The Unlikely Escape of Uriah Heep: A Novel

An intelligent and compelling story that engages at every level.

A decent take on the "book characters come to life" genre, which I mostly enjoyed. Slogged in a few places and some of the characters were a bit one-note, but it kept me fairly well entertained.

This was a very enjoyable fantasy/odyssey that touches on everything near and dear to book nerds--other reviews here on Library Thing have touched on major points, so I won't do so, but having just finished it, my "now I have to go back and read....." list has doubled. The jacket blurbs point out that the story is a nice fit for Neil Gaiman and Jasper Fforde fans, and I agree heartily.

With that said, it was a little lengthy. Heresy, since elementary-school me picked my library books based on thickness/number of pages. However, as a reluctantly harried and overscheduled grownup, I think a little judicious editing could have improved the pace of this adventure in the literary otherworld. Don't let that comment deter you if you've got the time to invest in a wonderfully novel novel.

An incredible book. It took me a little while to get into it. There is a lot of introspection by the main character that I found a bit excessive in the beginning. However, once the story gets going it grabs you and makes it difficult to put down.

This is a great book, and a wonderful success by a first-time writer.

Brilliant literary scholar Charley and his lawyer brother Rob share a fraught relationship in Wellington, New Zealand Charley has always been very different from other people, and this has caused Rob much embarrassment and much concern for his brother.

When characters from Victorian novels begin to appear, the plot takes off: why are they here? What do they want? There’s a lot of drama and family angst while the brothers try to figure things out.

This is a marvelous exploration of the interaction between readers and books, a whimsical yet serious look at what can happen when fictional characters come to life. Not as heavy as Inkheart, but much, much better than the Thursday Next books. A knowledge of David Copperfield and Great Expectations will help but is t strictly necessary. Highly recommended to thoughtful readers, especially those with a fondness for Victorian novels.

This was fun. I quite enjoyed it. I wasn’t really familiar with the David Copperfield story. I read a children’s abridged version while reading this just to brush up. I loved the other literary cameos. Highly recommend.

I received a copy of "The Unlikely Escape of Uriah Heep" by H.G. Parry as a judge for the Compton Crook Award competition for debut SF novels.

We all loved "The Eyre Affair" (2001), "Inkheart" (2003), and the other early stories which read characters out of the fiction we know and activate them in new ways in our world. In the past 20 years, lots of people have used the idea with varying success. This one does it well.

Charley Sutherland can read characters out of books. He's kept the ability pretty much hidden over the years, and his brother Rob hopes very much that the skill will never come to light. But stuff starts happening all over town and Charley doesn't seem to be doing it. There is some hidden reader at work here.

The characters are plausible, the plot to end our world is comprehensible, and the story moves along at a good pace. Uriah Heep is appropriately villainous.

"The Unlikely Escape of Uriah Heep" didn't win the Compton Crook Award against "Architects of Memory", but it was a strong contender, at least in my opinion. I think you will like it.

So this is one of those books that I have a love hate relationship with. The book is solidly written, no cardboard characters. But, I didn't like either brother - both were annoying twits who went on and on and on about their relationship (oh I want to protect him, but he won't let me/he's a weird kid and I don't want to have anything to do with him vs I'm sad, my brother didn't help me when I needed it). This relationship got old, fast.

The story also concluding oddly, it made sense, but it didn't really feel right. Its almost as if the author didn't quite know how to end her story.

I really love how this played out. There were so many twists that I did not see coming.
A very unique story that explores how we interpret our surroundings and relationships.

For a book lover like me this was a fantastic book. I have read a few other books with this similar concept of a book coming alive. Yet, this is probably one of the best books I have read. It truly was a story within a story.

Imagine playing with the Cat in the Hat, or talking with Charles Dickens, or maybe visiting the Secret Garden. I know that I do every time that I read a book; I go places and meet people. However, to do so in real life would be a dream come true.

Although, what would a grand adventure be without an evil man following you trying to stop you. So, mix this with all of the places and people our three main character leads encounter and you get a magical/fantasy read. I recommend this book.