Review of The Reef

First one I’ve seen, over at Graeme’s Fantasy Book Review, and also the first review of anything of mine. And it’s a good one!

…a book that people will get a lot out of, especially if they’re fans of China Mieville’s work. Whether you’re after soaking up the sights of a fantastically drawn world, or being challenged by the darker recesses of the human mind (or even both!), then this is the book for you. Newton’s next work to be published will be his ‘Nights of Villjamur’ series and, on the strength of ‘The Reef’, I’m very much looking forward to seeing how this turns out.

Well, can’t say fairer than that. I’m curious as to how this book is received, since it is a bizarre book. Not easily classifiable. It has subtle links to Nights of Villjamur, which the sharp-eyed who read both books will notice. But the new book for Tor / Macmillan is a bigger, widescreen epic fantasy. I think I’ve grown as a writer (I wrote The Reef when I was 23) in dozens of aspects. I always think that if you don’t push yourself to improve at writing, you might as well stop.