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Index Interviews: John Scott Shepherd Mothers Who Write: Alice McDermott Author Self-Searching on the Web A Salute to the Invisible Effective Business Writing: The White Paper Return to This Issue's Index Return to Homepage Subscribe
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Fantasy/SF/Horror Book ReviewsPage One of TwoCoraline by Neil GaimanHarperCollins, July, 2002Hardcover, 176 pages ISBN: 0380977788 Ordering information: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk 
Raggedy Ann is a charming doll who is known for her
honesty, helpfulness, her candy heart which says "I Love You,"
and her charming black shoe button eyes. You will never
look at Raggedy Ann again in quite the same way after
reading Coraline by Neil Gaiman.
Coraline tells the story of a little girl who moves into a new flat with her parents, who are nice but always a bit too busy. One day, Coraline opens a door she shouldn't and finds her way into an alternate reality. In this other flat, her parents are never too busy to play with her, but they do have these odd, black button eyes. Still, the toys are magical and the food is delicious. Coraline's other mother and other father shower Coraline with praise, and ask her to stay with them forever. The other mother whips out some black buttons and a needle and thread to indicate that Coraline must exchange her eyes for buttons in order to stay. Coraline refuses and returns to her flat…but her real parents are gone, imprisoned in the mirror by her other mother, along with other unfortunate children. Now Coraline must go back to the other mother's world in order to save her parents and the other children. With the help of a somewhat grumpy talking cat, she will do her best to outwit the monster with the shiny button eyes, the long white hands and the insatiable appetite for children's souls. Neil Gaiman, who is best known for the novels Neverwhere and American Gods, and the Sandman graphic novels, delights in taking the myths and legends of our culture and exploring their darker side; in the process he shows us something interesting about ourselves and our society. He is an excellent and subtle storyteller. You may not realize the impact that his works have had upon you until later…when a door suddenly looks somewhat odd, and an icon of American childhood suddenly appears to have a strange gleam in her heretofore friendly and guileless black button eyes. Coraline is a terrifying story for any parent to read. Gaiman plays to every parent's greatest fear: losing a child, and to every child's fear of losing her parents. And there is that other fear (barely hinted at) that perhaps the parents would be better off (or having more fun) without her. Adults who read Coraline will immediately shift into full-blown speculation mode: Who or what is the other mother? How long has she been kidnapping children? Where is this mirror world really located? And what in the world is the deal with the button eyes? Are the eyes the keeper of the souls? And so on. Children are more likely to take the story at face value as an exciting "heroine in danger" story. Coraline herself does seem to realize the danger she's in, but she's an adventurer and a practical child, and doesn't seem to find the circumstances near as terrifying as the reader does. She simply does what she needs to do to set things right. And she never believes the other mother when she tells Coraline that her parents would be having more fun without her. Adding to the atmosphere are the disturbingly appealing pen and ink illustrations by the talented Dave McKean. Absorbing, entertaining and delightfully creepy, Coraline is even better when read for the second or third time. Just don't shelve it next to the Raggedy Ann books. Highly recommended. --Claire E. White Domain by Steve AltenTor, June, 2002Paperback, 512 pages ISBN: 0812579569 Ordering information: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk 
Mick Gabriel is the only one who knows the secrets
of a doomsday prophecy that predicts the end of
the world. Unfortunately,
he is locked up in a Miami psychiatric asylum as a
paranoid schizophrenic. His knowledge about the
doomsday forecast was gathered by him and
his archaeologist father as they researched the
ancient Mayan calendar, which forecasts that the end
will come on December 12, 2012. Needing to
escape, Mick tries to convince psychiatry major
Dominique Vasquez to help him. Dominique was just assigned to
Mick's case, as she completes her graduate
internship. Mick manages to get Dominique's
help... but the forces leading up to man's
destruction may already be underway.
Steve Alten, the author of MEG and Goliath, has created a gripping science fiction thriller. Domain is laced with strange facts about ancient cultures, edge-of-your seat suspense and a cast of appealing characters that ranges from commoners to world leaders. One of the most fascinating elements of Domain is how Alten manages to pull in numerous unsolved mysteries about ancient civilizations, such as the elongated skulls of the Olmecs, the amazing pyramids, the desert drawings of Nazca, unexplained advanced astronomy skills in ancient cultures, wise bearded men mentioned in ancient texts and other facts into the novel and uses them to enhance the plot. Those fascinated with ancient cultures, aliens, conspiracy theories and the paranormal should definitely grab a copy of Domain. Domain is the first of a trilogy, the second of which is Resurrection -- a novel readers will certainly be looking forward to after reading Domain. Fantasy/SF Book Reviews Page One | Page Two Return to Book Reviews Index ** To visit the archives of fantasy/sf books reviewed in The IWJ, please click here. |
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