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A review by tkadlec
A Man of Shadows by Jeff Noon
5.0
Let’s get this out of the way: this book will not be for everyone. The world Noon creates is one that is imaginative and frankly a bit weird. It all revolves around time. Time is a commodity. People live within different times: some standard, some commercially available for the right price. The city he operates in is divided between Dayzone (permanent day) and Nocturna (permanent night). In between is Dusk, a terrifying and fantastical place that operates by its own rules.
The story itself is ultimately a hardboiled detective story set in a world that is part science-fiction, part fantasy (Dusk in particular reminded me a lot of the “Other” world in Gaiman’s Coraline). It’s fast-paced and creepy, with plenty of twists and turns along the way. Noon does a great job of world-building over the course of the book—in fact many of the twists come in the form of revelations about the world itself. A very unique and enthralling read.
The story itself is ultimately a hardboiled detective story set in a world that is part science-fiction, part fantasy (Dusk in particular reminded me a lot of the “Other” world in Gaiman’s Coraline). It’s fast-paced and creepy, with plenty of twists and turns along the way. Noon does a great job of world-building over the course of the book—in fact many of the twists come in the form of revelations about the world itself. A very unique and enthralling read.