Blue Wolf Reviews

Tag: Hydra

  • Hydra

    Hydra

    Adriane Howell, has out of a diverse collection of bit and pieces, crafted a novel that is bordering on the verge of experimental, with a character, who while likable, has not been set in the colourful canvas of Hydra and Crete, Johannesburg and Melbourne.

    During her time spent on Hydra and Crete, Howell became aware of many campfire tales told over and again around the countries she visited; always slightly different but with a startling similarity. Little gems of information were being stored away, eventually forming as a desire to be told as a story resulting in the cutting edge Hydra; slight eerie, definitely surreal and one that touches on the reality that does exist on many varying planes within our world.

    Anja is a character familiar to many. She is driven, ambitious and focused on her work, that of an Antiquarian with a passionate involvement with mid-century furniture. Her career trajectory becomes completely disrupted due to an accident involving a client. She is forced to step back, to reassess her life and what or where she thinks she is heading.

    Impulsively she takes a 100 year lease on a remote cottage located behind the fence of a Naval base on the Mornington Peninsula; she believes this will give her a fresh start. But all is not as it seems with the Cottage as she feels she is being watched and not in a friendly manner. But who or what is it, ghost, ghoul or human?

    Told in the first person, Anja allows a look into the inner workings of her mind as she struggles to retain some sense of normalcy in a world that has suddenly changed dramatically. You have become her new best friend and she considers that you are the one she needs to talk to, to help her understand what is happening in her now, very small, very remote world.

    What begins as a slightly bizarre storyline slowly and skilfully morphs into to something far sneakier than first portrayed as worlds collide, boundaries merge and the truth, whatever that may be, becomes ever more sinister? Or does it. Who is to say.

    Hydra is an intellectual work that challenges boundaries, taps into the world of gothic and blends folkloric with reality in a somewhat challenging manner. Interesting but not one for the fainthearted!

  • The Traitor’s Reliquary

    The Traitor’s Reliquary

    Book one of any saga is always interesting, as it contains much without giving too much away, which is the case with The Traitor’s Reliquary from Chris Moss. Set in the world of fantasy fiction the plot begins slowly with the hero, although he does not yet know it, manacled to stones watching the Hydra circle above him. He is the sacrifice and is not happy about being there, as he is pretty certain he did not murder anyone!

    Based around a corrupt society that relies heavily on mysticism and the protection of the Hydra, a seven headed monster, the plot, once it gets moving is fast paced and addictive, a bit like the Bloodwyne made from the Hydras blood, that makes or appears to make men invincible, at least for a short period of time.

    Kestrel is rescued from certain death at the last minute, but has also discovered he was betrayed by this love, his Goddess, Lychra Maal and that their relationship was nothing but a lie, which does not make what has happened to him any easier to bear.

    He finds once he is rescued and in a safe location, courtesy of what appears to be a band of pirates, he is facing another woman, older and much wiser, The Prioress, who seems to have the wisdom of the ages in her eyes and knowledge that is timeless. It seems she has made the decision that he, Kestrel, is the chosen one to help reinstate the Empire and then The Angel who guards over all can be summoned once again, so people can live a good life, free from the terror of Maal and the Hydra.

    There is a very quirky, slightly satirical vein running throughout the plot line which makes entertaining reading and the hero, who would rather be anyplace other than taking on the certain, he hopes death of the Hydra, otherwise it will be his certain death, adds to the general chaos of carrying out what he has been assured, is his true life’s work.

    Fans of Terry Pratchett and his slightly left of centre fantasy plots, will love The Traitors Reliquary  as Kestral and his band of not always happy compatriots, take on the massive challenge of hopefully righting a centuries old wrong!

    What will book 2 bring to the mix? Only time will tell!

  • Hydra

    Hydra

    Reading a play can be a two edged sword, in that you interpret it how you choose, not necessarily how playwright intended, but in Hydra, Sue Smith has deconstructed the emotional and destructive love between what is billed as Australia’s famous literary couple Charmain Clift and George Johnston, weaving the words of their acclaimed works throughout their everyday lives into a play that is powerful, raw and as tumultuous as the people themselves, making it very difficult to misconstrue the intent of the piece.

    Set on the Island of Hydra, Charmain Clift and George Johnston have left behind the post war years of Sydney to follow their dream; to live away from the madness of city life, to return to the simple pleasures and to give their children and their writing time to grow and mature.

    Told through the eyes of their oldest son Martin, the years of what turned out to be almost exile on Hydra, paints a fascinating canvas of passion, talent, jealously, obsession and in the final years and days of their life together, illness and alcoholism.

    Charmain dreamed of being free, being able to write, to dream and to fly in her new life on Hydra; George wanted the simple life after the years spent as a War Correspondent, a life where his children could grow without the trappings of a more mercenary civilisation.

    Being the first artists to escape into a modern bohemian lifestyle on Hydra, they were the beginning of an eclectic group who discovered Hydra, believing it to be a place where talent would blossom, that daily life was simple, wholesome and achievable.; sadly this dream turned out to be far less than the shining vision once held.

    Facing poverty, struggling to write the ‘great’ novel, deteriorating health and the crumbling of the dream, George finally begins to write what was to become the award wining novel My Brother Jack, and then the follow-up novel Clean Straw for Nothing. Charmain never realised her dream of writing her great novel, considering George was the focus and her role was that of midwife to his work.

    Their talent was remarkable, their story one of tragedy and despair, their life together one of immense highs and desperate lows.

    Performed in March to huge acclaim by the State Theatre Company of South Australia and Queensland Theatre, Sue Smith has captured to perfection a storyline which will remain with both the reader and the audience: a play which could be considered as on its way to becoming a classic piece for intimate theatre.