Cover art: Bruce Pennington, 1973, Corgi
Author Archives: The Book Haven
Book Review: Daughter of Fu Manchu by Sax Rohmer
Genre: Adventure / Crime / Mystery
Fun Manchu Books are rather weird. They are enjoyable for sure if you read them as over-the-top conspiracy novels. However, their racist and sexist nature can make some of us uncomfortable. This might result in reviews and ratings that are quite unjustified.
The Story
Daughter of Fu Manchu, fourth book in the series, is yet another great thriller from Sax Rohmer. This novel originally appeared in twelve instalments in Collier’s Magazine. It is a bit different from the other books in the series; the focus is on his half-Russian daughter, Fah Lo Suee.
Mysterious events unfold at an archaeological site in Egypt. Fu Manchu is supposed to be dead, but the case has uncanny similarities with the ones where Fu Manchu was involved. Soon our hero takes on Fah Lo Suee and towards the end Fu Manchu himself turns up.
The Style
Like the other Fu Manchu novels, this one too is marked by a sinister plot and swift pace. The fatal attractions include mummy tombs, exotic poisons, zombie drugs, and enigmatic oriental death cults. If you believe in books that are so-bad-that-they-are-good, then try this out. It’s a cheap, racist, on-the-edge page turner.
Darn it! Who wants to be politically correct?
Similar Books:
The Master Magician by Loring Brent
Slaves of Sumuru by Sax Rohmer
Art Meets Literature: The Fifth Circle of Hell (Dante’s Inferno) by Giovanni Stradano
“Through me you go into a city of weeping; through me you go into eternal pain; through me you go amongst the lost people”
― Dante Alighieri, The Inferno
Inferno is the first part of Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy and portrays nine circles of Hell. The narrator, together with Roman poet Virgil, explores them as the journey contemplates on recognition and rejection of sin.
In the fifth circle, Phlegyas (king of the Lapiths in Greek mythology) ferries Dante and Virgil across the swampy waters of the river Styx. It is where the wrathful and are punished and are condemned to fight each other on the surface of the damned river. Their punishment reflects their sin.
The fifth circle has been brilliantly captured by the Flanders-born mannerist artist Stradanus and it is one of his most well know works. Stradanus’ works include other paintings that were also inspired from Inferno.
Download Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri
The Best of DC Comics: Batman Knightfall
I loved all Batman movies directed by Nolan. May be I still love them. But to me, they are no longer the best representative of the essential Batman spirit.
Batman, created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, first appeared in Detective Comics #27 (May 1939). There are countless standalone issues and series featuring Batman. The notable ones include The Dark Knight Returns, Batman: Year One, Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight and Batman: Hush.
The most famous, however, would probably be the Knightfall saga. In this epic story, Bane breaks Batman’s back. It’s perhaps the most shocking incident after Superman’s death.
“I am Bane and I could kill you.”
“But death would only end your agony and silence your shame.”
“Instead I will simply break you.”
“Broken and Done.”
The story, complete in 3 volumes and more than 1800 pages long, feels a lot more epic than Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises or any other films directed by him. Of course, you can’t fit 1800 pages in 3 hours. But for this very reason, the Knightfall series has more depth and is more enjoyable.
Bane devises a strategy to set loose all of Arkham Asylum. He provides weapons to the criminals and utter chaos follows. Batman fights them as he always does, but it weakens him and Bane just waits for the right opportunity to strike. He breaks Batman but what happens then?
The knightfall saga includes three books:
Volume 1 – Knightfall
Volume 2 – Knightquest
Volume 3 – Knightsend
If you like Batman comics, go for it. If you don’t, still go it. You cannot possibly be disappointed
Download free ebook / comics: Batman: Knightfall
Book Review: Solomon’s Vineyard by Jonathan Latimer
Genre: Crime/Hardboiled/Detective Fiction
Did you think Dashiell Hammett’s Red Harvest was the most shocking piece of crime fiction you ever read? Try Jonathan Latimer’s Solomon’s Vineyard. Horrific animalistic motives, gruesome events, creepy characters and unapologetic sex will smoke Hammett to ashes.
The Story
A noir tale. A classic example of hardboiled detective novel.
A private dick comes to town to rescue a wealthy heiress and avenge the death of his partner. He stumbles upon a cult group whose leader, long dead, seems to rule from his grave. Our dick fights a bloody war with a mob boss and crosses path with a femme fatale.
The Style
Latimer, quite clearly, is a no-nonsense writer. He gets down to business right away without wasting time. Graphic violence, ethnic slurs, moral ambivalence, booze and guns combine together to form something outrageously offensive. And for this very reason, the story becomes diabolically entertaining. Not for the faint-hearted.
Rating ****
Similar Books
The Postman Always Rings Twice by James M. Cain
L.A. Confidential by James Ellroy
Double Indemnity by James M. Cain
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