The Traveler
January 6th, 2008by John Twelve Hawks
ISBN: 030727859X
I tend not to read big fat mass market paperbacks, and I admit it is because I expect them to suck. Well, I expect I won’t be interested in them… because they suck. There are undoubtedly more exceptions (mass market books that really rock) than I’m willing grant — I know this book is one of them. I zipped through the nearly five hundred pages, utterly absorbed in the story.
It figures it’s “Book One of The Fourth Realm” because if you’ve got a good hook, why not do it as a series? Why not spin your paranoid, quasi-religious, anti-The Man, secret society story over several volumes? Presumably fans will snap up the next installment in hardcover, you leave yourself plenty of room to answer the questions you raise, and you probably feel even more like you are writing something vast and sweeping — a monumental work.
Sorry, I just hate that I got sucked in on book one. I mean, what if Twelve Hawks never finishes the series? What if the later books suck? What if he turns out to be some dork (as this is obviously a pseudonym)? The truth is, that doesn’t really matter. Take elements of 1984, Brave New World, The Matrix, throw in some ancient warrior and spirit guide caste stuff, stir with romantic transgression, sprinkle with hope for the future, serve and of course people will eat it up. I found it damn tasty.
Highly recommended, even if you generally have a thing against mass market paperbacks like I do. (I shouldn’t, I know, they are affordable and highly portable and I do know better than judging a book by its cover. But…)
