Monday 11 May 2015

Review: Dream London, by Tony Ballantyne, 5* :)

Dream London, by Tony Ballantyne 5 stars
originally published by Solaris, reprint by Rebellion Publishing

Chris Beckett is quoted on the cover of this book as saying: "A real feat of the imagination... unlike anything I've read before."

And he's not wrong!

I almost missed this one because as you'll be aware there have been a few 'London' fantasy novels about recently. And if you've read one, or two, you could be forgiven for thinking why read more.

Well...

Captain Jim Wedderburn isn't so much an outrageously lovable rogue as a thorough-going rogue who manages to deceive even himself into seeing him as lovable, and even a leader. The result: he strides through the book as if he owns it and everything in it, supported by a host of other vivid characters.

But the real star of this novel has to be the setting. The world building here is amazing; bizarre, sometimes totally crazy, yet entirely credible.

So as I said at the start, I almost missed this book - but I'm really glad I didn't. It will stick in my mind for a long time. Not to be missed!

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