Official Review: The Paralogs of Phileas Fogg

[Miche Sora]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "The Paralogs of Phileas Fogg" by James Downard.]

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2 out of 4 stars

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The Paralogs of Phileas Fogg is a novel written by James Downard. The story has elements of various genres: historical fiction, spy novels, adventure tales and even steampunk and sci-fi, so it’s hard to say which genre would suit it best. It is written in the third person with an omniscient point of view.

The Paralogs tells the true version of events in Jules Verne’s “Around the World in Eighty Days.” In the original novel, there are inconsistencies in the narratives, as well as areas where Jules Verne writes that there is no information regarding a certain part of Phileas Fogg’s passage. If Mr. Downard is correct, Jules Verne, a.k.a. Mr. V in the Paralogs, didn’t know the half of it! The Paralogs follows Phileas’ original trip, adding to the narrative where “Mr. V” got the facts wrong, or didn’t have the facts at all. Unlike the original novel, the goal of Phileas and company is to stop the Columbiad from reaching the moon; the bet taken on to go around the world in 80 days is just a cover to enable them to do so.

There is a good story buried in here. There are also a lot of cool devices, both physical and story-wise. None of the main characters are who they seem at first; they are so much more. A couple of them surprised me. This is one of those books where all will be revealed by the end, even though certain characters and devices aren’t immediately explained, such as M. Dupin and Phileas’ watch. Even a couple of famous book characters make an appearance in the last chapter, which explains some of the seemingly inconsistent things that go on during the story. The 2 appendices at the end help the reader to understand what’s going on, but reading them first would ruin the surprise and possibly not make much sense. The writing style is a bit antiquated, which works well for the story being set in 1872, yet there are very few grammatical errors and incorrect word choices.

All that being said, the book has many issues. First and foremost, it is too long and boring. While the second half of the book is much better, the first half needs to be professionally edited for pace, timing, parentheticals and cogency. There is an excruciating amount of tedious and unnecessary detail throughout the entire first half that detracts from the story, to the point where it’s hard to remember what happens. Would the reader rather know about how one of the hired help arranges the four main characters’ hats in a row on a bench (no kidding, a whole long paragraph is devoted to this very topic), or know more about the airship that is plaguing Phileas’ journey in the Americas? There are more parentheticals in this one book than in the thousands of books I’ve read put together, and every one of them was either ancillary, unnecessary detail or should have been worked into the sentence properly. There are so many interesting parts of the first half of Phileas’ journey that are glossed over in favor of these details; even the exciting bits, such as Passepartout’s adventure with a circus troop in Yokohama and the fake Indian attack while on the train, are boring. The first and second half are so different that if it weren’t for the unusual writing style, one would think that two different authors each wrote half of the book.

I really wanted to like this book, but for the various reasons described above, I rate it 2 out of 4 stars. Engineers would like this story because there is a lot of information about how the various machines and other crafts are built and function. If a good editor takes a proverbial chainsaw to the first half and tightens up the storyline, this could be a really engaging story – but it’s not there yet.

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The Paralogs of Phileas Fogg
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Like Miche Sora's review? Post a comment saying so!

[JUNAFE21]

Its kinda great story and has a a point of view but theirs still need a lot to work for. I'm gonna rate this as 4.

[Amagine]

I like how the novel had different genres all mixed in. However the plot find seem kind of boring to me. There's nothing worse than a long and boring novel.

Great Review!?

[Ebe Read]

Hi Miche, I have not read the book itself, but I got quite a bit from your review and it makes me sad that an author goes to so much trouble to sit down and write a book and then we find that it does not come up to scratch.
I also love books that give a new twist to old ideas. I would like to read this some time.
You obviously have a lot of knowledge of review technology and I would love to reach you level of skill in the near future.
Thanks for your insights.

[kandscreeley]

It's sad that it's too long and boring. It sounds like it could be interesting if reworked. Thanks for the review.

[Jaime Lync]

Hi Miche, I have not read the book itself, but I got quite a bit from your review and it makes me sad that an author goes to so much trouble to sit down and write a book and then we find that it does not come up to scratch.
I also love books that give a new twist to old ideas. I would like to read this some time.
You obviously have a lot of knowledge of review technology and I would love to reach you level of skill in the near future.
Thanks for your insights.

I second this.

[Miche Sora]

I like how the novel had different genres all mixed in. However the plot find seem kind of boring to me. There's nothing worse than a long and boring novel.

Great Review!?

Thank you for your kind words! One of the reasons I chose the book was because there were so many genres in it. I couldn't agree more - long and boring novels are the worst!

-- 12 Jun 2017, 15:06 --

Hi Miche, I have not read the book itself, but I got quite a bit from your review and it makes me sad that an author goes to so much trouble to sit down and write a book and then we find that it does not come up to scratch.
I also love books that give a new twist to old ideas. I would like to read this some time.
You obviously have a lot of knowledge of review technology and I would love to reach you level of skill in the near future.
Thanks for your insights.

Thank you! I was disappointed in the book as well; it was really hard to get through the first half. The worst part was that it could have been really good. I also enjoy new takes on classics, another reason I chose this book.