Teaser

The souls of the dead are not lost, but have returned to haunt the living. Across the Confederation, the new reality shocks and disturbs. Yet where some see only terror, others sight opportunity . . .

Review

‘I don’t want to hear about Al Capone’s magical ghost penis anymore.’

I debated for a long time how to start this review, desperately searching for a way to come across as even remotely positive. In the end, I failed, and decided the best way to introduce this book was to give you all one of the thoughts I was having at around the hundred page mark. That sentence alone is a better summation of my thoughts than the rest of this review could possibly be. If you want something a little clearer, then it can be this: The Neutronium Alchemist is, by far, the worst book I have read this year.

If you’re a regular reader of my blog, you’ll know I have no problem writing critical reviews, but also that if there is one thing I am positive about, it’s my overall love of science fiction. Everywhere I go, in every book I read, I pick out a few things that I like. The whole point of At Boundary’s edge is to celebrate science fiction, not to denigrate it. Yet when it comes to this book, I’m not only clutching at straws, I’m struggling to find any straws at all.

Let’s try and do some analysis. This is the middle book of a massive trilogy, and as such it has no real build-up, and no sense of climax. It’s a stepping stone between other novels. the main thrust of the novel is concerned with humanity’s reaction to the existence of the afterlife. Now, if you’re thinking that would make for some deep philosophical debates, you’re of a similar mind to me. It’s just not what this book is interested in giving us. Instead we get Al Capone.

Yes, that Al Capone. The American gangster in al his hokey, stereotypical glory. Having gone mad from syphilis and lingered in tortuous limbo for a few hundred years, Al Capone is back, having possessed the body of a living man. Naturally, he decides to rebuild his criminal empire, only this time it’ll be bigger than ever. Also bigger than ever is his libido. Fortunately, he soon encounters a woman who is just as sexually rampant as he is, especially after learning that he has magic powers that give him unlimited potency in the bedroom. That Al sure is a wild one.

Actually, no. You know what? I’m not going to dignify that plotline with any more pages. I don’t come to science fiction for magical crazy ghost sex. If you do, more power to you. I’ll focus on other things.

Which is where I run into another problem. Once you strip away the monumentally stupid Capone plotline, there’s not a whole lot left to enjoy. The Reality Dysfunction was a messy, bloated book, but it had interested threads woven into it. Those threads are entirely absent here, frayed away to nothing. What’s left is just a sea of meaningless character interactions, scattered plot points, and the occasional reference to something I’m sure I’d be more interested in than whatever is happening on the pages I’ve been given.

I already own The Naked God. That is the sole reason I am continuing with this series, and even with that taken into account, it’s not a book I’ll be rushing to read. Right now, I am not getting the fuss over Peter F. Hamilton’s work. Good science fiction should make you think. All I’m thinking is how much I hope The Naked God isn’t a reference to Al Capone.

Book Stats

• The Night’s Dawn Trilogy (#2)
• Published by Pan in 1997
• 1259 pages