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Sesana

Sesana

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Childhood's End
Arthur C. Clarke
Siege
Brian Michael Bendis, Olivier Coipel
Scrivener's Moon - Audio
Philip Reeve
The Lost World (Library Edition) - Michael Prichard,  Arthur Conan Doyle This was a no-brainer for me. Dinosaurs! In the Amazon! I was completely on board for a classic adventure, and that's exactly what I got. The standout feature here, dinosaurs aside, are the adventurers themselves. There's the standard "great white hunter" character, the most likeable of the bunch, and the journalist Malone, who narrates. Malone is, in some respects, the typical plucky hero in over his head, but he's rather less dim than some I've encountered. The real stars are the two scientists, Summerlee and Challenger. Summerlee is dry and sarcastic, but Challenger is just... wow. Fifty pounds of arrogance in a ten pound bag. And, mostly, hilarious.

I have one little doubt about how Challenger is written. He starts the book as a disgraced scientist, fresh from an expedition in the Amazon where he supposedly found dinosaurs. Are we supposed to find him unbelievable? If so, it's brilliant writing, because Challenger is as textbook a crank as I've ever seen. Obviously, I knew he would eventually be proven right, and I thought Malone was weirdly naive to trust his story so readily. Again, if this is what Conan Doyle intended me to believe, he did an awesome job. If I'm supposed to side with Challenger, not so much.

But the big thing that ruined my enjoyment of an otherwise fun novel is its casual racism. Yes, it's about what I'd expect from an early 20th century novel set in South America. It's still ugly to read.