When I picked this out of my TBR pile I thought it looked like a fun piece of nonsense. I was half right.
This is the closest thing to a DNF (Did Not Finish) I've had since I started writing this blog. If it had been even 10 pages longer I don't think i would have bothered. Considering that it's only 112 pages, that's quite remarkable.
The problem is the prose style. it's just irritating. I'm normally a fan of present tense narrative for the sense of immediacy it brings to the story. But this book uses it so badly. Although I don't think there's much that could have salvaged this short of a total rewrite by someone who can write. Just switching tense would probably not have fixed anything.
The story follows some characters on a time machine, going through their history salving from failed time machines. It starts with 25 solid pages of incomprehensible infodump in the form of the worst expositional dialogue I think I've ever experienced. That's nearly a quarter of the book!
Once the actual story gets up and running it doesn't get much better. Compared to this book, the technobabble in The Unreasoning Mask made perfect sense. And there was less of it. If I'd had to read the word Multiyottaflop one more time I think I would have binned this book.
I think it's supposed to be funny. However, writing arch overegged prose with stupid made up words is not a recipe for humour that particularly whets my palette. I don't know what Watson was aiming at with the writing style in this, but he missed it completely.
From the usually reliable PS Publishing this is a real disappointment. At least I know I can clear a couple of books from my TBR pile. The other Ian Watson book I received in a PS Bundle of books will be heading straight for the charity shop along with this one.
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