One Word Kill

I'm impressed. This is quite a different style of book to the usual fair that is associated with Mark Lawrence, but he carries it off with distinctive flair. The 80s geek culture vibe is strong and echos closely with some of my current interests (board games etc). I can definitely see the Stranger Things vibes running strongly through it and the time travel aspect is intelligently plotted taking into account the necessary paradoxes.

Underlying this is the story of a young man with cancer, which is very poignantly done. I lost my mother to cancer less than a year ago and can recognize some of the descriptions of the cancer wards and the numbness with which the disease gets to you and the people around you. The coming of age tale which accompanies it is nicely done. All in all Mark Lawrence takes his engaging style of prose and crafts a wonderful tale with tense drama, wit and a strong underlying sadness. I look forward to continuing the series!