3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Ulysses Quicksilver takes on Paris, 10 Oct 2011
This review is from: Red-Handed (Pax Britannia: Time's Arrow) (Kindle Edition)
I make no secret about the fact that the on-going Pax Britannia series published by Abaddon Books is a personal favourite of mine. I revelled in the first novel, Evolution Expects, and since then have avidly followed the steampunk flavoured exploits of the series titular hero, Ulysses Quicksilver. Recently the decision was made that the latest book in the series, Time's Arrow, would allow for the literary equivalent of audience participation. Check out the official announcement from Jonathan Green's blog below.
In the tradition of Charles Dickens himself, Abaddon Books will be publishing Time's Arrow in three ebook instalments. At the end of parts one (`Red-Handed') and two (`Black Swan') readers will be able to vote on how the adventure progresses via the Abaddon Books website. The entire text will then be published in a paperback edition in 2012.
Red-Handed is available now and I downloaded episode one of Time's Arrow this morning and read it over my lunch break. First impressions - I got exactly what I have come to expect from a Ulysses Quicksilver adventure. Lashings of derring-do, sprinkled with just the right amount of plot development to keep a reader hungry for more. You can't go wrong with any story that features cybernetic gorillas, insect obsessed anarchists and a dashing leading man who still manages to make the ladies swoon even when he is ocularly challenged. Green has written Ulysses into some increasingly tough situations of late and it looks as though this trend has no end in sight. I really like the fact that the author doesn't feel the urge to sugar coat things. His protagonist is consistently getting put through the emotional and physical ringer. It makes it that much easier to empathize with Quicksilver's plight as he is thrown around in time and space. I have to admit that all this non-stop action certainly does have a tendency to make one gasp or even take one's breath away.
Once again Jonathan Green has written something that is, most importantly, great fun to read. From character names that will raise a smile to knowingly reverential nods to classical literature it is always a delight to see just what is going to happen next. I always come away from a Pax Britannia novel feeling thoroughly entertained.
I would offer one word of advice - if you have never experienced the Pax Britannia universe before - check out the six books that have already been published first. Though Red-Handed is reasonably serviceable as a starting off point, the prologue may confuse the uninitiated a little, I guarantee that you will get so much more if you engage in the series as a whole.
Form a technical standpoint it feels like Pax Britannia has finally come home. Quicksilver's adventures have always felt episodic in nature so it feels only natural to read them in this format. As eReaders are only going to continue to grow in popularity (I'll be getting my hands on a Kindle Fire as soon as is humanly possible) it is great to see that publishers, like Abaddon Books, are taking these developments in technology into account when producing content. Kudos to Mr Green for his writing and the team at Abaddon for their tech wizardry. You all continue to do Mr U. Quicksilver Esq proud.
The second installment of Time's Arrow, Black Swan, will be available soon and because I've purchased Red Handed I'll get to include my vote on what happens next!
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0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Times Arrow falls far short of its mark - less than half a read, 15 Dec 2011
This review is from: Red-Handed (Pax Britannia: Time's Arrow) (Kindle Edition)
I truly wish I had swallowed some of the previous reviewer's 'Happy Pills' before reading this book...
As a huge fan of the Pax Britannia series, I bought this eagerly, hardly able to await the return of the venerable Ulysses Quicksilver and enjoy another amazing adventure. I am afraid to say that what I got, while enjoyable enough, was barely even half such an adventure.
It really is incredibly lightweight, by contrast with EVERY other book in the series. The new story, I would wager, does not even take up half the book, and, instead, numerous pages are composed of rehash and repetition of the previous novels plot. This was tiresome and boring and - personally - ill-conceived and a betrayal of those fans of the series not willing to wait for the compendium edition of the intended "Times Arrow" trio of 'novels'. This is the REAL problem here. If the next two are written anything like this one, they could trim out the endless flashbacks (for "flashback" substitute "reprint of entire chapters"!!) and, perhaps, come up with one decently sized novel between them. But not as a stand-alone. To explain I must first announce...
****************SPOILER ALERT*****************
Quicksilver basically climbs out a window, is pursued briefly across the rooftops by Police, which culminates in his fleetingly (and I mean blink and you miss it!!) fights the cyber-gorilla, falls into a brothel and promptly unconscious. We are introduced to three new characters... fleetingly. The great detective Dupin features twice, and each time for only a few pages. There is an "intermission" with the mysterious "Papillon/Phantom" terrorist-cum-anarchist and Dr Moreau (again, several pages), then Quicksilver emerges from his sickbed and sets out on the trail of the murdering ape. And then... it's over. Yup, that is IT. Oh, apart from the "flashbacks", which are included throughout and explained away as part of the old time-travel schtick, or where our monocular hero is reminiscing how he came to be where he is now... or then... or whatever.
****************SPOILER OVER******************
Lazy writing. Lazy, lazy, lazy.
I actually thought my Kindle had downloaded the book incorrectly, and deleted and re-loaded it in the hope.... nope. That's AAAALLLLLLL you get.
To pad out a "novel" in such a fashion is nothing short of insulting to the intelligence.
I mean, the plot, as outlined above, is barely as long as the Dinosaur stampede and chase of one of the early novels, which only comprised a part of that splendid outing. How far Our Hero has fallen...
If the second of the trio is as thin, story-wise, as this one, sadly I shall not be buying the third, as it will then be evident that - on the evidence of this outing - "Times Arrow" falls far, far short of its mark .
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