Customer Reviews

Morlock Night

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

 

 

Some of it works, some of it doesn't. It moves along at a fast clip, and if you like steampunk, it's worth a read. That task is made more difficult, however, by one of the worst proofreading jobs I've ever seen - Angry Robot should be ashamed.

When H. G. Wells completed the Time Machine he left some threads loose and dangling. K. W. Jeter doesn't so much as tie up the threads as reweaves them into something fantastic and new as he asks questions that thoughtful readers may have wondered, mainly, what happened to the time machine at the end?

Hocker, one of the character's from Well's book who listened in on the Time Traveller's story about his past and present adventures, transitions from a quiet, almost shy listener to the main character in this tale that starts just after the fateful telling as Hocker is walking home. We find Ambrosius, who also listened in, attempting to warn Hocker of the dangers of the time machine and the Morlocks as they walk down the London streets. A fog rolls in as Ambrosius leaves the scene. Hocker soon finds himself in a war torn London during a great battle between humans and Morlocks. Saved by a heroine, Tafe, Hocker finds that his London is not at war at all, rather he has been sent forward in time by Ambrosius to prove the warnings are true. The Morlocks have captured the time machine and are using it to set up a base to conquer London and then the world.

This is no true sequel of the Time Machine. Other than Hocker and the Morlocks no other characters take place in this story and no more is seen or heard of from the distant future of the Eloi. For fans of the book looking for a continuation of that story, you will likely be disappointed. However, for fans of science fiction, steampunk and the like you will find much to feast on.

Jeter's decision to write this novel (in 1979, reprinted in 2011) was not to provide a sequel but rather to use the original novel as a setting for a much more ambitious and amazing story. The author weaves King Arthur, Merlin, and the Antlanteans into Well's world of the Time Machine, takes a blender and mixes everything up. The end result is a smoothie that I loved drinking.

Jeter was the first person to use the term "steampunk" back in the 1970s and this book is a seminole example of the genre. Science fiction, fantasy, low-technology all combined in a world that is both believable and unbelievable at the same time. For lovers of the genre it doesn't get much better than this.

Highly recommended.

Review originally published at BookGateway. com. This book was provided by the publisher as a review copy.

Morlock Night (Angry Robot)

Mr. Edwin Hocker just left just left a dinner party held by a self-proclaimed Time Traveler (from H.G. Wells "The Time Machine".) As he is leaving, a fellow diner strikes up a conversation with him about the host's tale. This encounter leads to a series of quests that can either save or doom England, from Victorian times to the far future. Hocker and his companions, Tafe and Dr. Ambrose will learn the secrets of the Morlocks and try to end their threat for all time.

The book is based on the premise that the Time Traveler is ambushed by the Morlocks on his second trip to the future and will use the time machine to invade Victorian England. Hocker's adventures ranges from the near future (of Victorian England) to the sewers of London and finally to the future world of the Morlocks.

There is a bit of steampunk, magic and various legends blended together to make a good yarn. While it may not be 100% true to the source material, it is enjoyable. Jeter expands on the world of the Morlocks, fleshing them out to be credible villains that pose serious threat. The book moves at a quick pace and has unexpected twists and turns to keep the reader's interest. Jeter's writing style works for this book. The author matches Wells' style of writing, giving a Victorian feel without being too verbose.

Morlock Night has the imagination and action I expect from K.W. Jeter after reading Infernal Devices. The ending would have been better received if I had cared more for the main character, but overall it was an entertaining read.

This book isn't notable so much for being a sequel to H.G. Wells' THE TIME MACHINE as it is for being a very early novel in the subgenre now called "steampunk," a term Jeter originated. It's worth reading for its place in the history of speculative fiction.

If you only plan to read one of Jeter's two re-releases, I recommend INFERNAL DEVICES, but MORLOCK NIGHTS still has some great scenes, particularly those set in the London sewers. Otherwise, it's interesting to see how he handles the single female character, and how he incorporates elements from other myths (King Arthur, Atlantis) into the Wellsian story.

This is a reprint of a book published in 1979, and it reads as if Angry Robot simply dumped a bunch of pages on a scanner, queued up the OCR software, and published the result without checking what they got back. There are periods in the middle of sentences. There are words that are not words, but are close to what you think the author probably intended. There are instances when articles seem to be missing. Given the author's background, and the well-written text of the added introduction (by another author who very obviously respects Jeter) I'm forced to conclude that the original text did not have these errors impacting readability. Another reviewer comments that Angry Robot should be ashamed for not proofreading, but I go one further: they should be ashamed for reintroducing a work in a format that reflects badly on the author. Especially when they're probably charging around 6 times what that original, proof-read, well-edited 1979 edition cost.

The problems were so distracting that I couldn't finish reading, partly because it reads like a poorly edited amateur effort, and partly out of annoyance that it reads like a poorly edited amateur effort. From a story perspective, I found the initial exchange covered in the first chapter to be intriguing and would have liked to read more, so I'm going to try to track down the original edition. I highly recommend doing the same if you're interested in the storyline.

The idea of the Morlocks using the time machine to menace Victorian London is a good one - I'd like to see someone else give it a shot.

I first saw a reference to this book in a science fiction encyclopedia, under the "Cyberpunk" entry. But it's not really cyberpunk, or even science fiction. It's a rather poor fantasy novel, with more sorcery than science fiction. If the idea of the Morlock-fighting protagonists, including Merlin and King Arthur, running about London's oldest and deepest sewers, which are actually remnants of Atlantis, in a recovered Atlantean submarine sounds stupid to you, then you'll understand why it was a struggle to make myself finish reading this thing.

Jeter utterly fails to make a convincing sequel to Wells' "The Time Machine" by worming magic and legend into a novel where it hardly belongs. Although Jeter does well in approximating Wells' style, his loping prose, he fails to carry through with the sort of "scientific romance" that so characterized Wells' work. Instead, "Morlock Night" is a piece of weak fantasy, almost entirely divorced from its scientific foundations, and almost impossible to finish. To add to the other wrongs, Jeter tries to reinterpret the Morlocks themselves, making them a highly technological species, and far removed from their origins, thereby dashing the allegories that Wells worked so hard to establish. If you must read a sequel to "The Time Machine", read "The Time Ships".