Only Forwards - Michael Marshall Smith Reviews

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 ...  Read the complete review

Some books are like marmite. No, not sticky and derived from yeast extract, but you either like them or hate them. I can see both sides of the argument when looking at 'Only Forwards' as I found it great in places but confusing and dire in others. Stark is a great character, we find him living in a world where a giant city has been ...  Read the complete review

Synopsis ---------- Stark lives in Colour, a neighbourhood whose inhabitants like to be co-ordinated with their surroundings. Then there's Red close by: if you want to see a tactical nuclear battle recreated as a sales demonstration. Stark has friends in Red, which is just as well because something is about to happen. My ...  Read the complete review

Michael Marshall Smith's first novel. Hey, let's introduce another spurious categorisation system, for fun. I know this kind of approach is going out of fashion, but let's look at the process closely; if you use rigid categories, of course you will have problems, unless you encounter something the maker of which is trying to make it ...  Read the complete review

Michael Marshall Smith was a writer of horror before he was a writer of Science Fiction his short horror stories (a selection of which can be found in What You Make It)are all emotionally hitting stories sad and piquant. Only Forward is like that, the main character is infinitely likeable as Stark a sort of private detective who takes on ...  Read the complete review

The first novel by Michael Marshall-Smith is a superb first effort, exploring dreams and how Mankind damages environments it does not fully understand. But saying that, I don't want to give the impression that this lectures the reader. Far from it, in fact. The main character (Stark) lives in a world wher like-minded individuals live ...  Read the complete review