Matt McAvoy Book Review

This is a book which is full of surprises, and doesn’t ultimately really go in the direction I thought it might.  For the most part, it’s actually pretty fun, and overall I enjoyed it quite a bit more than I thought I would.  In other ways, though, it perhaps irritated a touch, though I would say not really enough to put me off reading the now obviously inevitable sequel.  Sorry, I don’t want to spoil, but this point does bring me quite clearly to what was by far my biggest bug-bear with the book – and indeed with any book: prepare yourself for an abrupt ending – and I mean abrupt as in totally without any hint it was coming.  You now have fair warning, and therefore hopefully won’t find yourself as infuriated as I was at the end.  So, that little tantrum aside, I can get on with the review.

This is pure sci-fi, yet the storyline is more one of criminals, pirates and gangsters, with even arguably some Wild West themes chucked in there; think the Han Solo/Jabba/Boba Fett narrative in Star Wars, and you have some idea.  It is sharp and witty, with some pretty amusing humour throughout.  I wonder if this comedy is laid on a little too thick at times, and some of the characters, who should have been among the most interesting, reduced to farce or parody – specifically Nan, and certainly no less so than Stitch, who seems to transition from pure psychopath to sensitive teenager.  Don’t get me wrong, I liked these elements to an extent, and the humour was probably amongst the book’s biggest strengths, but perhaps it was laid on a little too thick, and Stitch’s arc in particular undermined some of the book’s credibility.  That said, the book is still pretty violent at times – quite surprisingly so, in fact.  Perhaps some might expect it to take itself a bit more seriously, but then again this genre is saturated with books which take themselves too seriously, which is probably why I enjoyed Jonathan’s more than usual; I’m truly glad that it didn’t.  All in all, it kept me entertained, and I think in that respect the author has definitely achieved what he set out to.  If you like sci-fi fantasy with a difference, which tries to avoid the usual tropes and step outside the mould a little, I think you’ll like this one – just be prepared for the long haul and the necessity to invest in sequels, unlike I was.