Customer Reviews

Awesome Lavratt

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Ann Wilkes is a member of the California Writers Club, a positively ancient "club" that has been around since 1909 and apparently has been involved in the lives of such literary greats as Jack London, John Muir, and even the first California poet laureate, Ina Coolbrith. This group has seventeen branches across the state, which is rather impressive. Wilkes is from the Redwood Branch.
Awesome Lavratt, a 93-page novella, follows the "adventures", or perhaps mind altering experiences (pun intended), of Horace (a spaceship pick'n'pull owner), Aranna (a woman with more than a few tricks up her sleeve and a hankering for mind control), Gurmt (a scientist with a hidden past), and, of course, the Lavratt (which has a crazy mind of its own). Each of these characters finds themselves not only connected to the Lavratt, but also manipulated by it as it switches ownership over and over, bringing down the people who try to use it. Here's my version of the synopsis:
Aranna is a bit of a thief with a desire to rule the galaxy. To do so, she needs the Lavratt, because it's mythical mind control powers may very well lend her the abilities she needs to manipulate and adjust people in power for her own needs. Her search takes her to Horace's shipyard, where the Lavratt has been hiding for a long while. But she's not the only one looking for it and before long she is jumping across the galaxy with Lavratt firmly in hand and Horace sitting at her feet. Only one problem: the Lavratt has a mind of its own and it gets what it wants.
Wilkes' novel is a whole lot of the pulp era tossed in a genre salad with bits of romance and technological intrigue. The overall story reads like a fast paced introduction to a universe populated by aliens and humans alike, pointing directly to the good things about the pulp era: the adventures. It's hard to say too much about the story simply because it is incredibly short. It's not like a novel where you have a much larger frame to work in and thus can complicate matters to the nth degree. Here Wilkes is working with an incredibly short form to tell a very big story. And it works, for the most part. The story is entertaining in an adventuresque way. The pace never lets up and it just plows right the end, with a nice little twist.
Probably the biggest issue with the story is that it is too short. The tale it is trying to weave is very complex, but you lose a lot of the detail in such a short format. Some things simply can't be explained, such as the relationship between Gurmt and Salmig towards the end. Granted, Wilkes does attempt to give you the impression that the Lavratt is constantly fiddling with people's minds, but their relationship seems to have some substance, yet we never really get a glimpse into it. For most of the story we follow Aranna and Horace, and then it turns to just Aranna up until the last little chunk where Gurmt and Salmig take over. If this story had been spread out over another two hundred pages with adequate time to establish each of the characters in their own storylines I think the overall feel would be better. The book left me wanting more, but only because there was so much missing. Aranna is such a central character, but the story doesn't start with her; it starts with Horace. Likewise, the Gurmt/Salmig storyline, however brief, is very important because it gives the final ending of the book as a bout of jealousy and betrayal, but not with enough of a buildup.
Basically, Wilkes should consider expanding everything about this story. Doing so not only will allow her to truly develop her Star Wars-ish universe, but also will give her ample time to develop all her characters in separate story lines that converge in the end. It's a good story, and definitely interesting (the idea of mind control and some of the other ideas I don't want to ruin by divulging information about them), but they could be infinitely more so with further development.
Wilkes' style is easy to read, which is a good thing for the type of story this is. Her characters do come through loud and clear, but they never slap you over the face like a cartoon character. Instead, we get a general idea who these characters are, except, perhaps, for Gurmt and Salmig, who really need more time to themselves (which is probably a clever pun on my part). There are a couple spelling errors in the manuscript, but nothing so drastic as to be unforgivably annoying.
All-in-all it's a good story, but I hope it is expanded to novel length instead. It deserves novel-length treatment. A good story is a good story (that's my worldly wisdom for the day).

This book is such fun. It actually had me laughing aloud, which is rare for me in fiction. The ridiculous, the crazy, and the just plain implausable combine with witty languge to make this science fiction humor not to be missed! PIck it up today.

Ann Wilkes, if you're reading this review, we (that would be me and my tapeworm) would like to read more of this adventure.

As it is, it's an operetta of one and a half acts - normally, that wouldn't get such a strong review from this reader, but Ms. Wilkes' style is so engaging and she has such a flair for mixing genres in novel, funny ways, that the pleasure of reading the story transcended my frustration with the fact that it wasn't more fully developed. There's a whole universe here waiting to be explored.

Horace Whistlestop operates a spaceship junkyard on a lonely moon. Two days after acquiring an unsalvageable wreck, three apparently unrelated buyers show up, all desperate to acquire it. His suspicions aroused, he investigates and learns that the wreck's final passenger was an archeologist fleeing with an ancient artifact (called the Lavratt) that's rumored to magnify latent mental abilities. Unfortunately for Horace, he falls under the spell of one of the buyers, the ruthless Aranna Navna. She already has the control disc for the artifact, which she uses to manipulate everyone around her. Empowered by the Lavratt, she sets forth (with Horace as her semi-willing consort) to conquer the galaxy. But the Lavratt is not what she thinks it is...

So begins this brief but unpredictable romp though the galaxy, laced with dubious puns, twists of fate, ancient feuds, courtly intrigue, betrayals, and sudden matrimony. It's a quick read, a space opera that doesn't take itself at all seriously. It left me hungry for more.

Awesome Lavratt by Ann Wilkes

Junk yard dog meets con-artist with humorous consequences is the succinct description of the book. An artifact creates a traveling nightmare is another.

Horace the junk yard man was the only attractive character in the book. The rest of the characterizations were pretty much un-likeable. The consequences of mind control and domination are thoroughly exploited. The book is a quick read with no guffaws but some definite smiles.

I recommend it.

When Ann Wilkes approached me to review AWESOME LAVRATT, I was told that if I liked the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy books by Douglas Adams, I would like AWESOME LAVRATT. I agreed, believing that there would be some entertainment value in the book but thinking that there was no way that it could compare to the hilarious story of Arthur Dent and towel-loving Ford. I am happy to say that I was mistaken. AWESOME LAVRATT was quite the entertaining read with a riveting story and realistic characters.

Horace Whistlestop runs a spatial junkyard. He seems to do fairly well until the day that three ships arrive, all after the same junker vessel. Of course, as the story goes for most men, a beautiful woman appears, creating mass chaos and destruction for Horace. Enter Aranna Navna. After the Awesome Lavratt, a mind control device uncovered on a planet and hidden on the junker vessel, Aranna will do just about anything to get her hands on it. When she does, a whirlwind series of events occurs, drawing the mysterious black box back to its home.

AWESOME LAVRATT was a short read at only 104 pages, but it was worth every second. It was funny, lighthearted and thoroughly entertaining. Wilkes has a great way with creating depth to her characters and adding realism to the story. For a story set in outer space with mind control devices, this is quite extraordinary.

I would love to tell you more about the other characters in AWESOME LAVRATT but I'm unsure how to do it without giving too much of the story away. You'll just have to trust me when I say that Wilkes creates fantastic characters and each one really brings a special element to the story.

Fantastic characters, colorful writing and a fun atmosphere are what make this book superb. Add on a fantastic ending that will leave you dumbstruck and we've got a winner on our hands. The only thing that caught me up a little was the change in time. Not every event was explained in great detail. Perhaps I'm just used to longer stories that have the room to explain every movement and every facial twitch. AWESOME LAVRATT, being the shorter book that it is, didn't have the room to do that. I pondered this for a while and finally came to the decision Wilkes did a good thing by swiftly taking us through parts of the story that wouldn't really make impact the general course of events too much. Overall this worked great.

AWESOME LAVRATT was a fantastic book and I highly recommend that anyone looking for an entertaining and fun read should pick it up. Fans of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy will enjoy it immensely I think. It should be no surprise that as I finish writing this I have AWESOME LAVRATT sitting next to me, waiting for me to come read it again. This is definitely one of those books that one could read over and over with the humor only getting funnier each time.

Awesome Lavratt - A Mind Bending Ride
Ann Wilkes

Aranna Navana, Princess of Shantar, is a "beauty" with a sense of humor--and so goes this fast paced adventure. Awesome Lavratt introduces us to characters like Salmig, Gurmt, and Yooserp who get themselves into situations as weird as their names. With sexual overtones and lots of irony, Wilkes, takes her readers on a fun ride through the galaxies and then hits you with a surprise ending. If you see two black cubes floating, do not touch!
By Linda Loveland Reid, author of Touch of Magenta

This is a fun book--full of humor and sure to bring some smiles. Can't wait to find out what happens to Horace in the next book.
Robin Moore

Looking for a little wry humor and some silly puns, exotic locations, interesting people with names like Horace Whistlestop and Tyrants Lavratt, romance, adventure, betrayal and karma - all in the kind of enjoyable, short, delightfully readable book you don't have to take vacation time to read? Dude! This is it! A tasty, bite-sized little snack for the mind and the smile muscles.

I loved it! If you didn't think there's anything funny about Space, read this book.
Peppered with twists, turns and gags, you won't be able to put it down. It's a perfect
read to lift your spirits.

Ana Manwaring, Co-Editor Vintage Voices and author of the JadeAnne Stone series