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threemonkeysO frabjous day! Callooh! Callay! Paul McAuley is writing SF again. Cowboy Angels is proper SF with parallel dimensions, time travel and a mysterious alien device. When he was over in the thriller camp, he was still worth reading - he didn't forget how to write after all. But I need those elements of the "not here and now" to really hit the literary satisfaction spot.
It still has a lot of thriller elements - for example a lead character who is annoyingly special-forces superhuman. But as a character he is pretty well drawn. And the other elements that you pretty much always get in thriller writing like fast pacing and complicated plot told in a linear fashion are there too. But of course, they work in SF too - they are not mutually exclusive. A good fun read.
I should note that I have observed many times before that McAuley is a bit of a trend follower. He follows along from others who are opening new part of the field and does a really excellent job of executing in that field. This time he seems to be following Richard Morgan's work. A pretty good place to be.
Welcome back Paul.
It still has a lot of thriller elements - for example a lead character who is annoyingly special-forces superhuman. But as a character he is pretty well drawn. And the other elements that you pretty much always get in thriller writing like fast pacing and complicated plot told in a linear fashion are there too. But of course, they work in SF too - they are not mutually exclusive. A good fun read.
I should note that I have observed many times before that McAuley is a bit of a trend follower. He follows along from others who are opening new part of the field and does a really excellent job of executing in that field. This time he seems to be following Richard Morgan's work. A pretty good place to be.
Welcome back Paul.