Secrets of the Dragon Tomb

What's this? Two reviews in one week? The Iron Guy has been doing some heavy lifting with his reading and reviewing lately! But I had really wanted to get something in for May the Fourth and I had also mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I had been reading this book. It's about time I finished it, don't you think? Anyway, I ramble. Let me clue you in to this really good sci-fi adventure story, Secrets of the Dragon Tombs by Patrick Samphire.

The year is 1816. Humanity, especially the British Empire, has colonized Mars. Young Edward Sullivan wants to be like W. A. Masters, the spy and adventurer he reads about every month in his favorite magazine, Thrilling Martian Tales. Yet adventure comes all too quickly when the famous Sir Titus Dane visits the Sullivan house. It turns out that he's there for more than a social call; he is looking for a map for a hidden Dragon Tomb, one of the places where the Ancient Martians buried their emperors and left all sorts of advanced technology. He hopes to claim the technology for himself and maybe even sell some to the Emperor Napoleon, who is winning his wars on Earth. Sir Titus finds the map but needs someone to decipher the Ancient Martian inscriptions that tell where the Tomb is located. That someone is Edward's father, a brilliant scientist and inventor who has created a sort of computer. Sir Titus kidnaps the father and the rest of the family, hoping to force Edward's father into solving the puzzle but Edward, two sisters and his blathering idiot cousin Freddie escape. How could this assortment of kids ever hope to rescue their family from such a powerful bad guy? And is there more to Freddie than what you see on the surface? And if they ever find Sir Titus, will it be too late?

If you want adventure, this book has it! Thrilling crash landings in the jungle, sword fights with bad guys, fights with mechanical crabs and a dangerous bite from a spider-slug. And more! This has enough excitement to please any guy. Plus you have the exotic setting of an alien world. Forget what we know about Mars these days--this book draws on old books and magazines from way back in the day that imagined Mars or even Venus to be places a lot like Earth. Once you accept that and just enjoy the story, you'll be in for a good time. And I bet that, if you enjoy sci-fi or not, you'll get a lot of excitement out of this book. (and guess what--there's going to be a second one, The Emperor of Mars. It'll be worth waiting, guys!)

Written in 1917!

One more thing--and you can ignore this part if you want--I've got a question for all you boys. I'm very curious about this. As I said, this book draws on a lot of old books. Like the John Carter of Mars books written by Edgar Rice Burroughs (author of the original Tarzan) in the 1910's. In these books, the climate and atmosphere of Mars wasn't that much different from Earth's. When I was 16, I read Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles, one of the most terrific books ever, in which human beings walked and drove around Mars like the were in their own neighborhoods on Earth. Once I reviewed a sci-fi book (Space Cadet by Robert Heinlein) written in the 1950's in which a bunch of cadets crash-landed on Venus and had adventures there. We were willing to accept these ideas (even if suspected they weren't accurate) because no one had explored those planets.

The real Mars

Since those days, we've sent up several satellites and rovers that have actually gone to these planets and beamed back images of what Mars and Venus are truly like. Now we know that Mars is a barren rock and Venus has a pressure-cooker atmosphere that disintegrates spacecraft before they reach the surface. So let me ask--would any of this current knowledge interfere with your enjoying a story like Secrets of the Dragon Tombs? You boys have grown up seeing pictures from the rovers and knowing the true conditions of Mars. Could you just sit back and enjoy the story or would you say, "Oh, man, Mars isn't like that!" I had no problem with it but I'm from another generation, growing up reading those older books but what about YOU? Leave me an answer in the Comments section under this post and let me know.

Hey Mr. Renaissance Drum Man

Hey all you guys out in blog land, it's Carl. Well, looks like we missed the chance to see me in a dress. Too bad, but I know you all are busy with school and tests and everything and it's hard to find time to write us. Hope you keep reading us, though, and get some of the books we recommend. Tell you what---why don't I give you all a consolation prize? I did have to put on a costume to advertise a Renaissance program. Let me show you that picture.
Pretty silly, huh? Just remember, guys, it could have been me in that dress!

Speaking of the Renaissance, let me clue you in on a couple of really good things I'm reading. I started these books to get ready for my program on Renaissance explorers, but, boy, are they exciting! The first is The Adventures of Marco Polo by Russell Freedman. Let me tell you, this book is rightly called The Adventures of Marco Polo. What an adventure he had! Marco Polo was the first European to visit China and write about it. This was back when China was "far Cathay," a place of legend. Marco left home in 1269 (when he was 17) with his father and uncle on a mision from the Pope to visit the Great Khan, ruler of China. After spending three and a half years traveling thousands of miles and escaping sandstorms, bandits, and man-eating animals, they arrived on the border of China, where the Great Khan was waiting for them. What Marco saw there surpassed any legend he'd ever heard. His book about his travels surprised and rocked the European world so much that people called him "the man of a million lies." Some wonder even today if he made most of it up. Did he? Or did he tell the truth? Only way to know is to read this book!

The other book is Around the World In A Hundred Years: From henry the Navigator to Magellan by Jean Fritz. (illustrated by Anthony Bacon Venti) A couple of hundred years after Marco Polo returned from China, Europe was trading with the Middle East and China for spices and other goods, but it was getting too expensive and dangerous to use the overland route that he had used. So some brave explorers looked for ways to get there by sea. Yet most of the world to Eurpeans was the vast Unknown. Who was really brave enough to go there? And what would they really find? This book talks about the bold sailors like Ferdinand Magellan (first to sail around the world), Amerigo Vespucci (America was named after him), and many others including, of course, Christopher Columbus. Each story is like an epic sea voyage--incredible tales of hardship, endurance, and courage. Really exciting stuff.

And you know what? That Renaissance spirit of exploration goes on today. It took us to the moon and now we hear on the news sometimes about going to Mars. Will it ever happen? I don't know, but How To Live On Mars by Clive Gifford (illustrated by Scoular Anderson) would be good to read before we went. It's chock-full of interesting facts, funny illustrations, and science experiments (like how to make your own Martian soil). It's a good read about our neighbor in space.

OK, that's it for today. Hope to hear from you soon.

(PS--do you think there are any Sith or Jedi on Mars?)