Joint Review: Awesome Lavratt

Genre: Science Fiction

Stand alone or series: Stand alone novel

Summary: (from unlimitedpublishing.com)
In the spirit of the cult classic The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams: Beautiful Aranna Navna plans to conquer the galaxy one planet at a time. She steals the Awesome Lavratt, a mind control device, from a freighter in Horace Whistlestop’s junkyard. She takes Horace, too. With the Lavratt, Aranna manipulates the thoughts and desires of everyone around her —- until she gets to the Emperor of Calistania. Then things go from bad to worse for Aranna. The Lavratt, however, has only just begun! Oh, the fun you can have from a small cube with mind control powers. Travel the galaxy with Tyrantz Lavratt. Silly science fiction at its best. All puns intended.

Review

First impressions

Thea: Ann contacted us shortly after we had our Grimspace book debate, and generously provided us with copies of her upcoming novel, Awesome Lavratt. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, just that I found the summary (above) intriguing. I was surprised and delighted by Lavratt and by Ms. Wilkes’ distinct style. “Silly science fiction at its best” encompasses exactly how I feel about this wonderful, quirky little novel!

Ana: She had me at “In the spirit of the cult classic The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy “. That flat out spiked my interest. This is a shot story (100 pages or so) and as such it was a fast read – I was done in about two hours. The first few pages – some of the most important ones in a book (it can make or break a read) were quite excellent and gripping: I kept guessing what was happening and the fast pace of the story thereafter kept my interested to the very end. I had to take a break to go get something to eat and couldn’t wait to get back. That says a lot.

On the plot

The novel opens with Horace Whistlestop (love the name) running his junkyard, and finding that for some reason his latest salvage is extremely popular. First, an alien pulls in asking about it, then a beautiful woman named Aranna pleads with Horace to let her find a memento from her lost lover onboard (yeah right). After nearly being blown to bits by a third party looking for the same object, Horace knows something fishy is going on…but it’s too late. Aranna has taken control of the object (the titled Awesome Lavratt), and now has the ability to read and manipulate minds.

What do you do with omniscent mind control powers? Why, set off for world domination of course!

Aranna takes Horace with her and sets off for Calistania, a monarchic world she has designs on. As she relates to Horace, she knows that she will be worshipped there. Horace doesn’t trust Aranna, but when he’s in her presence, she controls him completely, and all he can think about is loving her and helping her do whatever she wishes.

Aranna’s plan goes smoothly–she is openly welcomed by everyone on the planet for her beauty (and because she is manipulating their minds). However, when she finally meets the Emperor, she realizes that she cannot control him–his mind is an impenetrable fortress. Aranna can’t have that, and so she devises a nefarious scheme to get rid of him…and Horace finally decides he has had enough, and attempts to stand up to Aranna.

Now, no spoilers, but the story doesn’t end there. More characters are introduced, more settings explored, and then of course there is the Lavratt it(him)self. Who is(was) it? What does (he)it want?

On the characters

Thea: Hmm what to say about the characters…there are a lot of them, surprisingly for such a short book. I can’t say that the characterization was outstanding, but then again, you don’t read this book looking for deep soul-searing character development. On the contrary, I admire Ms. Wilkes’ skill in painting all these characters, giving each of them a distinct color (even if they are simpler colors), and creating a wonderful collage. The Lavratt itself, along with villain Aranna, were wonderfully crafted. They are flat characters with simple motivations, but that’s the point.

Ana: For a short story, the book has quite a plethora of characters. From Aranna, the person who has the key to the Awesome Lavratt to Horace , to the Lords of the planet Calistania, and so on and so forth. But the story is not really about any of them – the main character really is the Awesome Lavratt and I quite like that – I liked the fact that the point of view kept jumping from mind to mind as the Lavratt controlled them. And even characters that you THINK are important because they have been there from start well, let me not spoil it for you. I thought this storytelling device was genious.

Final Observations, recommendation and rating

Thea: This little novel is ingenious. It’s quirky, off-beat, and very original. Had the story taken itself seriously, it would not have worked. Certainly the writing isn’t flawless and there are some strange transitions, but overall this is a story meant to be taken at face value. It’s kind of like literary popcorn. Fun, fast, and easy on the calories. Ms. Wilkes’ wicked sense of humor and light prose suits the levity of the story–and leaves readers with a satisfied smile (or smirk) on their faces.

Ana: As I mentioned above, I thought the first chapter was awesome. Right there in outer rim of the Desperatus Galaxy where Horace was making a living out of space junk and how he was visited by a lot of people interested in one old freighter. I quite like the brilliance there – it was intriguing and it was humorous. From that on though, I felt that there were quite a lot disjointed paragraphs, coming out of nowhere – which is not bad per since this was supposed to be a non-sensical space romp but it felt to me, that were too many sudden cuts that I will put down to the fact that this was a short story. Had this been a full length novel, with some of the plotlines fully developed, I am pretty sure it would have been much better. As it is, it’s a quick, fast-paced read with some silly, funny dialogues that made up for the loosen points. Overall, good, not excellent. One thing is clear though, there is a lot of potential here and I would be more than happy to read more by Ann Wilkes.

One last thing: can I just say how much I adore the title? I kept repeating to myself: Awesome Lavratt, Awesome Lavratt. *g* Awesome.

Notable quotes/ Parts

Thea: I love the puns! Especially some of the name choices: The suspicious and noble Horace Whistlestop, Prince of Foyldatempt, Tyrantz Lavratt, G U R M T…wonderful, silly fun!

Ana: I love the fact that for most people under the control of the device, the closer they were to the mind controller of the moment, the more they loved them as opposed to the moments where they were far away – that was quite bipolar, crazy even. For instance how Horace when close to Aranna felt like he loved her forever. “ I’m the luckiest man in the galaxy to have her for my own.” But in the moments away from her and the Lavratt he could actually realize the fact that he was mind-controlled and that she had an evil plan. The struggle was funny to read, specially because as the story is so short, this back and forth between undying love and terrible fear was done in a matter of sentences which made it even more crazy.

Rating

Thea: 6 Good, Recommend with Reservations

Ana: 6 Good, Recommended with Reservations

…and, ladies and gentlemen, we have reached a consensus!!!!