The Widening Gyre (Fiction Without Frontiers)

256 pages

Published March 14, 2019 by FLAME TREE PRESS.

ISBN:
978-1-78758-145-6
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4 stars (2 reviews)

1 edition

Review of 'The Widening Gyre (Fiction Without Frontiers)' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

I’m not sure how I stumbled across The Widening Gyre, but the novel was inspired by a discussion the author had during a Modern Irish Literature course, when he wondered how one might translate the British imperial fuckery in Ireland to a science-fiction context.

The book lays that concept a little thick and with a few overly-familiar tropes, but I’ve read plenty of bad science fiction before and this is not bad science fiction, even for a debut novel. As Tom Whitmore put it for Locus, “What makes the book work is the characters. They all have interesting flaws, strengths, short-sightedness, and wisdom: they’re well rounded enough that I really came away liking them, even some of the villains.” It’s a pulpy but entertaining read about realising that empires are never benign and the power we all have to Make a Difference™.

To steal the author’s description directly …

avatar for andrewmriley

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4 stars