Something More

by Paul Cornell

In the far future, Britain is a divided land, ruled by the great families. In the wilderness between the cities lies Heartsease, a grand country estate, now quite empty, but mysteriously well-tended. Reverend Jane Bruce of the Reformed Church of England is sent to bless the house for a family who wish to occupy it. But there’s something her soldier bodyguard isn’t telling her about the house’s past. Booth Hawtrey, cursed to live forever, is investigating the house for the alien masters who have turned him into something not quite human. But why is their concern at once so urgent and so trivial? David Hawtrey, decadent and hedonistic militiaman, has dangerous plans for the house. But are they truly his own? Rebecca Champhert is Booth’s biographer, David’s ex-lover and Jane’s unwilling victim. And it’s up to her to unravel the story of Heartsease, a story that takes in the history of Britain, the gap between life and death, and the future of the human race.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Fiction, Horror

432 pages, Paperback

First published June 21, 2001

About the author

Paul Cornell is a British writer of science fiction and fantasy prose, comics and television. He's been Hugo Award-nominated for all three media, and has won the BSFA Award for his short fiction, and the Eagle Award for his comics. He's the writer of Saucer Country for Vertigo, Demon Knights for DC, and has written for the Doctor Who TV series. His new urban fantasy novel is London Falling, out from Tor on December 6th.

via Wikipedia @ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Cor...

Reviews

[John Rennie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have a weakness for books that have a ridiculous plot but manage to carry it off with style, and I loved this book. I read all 432 pages in a single day. But this book won't be for everyone.

If you like plots to make sense and be self consistent then you should walk away now. There are multiple key technical elements of the plot that are arm waved away or not justified at all. The plot also jumps around a lot with jumps between different character perspectives and different eras, and it can be challenging to keep track of what is going on. It's not exactly weird fiction in the China Mieville/Jeff Vandermeer style as the weirdness is less overt, but it is certainly at the weird end of the spectrum.

But if you are willing to go along with, or just ignore, the less coherent aspects of the book this is a wonderful story with some wonderful ideas. I opened the book at the first page with some trepidation, but it quickly sucked me in and I read the whole book in a single day.

[William Soppitt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this over Christmas. Nearly dropped it when it got to the Mary Poppins reference but glad I stuck with it. Interesting and believable with some great characters and descriptive locations.

Worth the time to read.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is weird, in both the precise and the more common usage of that word. There is a lot going on. We have a post-apocalyptic dystopia, mysterious aliens, a reformed Church of England now based on measuring electromagnetic fields, time travel, and the magical powers of the smell of brewing tea. One of the chapter titles late in the book is "A Mad Sort of C.S. Lewis Thing," and that author's Space Trilogy is a good point of comparison. Both feature the trappings of science fiction coupled with an almost total disinterest in any kind of scientific plausibility and a strong interest in explicitly Christian religious ideas. Something More also reminded me of late 19th/early 20th century pseudo-scientific occult practices like trying to photograph fairies or use radio to talk to ghosts. The book centers on a haunted house, for instance.

In case it isn't already clear, the book is very English.

I found the actual process of reading the book fairly frustrating. There are four major story lines plus multiple flashbacks, each of which introduces one or more of the crazy elements mentioned above (and many more, trust me). The relatively short chapters alternate between these stories, and because there is not always clear narrative or thematic unity among them I found it choppy. The characters and narrative threads converge towards the end of the book, which led to some really cool developments but also felt rushed and didn't satisfactorily account for everything. I thought this part was rushed. It's only in about the last 100 pages of a 400 page book that things start to come together. I enjoyed the end and burned through it much faster than the rest of the book, but I don't know if I would say it was worth the buildup. I would definitely say the buildup could have been leaner.

There are several thought provoking themes, particularly around memory and faith. There is also some really disturbing sex stuff that feels gratuitous. There are at least two instances of indeterminately aged men having sex with teenage girls (young teenagers). Homosexuality is a capital offense and we see one character summarily executed for it. Both these things are treated as normal within the world of the story, and I can guess that might be because of a perceived need to reproduce, but neither thing was really explored. In one horrifying vignette we see a group of soldiers gang rape and murder an entire village with the help of an emotional manipulation device. The book doesn't justify any of that behavior, but it also is just kind of there for no clear reason.

Perhaps that's related to the theme of pain as revelatory, purifying, and even salvific that I did not care for. One of the big ideas, explicitly borrowed from a certain kind of Christian theology, is that tortorous pain is the path to transcendance. I find that morally icky, but more practically it also feels a bit hand-wavy from a plotting perspective.

I think my ultimately conclusion is that this book is overstuffed. There's a ton of thought provoking stuff in it (I've only scratched the surface), but much of it is under-developed.

[Ms_prue · Rating 3 out of 5]

More of a 3.5 really, and deserves an essay rather than a mere review. But I am supposedly working on an assignment due midnight tonight so half-arsed review it is.

The story, in summary:
1) EPIC future history AU where the GFC (which hadn't even happened yet at the time of this book's publication) turned out to be the more-or-less apocalyptic Global Economic Collapse instead, causing Britain to revert to a sort of feudalism.
2) Electromagnetic phenomena, indestructible aliens, Anglicanism.
3) Stately homes.
4) Good vs Evil, trench warfare, and actually it's probably in everyone's best interest to just forget to have the apocalypse please, kthxbai.

For such an idea-rich novel, some of the world-building failed to resonate properly with me, and I think it might have something to do with fact that the places and landscapes being described would be perfectly emotionally evocative on screen, in pictures, but lack punch described in text, like a scaffold on which myriad important details have yet to be hung. Somebody make this book as a big-budget future-period drama series for telly, please?

P.S. trigger warnings for torture, graphic violence, underage and non-con sex.

[Joanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you read sci fi then you are prepared to come across some stories that are harder to access than others, for me that's part of the challenge of science fiction/fantasy.
Something More is a strange tale and I found it difficult going at times yet impossible to put down. It was well worth the effort as there are some delicious twists as the plot coalesces in the final chapters.I finished this a few days ago and as much as I found parts wordy and distracting, I find myself still pondering the ideas it contains, which for me is exactly why I read scifi.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think my main characterization of this book would be "bizarre". It's really out there (and reminds me of some of Cornell's Doctor Who writing in a way that his other books haven't). The bizarreness is interesting: there are interesting concepts and strong characters and it's an enjoyable (if at times slow) read. In the end there were things that I would have liked explained that never were ... but it was still a generally fun book.

[Chris Wackett · Rating 3 out of 5]

struggled a bit for the first half of the book . it was interesting and well written but I found it hard to pick up again after . I came to this book back to front as well which didn't help because I had already read the current books by this author and was expecting a similar thread .. however the pace picked up and it got very interesting so I'm glad I persevered . not as good as his current ones but an interesting and thought provoking read none the less

[Paul Perry · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was absolutely blown away by this book. A wonderful involved narrative that melds a thriller with some outstanding statements of loss and humanity (from the writer who brought us the Dr Who episode 'Fathers Day'), then throws a curve which leaves the head spinning.

[Simon Curtis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Freaky.

[Steve Clark]

Hardcover