect allowing the reader to be introduced to all (or most; my personal favourite makes her debut in the 2nd arc) of the major players because they are all investigated at one point or another. That aside, it also works as a standalone story. The who-dunnit works as precisely that, with a mystery to be solved, a cast of characters to choose from and a 'while I have you all here' denouement that is not only funny and charming, but also makes perfect sense. All the clues were there (some of them on page 1, you'll kick yourself), the story hangs together nicely, and it's clear that this is a writer who knew exactly what he was doing from the outset.

So, if you can put aside any anti-comics prejudice, and put aside any anti-fairytale prejudice, you could do an awful lot worse than check out Fables: Legends In Exile, for a proper, meaty, clever thriller. And do stick around, because things only get wilder in the 2nd arc.