Comments on: BOOK REVIEW: The Legend of Ellie Quin by Alex Scarrow

By: Carl V. Anderson

Carl V. Anderson — Sat, 19 Jan 2013 15:23:31 +0000

That is a perfect situation Peta! A free taste to get you hooked! I hope you enjoy it, but either way let me know what you think.

By: Peta

Peta — Sat, 19 Jan 2013 14:07:02 +0000

As ever, great review Carl and good to see you over here too! This seems like a great choice for reading as part of the Sci-Fi experience you’re running and I’m looking forward to trying it out. Even better it’s an amazon Prime lending library book, in the UK at least, so I can try our the first in the series for free! Win win.

By: Carl V. Anderson

Carl V. Anderson — Sat, 19 Jan 2013 02:35:03 +0000

The nice thing about the open ending is there are two more books, volumes, episodes to go to right after this, so that is nice. It does end in a good place but not in a way that you would be satisfied only reading that one part. Which is, I imagine, what Alex Scarrow was going for.

By: TracyK

TracyK — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 23:39:56 +0000

Very interesting story and a nice review. Just hearing a summary this probably would not appeal to me, but you have piqued my interest. Since you mentioned sci fi juveniles, I want to compare it to Red Planet that I read recently. It concerns me that the ending is left hanging, but it really seems like this is three connected novellas… Anyway, I will give it try. Maybe in February.

By: Carl V.

Carl V. — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 22:32:22 +0000

Thanks so much Alex, and this answers the question I just left you on my site about the review over here.

Thanks for the insight on the Bujold link, or lack thereof I should say. The similarity in names just goes to show how small a world it is, even in the many worlds of fiction. I have yet to read Farmer, but Alan Moore is someone whose work I’ve enjoyed over the years.

By: Alex Scarrow

Alex Scarrow — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 18:33:33 +0000

Very insightful review, Carl. Thank you.

To answer your question, there’s no link to the Vorkosigan Saga! I’ll be honest and admit I’ve never read any Heinlein. If I was going to point to a SciFi writer that has influenced me it would Philip Jose Farmer and his RIVERWORLD series.

And of course Alan Moore, and his classic series for 2000AD, HALO JONES.

Character-driven SciFi is where it’s at for me. Not obsessing over the gadgets/gizmos/aliens/fantastic worlds, rather, obsessing how the characters react to all those things.

best

Alex Scarrow (author – ELLIE QUIN)

By: Carl V.

Carl V. — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 15:36:28 +0000

I’ve started the second volume (novella, whatever) and it has picked up nicely right where it left off and has introduced the villain (or “a” villain) of the piece. I like where this is going.

It may be important to note that for all my YA comparisons above that the protagonist turns twenty early on in the story and for all her innocence there is the potential for some more mature themes as she settles into New Haven. This is hinted at in her early experiences in the city at the end of this first volume.

By: nrlymrtl

nrlymrtl — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 14:42:10 +0000

Nice review. I really enjoy it when my SF has little, every day tech that is beyond where we are today. I don’t need to know how it works, or the steps between where we are now and how it got to the point in the book; I just like a good plot with movies on my finger nails and a soda that won’t leave me bored. I’ll be adding this one to my TBR pile.

By: Carl V.

Carl V. — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 12:14:01 +0000

I left Alex Scarrow a message on his forum asking him about this and will leave his response here if he replies.

By: The Ragi

The Ragi — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 08:33:05 +0000

Hah, first thing that came to my mind also.

By: Carl V. Anderson

Carl V. Anderson — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 21:30:40 +0000

I’ve seen them listed as juveniles elsewhere which is where I came up with the distinction. Heinlein’s juveniles seem to be pretty well respected so as I said I meant it as a compliment (and now all of you admittedly more well-read readers can tell me why I’m wrong ).

I’m not so sure either of those by Norton were written to a YA audience at the time, but they are certainly YA/teen-level books in regards to their ‘boy’s adventure’ motifs and tame subject matter. And like Heinlein’s juveniles there seems to be an attempt to educate within the framework of the story.

By: John G.

John G. — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 21:18:24 +0000

Some authors like Alexi Panshin or Spider Robinson would certainly embrace the label. But, I’m sure others would reject it.

I’m not sure I’d call “Time Traders” and “Star Born” juveniles. Was she definitely writing to a YA audience? Here I am rejecting the label on her behalf and I don’t even know the whole story.

By: Carl V. Anderson

Carl V. Anderson — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 21:10:26 +0000

I think this probably has more to do with me than anything else. I did not read Heinlein when I was a child and only started sampling his juvenile works over these last few years. On top of that I’ve read two of Andre Norton’s juveniles over the last few months so I have that framework in my head. Additionally Allen Steele wrote a very obvious homage to Heinlein’s juveniles in his recently published book Apollo’s Outcasts which was excellently done.

I think I am like most people in that I have a tendency to categorize things and this framework, which is certainly not something Heinlein invented, is one that immediately calls his work to mind whenever I see something resembling it. I am not sure how Alex Scarrow or any other author would take to that categorization but I certainly mean it as the highest form of compliment.

By: John G.

John G. — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 20:41:24 +0000

More than 50 years later and people are still writing Heinlein juveniles. Do you think authors like Scarrow consciously set out to write the next Heinlein Juvenile? Or, do you think it’s just that we can’t help but compare YA science fiction to Heinlein’s juveniles?

By: Carl V. Anderson

Carl V. Anderson — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 20:38:15 +0000

The nice thing about this one Jim is that it isn’t novel length and the first three are already out. I’m not sure how many he plans to write in the series.

I understand the trepidation when trying new things. That is one of the things I liked about trying out Alex’s first book is that it was very reasonably priced which leveled out the risk vs. reward.