Another Space in Time

I could only ever give this five stars. I was almost convinced about that right from my first glimpse of the cover art. I'll talk about Billy's walkabout first, before I tell you why all five. . . . . Come to think of it, no I won't, You'll have to buy Taaffe's books for that. I give five for novelty, for creative reinvention of old themes, for daring to talk in a humorous way about cultural diversity, and of course for getting most of the basic mechanics of writing correct. This book isn't perfect. Is there such a book? The episodic nature means that we don't get big bang book endings, but rather plot bumps, with some ongoing resolution. In other words, the Urban Hunter series, is written like TV episodes. The concept works very well. I quite like big bang endings, resolution if you like, but I am enchanted by the way Taaffe hooks the reader. He so well creates the need to read the next part, of which there seems to be ever more. Of course, as is the fash...

I was half-hooked on this book before I even started. I'm a fan of the speculative and philosophical in the sort of Science Fiction that this book promised to be. However, such raised expectation can so easily be dashed. Like watching a "must see" film, too much expectation can be a terrible spoiler. I wasn't disappointed, not for a moment. I also enjoy the sort of light prose that this author can produce. Humour is always bubbling away somewhere in the text, sometimes dark, sometimes, dry, or observational, or occasionally just plain funny. The ground covered, though, is serious enough. This book is entertainment with plenty of hard speculative though behind the flowing words. I actually felt at times as though I now knew what it could be like to be the artificial intelligences that are Tuck and David, I even thought I understood what it was like to be the biologically enhanced and yet emotionally autistic personality that is Maze. The story was very well structur...

This is the third of a planned four parts. All three books already published can be read as one offs, but I advise starting with "Lethal Inheritance: Diamond Peak". Just how original Newland's fantastical vision is becomes far clearer in this latest book. Meat is being put on the characters, even on those of the demons. Also, we are beginning to understand better what the Peak itself is all about. The metaphysical aspects of the series are being steadily reinforced, as are the human and humanistic interactions. As we are drawn along this other path, which stands alongside our physical world, I increasingly wonder if black serpentine can truly be defeated. As Ariel and Nick's relationship matures so does its complexity. Ariel's introspection gets a bit tedious at times, but that's teenagers for you! As well as dealing with the turmoil of love they have to continue to learn how to turn their ordinary selves into superheroes and saviours of mankind. It seems th...