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Re: Nautilus: A new novel by Cornish author Craig Weatherhill

From: Ray Mudway <grum~at~acenet.net.au>
Date: Tue, 30 Mar 2010 12:19:50 +1100
To: "Jules Verne Forum" <jvf~at~gilead.org.il>

Hi gents,
            purchased this book a few weeks ago & read it over 2 days. Quite
interesting, one engraving of Nautilus & one photo of the author -- a
suitably tussle-haired, Sea-dog type -- after the contents & a list of
characters, there's 342 full pages of actual story.

This sequel's basic plot is as expected -- couldn't be anything else really,
given its true-to-type following of JV's / Nemo's story & the setting in the
current early 21st Century. Despite that restriction, the characters are
well written & believable. The story starts with a re-cap of the final
events on Mysterious Island as per JV's book & then moves to events in
today's world & the re-appearance of Nautilus. The unusual circumstances of
Nautilus's re-discovery comes later. How these circumstances came about is
explained in a very clever & lucid way and, while I haven't checked the
charts & currents myself, is quite believable.

To me the story doesn't have any really surprising twists but does have
suspense & excitement. It works well & flows nicely, though just a touch
"James Bond" in one or two places and with one obligatory? sex scene --
probably written deliberately for a possible 007 movie which would make a
neat linking of the two genres, increasing its box-office audience. Raw
luck as well as nerve helps the new Nautilus crew win through on occasion
and Captain Nemo's original good design & workmanship doesn't let them down
despite some unusual & difficult tight spots.

Technical details are accurate -- depth of seabed & Deeps, modern sub speeds
etc. The Nautilus seems to be the classic JV beast in every way, is very
believable & works well in the story -- some items are well described, make
boating sense & actually work much better than the "Disney" design does
(never understood that Archimedean screw underneath !!).

One intriguing facet of this book is how the deaths of the Prince's family,
Nautilus's construction & operational history and date anomalies of JV's
stories are also very well described & all is linked together with a
rational theory that makes sense.

Two thumbs up,
Happy Easter, Ray
   (\_/)
  (O.o)
O(>o)> o o o o o o o Bunny throwing Easter eggs


----- Original Message -----
From: "Michael Everson" <everson~at~evertype.com>
To: "Jules Verne Forum" <jvf~at~Gilead.org.il>
Sent: Sunday, March 28, 2010 8:14 PM
Subject: Re: Nautilus: A new novel by Cornish author Craig Weatherhill

> Craig and I were wondering -- have any of you read the sequel?
> Michael Everson * http://www.evertype.com/
Received on Tue 30 Mar 2010 - 04:53:14 IDT

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