Review: Anthracite, by Matt Thomas

Blurb

Deadbeat Kevin Jones finds himself kidnapped to an alternative reality where Wales is the single global superpower. Abducted from his mundane existence by the mysterious Gwen, she tells him there are forces seeking his destruction – he has to run or die. It turns out Kevin’s story holds the key to why all worlds but ours turn out the way they do – Pax Cambria.

Featuring a host of mysterious characters, cheese-on-toast based fast food, altright druids and the deadly all-knowing Taffia, Anthracite begins the battle to address the woeful lack of Welsh themed comedy cyberpunk. The fearsome Jones-Corporation might run the world but they have a dirty little secret they don’t want to get out. Swansea has never looked more like near-future LA. It’s already got the rain.

My Review

Thanks to Anne for organising the blog tour and to the author and publisher for my copy of this book. You made a big claim with this book, I want to see if you really can hold up to Sir Terry Pratchett or Douglas Adams.

The Rosie Synopsis

Kevin Jones is a useless lump from a family of petty criminals who couldn’t manage to graduate from art school. One day he’s kidnapped by Gwen, a super soldier from another universe. In her world, Kevin’s grandfather invents a drive that put oil out of business and changes the world. In every world except Kevin’s, Wales is a superpower and the Jones family are multi-billionaires. Kevin is inept, lacks self-awareness or any sort of direction in life.

Yes, he’s a proper Kevin.

The Good

The story is amusing, in some ways. Gwen is a fabulous character, with a complex and interesting back story. Kevin is ridiculous. I enjoyed the worlds they travel through, which are well-developed and colourfully described. I liked the way the different paths across the multiverse are described too, and the effect of travelling between universes is very evocative.

The Not-So-Good

The ineptness of Kevin and his confusion about events would be funnier if everything else was played straight, but they aren’t. The author tries too hard to be funny. No where near the skill of Douglas Adams and PTerry, sorry.

---

AUTHOR DETAILS

Matt Thomas grew up in Port Talbot, South Wales. He worked for 15 years in
the computer games industry all of the UK and now runs a successful computer graphics business.
He’s the author of two previous books, Before and After (1999) and Terror Firma (2001), both published by Harper Collins/Voyager. His work has been compared to the likes of Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett. Anthracite is his first new fiction in 18 years. He now lives in Berkshire with his wife and three sons, a cat and a dog. No sheep.