this is the voice of re:mote induction.Wednesday, August 11, 2004
Spiral - Spiral is the first novel by young writer Andy Remic, who is apparently a teacher and martial artist, published by the science fiction publisher Orbit Books. Spiral is an anti-terrorist group, experts who have risen to fight for good in an increasingly hostile world. But from the prologue on, things are going bad for the organisation, as a series of their best operatives are picked off.
This leads us to the semi-retired Carter, one of the agencies best operatives, but one who is trying step away from his extremely violent past. However he quickly finds himself in the thick of things, persuaded to do one last job that goes horribly wrong, and finding assassins tracking him to his door. With this it looks like Spiral is spiralling in against itself, one arm convinced that the other is holding them back from living up to their real potential.
Coming up towards the 200 page mark, out of something like 500, I have to say I am struggling. Remic’s writing style is so overblown and exaggerated, reminding me most of the book by Baldacci which I read recently, only more so. Everything seems to be overwritten, creating an exaggerated and hyper melodramatic atmosphere. With the characters and situations becoming increasingly comic book, and even as someone who reads comic books I find this increasingly unconvincing and spoof like. Without really getting any sense that Remic is deliberately writing a spoof. The introduction of the villain of the piece in black robes, talking from the “obsidian depths” of his hood being one of the last straws.
Ironically, having read an extract from Spiral on the Orbit website I had a bad feeling about the book. Yet the basic idea of world wide under cover agencies, fighting a high tech war against terrorism does hold an appeal. Which is what swayed me enough to give it a go when I came across the book in my local library. But with plenty more to read, and becoming increasingly unconvinced that Spiral is worthwhile, I suspect I’m just going to call it a day at this stage.
This leads us to the semi-retired Carter, one of the agencies best operatives, but one who is trying step away from his extremely violent past. However he quickly finds himself in the thick of things, persuaded to do one last job that goes horribly wrong, and finding assassins tracking him to his door. With this it looks like Spiral is spiralling in against itself, one arm convinced that the other is holding them back from living up to their real potential.
Coming up towards the 200 page mark, out of something like 500, I have to say I am struggling. Remic’s writing style is so overblown and exaggerated, reminding me most of the book by Baldacci which I read recently, only more so. Everything seems to be overwritten, creating an exaggerated and hyper melodramatic atmosphere. With the characters and situations becoming increasingly comic book, and even as someone who reads comic books I find this increasingly unconvincing and spoof like. Without really getting any sense that Remic is deliberately writing a spoof. The introduction of the villain of the piece in black robes, talking from the “obsidian depths” of his hood being one of the last straws.
Ironically, having read an extract from Spiral on the Orbit website I had a bad feeling about the book. Yet the basic idea of world wide under cover agencies, fighting a high tech war against terrorism does hold an appeal. Which is what swayed me enough to give it a go when I came across the book in my local library. But with plenty more to read, and becoming increasingly unconvinced that Spiral is worthwhile, I suspect I’m just going to call it a day at this stage.
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