Customer Reviews

Only Forward

5 star:		(36)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Found this book at a used book store. It's the Britishversion, with the funky black cover, and the only things on it werethe title and the phrase "May we introduce Stark. Oh, and by the way, good luck...." I flipped it open to skim the first couple pages and it hooked me. I was laughing in the store. I had to buy it. It didn't disappoint me. It was a convoluted book, alternately funny, nasty, and tragic, with a cast of characters that constantly surprised me, and a flurry of intriguing new concepts. The one that sticks out most for me was this: "The reason that it seems to take less time to return from a place than it was to get there in the first place, is because the way back is actually shorter".

The second time I read it, the comedy wasn't as sharp, which was fine, because it made the real story, the tragedy, stand out all the more.

I'm not doing this book justice at all. I can't. Buy it, borrow it, do anything to wrap your hands around it. And read it. And read it again. I'm going to.

So, you start reading this book with your Douglas Adams head on. At least, I did. it's a bit sci-fi, you see, but with comedy asides. It's not until you get about halfway through that you realise you actually care about the characters in a way that you wouldn't normally, it they were only there for comedic effect. As soon as this happens, you will find yourself unable to put this book down, as it gives the most accurate description of dreaming that i have ever read. This book lulls you into a false sense of security, but don't be fooled, it has very dark moments. Also, as the book is written in first person, as soon as you have a plot premonition, you are admonished by Stark, the main character, for missing the bigger picture. Fantastic book, great author. Read all his stuff. ("Spares" next, if i were you)

What a fascinating book.

I'm giving this one a good review because I thought that elements of only forward were greater than the sum of it's parts. As a collective, the novel really doesn't hold together all that well but when you examine it's finer pieces there are some really beautiful things at play here.

I picked up Only Forward because I am presently going back and reading all the Philip K Dick award winners. For those of you who don't know, the award is given each year for the best annual sci-fi novel that did not receive a hard cover publication. Dick never received a hardcover publication in his lifetime which was why the award was created. I've read some phenomenal books as a result, including one of my favorites 'Altered Carbon' by Richard K Morgan. Altered Carbon is brutal, hard-boiled, and very conventional cyberpunk and I think that when Michael Marshall Smith gave some of the readers who left bad reviews here a taste of something similar they fully expected him to run in that direction.

Instead, at almost exactly the halfway point, Only Forward slips right off the deep end. All of the conventional worlds and detail that Smith has established are eliminated and it's almost as though we start completely from scratch again. It's quite a leap of faith he makes with his readers to expect them to come along for the ride and I have to admit I found the next 75 or so pages to be a little bit of drudgery.

Eventually he started to reel me back in with characters and backstory that I found extremely compelling. Perhaps I was in just the right mood for it but the ending was a perfect pitch of sadness and satisfaction, despite the fact that (due to the unreliable narrator) Smith jammed a TON of exposition into the last 50 pages.

So I suppose I was finally able to suspend my disbelief enough to let the themes play out and just come along for the ride, though I can understand enough why some readers just couldn't. Upon reflection I found that the sci-fi aspects of the book were actually pretty conventional and cliche, almost satirically so. It's the plunge and what follows after which was really unique and satisfying.

There is a lot here that DOESN'T work though. While I found the Douglass Adams-y aspects of the writing entertaining (the bug finder made me laugh out loud), eventually they just dissapear and also it just DIDN'T fit together with the brutal and hard boiled aspects of the first half. To go from humorous jokes about the main characters shirt to women defecating on each other (an isolated element here but still) was just too much of a stretch for me. Also some of the material suffers because Smith just attempts to do too many things at once and it becomes unclear exactly WHAT he's shooting for. If the cyperpunk-ish city is meant as sci-fi than aspects of it (the cat city) need a clearer explanation for their existence than what he gives. If the incidental to what he was really trying to accomplish than (in my own limited opinion of course) he shouldn't have spent SO much time establishing it's rules.

If this all sounds vague and unclear than you have some idea of what it was like to read the second half of the novel.

Either way I found each of the individual elements of the story interesting individually even if they weren't cohesive. There were moments that I found Michael Marshall Smith actually managed capture horror in a way that you're conventional blood drenechd "horror" novels can only stab at (pun intended.) There are nightmares here that left me a little sick and uneasy as though they'd been my own. Parts of it are really funny. And some of it is really exciting. If you can get past the fact that it is inconsistent and just take the story as it evolves you may just have a good time.

This is my favorite novel because it is so beautifully sad. I can't explain how this sadness is conveyed, however, so I will just point out its other merits. It is narrated by a character who, the reader gradually discovers, cannot be trusted. The meaning of entire portions of the novel is flip-flopped several times in light of previously withheld information suddenly dispensed by the protagonist. His story is too painful to him to tell all at once, and the consequences of this fact are manifested in the plot itself as its events steadily grow more bizarre and grotesque. Leaving aside the amusement provided by this post-modern presentation, there is the lure of a surreal anarcho-capitalistic setting and writing which can convincingly move to being funny, to horrifying, to just plain depressing. Saying any more might spoil the many surprises. A completely original book.

The first half of _Only Forward_ was one the most engrossing pieces of science fiction I've read in many years. Unfortunately, Smith wasn't able to keep up the pace -- and I found the second half of the novel be extremely disappointing.

[WARNING, plot spoiler follows] Smith's world of the Neighborhoods is a wonderfully compelling place, but I found his excursion into the dream worlds (Jeamland) was rather uninteresting in comparison. IMHO _Only Forward_ would have been a stronger novel if he had resoloved the plot using only the framework (characters, principals, geography) of the Neighborhoods. Likewise, he could have written a separate novel solely based on the premises of his Jeamland without the need of creating the world of the Neighborhoods.

I look forward to reading the other novels of Michael Marshall Smith, though. He's the most original voice in science fiction that I've come across in years.

Gripping from the first page, this classy and unique combination of speculative fiction, adventure, and thriller will keep the reader's attention. Some of the author's ideas and insights are extremely thought-provoking. I originally took this book out of the library -- I enjoyed it enough that I ordered a copy for my personal library, and sent one on to a friend. Read _Spares_ next -- very good, very disturbing, and very different from _Only Forward_.

First off let me clarify one thing: This book is both science fiction and fantasy. If you're a fantasy fan, you probably won't have any trouble with this book. The sci-fi portions of it are quite creative and not at all hard. If your a science fiction fan, though, tread carefully! The last half of this book requires some serious suspension of disbelief.

Now, as for my opinion of the story, I have to say it was a bit of a rollercoaster ride for me. At first it was a little hard to get into, because Smith applies a bit of quirky British humor in spots, and though I usually enjoy that it doesn't quite work for me here. However, once I came to terms with this, the first half of the book was really great. I enjoyed the action, the characters and The City - and the action! Then, in the second half, it took a nose dive. Frankly, I found the whole notion of Jeamland cheesy and unpalatable. And I like cheese! *Ahem* Anyway, by the final fifty pages or so, things seem to get more or less back on track, and the ending had me flipping pages as fast as I could.

In summary, parts of this book deserve two stars and parts of it deserve four, so overall I have to rate it a three. Would I recommend this one? Not unless I knew your tastes well enough to think you'd like Jeamland more than I did.

I must say- this book is absolutely fabulous. It was very unexpected, and I envy Mr. Marshall his grasp of language and tone. I wish I could write like this! This fellow has got quite a grasp on life, and humor, and the way he gets it across is very unique. I loved this book so much, I plan to take it away to college with me. This book is like the tangible world of my imagination--- I wish I had a CloazValet....

I stumbled upon this on accident and was hooked by the first 10 pages (thank you amazon reader!). The book begins very humorously, but there is a deep, twisted storyline that comes out. The cast of characters are memorable and well-constructed, and the voice of Stark is so refreshing you don't want to put it down.

Do whatever you can to pick this up! It's a quick read and one of the best sci-fi books I've read.

Ok, its been 10 years or so since I read this first, and possibly only The Road by Cormac McCarthy had a more lasting effect on me after the first read, I knew I had just read something quite extraordinary. Then funnily enough, events in my life went on to mirror those in the book, which I didnt realise until I read it again and it just tore the guts right out of me. Yes, there is plenty wrong with this book, its a book of 2 halves etc etc. But they fit to make a whole greater than the sum of those 2 parts. Ok, no, I didnt go to Jeamland, or the future, but ultimately this is a book about love. he also loves his set pieces as well, you are reading a beautiful passage about the nature of love and loss (you know the one) and a little mental scroller is going though your mind like the one in Waynes World where it says "Oscar Scene" or something like that, but never the less, it is beautifuly realised and these passages articulate beautifully what sometimes you cant when your heart has been broken. Hmm. I lapped up MMS's other stuff, Spares, One of Us etc, and the like and good though they are, its just MMS re-writing Only Forward. That doesnt take away from the brilliance of this book though. I am wanting to read it again as I speak and I know its in a box in the shed, damn.