(Another level of narration is weaved throughout the story as is “translated” by an occasionally-felt editor who inserts gratuitous footnotes discussing translation difficulties. I beg your pardon, stone, in telling you these things” ) Stone takes the form of a meandering monologue, going from one thing to another and embedding levels of flashbacks in a complex narrative.

(“I am a bad man, I’ve done some bad things. Stone may not be a classic for the ages, but it’s thoroughly satisfying and that’s more than what we usually get.Īdams takes interesting risks in telling the story through our murderer/investigator itself, a narrator of dubious gender (having been both) and variable morality. Throw in some fancy quantum mechanics, plenty of exotic planetary environments, an easy familiarity with the tools of SF as well as some gratuitously pedantic quirks, and it’s easy to see that Roberts is a true professional with a deep understanding of the genre. But as our anti-hero progresses toward his goal, he becomes fascinated by a very simple question: Who hired him? And why are they so intent on mass murder? Chapters later, he escapes thanks to mysterious patrons who only ask for one trifling favour in return: Kill the entire population of a certain planet. The back-cover blurb certainly promises a heck of a ride: In a future where humanity lives comfortably in a galaxy made habitable by faster-than-light travel and nanotech (“dotTech”, as it’s called), the only murderer in the known universe is jailed within the core of a star.

After years of hesitations, I finally broke down and grabbed Stone, the most intriguing of Robert’s four novels so far. But up here in Canada, all it takes is a well-stocked chain bookstore or even a mega-discount bookstore and -hurrah-, Adam Roberts’ books can be carried home. Widely-acclaimed authors such as Richard Morgan, Alastair Reynolds or Jon Courtenay Grimwood are available overseas years before American publishers deign to import their stuff.Īdam Roberts is one of those authors, a decent SF writer whose name barely raises a glimmer of recognition in America. In the Science Fiction field, this is a fairly big deal given how many of the best SF authors are not published on one or the other side of the Atlantic.

One of the many great things about living in Canada is that thanks to our dual imperialistic allegiances, we have access to both American and British literary output.

The this adam roberts review