Customer Reviews

The Woman Between The Worlds

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4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

It is London in the late 1800's when an invisible woman enters the tattoo parlor of the main character (who for some reason or another remains nameless).
This invisible woman calls herself Vanessa, and what she wants is a full body tattoo so that her woman form can be made visible. But is she really what she seems?

Vanessa is really a compassionate, shape shifting alien who has managed to get through a porthole in time and jump from her planet to planet earth. Her planet has been taken over by one who calls himself The DREADFUL EYE and now she is a wanted alien. Taking on the form of a human woman on Earth she wants the tattoo artist to render her form visible to human eyes so that she becomes almost invisible to alien eyes.

But tattooing Vanessa is not going to be an easy task, not while there is continuous battle to be done with the groups of invisible men who arrive on earth to bring her back.

Despite his intentions the main character finds himself falling in love while on the run with the alien woman he tattoos, and when she is captured he finds his way to her planet to get her back, and to do battle with The Dreadful Eye who has his sights on conquering planet Earth next.

With the help of Aleister Crowley, Sir William Crookes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, George Bernard Shaw, William Butler Yeats and others, the main character just might succeed. Set against the a backdrop of Victorian England and an alien planet, it's a fight to the finish for Vanessa...and for Earth.

I really enjoyed this book, it is definitely Science Fiction but the author has a lot of real places woven into the story, places in London England. MacIntyre's writing is smooth and perhaps the biggest surprise was that this book is pretty funny in some places. It's suspense and Sci-Fi mixed with a good dose of bitingly funny English humor. I highly recommend it.

Take the above three, mix in Victoriana and H.P. Lovecraft and you have this book. At times a shaggy tentacle story, at times a nineteenth century Who's Who, this tale is uneven but fun. Unlike your standard H.P. Lovecraft hero, our tattooist does not go mad no matter how often he is assaulted by undead horrors, shapeless invisible ghouls, or partial bodily possession (oh man that premise is taken to its obvious conclusion. I won't forget THAT mental image any time soon).
The alien Vanessa loves Earth but wants to save her home planet, an unwholesome grey place filled with large easily rolled stone spheres (and yes, one gets used just as one would hope it gets used. Most gratifying!)
Unexplained is how one DOES an opaque tattoo (all the ones I have seen are transparent); but what the hey. When you have invisible aliens staulking London and an immortal soul sucker who can animate anything that has once lived why make a fuss? You don't read this for the tattoo instructions anyway.
An added spice is lent when it is revealed Vanessa only eats freshly killed raw meat; (Vegetarians, pass on this one.)
A bit long and wordy but it IS a Victorian pastiche so that's what one gets; sumptuous descriptions of interiors, eccentric characters, and weird secret societies are what fill it up. Enjoy!

This book is based upon a wonderful premise, but is ultimately spoiled by the author's inaccurate characterizations.

While I agree that it *is* tempting to place historical characters in fictional setting, the author needs to do more homework on the characters themselves, particularly the timelines of their lives in the context of the stories therein.

This pertains particularly to the members of the Order of the Golden Dawn who appear as characters in this book, Crowley in particular. While I enjoyed the author's characterization of Aleister Crowley in this novel, the Crowley he describes is one at least a decade older than the 1898-1899 Victorian setting of the novel, and some of the incidents, mottos and names recounted by the Crowley character didn't take place for 15-20 years after the novel's setting. As a student of Magick for more than a quarter-century, I must take exception with these incongruities, for they ultimately ruined for me the otherwise exquisite storytelling experience presented by Mr. McIntyre herein.

Mr. Crowley has been much better fictionalized elsewhere (not least by some few of his biographers, unfortunately). The other members of the Golden Dawn do not figure as heavily in the book's plot, and are less characterized, and therefore are not as obviously temporally incongruent, but they too seem to have temporal character inconsistancies. Too bad, they flaw what would have otherwise have been one of the best Historical Fiction/Horror/Fantasy novels I've read since Mark Frost's "The List of Seven".

This is a science fiction story set in Victoria England. It involves evil, another dimension, and a love story. A tale of bravery and tragedy, incredibly original and true to the period. ****Warning Spoiler **** The ending is one of the few tragic ones in science fiction.

This book is excellent. It paints a beautiful and dark picture of a fantasy London a hundred years ago. Such interesting figures as Aleister Crowley, WB Yeats and the Golden Dawn figure into this darkly fantastic romp, and the execution is flawless. It concerns the advantures of a tattoo artist and an invisible woman from another world who enlists his aid in bringing about the downfall of the Dreadful Eye. Honestly, I've no idea why this book is out of print. It's a classic. MacIntyre's hyperactive imagination and flambouyant style is not to be missed.

This book begins diary style by our unknown tatooist author. It quickly goes beyond H-G-Wells sci fi into another dimension.

If you like the archaically exotic, this will appeal to you.