- Paperback: 384 pages
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0007349718
- ISBN-13: 978-0007349715
- Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.8 x 3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 699,414 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Edge (A Josh Cumberland Novel)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Review
“John Meaney is a spectacular writer. He makes SF seem all fresh and new again.”
- Robert J Sawyer
“John Meaney has rewired SF. Everything is different now.”
- Stephen Baxter
“Meaney is one of the best authors of hard SF in the world…”
– SFX
“…one of British science fiction’s most original and exciting practitioners.”
– Barnes & Noble
“Dark Blood is highly entertaining, more action driven and seasoned with splatters of the titular liquid.”
- Andrew Osbourne, SFX
“Is it good? Of course it is. Meaney is one of the best authors of hard SF in the world at the moment, and he doesn't put a foot wrong here.”
- SFX, reviewing Resolution
Product Description
You thought Big Brother was tough? Try Knife Edge – the reality TV show where wannabe knife fighters are the celebrities in a nation going to hell.
Britain, tomorrow. The ultimate response to knife crime has been instituted by a bankrupt government: duelling with knives has now been legalised. On Saturday nights, the nation sit down to watch the countries best fighters slash it out on prime time.
When a young boy with hoplophobia (the fear of weaponry) runs away from home, his father hires a former special forces agent to find him. With the help of the boy’s psychiatrist, Josh Cumberland delves into the dark underbelly of the knife culture that has infected his country with no guarantee that the boy is even still alive…
FILE UNDER: Future Thriller [Reality TV/ Slashed jugulars / Apocalyptic weather / Save the children]
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a heart-slammer of a book. I don't know of anyone doing anything quite like it, especially not with this degree of skill. Thomas Blackthorne is, I hope, about to become a very well-known writer if his ability to combine sf, politics, fighting, and matters of the human heart and mind into a well-knit whole is any indication. I'm looking forward with great anticipation to Josh Cumberland's next appearance in print.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I did enjoy this book to a certain extent, but it certainly has its failings. Parts of a near-future UK are well-realised and even the fixation with sword-fighting isn't as unbelievable as you might expect. Some of the tech is good as well. But the dialogue is fairly clunky and the characters act like 16 year olds and everyone is great friends except the baddies. I'd give 2.5 stars if possiblem but rounded up because it was a reasonable quick read on a plane. By the time the sequel comes out I'll probably remember fondly enough to buy it as well.
Format:Paperback
Fictional dystopian futures are often entertaining (for me, anyway) but they can be clichéd and predictable. Thomas Blackthorne's novel Edge probably doesn't quite qualify as fully dystopian but it is still a very compelling book detailing a Britain a few years from now in which life is going down the toilet for most of the population. You think people take TV like The X Factor seriously now? How about televised knife fights? How about a knife culture so ingrained in our society that almost everyone carries a blade and challenges to a fight literally mean life and death? If this sounds like your thing, you're in for a treat.
There are a couple of plotlines running through Edge. A teenage boy with an extreme phobia of knives has run away from his wealthy father after one session with a psychiatrist. Ex-military man Josh Cumberland is tasked with finding the boy while he attempts to come to terms with the failure of his marriage and a family member comatose in hospital. There's an upcoming General Election which looks like the incumbent PM staying in place despite the state of the country. And the US is one step away from civil war. Although it might sound as if there's too much going on to form a coherent story, these issues all work and come together to create a developed world. Not one I'd want to live in, but still one which might come to us if we're not careful.
My only complaint is with Cumberland's character. He's too much of a Jack Bauer/Jason Bourne for my taste. While those characters are entertaining, they're becoming a bit of a cliché. Thankfully, Blackthorne doesn't go into Lee Child territory and turn Cumberland into a Jack Reacher, but it's close on occasion.
Either way, Edge is definitely worth checking out and I'm looking forward to reading the sequel, Point.
There are a couple of plotlines running through Edge. A teenage boy with an extreme phobia of knives has run away from his wealthy father after one session with a psychiatrist. Ex-military man Josh Cumberland is tasked with finding the boy while he attempts to come to terms with the failure of his marriage and a family member comatose in hospital. There's an upcoming General Election which looks like the incumbent PM staying in place despite the state of the country. And the US is one step away from civil war. Although it might sound as if there's too much going on to form a coherent story, these issues all work and come together to create a developed world. Not one I'd want to live in, but still one which might come to us if we're not careful.
My only complaint is with Cumberland's character. He's too much of a Jack Bauer/Jason Bourne for my taste. While those characters are entertaining, they're becoming a bit of a cliché. Thankfully, Blackthorne doesn't go into Lee Child territory and turn Cumberland into a Jack Reacher, but it's close on occasion.
Either way, Edge is definitely worth checking out and I'm looking forward to reading the sequel, Point.
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