The Unlikely Escape of Uriah Heep: A Novel

I literally just finished this masterpiece and I am not quite sure how to start this review. The Unlikely Escape of Uriah Heep is a book for book lovers at its heart. It is full of so many beloved characters of literature, while also letting the new characters of this story room to shine. And while yes this may be a book for book lovers, the true intent of this novel is the theme of family whether it be blood or found. Those kind of stories for me always hit home.So this novel deals a lot with Dickenson and Dickensian themes. H.G. Parry executes it wonderfully. I truly don't think you need to be a Dickenson expert to enjoy this book. She does an excellent job on that front. The research and detail she puts forth is exquisite. For example, I have only read David Copperfield and Oliver Twist and I still felt totally in control while reading.Good heavens did I love all the characters in this book, new and old. I'll really only talk about the new characters because they are what really helped this story soar. So, this story is told primarily from Rob's POV. He is the older brother of Charley. So even though it is told in first person from Rob's perspective, they are both are main characters. There relationship is so dynamic and tumultuous and you truly feel for both of them equally. I'm not going to get into to much detail for spoiler reasons, but this brother relationship hit me deeply in my emotions. On the other hand we have Millie and Lydia and they get side chapters sprinkled throughout the book. When this happens the story switches to a 3rd person POV. It was not jarring for me the switch in style but it may be for others, so that's why I'm letting you all know. Millie was just fantastic. She was my little fire cracker of the story. Everything I adore in my female characters, strong and in charge. While Lydia, who is Rob's girlfriend, is a woman who just wants to help and be supportive but struggles to do so, for reasons. Again the cast is wonderful and brings such life to the pages.Lastly, I will touch briefly on the story only because I think it best to go into this book with as little knowledge as possible. I summed it up nicely up above to. The story from start to finish is intricately well paced. It is mysterious, tense, informative, sad, hopeful, and so much more. I personally was shocked by some of the twists and turns throughout. The plot threads and bread crumps that were sprinkled throughout all coming together during the climax were chefs kiss brilliant.I mean truly this book blew me away, such a home run. I will definitely be talking and thinking about this book for years to come. H.G. Parry has skyrocketed up my list of authors to watch and I for one cannot wait to read more from her. Just WOW!!

This book hit all my favorite parts of what a book can do to you. I grew up reading Dickens and Doye so this book was like a love letter to me.If I could have any magical power I would choose Charlie's.Read this book if you love books and love the way great characters make you feel

Brothers Rob and Charley Sutherland keep a secret. Charley can pull fictional characters out of books. Sometimes big brother Rob has to come help him put them back. Only thing is, something about this time is different--what does Uriah Heep mean? From this point, we are taken on a trip through the reality of Wellington, New Zealand, to the fictional streets of Dickensian London, and onwards. Ms. Parry weaves a story that makes you think, dream a little, wish, bite your nails a bit, and maybe cry, too.

4.5 stars. What a wonderful concept, to be able to make the characters in your favorite books come out of the pages and live in the world. Though, as all who have that ability in this book learn, it’s a big responsibility. Although I was on the verge of becoming hopelessly lost in the ins and outs and implications of this book, I was so charmed by the whole notion that I never got bogged down. Now I have to think which characters I’d most like to see step out of their pages...

This book combines characters with depth and internal consistency with a well-imagined alternative universe. This is an eminently satisfying reading experience.

I was going to give this book five stars because the ideas behind it, and within it, are great and magical and bound to delight anyone who loves books, especially classics. However, the reason I didn't do the five stars thing was that there are stretches of the book where the characters talk and talk, and have the same or similar conversations over again, leaving the reader feel as though the author doesn't trust them to get the picture without them constantly analysing their personalities.This becomes particularly odd as we get to the climax of the book, which is terrific and has a couple of real twists. But somehow the characters manage to have great long discussions while the world outside is being basically wrecked by the villain. Too often the all too real urgency in the story gets waylaid by the conversations.I know there's a trend for longer books. But for me that means you have to introduce new material to keep the reader enthused: rehashing information, or holding it back for the fourth time, isn't the way to go about it.

Brilliant, and also enjoyable. I'm a little wary of best-sellers and widely-lauded books because too often they're a little dreary, or self-consciously literary, or just plain forgetful that the first duty of fiction is to tell a good story. Not in this case.Likeable characters (who don't always like each other, or don't know how much they do); impeccable literary scholarship, families supporting each other, books that change the world. It's a book to fall in love with, and I have already bought another book by this author.

Interesting premise, so many twists, and one of those books that made me all happy inside when I finished.Only downside is that it is loooooong, and drags a bunch in the second quarter (ish). Forgot about that by the time I reached the end, but I think it could have used some stronger editing.

Sometimes when I review a book, I find myself saying that I expected to love it but was disappointed - in this case, it was the other way round. I was intrigued by the premise, which is that literary characters can escape from their books and materialise in the real world, but almost certain that it wouldn't work in a way that I'd enjoy. I had previously tried reading Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next series, which has a somewhat similar set-up, and found them to be far too self-consciously whimsical and insufferably arch and smug, and I feared HG Parry's The Unlikely Escape of Uriah Heep might be similar in tone. I was completely wrong, thankfully. It's an action-packed, witty, smart urban fantasy with the difficult relationship between two brothers as its emotional heart.Rob Sutherland is a New Zealand lawyer practising in the city of Wellington. Pragmatic and capable, he deals very much in facts and certainties. His younger brother, however, is a professor of literature and a one-time child prodigy who read English at Oxford aged 13. And his connection with the books he reads is so intense, so focused and full of understanding, that he can make the characters quite literally come to life. From the time The Cat In The Hat materialised in the family home when Charley was a toddler, it's been clear that Charley is a 'summoner' of fictional characters, and the Sutherlands have been trying to conceal this from everyone else ever since.Charley can usually suppress his ability when he wants to, but sometimes he slips up, and the book begins with him calling Rob in the middle of the night to ask for help in catching Uriah Heep, the obsequious, vindictive clerk created by Dickens, whom he has accidentally summoned while working late at his university. It then transpires that there are a lot more fictional characters on the loose in Wellington - and more worryingly, they haven't been summoned by Charley. So where are they coming from, and why are they intent on destroying him?HG Parry has a huge amount of fun considering how literary characters might be if you met them in real life, and about how readers' personal interpretations might have a bearing on how they look and behave. For example, there are several Mr Darcys in this novel, broadly similar but also clearly influenced by different film and TV versions their readers have seen. The Hound of the Baskervilles appears as both the monstrous hell-hound of its early chapters and as the starving domestic dog Holmes later reveals him to be. Dorian Gray happens to be a computer whizz because he was 'read out' by someone who drew parallels between his character and today's predatory online catfishers.It probably helps if you are broadly familiar with some key literary characters before you read this book, and with the general concept of literary criticism and analysis, but you don't need to have read the actual books involved and you certainly don't need to have studied English to enjoy this book and get most of the references. More than anything else, it's a love-letter to reading for pleasure, and if you're someone for whom characters almost do seem to come to life in your head when you're engrossed in your favourite book, you'll appreciate the literal interpretation of this in The Unlikely Escape of Uriah Heep. Is there anyone who has read a Sherlock Holmes story who wouldn't jump at the chance to have a conversation with the man himself? Could anyone, even against their better judgement, resist the opportunity to sit down and interview Victor Frankenstein? Certainly not me, and I've rarely empathised with anyone as much as Charley when he can't quite repress his urge to bring his favourite characters to life.There is one escaped book character in this story who doesn't appear in a real book and been invented by the author herself: Millie Radcliffe-Dix is a hearty, intrepid English girl detective from an early-20th century series invented by HG Parry, which we can assume is meant to be a sort of cross between the Nancy Drew books and The Famous Five. As all the other book characters are from real books, I did find this slightly jarring at first (so much so that I Googled Millie to check that she wasn't a genuine children's book character I'd never heard of, which would have put me more at ease). However, the adult Millie is such an endearing and spirited character that I soon came to accept and enjoy her presence in the novel, and it would probably have been difficult to have her role in the plot played by a already-familiar character from novels we've actually read.The plot is somewhat complicated, involving various layers of intrigue and some major twists, and combines detective work with high adventure. There are times when I'm not convinced it makes complete sense, and I think the book overall is perhaps about 75 pages too long, but it's such an entertaining rollercoaster ride that I didn't really mind. The complexities of Rob's and Charley's relationship, and in particular the mixture of protectiveness and resentment that Rob feels towards his younger and infinitely more gifted little brother, are woven convincingly and touchingly into the story. I liked both of them a great deal, even when Charley as the one I better understood. If you're looking for a lively, witty, escapist urban fantasy, The Unlikely Escape of Uriah Heep should definitely be on your list.

This book! This book was wonderful and has become my new all time favourite! Why? It really is a book lovers dream! Full of literary characters who come to life because readers have connected with them in such a personal way. It’s full of brilliant quotes from the different characters real and literary, and the descriptions of the literary characters in their scenarios are just wonderful.This book captured my imagination and constantly held it there for the two weeks I was reading it. Now you may ask me “If it’s your favourite book why didn’t you read it in one sitting or possibly two? Why did it take you a fortnight?”Well the simple reason is because I was enjoying it so much I didn’t want to rush it and leave the fantastic world that the author had built. I didn’t want to leave Rob and Charley Sutherland behind, I wanted to stay with them in Wellington, in New Zealand. I also didn’t want to leave the 5 Darcys, Sherlock Holmes, Charles Dickens, the White Witch, Heathcliff, Dorian Gray, Matilda Wormwood, and dare I say it Uriah Heep! Do you get the picture? If you do, you definitely need to read this book as you’ll get it and you’ll want to stay there too.As well as all of these literary characters coming to life, there’s a brilliant plot revolving around family secrets, sibling relationships and disappointments. Charley was my favourite character with Sherlock Holmes coming a very close second.Highly recommended in all formats, as I’ve bought it in both Kindle and audiobook which I've already listened to! The audiobook was narrated brilliantly by Callum Gittens, a ‘new to me’ narrator who hooked me straight away with his New Zealand accent, and made my flesh creep whenever he voiced Uriah Heep!

I started the novel with interest and enthusiasm; it moved smoothly introducing Rob, Charley and Millie well. And of course, the whole ideaof reading figures out of books.The problems emerged in the middle of the story. Introducing the Street was a fine idea, but it led to the plot getting bogged down in interminable conversations between secondary characters who added nothing to the whole story. Then there was the issue of the wondrous mobiles that ended up under water while our trio were escaping the other summoner, which in itself was a dodgy plotline as the whole idea was to meet the other one and expose him.The mobiles emerged from the water and two didn't work at all. Only Millie's seemed to have a waterproof design. Huh? Then without further ado, the phones started working again although they had not been seen to or replaced. And much of the later plot hinged on being available for incoming mobile calls. Strange!!!If we cut out these interminable encounters in the novel's middle, the final part is well written, exciting and satisying. So why all the padding if the good story was just slowed down.I'm glad I stuck it out to the end, but I would recommend some severe editing for the middle part.

Writing a book about books and fiction is a sure fire way to appeal to a wide range of readers - after all, the one thing all people who read fiction for pleasure have in common is that they love reading. Anyone who is choosing to read this book is going to understand the allure of stories and the magic of books. Whilst it's not the first novel by a long way to feature fictional characters made real, it is executed to a very high standard.The novel's protagonist is in fact the brother of whom you could consider the central character - a secondary character as narrator is a technique that can work well, and does so here. Rob Sutherland is a barrister in the New Zealand city of Wellington. He's always felt both resentful and protective of his younger brother Charley, a former child prodigy who is now a professor of English literature. Charley has a dangerous gift - he can make fictional characters come to life - and Rob has spent most of his life helping Charley keep his ability covered up, particularly when his visitors from books get out of hand. When Rob's called to subdue a manifestation of Uriah Heep, he and Charley stumble on a plot to replace reality with a twisted version of Dickensian London, masterminded by an unknown person with the same ability as Charley. And this mysterious enemy's motives have nothing to do with furthering a love of literature...The scene is set for a brilliant fantasy adventure which has it all, peopled by a wonderful assortment of characters from our best known and loved books. A knowledge of Dickens isn't necessary to enjoy the story, but people who aren't familiar with 'Great Expectations' and 'David Copperfield' might find looking up a basic plot summary of each on the internet is worthwhile. Rob and Charley are brilliant central characters; interesting, well rounded and very sympathetic. I really liked Rob, the ordinary person who has spent his life feeling overshadowed and longing for a more normal life, and Charley is very endearing. There's also Millie, a former fictional girl detective in the Enid Blyton mould, who now acts as de facto leader of a group of ill assorted storybook constructs.The plot bowls along at a good pace, full of incident and interest, and it also has some deep and interesting things to say about the nature of stories and why we write and read them. But not in such a way that it gets in the way of the action and mystery. I did work out the identify of the villain ahead of time (in that satisfying way that adds to reading pleasure, rather than because it was too obvious) but there was another twist that I didn't expect. The final quarter of the book, with the big showdown, was unputdownable.What elevates this further - and it would have been a very high standard fantasy caper even without it - is the second plot around the relationship between the two brothers. It's always nice to find a book that is focussed on a relationship that isn't romantic, as they tend to be fewer in number. The complex relationship between Rob and Charley is gradually explored and tested and its this which gives the book a really strong emotional drive as well as a simply that of 'world-in-danger' peril. I cared deeply about the brothers and as someone with siblings myself I could identify with elements of their feelings for each other.This is definitely one of the outstanding fantasy books I have read this year and one I would strongly recommend, even to readers who don't normally go in for much fantasy. I think it's worth it. After all it has five Mr Darcys and the White Witch riding a motorbike with the Scarlet Pimpernel riding pillion. That's got to be recommendation if there ever was one!

This is a fun, exciting, literary adventure. Rob Sutherland is a lawyer in Wellington, who lives with his girlfriend, Lydia. His younger brother, Charlie, is a Dickens scholar and, somewhat the bane of his life. For Charlie has a secret which his family have closed ranks on, to protect him, for most of his life. He has an ability to take characters out from books and deposit them in the real world.So, when Charlie calls Rob at 4am to say that Uriah Heep is on the loose and he can’t catch him, Rob sleepily makes his excuses and sets off to help catch the ‘umble Uriah. What evolves is an extremely fascinating romp through literature. This involves a character called Milly Radcliffe-Dix, who Charlie brought out of a book as a child, and who is now living in a secret, hidden street, peopled by characters such as Roald Dahl’s Matilda, various Darcy’s, Dorian Gray and Heathcliff.It soon appears that Charlie is not alone in his abilities. There is another ‘summoner,’ who can bring characters out of book and he is putting not only Milly, and her friends, in danger, but the whole world. Rob, who has always slightly resented his brother, becomes involved in this adventure and also in investigating where these secret skills of Charlie’s have come from. If you are a book lover, you will enjoy meeting everyone from Dickens, to the Jabberwocky and the Hound of the Baskervilles, in these pages. A great read, with characters you will care about.