The Unlikely Escape of Uriah Heep

by H. G. Parry

Paperback, 2020

Status

Available

Call number

823.92

Publication

Orbit (2020), 480 pages

Description

"For his entire life, Charley Sutherland has concealed a magical ability he can't quite control: he can bring characters from books into the real world. His older brother, Rob -- a young lawyer with a normal house, a normal fiancée, and an utterly normal life -- hopes that this strange family secret will disappear with disuse, and he will be discharged from his life's duty of protecting Charley and the real world from each other. But then, literary characters start causing trouble in their city, making threats about destroying the world ... and for once, it isn't Charley's doing. There's someone else who shares his powers. It's up to Charley and a reluctant Rob to stop them, before these characters tear apart the fabric of reality." --

User reviews

LibraryThing member Cherylk
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,
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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.
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LibraryThing member marysneedle
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.
LibraryThing member TheDivineOomba
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
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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.
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LibraryThing member nicx27
I was drawn to this book by the obvious similarities to the Thursday Next books by Jasper Fforde. Admittedly it's a long time since I read any of those books but I just loved the idea of fictional characters jumping out of books and wreaking havoc on all around them.

I have to be honest and say that
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despite the fact I enjoyed the Next books, this genre is still out of my comfort zone. However, I did think The Unlikely Escape of Uriah Heep was an entertaining romp through so many well known books and that was a hugely appealing concept for me.

Rob is a lawyer, a completely ordinary man really, apart from his younger brother, Dr Charley Sutherland who, since he was a young boy, has been able to read characters out of books. As the book begins Rob is called on to help capture the escaped Uriah Heep from David Copperfield and pop him back into the book. All well and good but then more and more fictional characters invade the real world and cause all sorts of trouble.

H G Parry clearly has a fantastic imagination and has created a most thrilling world for her characters. The people who read them out of the books bring them forth with their own slant on them, for instance, one person's Darcy might not be the next person's idea of them, and so there's some fun to be had there as some of the characters mutate into exaggerated versions of themselves.

I found myself smiling quite a lot at the turns the plot took, the comments the characters made and the whole fantasy world they live in right in the middle of reality. If you've ever wanted to dive into a book yourself and prefer the thought of a fictional world to the one we live in then look no further than this clever and innovative story.
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LibraryThing member Dokfintong
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
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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.
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LibraryThing member lost_in_here
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.
LibraryThing member Matke
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
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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.
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LibraryThing member chasidar
Not what I was expecting
LibraryThing member grandpahobo
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.
LibraryThing member gmathis
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
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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.
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LibraryThing member JBD1
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.

Awards

Sir Julius Vogel Awards (Nominee — Novel — 2020)

Language

Original language

English

Original publication date

2019

Physical description

7.8 inches

ISBN

0356513777 / 9780356513775
Page: 0.5395 seconds