Stone Clock
The third outing in The Spin series from acclaimed author Andrew Bannister, Stone Clock, has a dark edge to it. Already an accomplished writer, Bannister has taken things up a notch.
His usual mélange of lucid and slightly demented imagination is in full force, and the array of modes of humour are all present and permeate the pages as if they’d been dipped in the stuff.
In the three main characters, Skarbo, Zeb and The Bird, we have the most likeable, complex and deep characters he’s created yet. Secondary and tertiary characters are well formed and suit their roles, and there are plenty of bit-part characters to amuse us and populate his diverse worlds.
The plot is engaging, always moving forwards, and there are enough twists in the final revelation to turn your brain inside out. Along the way there are entities to boggle your mind and political ideologies that will make your skin crawl.
There were hints in his earlier Spin stories – Creation Machine and Iron Gods – as to the nature of the Spin, and Stone Clock is an exploration of this. This is Bannister’s best novel to date, and if you liked his earlier Spin stories, you absolutely must read this.
See Also: Creation Machine, Iron Gods, Stone Clock