Reviews
The Other Log of Phileas Fogg: The Cosmic Truth Behind Jules Verne's Fiction by Philip José Farmer
carolynf's review against another edition
2.0
I thought I would like this book since I enjoyed Jasper Fforde's "The Eyre Affair" and others in that series, but instead it was mostly irritating. The premise is that throughout the original "Around the World in 80 Days" book by Jules Verne there are hints that something was going on behind the scenes. (In the Fforde books, any book's characters are aware of being in a book, and that when their book changes scenes they go on with their unseen private lives.) The purpose of this book is to expose what was really going on, thanks to a 2nd journal recently discovered in the walls of Fogg's house. It turns out that what was really going on was a huge war between two alien races, and that Fogg is actually an alien being on a secret mission. This is so over the top that it is a little annoying in itself, but what tired me out especially was that on almost every page it would use the same framework: a summary of what happened in 80 Days, an over-important "But is that what REAAALLLY happened?" statement, and then an explanation of the "actual" events, which usually involved extraterrestrial elixirs, use of secret code words, or something similar. The reason why this was so annoying to me is because I like to try to figure out what's coming in books, and this is impossible with extremely contrived narrative devices constantly coming out of left field. In summation, I think that I COULD like this book because it is an exciting story and has several cross over characters (Moriarty, Captain Nemo, etc). But I would have to get really really drunk first, and treat it as a completely mindless read.
philipf's review against another edition
2.0
Interesting ideas, but the execution fell rather flat. And parts of it feel like picking on Jules Verne when he isn't around to defend himself.
Rather depressing to realize the impulse reconcile and ret-con every last detail from various stories is not confined to comic book people.
Rather depressing to realize the impulse reconcile and ret-con every last detail from various stories is not confined to comic book people.
frakalot's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Folks, have you ever finished a book that you enjoyed thoroughly and then thought to yourself, "I'd like to read that again, but not written as well?" No? Me neither, I must admit.
Alright, it's possible that I've finished a book and thought, "could have had more aliens in it."
Well, that is what we have here. It's not a bad story in concept, Farmer retells Phileas Fogg's famous journey but imagines aliens are involved. Unfortunately, the result isn't very impressive. It comes across to me like the sort of writing exercise we might have had at school, not the kind of thing you'd publish and charge readers good money for.
Farmer's prose doesn't come close to matching Verne's, I don't think any effort was made in that regard and I personally found that rather dissatisfying. A lot of the charm of the original journey was in the delightful language employed to tell the story.
The aliens are shoehorned into the log with reckless abandon. There's not much subtle at all about the butchery performed to make the new idea fit the old story. Coded messages in the Whist cards, ok fine, but it seems like this works anywhere in the world at any time and it just doesn't make sense to me.
I didn't pay close enough attention in the end to follow all of the details, but there are two alien species fighting in the shadows on Earth for the eventual control of the humans. They use "distorters" to teleport about the place and one side is trying to stop the other from obtaining one of those. Why they need to send Fogg around the world to do this was explained but isn't clear to me.
Sometimes Fogg is described as having to feign ignorance in order to maintain the image of a British gentleman but practically everyone he meets in the original log is here given some new role to fit the idea of the hidden narrative.
This is probably an unfair review. Seems a little harsher than my usual criticisms and really it's just a bit of harmless fun. Luckily, this story didn't follow every single leg of the journey and so didn't balloon out into a lengthy tome.
Alright, it's possible that I've finished a book and thought, "could have had more aliens in it."
Well, that is what we have here. It's not a bad story in concept, Farmer retells Phileas Fogg's famous journey but imagines aliens are involved. Unfortunately, the result isn't very impressive. It comes across to me like the sort of writing exercise we might have had at school, not the kind of thing you'd publish and charge readers good money for.
Farmer's prose doesn't come close to matching Verne's, I don't think any effort was made in that regard and I personally found that rather dissatisfying. A lot of the charm of the original journey was in the delightful language employed to tell the story.
The aliens are shoehorned into the log with reckless abandon. There's not much subtle at all about the butchery performed to make the new idea fit the old story. Coded messages in the Whist cards, ok fine, but it seems like this works anywhere in the world at any time and it just doesn't make sense to me.
I didn't pay close enough attention in the end to follow all of the details, but there are two alien species fighting in the shadows on Earth for the eventual control of the humans. They use "distorters" to teleport about the place and one side is trying to stop the other from obtaining one of those. Why they need to send Fogg around the world to do this was explained but isn't clear to me.
Sometimes Fogg is described as having to feign ignorance in order to maintain the image of a British gentleman but practically everyone he meets in the original log is here given some new role to fit the idea of the hidden narrative.
This is probably an unfair review. Seems a little harsher than my usual criticisms and really it's just a bit of harmless fun. Luckily, this story didn't follow every single leg of the journey and so didn't balloon out into a lengthy tome.
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