There’s nothing traditional about The Charmed Life of Alex Moore. We join Alex at a press event, as she attempts to hold herself together surrounded by extreme pressures of being a CEO of a suddenly successful start-up.
The Blurb
How would you feel if everything in your life suddenly started to go . . . right? Six months ago, Alex Moore was stuck in a dead-end job, feeling her potential quietly slip away. Then, seemingly overnight, she launched her dream start-up and became one of London’s fastest rising tech stars. At thirty-one, her life has just begun. But Alex’s transformation isn’t easy for those around her. Her friends are struggling to accept her rapid success, her parents worry she’s burning out and her fiancé is getting cold feet.
Then weird things start to happen. Muggings, stalkers – even a wild claim that she murdered a stranger. But when Alex visits the Orkney Islands to recharge, weird turns into WTF. Because there she discovers the world’s oldest secret – and it’s a secret that Alex’s stratospheric rise has royally messed up.
Full of heart and humour, The Charmed Life of Alex Moore by Molly Flatt is a very modern adventure with a most unexpected twist.
Flatt captures the mental and work-life balances excellently within Alex’s perspective. The strange and unusual crawls out of reality and Alex is so focused on her work that she unable to see how her chosen career is alienating those closest to her.
Flatt establishes this reality so well, there is very little of the expected genre signifiers to reassure. Readers who are familiar with millennial approaches , pressures and demands or office management are more likely to connect with this tale. Die hard genre fans might struggle to get to the magic, but hold out until Orkney before you make judgement. Here Alex’s conflicts begin to pile up, and the science fiction aspect of the novel makes its presence felt.
Flatt’s capable writing and evocative characterisation comes as no surprise if you take into account her editor roles elsewhere. Yet this book isn’t for everyone. The Charmed Life of Alex Moore goes so far as to hint at that with the cover. But, haven’t you learned already? Don’t judge a book by the jacket. The Charmed Life of Alex Moore is a book I would happily recommend to friends who “don’t do science fiction”. With that in mind I am wary that I am reviewing it for fans who will find issues when they compare it to their much loved authors. Which is why my review is delayed.
Yes I would have like to have had recognisable tropes to reassure me in those early chapters, I would have liked a breather in certain places, and maybe less vomiting? For me, what Flatt achieves with The Charmed Life Of Alex Moore is that elusive crossover fiction. The author knew what she wanted to create. Something new and different, ignoring conventions. Something speculative and modern that friends could talk about. This she has most certainly done so, and probably paved the way for many more like it.
Review copy courtesy of the publisher
© Shellie Horst – SFFWorld.com May 2018
Author Site: http://www.mollyflatt.com/
Twitter: @mollyflatt
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
Published: May 2018
Availability: Hardback, Kindle, Kobo
