Interesting title, interesting concept, interesting typography... so why am I hesitant?
Todd is a thirteen year old boy... the youngest in his village, on a far planet. The village is in desperate straits, as a virus released by the alien inhabitants of the planet has killed all the women and left the men telepathic with unpleasant results. Tod is facing his coming-of-age ceremony with eagerness.
Everything changes when he stumbles on a "hole in the noise" in a trip to the nearby woods. The noise is the constant clamour of mental activity from other humans, even from animals and insects. He runs to tell his carers Ben and Cilian, and they react by telling him he has to flee the village immediately.
The story is well told. For instance, Todd has a dog, which is able to speak in one or two word sentences. The dog provides an amusing and sometimes poignant commentary on the drama that ensues. It quickly becomes clear that Ben is in danger from his own village, and that almost everything he has been told is a lie.
The "noise" is handled creatively with slabs of rough "handwriting" text interposed to represent other's thoughts. This probably means the book will be a nightmare to turn into an eBook. The pace is frantic, and this is one of the problems I ultimately had. Despite the quirky ideas and competent writing, I thought there should be an ebb and flow in the pace. Instead, it is quite relentless seemingly from cover to cover.
The other problem I have is with the level of violence. Todd is pursued by Aaron, a semi crazed religious figure who seems unfazed by normal pain and damage (think Rasputin). We are presented with some fairly appalling descriptions of Aaron's increasingly hideous appearance and also a graphical depiction of a knife killing that Aaron becomes involved with.
Consequently a book that could have been a very imaginative and gripping read for younger students I am now inclined to put on the Senior Fiction shelves. The other problem is that I would rather this have been written as a book with its own natural arc and conclusion. Instead, the author has ended on a cliffhanger with the promise of a second (and no doubt a third) book. Some of the best sci-fi writers in the world manage book series without stooping to this device (for instance Ender's Game).
It is worth a read, but the creative ideas and style promise more than is, I think, ultimately delivered.
Andrew Lack
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