Here we go again. Another novel in the new genre, “Video Game Plot.” This one in spades.
This story is set in a dystopian steam-punk world where all the rules are broken, including most of the rules of novel writing. Violina and her sidekick, Lux, roar through the ruins of a destroyed planet, finding, using, and discarding exotic weaponry, giving and receiving pain and punishment and delving into the past and the future on an increasing spiral of death and destruction in a mad quest to destroy an alien artifact that (maybe) has caused the Third Fall of Man. Or is it the Fourth? In the meantime, they take a break from their world-saving quest, forget their serious injuries and take a couple of steam-powered, track-equipped motorcycles for a race across the broken landscape, tossing their insouciant quips back and forth, laughing in the face of danger.
After a while the twists, turns and time jumps of the plot and the various versions of the three villains become too complicated, and we can only accept the ending once we are told that it is time to get off the bus. After all, it’s not the destination, it’s the ride that counts.
I only wish McAllister had made the effort to find an editor; the constant twists of tortured syntax grate after a while.
Recommended for fans of video games. Definitely not for aficionados of “real” writing.
(4 / 5)