Spares | |||||
Michael Marshall Smith | |||||
Bantam Spectra, 400 pages | |||||
A review by Rodger Turner
Michael Marshall Smith has a remarkable eye. His writing is starkly
visual reminding me of what Blade Runner would be like on speed.
He captures the essence of characters with a deft touch, all the while
pushing the plot forward with surreal intensity. His characters'
emotional entanglements are all too human; nobody wears just a black
or just a white hat. They're just trying to survive a bleak future
where artifice and distraction seem to be the order of the day.
Their society is quite caste-ridden but one can rise and fall
within the middle band. I found it all too real; it seems to be
where North American society is heading. It scared the pants off
me. For there doesn't seem to be any real cohesion. Everyone just moves
along with the masses whose capacity to consume is boundless.
I'd heard good buzz about Smith's writing. When a friend went to the UK,
one of the books I asked him to find for me was Smith's first,
Only Forward. It was breathtaking. I was hooked on Smith's
writing. The buzz for Spares was even better. They were right.
How can anyone not read a novel that contains the following:
Rodger has read a lot of science fiction and fantasy in forty years. He can only shake his head and say, "So many books, so little time." More of his opinions are available on our Book Reviews pages. |
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