Review: Time to open my mind...
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 12 20, 2013
First, a confession. I know Angela Mortimer through Twitter and, as a result of her fascinating personal page, have been an admirer of her nave form of painting for a considerable time. I am eagerly awaiting her first exhibition in Europe. But when I realised she was something of a polymath and that her other forté was creative writing, I resolved to read one of her novels.My first challenge was the genre. I'm probably over-simplifying things if I say she writes science fiction. Now, I have never really been a fan of science fiction. As a writer myself, I am steeped in the clay-booted tradition of the `now', where everything we'd like to do is circumscribed by the limitations of what is currently possible. I therefore do not normally embrace the `beam me up Scotty' school of multidimensional fantasy where, with a twist of a bracelet on the arm, the hero or heroine can shape-shift into a giant crab and slay the devil one hundred million years from now, to the lasting benefit of mankind.I say, `normally'. But then, what do I know? And that was the second challenge. To be open to what is, for me, unfamiliar.Ms. Mortimer weaves an extraordinary tale which, despite my preconceptions, seems entirely possible. That, I suppose, is down to her excellent writing. The heroine, Doella, is modern and truly emancipated. In fact, it is the menfolk who make themselves vulnerable by showing their emotions too readily. Her descriptions of alien lands graphically take the reader into her world. The action is fast, spare and rewarding. And not once did I find myself whispering, "Oh, come on!" under my breath. Her tale is like visiting Disneyworld where, to enjoy the experience fully, all one needs to do is suspend belief and `go with it'.From the minute we meet Doella (or `Louise Baker' as she is known in her present-day, present-earthly form), mysterious friends, whom other London office workers assume are her brothers, make urgent demands on her. Simune and Takos bring news that will require Doella's immediate attention. And, as a Varan anthropologist, she must abandon her covert activity as human guide and, at the same time, defender of humanity from those of her own race who would prefer to take a more cruel course. Immediately, we realise that what we take for granted on this earth, with all its beauty and imperfections, is simply not as it appears. We are being manipulated, studied and altered by forces so superior in strength and intellect that, at best, we must simply learn to think as they do. Here the Disneyworld analogy falls down because this book is a psychedelic flight through time and space that makes Disney's greatest amusements seem pedestrian and tame. The imagination of Angela Mortimer is both boundless and terrifying but, as I wrote before, strangely believable.Maybe things will turn out as she says. And that makes me glad it hasn't happened yet and sorry, in a way, that I will never see her vision for myself.But then, perhaps I will.....Roderick Craig Low. Author of `England 2026. After the Discord'