2010 SF/fantasy, sequel to Soul Purpose. Alan Reece has coped with
his experiences as the Conduit, a link between this universe and the
space outside it, by trying to ignore them. Unfortunately there are
things out there that aren't going to ignore him.
Disclaimer: Nick is a friend; we game together and co-host a film
podcast. I did not pay for this book. He knows I'm going to give it an
honest review.
While I can see that Alan is conceived as a reluctant hero, I felt that
keeping him reluctant undermined him somewhat; towards the end of
Soul Purpose he overcame his reluctance to be actually heroic, and
to drop him back into his previous attitude of hoping the world's
problems will go away is to undo the character growth that he
experienced then. Indeed, this is much more of a series entry: a
problem arises, it's dealt with, but it feels as though the principals
end up pretty much back where they started.
Which is a shame, because the actual business at hand is solid: after
some gathering tension, Alan and Kate find themselves separately
projected to late-Roman Vercovicium, a fort on Hadrian's Wall, in the
bodies of people there at the time. (When one of the people they meet
is called Lucius Artorius, I thought I knew how this was going to go,
but apparently not – thank goodness.) There's plenty of research on
the period, some of which is infodumpingly heavy-handed, but the
process of our heroes finding out about it is significant to the plot
so fair enough – and it's done with care, including a neat demolition
of "time-traveller brings miraculous knowledge from the future". There
is of course an enemy here, and while the immediate plot involves
their killing someone to mess up the future, the reason is a bit
more interesting than the usual "they become important and influential
later in their lives". (And the Ungodly have sensible reasons not only
for doing the thing but for taking a particular approach in the way
they do it.)
There's some potentially powerful material about how it feels to
occupy the body (and acquire some of the memories and subconscious
attitudes) of a slave most of whose life has been unquestioning
obedience; unfortunately not much is done with it, because it's Kate
who gets that role and she's very much a secondary character this
time, really more an object of wist for Alan and an obstruction to the
plot through her new body's physical weakness than she is one of the
team.
At times the book feels as though it's trying to jump the tracks and
be part of a different series, or even a stand-alone story. The world
and character backgrounds from the first book aren't particularly
necessary for understanding this one, which is largely self-contained.
There's enjoyment to be had, certainly, but the process of getting
there sometimes feels quite clumsy.
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