Derek Lawrie

I quite enjoyed this, but I can see it wouldn't be for everyone.

If you are at all geeky then the sideplot of the network building from trash into some socialist utopian ideal of how everyone should get the internet fix will entertain. The main plot about the only seemingly normal(ish) member of a family who've left home is well, quite odd. His father is a mountain and his mother is a washing machine. One of his brothers is a psychic, one is an island and three others are like Russian dolls fitting inside each other. The last one is a psychopath who has already been killed once.

Writing that down it seems even more weird than it actually is but there go.

Nothing groundbreaking (hence three stars) but still very enjoyable, and contrary to what several others are saying in reviews here, it's not that convoluted.

Enjoyable but it was never going to live up to the first book and does feel like a rehash of that novel. It has made me listen to a lot of Prince in the last day though.

I remember being into Laymon's work back in the late 80s, had this one just sat there since it was published and picked it up on a whim, maybe shouldn't have bothered.

Large elements of the plot (well all really) are so massively implausible that I almost couldn't believe that's what was actually happening. It's easy enough to read without being simplistic, but his views on women and sex in general, whilst dated for the time feel very out of date now.

I realise this was published after his death, and there is something about this that feels like it wasn't completely finished. About halfway through the chapters seemed to drop to 1 or 2 pages more often than not, almost like they hadn't been fleshed out?

Anyway, I'd only bother with this if you are a Laymon completist.

As has been pointed out elsewhere the character development leaves a little to be desired, but loved the plot and the hard science of it just ramps up as the books goes on.