John Twelve Hawks

A big let down for me. I loved the Traveler and was really looking forward to this but it really didn't read like the climax of a trilogy -especially one that ha taken so long to be published. I have been reading a lot of epic fantasy recently and perhaps I was expecting too much for a contemporary thriller like this but there was no real progression of plot or characters from previous novels.

I have been patiently waiting for for a big climax and loads of travelling between the various realms but we barely spend any time there (again perhaps I am looking for the extensive world building from the fantasy epics I have become used to).

This really should have been the climax to book one and have moved forward from the point the true battle with the Bretheren begins.

This installment also seemed to be missing the trademark matrix style hand to hand combat scenes that were another reasons I loved the Traveler. You could argue he series has moved on emotionally from that to explore the deeper themes of the vast machine and the compromise of personal freedoms but that is not really explored any more deeply. There was also the opportunity to reinforce the osmosis of the cultures of the other realms into our own and whilst some references are made to the origins of some legendary creatures these could have been done much more subtly and pervasively - again to accentuate the depth and breadth of the influence of the other realms.

For a modern thriller about surveillance culture and the "vast machine" Dean Koontz's Dark River does a better job and for that matter so does the Will Smith Film Enemy of the State.

For the theme of travelling between different versions of out world/alternative reality/different "realms" etc see Stephen King's Dark Tower series, The Talisman - also King with Peter Straub and ultimately Clive Barker's mind blowing Imajica.

In short this read like the "trailer to the golden city but was unfortunately all we have been given.Disappointing.… (altro)

(2005)Sci-Fi. Travelers can go over to another realm (dimension) and are protected by Harlequins. However the world is controlled by the Vast Machine and Travelers are dangerous. Gabriel & Michael Corrigan are among the last of the Travelers and Harlequin Maya tries to find them so that she can protect them from harm. Very good paranoid novel by an anonymous author which reflects his fear of being monitored and his privacy being destroyed by the various methods of surveillance and security in place. First of a trilogy The Fourth Realm.(PW)Twelve Hawks's much anticipated novel is powerful, mainstream fiction built on a foundation of cutting-edge technology laced with fantasy and the chilling specter of an all-too-possible social and political reality. The time is roughly the present, and the U.S. is part of the Vast Machine, a society overseen by the Tabula, a secret organization bent on establishing a perfectly controlled populace. Allied against the Tabula are the Travelers and their sword-carrying protectors, the Harlequins. The Travelers, now almost extinct, can project their spirit into other worlds where they receive wisdom to bring back to earth¥wisdom that threatens the Tabula's power. Maya, a reluctant Harlequin, finds herself compelled to protect two na?ve Travelers, Michael and Gabriel Corrigan. Michael dabbles in shady real estate deals, while Gabriel prefers to live "off the Grid," eschewing any documentationÂ¥credit cards, bank accountsÂ¥that the Vast Machine could use to track him. Because the Tabula has engineered a way to use the Travelers for its own purposes, Maya must not only keep the brothers alive, but out of the hands of these evil puppet-masters. She succeeds, but she also fails, and therein lies the tale. By the end of this exciting volume, the first in a trilogy, the stage is set for a world-rending clash between good and evil.… (altro)

Somewhat unsatisfying conclusion to the trilogy. 80% of the plotlines are unfinished and I really wonder what happened there. Also, the potential of the mythology hasn't really been used, instead the book just focuses on it's vast array of present-realm plotlines and places. The characters hop around the world so much that it's really hard to keep track of.

Though it's disappointing as a final volume, it's probably still an interesting trilogy for fans of human rights, privacy and 1984/Big Brother paranoiacs.… (altro)