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Binding: PaperbackDewey Decimal Number: 813 EAN: 9781857989373 Edition: New Ed ISBN: 1857989376 Label: Gollancz Manufacturer: Gollancz Number Of Pages: 288 Publication Date: November 09, 2000 Publisher: Gollancz Studio: Gollancz Related Items:
Average Rating:
 Rating:  - Good idea for the plot, but total lack of imagination in building a story on itThe general idea for the plot is interesting. But unfortunately, K. Roberts shows a total lack of imagination as to what could be done with it. Indeed, there is no confrontation of ideas, no imagination as to how UK could have developped in a different, specifically Spanish-catholic way as compared to how we live today. The promise for an exploration of a parallel world is completely untrue - the stories could take place anywhere, the caracters are much too 19th century middleclass Europeans and the technological environment is just England without the invention of electricity. Very boring. Rating:  - Rather disappointingThis certainly contains some intriguing concepts and an interesting historical backdrop. But I'm afraid I cannot share the enthusiasm of most reviewers as I found much of the writing rather tedious, with too much intricate description of machinery (some drawings would have been nice) but for me at least too little on the historical and social background as to how this strange alternate world grew up. I found it unconvincing as an alternate history, partly because of this lack, but also because I was not persuaded that English society would still be so technologically backward 400 years after the Spanish invasion, any more than Spain and other Catholic countries are in the real world. So, despite some nice touches, interesting concepts and horrific moments, rather disappointing for this reader at least. Rating:  - Keith Robertsý finest: a haunting vision of a feudal BritainThe late lamented novelist and illustrator Keith Roberts had several claims on the attention of posterity but none better than this book. 'Pavane' has to be one of the most painstaking and convincing alternative history stories ever written. (It also won plaudits from Brian Aldiss and was selected by Anthony Burgess as one of his '99 Novels: The Best in English Since 1939'.) The prologue to the book neatly introduces Roberts' other world, describing the bloody aftermath of Elizabeth I falling to an assassin's bullet in 1588. In the ensuing chaos, the Armada successfully invade and suppress the forces of the English Reformation. Thereafter, England remains within the Catholic fold. Most of 'Pavane' is a series of (often beautifully-written) episodes in the history of this alter-England from 1968 until sometime early in the 21st century. Roberts' chronicle deftly shows the Church hierarchy and the forces of revolt struggling through decades of uneasy truce. As the years pass, the power of the Church comes under attack and an older wisdom begins to re-assert itself. Just when you think you can see where Roberts' alternative world is going, the ending of the book throws a very different and thought-provoking slant on this subtly changed history. Rather unusually for an SF author, Keith Roberts combined a clear and unpretentious style with a firm grasp of writerly virtues like characterisation and plot, and, believe me, this unusual combination pays off. (I hate to disagree with any of the previous reviews, but anybody with an aversion to fantasy who reads this review might like to note that there aren't actually any fairies or pixies in 'Pavane' at all - without giving anything away, the 'People of the Heath' referred to near the end of the book are entirely human.) Finally, anyone who enjoys 'Pavane' might also like to look out for Roberts' other major alternative history, 'Weinachtsabend'. This short but powerfully unsettling novella appears in Roberts' collection 'The Grain Kings' and describes what replaces the celebration of Christmas in a Nazi-occupied Britain. Rating:  - how to drive your own trainDespite rave reviews I found it quite boring, especially the first part is a train driver's manual with lots of technicalities I could not find relevant. Eeven SF writers of the 50s did not get so much carried away by technology. The idea is quite good but perhaps because I'm not English, I found the execution a bit tiring at times and plot development uneven (very slow pace at the outset of each part and towards the end speeding up like TGV train if you forgive the pun). Rating: - Haunting alternate historyI can really only echo the sentiments of the other five-star reviews here. This is simply a beautiful work; another gem from Gollancz' Masterworks series, although one which reads more like fantasy or historical fiction than SF. The novel is told through a series of six 'Measures', vignettes of story and mood focusing on a different character each time. While each works separately, taken together they form a tapestry linking thematic and narrative concerns - producing, ultimately, a beautifully-conceived and wonderfully effective tale of twentieth century England stifled by an all-powerful, anti-progress Catholic Church. The alternate England is a triumph of understated, economical world-building (something that many of today's fantasy novels could learn from, perhaps). It is filled with enduring images - the Signallers' towers, the steam engines, the land held in winter's icy grasp - made all the more striking and memorable because we are shown them through the eyes of convincing and distinctive characters. My only criticism would be of the 'Coda', which feels superfluous, and far too neat. Otherwise, this is a moving story of a transforming world, all the more effective for being incompletely explained.  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