Its a lot weird (Only Forwards - Michael Marshall Smith)

Member Name: raypdaley182

Product:	Only Forwards - Michael Marshall Smith
Date:	05/09/08 (2 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Spangle! We love you!

Disadvantages: Its bloody weird!

This is a great book. You won't read anything weirder. You could read everything Robert Rankin, Terry Pratchett & Douglas Adams ever wrote and you still won't find a book as weird as this.

The main character is Stark, he's world weary but loves his cat Spangle. He's a fixer, he's the type of man people contact when they need "things" doing that would prove otherwise difficult or possibly illegal.

He lives in what I assume is the fairly near future where people live in Neighbourhoods. That's Neighbourhood with a very definate capital N though and they are places like Colour(where Stark lives and the inhabitants are only allowed on the streets at certain times if their wearing a certain colour, Cat (a place only inhabited by cats, you can only visit if you like cats otherwise the gates won't open to let you in. Spangle spends most of his time there), The Action Centre (surrounded by a very big wall is where people get things done, its for people who work hard and really want to be busy all the time) where Stark's friend Zenda lives & works, NatSci (where all the scientists & Engineers live and work) and Red (possibly the most danergous place to live ever).

Stark is hired by the Action Centre to find an Actioneer who has gone missing. The rest of the book details Stark's travels through various Neighbourhoods until he finds and rescues Fell Ackland, the man who was not missing. He had actually smuggled himself out of The Action Centre after making a discovery about a highly addictive drug which is prevalent in Starks world.

The book itself is great until Stark enters Jeemland where it then becomes incredibly surreal & it makes the story very hard to follow. You do discover one of the Neighbourhoods is actually whats left of Trafalger Square.

It is enjoyable and stands up well to being re-read, meeting Stark's friends & associates, seeing his relationship with gadgets and gizmos and learning more about his life and work.

Summary: Strangeness abounds in the near future