Chris James

Wow. This is probably one of the most intelligent books I have read.

I have to confess, that whilst the Kindle has led me down a number of previously unconsidered genre roads with very pleasing consequences—sci-fi in particular, I do remain a bear of very little scientific brain. And there’s a lot, quite a lot of science in this. I confess, I didn’t understand it all completely—it really is all very clever—but enough to thoroughly enjoy this very compelling novel.

Lucas Hunter is a dimension researcher. So what’s that? Well, simple: he researches dimensions. In a nutshell, he’s a time traveller working for The Second Internet Café exploring different dimensions (after divergence) in Reality One to bring back knowledge and information to the Café. (There are trillions of dimensions, by the way). He also has to save the 10-year project from a takeover by the Americans. Are you with me? No, I didn’t think so.

But don’t worry. This novel will have you with your finger firmly adhered to the click-button of your Kindle. You will be bumping into delightful words and phrases like matter de-confliction and quinvigintillion and inverted anti-neutralino. There’s a wonderful array of characters, from the greedy and ambitious to the dedicated and amiable. Lucas himself is very captivating—we don’t know that much about his physical attributes other than he is tall and dark-haired (who knows, he might even be handsome), but he is dedicated, focused, loyal, and has the odd moment of sincere tenderness (after all, he could have a girl in every dimension…)

This was an incredibly conceived, well thought-out and clever novel. The ‘science bit’ was complex, but what I liked about it, it wasn’t conveyed in a patronising or pompous way.

Sci-fi fans should put this at the top of their TBR. Outstanding.… (mais)

This is my second rendezvous with this author, my first with The Second Internet Cafe - Part 1 The Dimension Researcher. My opinion of him then was that he's an excellent and intelligent writer, one who can make you turn pages faster than you ever thought possible. Class Action was, in fact, his debut novel and my goodness, he certainly knew how to make an inaugural splash.

The story is set in a Warsaw courtroom. A man is in prison for the murder of a young woman, but it falls upon a young Polish litigator, Alex Moreyl, to prove that he committed the murder after seeing a violent film: that a powerful message during the film was relayed to the culprit, telling him to commit the crime. The proof? Advanced technology that enables every thought that’s ever entered a person’s head to be extracted and read. With convincing evidence from an expert in the field, the case looks as if it will be done and dusted in no time. But a catastrophic event throws Alex into a dangerous, ruthless, political battlefield between powerful entities, one in which he almost loses his life and those of his wife and family are in grave danger.

This is a futuristic thriller, brilliantly written. It’s original and clever; clever, because although the process of compulsory brain scanning is an almost unthinkable eventuality, the events of the political arena and dangers and threats of terrorism, however, are not so far removed from the present day. Technology, it seems, may advance in leaps and bounds, but nothing changes in politics or in the fight for supremacy between major states. This is a book that takes a glimpse into the future but touches base with present-day reality.

Action, intrigue, excitement, thrills, complexity, vision. This book has all those things.

Oh, and authorial genius.
… (mais)

Alchemy: turning silver to gold takes us on another trip to Victorian London, following the sensational hanging of Jacob Silver. This definitely needs to be read in conjunction with Alchemy: a story of perfect murder as it won’t make much sense as a stand-a-lone novel and it follows on directly from the first book.

Where the first Alchemy book was about the quest for immortality, this second book in the series examines whether immortality has actually been achieved, thanks to the elixir that Jacob gave to his friend Lizzie Weston. Lizzie emerges unscathed from some life-threatening events and she begins to believe she is immortal, all the while you feel that all of these strange happenings are being orchestrated by the legendary Nicolas Flamel.

Although Jacob doesn't appear until halfway through the book, Lizzie is a main character who had me enthralled. She has an air of the supernatural about her, having miraculously survived consumption and an explosion, and I felt she almost glowed from within the pages of this book.

I did really enjoy this but not as much as the first book as some parts were a bit too fantastical for my liking; I was okay with the chattering evil decapitated heads in jars but Lizzie's effect on them was a bit puzzling. Perhaps it will become clearer in the third book, for which I can't wait, thanks to the amazing cliffhanger at the end of this book. Chris James has certainly mastered the art of making the reader eager for more! As with the first book, I thought the spectacle of the trial was described brilliantly; the writing is so vivid that I felt I could have been sat in the public gallery myself.

As with the first book, there are some famous faces making an appearance in the story and this all adds to the authentic flavour of the book. Chris James has managed to completely immerse the reader in the Victorian era, although I did question whether the ‘f’ word was in use back then. I can see this being a series of books I will re-read over the years, they are very entertaining and I'm such a greedy reader as I'm already looking forward to the next one.

I received this e-book from Booklover Catlady Publicity in exchange for an honest review.… (mais)