h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I found this in my files, so I thought I'd post it. Haven't read Drowned Ammet in years.

Drowned Ammet, read out of the context of the rest of the Dalemark Quartet, is not much of a book. The plot is simplistic and Jones’s usual twists are not as fully developed as usual. There is no conclusion either- the whole purpose of the book seems to be explaining how and why Mitt becomes king of the Holy Islands- though even that is not made very clear, and why this is significant is not addressed at all.

In brief, Mitt becomes a freedom fighter to avenge his father who is betrayed trying to burn one of the earl’s warehouses. His revenge goes awry, however, and he ends up hiding out in a pleasure yatch that belongs to the earl’s grandchildren.
The grandchildren- Ynen and Hildy- are pretending to run away to make their father nervous, and put out to sea with Mitt hiding in the cabin. The three of them eventually manage to reach a tenuous peace, and the grandchildren agree to take Mitt to North Dalemark, and freedom. Then, following a heavy storm they pick up a survivor they find floating in a lifeboat. The survivor- Al- arms himself with Mitt’s gun and proceeds to take over the ship, ordering all three around like personal servants. When food runs down, he has them dock at the Holy Islands, where he has political clout. The reigning monarch is a half-wit, and Al manipulates him to ransom Ynen back to his uncle- who has been systematically eliminating the competition for earldom- and kill Mitt. Hildy is his betrothed, and therefore stays on the islands.
Al’s plans fail when the islanders refuse to kill Mitt because his name one of the names of their gods. Mitt is instead abandoned on an unpopulated island where he meets with the gods themselves who show him his destiny as future king of the Holy Islands. Equipped with the power of their names, Mitt rescues his noble friends and they set out for North Dalemark together.

The characters are not Jones’s most compelling- but this may be deliberate. Nearly every character is humongously unhappy in some way or another, and it shows. Hildy is a spirited girl, but because of her position as diplomatic pawn her freedom and interests are constantly stifled. This might account for her propensity toward violent and destructive temper tantrums.
Ynen is oppressed in a different manner; since he does not matter at all, he is utterly neglected. Ynen is aware of his insignificance, and is like his father in his reaction to it: like Navis, he is quiet and withdrawn. Ynen also clings to Hildy because of her assertive character and slightly greater influence. Ynen, however, shows promise of improving when removed from the earl’s sphere of influence. He asserts himself well against Mitt, and shows considerably spunk on the Holy Islands.
Al is the most troubling figure of them all. Jones presumes that financial constraint is enough to change the optimistic, laughing character we know from Mitt’s memory into the cynical fence-hedger who will coolly kill his own son to make a little money. Quite frankly, I found it a bit of a stretch.

Drowned Ammett is not a boring book, but it lacks a purpose as a standalone novel. Read, but don’t expect something at the level of Howl’s Moving Castle.