|
THE
MALICE BOX
by Martin Langfield
Published by Penguin Books Ltd
1 February 2007
Click
to
buy
The
Malice
Box
|
|
Review,
written by Phil
McDonald
'A
all-knowing eye - beautiful,
pititless, irresistible - stared
into Robert's soul. He fought to
control his breathing, to
transform his fear.' Thus begins
Martin Langfield's 'The Malice
Box' in mysterious fashion.
In brief summary, Langfield's
supernatural adventure tells of a
normal man, Robert Reckliss, who
must embark on a quest to save
the World in modern day New York.
As you would expect in an
adventure, he has a couple of
mysterious helpers along the way,
not least his old University pal,
Adam, who remains an enigma
throughout the book, his wife
Katherine, and Adam's blind
girlfriend, who seems to
understand everything going on,
even though she can't explain it
or do anything about it.
The author manages to interweave
fantasy with a modern twist of
adventure, by creating a
structured plot. Robert can only
save the World by successfully
completing 7 trials - Trial by
Earth, Water, Fire, Air, Ether,
Mind and Spirit. After each of
these, he feels an inner
transformation, almost like a
step on the way to being
'complete' and able to take on
the arcane force of evil
threatening to destroy the
World.
Langfield creates a digital
aspect unlike any other in his
novel, with communication,
instruction and consequence all
being relayed between parties via
a special device called a Quad,
which contains GPS Waypoints that
lead Robert to his
destinations.
Confused? So was I. It's the type
of book where you just have to
trust the author, lose yourself
in the book, and forget all the
questions that continuously
circle around your head. Believe
me, there will be plenty of
those.
If one were to take a completely
critical viewpoint, most of the
occurrences in the book would be
as questionable as those in 'The
Hitchhiker's Guide to the
Galaxy', but one must not do
this. I found myself relaxing and
going along with the book.
Indeed, when I was interrupted
after almost half a day of
intensive reading, I was quite
irked, such is the captivating
script from Langfield's pen. He
really does have a way of writing
that makes the words melt into
your eyes - reading is
effortless.
I enjoyed this author's
intriguing tale, and am fully
prepared to take a deep breath
and dive in to another of his
books.
~
# ~
|
|
