Wednesday 29 April 2015

SCIENCE FICTION REVIEW: Something Coming Through - Paul McAuley

Release Date: 19/02/15
Publisher:  Gollancz

SYNOPSIS:

Among the scattered islands that make up the water world of Windhaven, no one holds more prestige than the silver-winged flyers, romantic figures who cross treacherous oceans, braving shifting winds and sudden storms, to bring news, gossip, songs and stories to a waiting populace. Maris of Amberly, a fisherman's daughter, wants nothing more than to soar on the currents high above Windhaven. So she challenges tradition, demanding that flyers be chosen by merit rather than inheritance. But even after winning that bitter battle, Maris finds that her troubles are only beginning. Now a revolution threatens to destroy the world she fought so hard to join - and force her to make the ultimate sacrifice...This early collaborative novel from George R. R. Martin and Lisa Tuttle is a masterclass of fantasy and storytelling.


REVIEW:

As a fan of Paul’s writing, I always look forward to his new title landing, so when this one did, I pretty much finished up a couple of others quickly and moved this to the top of my TBR list. OK, I perhaps should have read some other books first but hey, I felt like I needed some guilty pleasure time.

What unfurls within, sadly is a book that for me would have worked a lot better had it been either a short story or perhaps a novella rather than a full blown novel as it felt to me like there was too much filler added which not only slowed the pace but also dragged the whole book down leaving me as a reader disappointed.

The characters didn’t strike a chord with me, the prose sadly lacking and when added to characters that I really didn’t care about all round left me feeling quite cold.

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