2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Maul gets maulled, 1 Jun 2004
This review is from: Maul (Hardcover)
This novel had a well developed plan, with easily spotted stages of development. Although well constructed and well written with attachements to characters available, this really wasnt my own personal type of novel and as such for me was a struggle to read. However fans of the neogothic cyberpunk genre will love this novel as this tale weaves it magic and drags you screaming through the darkened world of a post apocolyptic future. With a world set in a Blade-Runner-esque future meeting the future of an Arthur Clarke world blending well together to give mankind a dark glimpse into its possible future.
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Extra Spooky With Sauce, 30 Jun 2004
By A Customer
This review is from: Maul (Hardcover)
I don't usually read much SF but was intruiged to buy this novel after seeing a billboard advert for it in a railway station of all places. The hype seduced me. 'Fiercely intelligent...' 'Needle-sharp...' 'Quite, quite brilliant...' Feeling not a little excited I bought the book. (The iconic lipstick-cum-catridge case sealed any last doubts on purchasing it.)
I didn't like it when the writer described the science in the book as 'pure fudge' in the Acknowledgements section at the beginning, seemed a bit of a disclaimer, but I started to read with high expectations intact.
The first two pages were quite deliberately shocking and then I was into the story. It is clever, disturbing, intruiging, challenging, funny, moving, and quite original. 'Extra spooky with sauce', as one of the chapter headings put it.
I think you will either love Tricia Sullivan's style or junk it. But I was reminded of the magic that can be displayed when a writer taps into something which is happening right now - mall culture, teenage agression, fashion, biotechnology, socio-political exploitations of many devious kinds, etc - and twists it into an intelligent, perceptive thriller.
For this is a thriller. Two story-lines building momentum.
I left the book feeling that - for once - I had not been cheated by any hype. That I had been enriched by the book.
I have said little about the actual content of the novel because I really think that readers should be able to experience the story 'blank', with out any 'spoilers'. An excellent SF novel.
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Original and cool...., 25 Jan 2004
This review is from: Maul (Hardcover)
This is a really fast paced book and the author used a very original concept for the story-line.
Basically its 2 books in one as there's 2 story-lines going at the same time. This makes it very interesting to read and keeps your attention - and you can't put the book down as you keep on wanting to know what happens in th other story-line as soon as you finish one chapter. It was the first time in ages that I couldn't put a book down once I started it, I read it all in one day.
The book is a good mix of sci-fi and fiction as we follow a bunch af teenages gangster girls during a shoot-out, as well as a Y-autistic male somewhere in the future in the 2 seperate story-lines.
Why only 4 stars - I sometimes got the impression that as a first novel this one is slightly over worked and occasionally tries too hard. But I look forward to more from Tricia Sullivan.
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