Desolation Road

I know this is an early work by Ian McDonald: yes, it is clever; yes, it is fearfully well written; yes, like the later Brasyl it has you hanging on breathlessly to see what happens next.

Is it good? Hmmmmm... too clever by half, one could say. A little too fond of its progression of the hour-and-minute reiterations of times that things happen, too in love with its own complexity and inner darknesses.

And MUCH too fond of getting rid of characters one had just started to like.

So: good, but flawed - and a useful signpost to the brilliance to come in maturity and age.