<< Books/Products >> Book Review: Defective Gods by Jack Wiltshire
Submitted by cerrig on Thursday, 29 November 2012 Page Views: 3178
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I found the beginning of the book to be a bit difficult to get into, and if I hadn't promised to write this review, I may well have put it aside and not gone back to it. I'm glad I stuck it out though.
The main story about the Motorway builders was okay, but then the ghost of the Stonehenge architect popped up. He announces that a moment of great revelation is approaching – and that he is worried whether the people of 1969 are ready to receive the wisdom he is about to give them. This character, unlike most of the others, was one I never took to, and while his role in the overall story was perhaps a necessary one. He never really convinced me, and to be honest, although he had his moments, he largely annoyed me and didn't, I think, add much to the book. I wasn't sorry to see him go.
The other characters, by contrast, were mostly quite engaging and after finishing the story I am still curious as to what may have become of them. Tom's team leader happens to be an amateur archaeologist, the site inspector is an ex-Chindit jungle fighter with poorly fitting false teeth. There's also a psychopathic butler who literally loves cars, a neurotic bridge engineer who’s after Kitty, a partly self-exploded explosives engineer, and an unsuccessful Glaswegian Lothario.
It seems to me that the author has either been in the role of some of his characters, or he has worked quite closely with similar people, such was the amount of familiarity that showed through - although any conjecture as to how acquainted he may have been with a certain barmaid should be avoided, I believe.
I would put money on Mr Wiltshire bearing a resemblance to Ken Standish, the planners chief, with perhaps memories of his early days in young Tom the draughtsman. Whether Tom's methods of dealing with local landowners is from memory I wouldn't like to say, but these are the thoughts I was having while reading the book, so as you can tell, I did get into this, and, ghost character aside, I enjoyed it.
The way the story unfolded reminded me constantly of Terry Pratchett, and while it never quite reached Terry's very high standards, it did a fair impression. There are lots of short passages and descriptions that are a joy to read, and overall it flowed nicely along.
I took this book with me on recent work trips to Ireland that involved long stretches doing nothing very much. I was glad to have it with me, and for times like that it filled those gaps admirably. I now look at roadworks in a whole new light, even with some interest, such is the colourful way Mr Wiltshire describes the motorway builders and their tasks. It's something that is obviously close to his heart.
The Megalithic content is a little thin for Portal "hard nuts", being mostly in the background of the story, but even so I learned something about a 3:4:5 triangle that was new to me, and I've seen far less convincing theories about Megaliths than the one in this book.
Overall, I would say that if you like an entertaining book that won't tax you too much, then this can be recommended, especially if you have any interest in roadworks and the characters that build them. If you want something a bit more in depth history wise, then it may disappoint you on that score.
I liked it, and if Jack Wiltshire writes another adventure book like this one, I would like to read that too, but preferably without the background character and a nastier villain.
P.S. I have never written a review before, although I have read a few, and also, something that will shock many people on the Portal, I am not particularly widely read either, my usual fare is far more likely to be Terry Pratchett than Shakespeare.
There, I've said it, apologies to anyone who I'd cunningly fooled into believing otherwise . So being asked to do this was a complete surprise to me, and it would have given my old English teacher (or any of my teachers, actually) a fit.
Review by Andrew Davies (aka Cerrig)
Defective Gods by Jack Wiltshire
Book: UK Price £11.49 inc shipping
Kindle download: UK Price £3.88
The first three chapters are available for free at the author's site defectivegods.com.
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