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Pipedreams: A Freak Tale
The long strange trip begins.It's 2468. Following the economic and natural upheavals of the twenty-first century, the great cataclysm known as Helter-Skelter caused civilization to disintegrate. There are no great nations, no highly organized governments, no telecommunications, no electricity, no internal combustion engines. But you can still get concert tickets on a Saturday night, and Honkweed is cheap and plentiful. Or it was, until recently....
553 pages, Paperback
First published May 18, 2012
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
June 8, 2014
This story of mild mannered pipesmith Josiah Toad, who finds himself somewhat reluctantly at the center of an epic conflict, is about the craziest thing I’ve read in a while. The 1960’s was sort of a crazy time anyway, or at least a period of upheaval, or at the very least we who grew up (if we ever did) during that era remember it as a special and formative time; which it was, at least for us. Though readers who were born too late to remember the era, or who like myself weren’t involved much with 1960’s counterculture, might miss some of the many cultural references that appear throughout the book, still I found the story and the evocation of the era engaging and appealing. That is to say you don’t have to be a child of the sixties to appreciate this book, any more than you have to have lived through the 1920’s to appreciate “The Great Gatsby.” Not that Pipedreams is anything like Gatsby, except that both books are distinguished by capturing the feeling and spirit of a particular era. Pipedreams, however, takes place four hundred years in the future. Also Pipedreams is a whole lot funnier than Gatsby, laugh out loud funny in places.
The authors have assembled an entire fictional world from the wreckage of 20th century civilization, and from the first page you're in an unfamiliar but vivid place, like Dorothy in Oz. “Fantasy,” “steampunk,” “dystopian” are words that come to mind, but the book defies categorization. An inventive and entertaining, wild flight of imagination, in which the fictional future world presented is both alien and familiar, by turns idyllic and menacing, and is always fascinating and engaging.
The fictional world and its people, as the authors present it, is fantastical and eccentric, and yet fully real, true in the way that only fiction can be. The authors have immersed themselves in the environment of the story, and they know their characters well. The protagonist Josiah Toad is, like the reader, somewhat of an outsider and peripheral participant and observer to the events of the story. Just as Toad’s friend Ernie talks him into going with him on a road trip that Toad is reluctant to take, so the reader tags along with Toad, and finds himself caught up in the events of the story.
Pipedreams is an apt title, as the story has a feel of a stoner’s reverie,with characters and scenes and events forming, shifting and evolving from particles of smoke in a quiet room.
The book description provided by the authors gives a much better sense of the story than I can. Also you can read well into the book for free by downloading a sample to your Kindle or clicking on the “look inside” feature on the book’s amazon page. The Kindle edition lacks a clickable table of contents, making it difficult if you want to go back and reread a particular chapter unless you bookmark each chapter as you read it. The map of The Freaklands in the Kindle edition is so small as to be unreadable, and I can’t seem to get the map to enlarge. At half the price of the paperback, I’m happy owning the Kindle edition, but some readers might prefer the paperback.
The authors have assembled an entire fictional world from the wreckage of 20th century civilization, and from the first page you're in an unfamiliar but vivid place, like Dorothy in Oz. “Fantasy,” “steampunk,” “dystopian” are words that come to mind, but the book defies categorization. An inventive and entertaining, wild flight of imagination, in which the fictional future world presented is both alien and familiar, by turns idyllic and menacing, and is always fascinating and engaging.
The fictional world and its people, as the authors present it, is fantastical and eccentric, and yet fully real, true in the way that only fiction can be. The authors have immersed themselves in the environment of the story, and they know their characters well. The protagonist Josiah Toad is, like the reader, somewhat of an outsider and peripheral participant and observer to the events of the story. Just as Toad’s friend Ernie talks him into going with him on a road trip that Toad is reluctant to take, so the reader tags along with Toad, and finds himself caught up in the events of the story.
Pipedreams is an apt title, as the story has a feel of a stoner’s reverie,with characters and scenes and events forming, shifting and evolving from particles of smoke in a quiet room.
The book description provided by the authors gives a much better sense of the story than I can. Also you can read well into the book for free by downloading a sample to your Kindle or clicking on the “look inside” feature on the book’s amazon page. The Kindle edition lacks a clickable table of contents, making it difficult if you want to go back and reread a particular chapter unless you bookmark each chapter as you read it. The map of The Freaklands in the Kindle edition is so small as to be unreadable, and I can’t seem to get the map to enlarge. At half the price of the paperback, I’m happy owning the Kindle edition, but some readers might prefer the paperback.
February 22, 2022
I finished this book some time ago, but I don't immediately review books. Pipedreams: A Freak Tale gained a 5 star rating from me while I pondered what to write.
This story had me holding on to the edge of my seat, though not right away. First, the world is explored through the eyes and dialogue of the characters. Peaceful generally, with an undertone of regional distrust, the land has the feel of our distant past instead of our future.
The frequent references to 60's culture had me laughing, and at times, researching history to understand where the story might be taking me.
As I don't wish to give too much away, I will only say that Pipedreams had the feel of Tolkien with a healthy touch of THC.
This was a deeply enjoyable book and one I WILL recommend to my friends.
YOU should get it and read it.
This story had me holding on to the edge of my seat, though not right away. First, the world is explored through the eyes and dialogue of the characters. Peaceful generally, with an undertone of regional distrust, the land has the feel of our distant past instead of our future.
The frequent references to 60's culture had me laughing, and at times, researching history to understand where the story might be taking me.
As I don't wish to give too much away, I will only say that Pipedreams had the feel of Tolkien with a healthy touch of THC.
This was a deeply enjoyable book and one I WILL recommend to my friends.
YOU should get it and read it.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews