A review of a book that came out in 2013 might seem woefully behind the curve. While that may be true, I’m going to be reviewing book two of this series—The Dirty War—that came out in April 2017 and the third volume of the trilogy, The End of Days—which came out this June. I didn’t think I should bypass the first part of the series so my reviews of volumes two and three can be as informed as possible.

I have both good and bad news. The good news is that The Rise to Power is a powerfully written epic that is absorbing as it builds and builds with changing settings, evolving characters, and a wide panorama of events that demonstrate what England might become if the country undergoes such a social collapse that voters bring in a far right government that promises, at the very least, to make life difficult for immigrants and reduce the impact of the welfare state.

The bad news is that this not-so-brave new world is unnervingly realistic and seems much too believable and prophetic. In 2013, Paul Dubal seemed to see Brexit coming. His prime minister, Lawrence Pelham, has a lot in common with America’s Donald Trump. The main difference is that Pelham has a five year plan which is much more sweeping and destructive than Trump’s immigration cuts, proposed wall with Mexico, and deportation of illegal U.S. residents.

Dubal’s Pelham has a far tighter grip on power than any leader of a Western democracy has had since Hitler. Young brutal British males on the prowl, calling themselves FREE—the Fight to Return England to the English—are more than evocative of similar Nazi thug squads in the 1930s. Donald Trump may complain that news items he doesn’t like are “fake news”; Pelham’s government suppresses any news stories they don’t like. In addition, the internet and social networks are severely censored. Further, Pelham plans to create a totalitarian state with measures like deportation camps, the Minority Registration Act, ethnic cleansing and the end of pretty much all civil rights.

Many characters are actors in specific scenes and passages that illustrate one aspect or another of the chilling vista of Pelham’s new Britain. One continuing and important figure is disgraced journalist Harry Clarke who becomes the center of a far-reaching manhunt when he is given a disc containing Pelham’s secret five year plan before it’s revealed to the general population.

But it’s not official “law enforcement” who capture Clarke. It’s a small cell of the Independent Socialist Party led by Clarke’s former girlfriend, Julianne. Can a small, ragtag group of untrained rebels accomplish anything against the might of England’s military and political might? Can they act more humanely than Pelham’s forces?

While the era we live in is filled with often depressing if very readable dystopian novels, I can’t help but think of Sinclair Lewis’s 1935 It can’t Happen Here where circumstances very like what happens in Rise to Power take place, only in the U.S.. Depending on an author’s own political stance, their books either worry about
a too socialist left wing takeover or a right wing Fascist regime. More sci fi oriented writers explore the impact of climate change and global warming. Whatever a book’s themes, few speculative novels are very optimistic beyond offering us the independent and rebellious natures of future heroes and heroines opposed to whatever authoritative rule has taken control.

If you’re like me, you’ll find it difficult to read The Rise to Power and not plan on going on to delve into The Dirty War and The End of Days. Perhaps that’s where I will find an reasonably optimistic outcome. It can’t happen here, whether the U.K., the U.S., wherever you live? Why not?


This review first appeared at BookPleasures.com on Aug. 18, 2017
http://dpli.ir/TX1GNt

 

Author Name: Uvi Poznansky

Sale dates: 05/13/2016-05/16/2016

Regular price of book: $2.99

Sale price of book: $0.00

 

Review quotes: ★ The miracle of Uvi Poznansky’s writing is her uncanny ability to return to old stories and make them brilliantly fresh. At times startling, as times awe-inspiring, and at al times fine reading, this is a welcome addition to the growing library of one our more important writers. -Grady Harp, Hall of Fame Reviewer.

 

★ What a treat to have the story of David presented in such an intellectually stimulating manner. -Christoph Fischer, Top 500 reviewer.

 

★ A tale of madmen and kings, youth and old age, prison cells and freedom’s ring. It’s drawn from Biblical history, enjoyed through the eyes of modernity, and it vividly recreates character and place. -Sheila Deeth, Top 1000 Reviewer.

 

★ Her ability to capture character and emotion is nothing short of literary excellence, and the modern flair really only adds to that, allowing for a more engaging voice and style. -Book Crazy, Top 1000 Reviewer.

 

Blurb: Here is the story of David as you have never heard it before: from the king himself, telling the unofficial version, the one he never allowed his court scribes to recount. In his mind, history is written to praise the victorious—but at the last stretch of his illustrious life, he feels an irresistible urge to tell the truth. In the first volume, Rise to Power, David gives you a fascinating account of his early years, culminating with a tribal coronation. Rooted in ancient lore, his is a surprisingly modern memoir.

 

In an era of cruelty, when destroying the enemy is deemed a sacred directive, the slayer of Goliath finds a way to become larger than life. His search for a path to power leads him in ways that are, at times, scandalous. Notorious for his contradictions, David is seen by others as a gifted court entertainer, a successful captain in Saul’s army, a cunning fugitive, a traitor leading a gang of felons, and a ruthless raider of neighboring towns who leaves no witnesses behind.

 

How does he see himself, during this first phase of his life? With his hands stained with blood, can he find an inner balance between conflicting drives: his ambition for the crown, his determination to survive the conflict with Saul, and his longing for purity, for a touch of the divine, as expressed so lyrically in his psalms and music?

 

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Amazon: UK – USA – Canada –Australia

 

 

Moonlight Reader started the TBR Thursday, and I think it's a good way to a) show what new books I've got and b) confront myself with my inability to lower my TBR. In fact, since I started recording it, it has risen significantly. I get the feeling I'm doing something wrong here...

 

I'm looking for a strategy to stop adding books to my TBR. Any suggestions are more than welcome =).

(It would also help if there wouldn't be so many interesting new titles each week; to give us all the time to get back on all those books we've already bought to read some day...)

 

Some of this week's books have very beautiful covers. Which is your favourite?

 

Travel Glasses

 

Calla Winston’s mobile devices sit in a corner of her room, covered in dust. Weeks ago, she shared photos and laughs with her best online friend. Now, after having felt the sting of betrayal, she prefers being hidden and friendless. She equates privacy with security and technology with pain. Then she meets Valcas, an otherworldly time traveler who traverses time and space with a pair of altered sunglasses. When an ethereal being knocks Calla to the ground near her family’s lakeside cottage, Valcas uses the Travel Glasses to help her escape. He offers his further protection in exchange for a promise. Intrigued by Valcas and the possibility of time travel, Calla accepts. That is until she learns that his search for her was no mere coincidence. Calla sets off on her own, taking the Travel Glasses with her. Torn between searching for her estranged father and reuniting with the rest of her family, she tracks down the inventor of the Travel Glasses in hopes of discovering more about Valcas’ past and motivations. The Travel Glasses take Calla’s mistrust of technology to all new levels. But without them, she’ll never make it back home. With Valcas hot on her trail, Calla hopes to find what she’s looking for before he catches up.

 

The Alchemist's Daughter

 

“A realistic evocation of 16th century London’s underside. The various strands of the plot are so skillfully plaited together.” —Fiona Buckley In the year 1543 of King Henry VIII’s turbulent reign, the daughter of a notorious alchemist finds herself suspected of cold-blooded murder… Bianca Goddard employs her knowledge of herbs and medicinal plants to concoct remedies for the disease-riddled poor in London’s squalid Southwark slum. But when her friend Jolyn comes to her complaining of severe stomach pains, Bianca’s prescription seems to kill her on the spot. Recovering from her shock, Bianca suspects Jolyn may have been poisoned before coming to her—but the local constable is not so easily convinced. To clear her name and keep her neck free of the gallows, Bianca must apply her knowledge of the healing arts to deduce exactly how her friend was murdered and by whom—before she herself falls victim to a similar fate…

 

Tied

 

Normal people don't believe their nightmares stalk them. They don’t fall in love with boys who don’t exist, either. Seventeen-year-old Layla Labelle, though, is far from normal. Her delusions walk the earth. Her hallucinations hunt her, and her skin heats to a burn every time her anger flares. Or is that all in her head? Layla doesn't know what to believe any more because if none of that’s true, Max MacLarnon must be an illusion, and her heart must still be broken. No matter how much she wants to believe Max is real, doing so would mean everything else is, too. How, then, is that possible? The answers lie in an age-old legend the supernatural aren’t prepared to reveal, and with a curse that could tear Layla and Max apart forever—if it doesn’t kill them both first. In TIED, book one in the Fire Born trilogy, learning the truth will mean fighting an arsenal of demons, and being with Max will put Layla on a path toward her own destruction. Just how far will Layla go to protect the one she loves? The answer may never be far enough ... away.

 

Dreamwalker

 

Seven children. Seven special powers. One enemy. Addy is a typical California surfer girl until her mother dies and she is sent to a strange boarding school in Wales, where one hallway leads not to another part of the school but to another universe. Addy has always had vivid dreams. Now it seems this power to dream has made her the enemy of the powerful ruler of Gallia. How can Addy and her new friends be any match for the powerful Grymur who calls himself The One in a world where nothing makes sense. If you loved Harry Potter, this is for you. By New York Times bestselling author and her daughter.

 

The Rise of Thomas Cromwell

 

How much does the Thomas Cromwell of popular novels and television series resemble the real Cromwell? This meticulous study of Cromwell’s early political career expands and revises what has been understood concerning the life and talents of Henry VIII’s chief minister. Michael Everett provides a new and enlightening account of Cromwell’s rise to power, his influence on the king, his role in the Reformation, and his impact on the future of the nation.   Controversially, Everett depicts Cromwell not as the fervent evangelical, Machiavellian politician, or the revolutionary administrator that earlier historians have perceived. Instead he reveals Cromwell as a highly capable and efficient servant of the Crown, rising to power not by masterminding Henry VIII’s split with Rome but rather by dint of exceptional skills as an administrator.

 

Yesterday's Kin

 

Aliens have landed in New York. A deadly cloud of spores has already infected and killed the inhabitants of two worlds. Now that plague is heading for Earth, and threatens humans and aliens alike. Can either species be trusted to find the cure?Geneticist Marianne Jenner is immersed in the desperate race to save humanity, yet her family is tearing itself apart. Siblings Elizabeth and Ryan are strident isolationists who agree only that an alien conspiracy is in play. Marianne’s youngest, Noah, is a loner addicted to a drug that constantly changes his identity. But between the four Jenners, the course of human history will be forever altered. Earth’s most elite scientists have ten months to prevent human extinction—and not everyone is willing to wait.

 

The Ice Twins

 

In the tradition of The Girl on the Train comes the UK bestseller THE ICE TWINS, a terrifying psychological thriller with a twisting plot worthy of Gillian Flynn. One of Sarah's daughters died. But can she be sure which one? A year after one of their identical twin daughters, Lydia, dies in an accident, Angus and Sarah Moorcroft move to the tiny Scottish island Angus inherited from his grandmother, hoping to put together the pieces of their shattered lives. But when their surviving daughter, Kirstie, claims they have mistaken her identity--that she, in fact, is Lydia--their world comes crashing down once again. As winter encroaches, Angus is forced to travel away from the island for work, Sarah is feeling isolated, and Kirstie (or is it Lydia?) is growing more disturbed. When a violent storm leaves Sarah and her daughter stranded, they are forced to confront what really happened on that fateful day.

 

Material Girls

 

In Marla Klein and Ivy Wilde’s world, teens are the gatekeepers of culture. A top fashion label employs sixteen-year-old Marla to dictate hot new clothing trends, while Ivy, a teen pop star, popularizes the garments that Marla approves. Both girls are pawns in a calculated but seductive system of corporate control, and both begin to question their world’s aggressive levels of consumption. Will their new “eco-chic” trend subversively resist and overturn the industry that controls every part of their lives?         Smart, provocative, and entertaining, this thrilling page-turner for teens questions the cult like mentality of fame and fashion. Are you in or are you out?

 

The Lemoncholy Life of Annie Aster

 

The physics-bending charm of The Time Traveler's Wife meets the curious mischief of The Eyre Affair in this debut novel Annabelle Aster doesn't bow to convention—not even that of space and time—which makes the 1890s Kansas wheat field that has appeared in her modern-day San Francisco garden easy to accept. Even more exciting is Elsbeth, the truculent schoolmarm who sends Annie letters through the mysterious brass mailbox perched on the picket fence that now divides their two worlds. In this unconventional and enchanting tale, Annie and her new neighbor must solve the mystery of what connects them before one of them is convicted of a murder that has yet to happen…and somehow already did.

 

The Organ Broker

The Organ Broker is the gripping story of an underground black market organ dealer known as “New York Jack.” For eighteen years Jack has been a “transplant tourism director,” sending wealthy Americans and Europeans in need of kidneys and other organs to third world countries where they would buy them from transplant centers on the take. The death of a client and a newfound relationship lead to a crisis of conscience as he is forced to choose between a two million dollar commission—and participating in a murder. Jack races to South Africa, Brazil, and beyond, just one step ahead of his adversary and the FBI, in search of one small act of redemption.As a disaffected youth in the late eighties, Jack Trayner entered the criminal world, selling coke when he needed money to pay his way through college. Although he later graduated from law school, an opportunity to earn easy money eventually seduced him into the bizarre and illegal black market for organs—a business that some consider horrendous and a small number of others deem to be heroic. The dual nature of this business assuaged Jack’s guilt and allowed him to flourish, yet the death of a client makes what he is doing all too real. The Organ Broker represents Jack’s confession.The international black market sale of organs is very real and operates at this very moment behind closed hospital doors in many cities all around the world. It is a world that most people are only vaguely aware exists, and few of us know much, if anything, about, until now—in the pages of the confession of New York Jack.

 

The story opens with an old king, one who has had his claws and fangs pulled. Indeed, he is not a particularly impressive specimen. Through the course of one night, his memory flashes back to younger days. David started off as a court entertainer – a poet, a dancer, a harp player. But then one decision after another leads David down a road of tough choices, choices that often lead to blood. Set in the land of Israel in the 1st or 2nd century BC, we watch as David rises in power, watch as that power is snatched away, and then watch as David claws that power back.

This story was new to me as I am not religious, though I am pretty certain that the life of David is chronicled in the Christian and Hebrew bibles. So some of you may already be familiar with many of the details of this story. Even I, who lives under a rock, had heard the tale of David versus Goliath. I have to admit that my overall ignorance of David and his deeds added to my pleasure in discovering this tale through this book. except for the David versus Goliath fight, I had no idea what would happen to David. So, yes I fretted over him.

He started off so simple and care-free. He was a court entertainer and a bit of a ladies’ man. A young lad soon to be a man who had little a need to be noticed. Of course, the King (King Saul) offers him a daughter’s hand in marriage for defeating Goliath. This turns out to be a bit of a ruse and David ends up with another daughter. But don’t worry, later in the story he collects a few more wives. He has plenty of companionship in the bedroom. Just as he has plenty of conflict in the king’s court and later in the battlefield.

David is a complicated guy. He starts off on a bit of a lark, off for adventure. Then marriage and court intrigue send him into a series of conflicts that bloody his hands. By the end of the book, we have a very different picture of David. I am not sure I like the man he turned into, even as I am sure that I am quite intrigued by him. The ending left me ready for the sequel in the series, wanting to know if David can redeem himself of his misdeeds, or if I am going to want to behead him.

My few criticisms are small, as I quite enjoyed my time with this book. The first partly stems from my own cultural and (perhaps) historical ignorance. There is a scene where David must collect the foreskins of 100 Philistines. Now I assume that the only way to do that is to convert the uncut men to Judaism, and part of that conversion means the willing circumcision. The other option is to kill the Philistine men and then collect their foreskins. I can only imagine that would be a grisly task left to servants and they would probably do it quickly, so there might be a few extra tips thrown in with the foreskins. Ugh! Oh, and these were a wedding present. As you can see, I had to make some assumptions there as to why David would be tasked with foreskin collection duty.

The other criticism is that the ladies are mostly wives and sex objects. We’re told one lady (Abigail, I think) is particularly clever, but in the few lines she had, I did not see it. The ladies don’t seem to have anything other than David to talk about, so I didn’t get a sense of their personalities.

Still, with those in mind, I did enjoy this book, and I enjoyed learning a bit of history from it. David is a complex character that evolves through out the book and while I may not end up liking him and wanting to have him over for tea, I want to know more about him.

The Narration: David George made a good David, scoffing and pouting and womanizing in all the right places. He also did a good job expressing incredulity (like the numerous times King Solomon has to throw his spear at someone in court). I especially liked his voice of the taunting David when certain items were liberated (quietly and sneakily) from an enemy’s camp. His female voices were rather similar, but as the women didn’t have major roles and didn’t chat with one another, it was easy to keep their characters apart.

A surprisingly good read telling the history of how the Nomura family grew from the latter 1800's into a powerful zaibatsu financial empire, was dismantled after WWII and then rose again to take its place in the global financial world. Written in 1990, when Japan was a giant striding the globe, everyone thought they would rule world commerce. How things have changed since then. But it was still a good read to that point.

The author starts out describing the rise of "trading" in the Osaka rice markets from the 1600's. A fascinating journey through the prewar era brings a few powerful families to the fore. World War II is briefly described but not much time is spent except to tell how the empire is dismantled.

After WWII, the Japanese market goes on pretty much a 45 year bull run. Chaotic, poor, crazy at first, the Japanese slowly get their act together and rise from the ashes. The stories reveal how unique the Japanese are in their approach to building and defending wealth. Corruption and cooperation between the media, government and the banks/brokerage houses/industry abound.

The author does introduce you to many characters and sometimes it is hard to keep track. But still an interesting story and cast of players. One of my "12 oldest books on the shelf" challenge turns out good.