Submitted by Edward Peters 
(Jun 02, 2009)I discovered this book through some viral advertising. A friend of a friend of a friend forwarded me the details. This is Mr. Wainwright's first book and it seems to be a good start to a writing career. The authors written English sometimes leaves something to be desired but it is written very much from the heart and streets of England. There is something honest in the work which looks past the weaknesses in grammar.
This book delves into a comedic sci-fi world inspired by help desks and computer support and traces the story of the head of a company as he wrestles with hostile take-overs from within and how God wants everything to turn out. The story travels the pages in an odd fashion; jumping from glorious descriptive passages and joyfully detailed characterisation one minute to fast paced dialogue and laser battles the next. Whilst the structure has its haphazard moments it does work surprisingly well. One moment we are in wonderfully Milliganesque nonsense the next a kind of Douglas Adams techno-babble. All explained in thoughtful passages.
Somehow though whilst the author undoubtedly nods clearly towards Adams and perhaps noticeably towards Spike Milligan he does not rip off either style but has tried to plant his own flag in its dark comedic world. Worth noting are the references to Star Wars and Star Trek in here as well.
The author spends a few moments at the end of the book suggesting the possibility of a follow up novel. I suspect that he may have placed a very high bar for himself but not insurmountable. It would be interesting to see where this goes. I've given him 4 stars as 3.5 wasn't available as an option. This is worth more than a 3 but not quite a 4, so benefit of the doubt there.
| 
(4 ratings)