Book Review - THE BLACK LOCOMOTIVE by Rian Hughes

 

(Title: The Black Locomotive / Author: Rian Hughes / Publisher: Picador UK / Publication Date: UK/US Hardcover out now, UK Paperback out now, US Paperback - August 13, 2024 / Total Pages: 416)

Back Cover Blurb

London is built from concrete, steel and the creative urge.

Old technology gives way to the new. Progress is inevitable - but is it more fragile than its inhabitants realize?

A strange anomaly is uncovered in the new top-secret Crossrail extension being built under Buckingham Palace. It is an archeological puzzle, one that may transform our understanding of history - and the origins of London itself.

And if our modern world falls, we may have to turn the technology of the past in order to save our future.

Review

I wasn't expecting to finish this book in two days but that's exactly what ended up happening. I was actually reading another book and just picked this one up to see what it was all about. After about 10 pages in I devoted my entire reading time to this one as with every paragraph I was sucked into an amazing mystery and an incredibly cool method of delivery. By that I mean interspersing things like images, photographs, blueprints, and sketch drawings within the book in strategic places. I even came across a page that had a QR code that when scanned with my phone brought up a link that played an audio snippet that is germane to that scene and the overall story. As if that wasn't enough, Hughes also uses different typefaces/fonts throughout the book, each assigned to a specific character. So you always know which viewpoint that particular part of the book is being told from. I won't say I've never seen this method before, Mark Danielewski does something somewhat similar with his horror book House of Leaves. Although THE BLACK LOCOMOTIVE isn't nearly as labor-intensive of a reading experience as HoL by any stretch.

Aside from the cosmetic though, this really was one heck of an intriguing science fiction book that deals with one of my all-time favorite themes - an unexplained archeological find buried beneath our real world. In this case the site is accidentally discovered when a contracted team of workers comes upon a metal-encased giant cavity underneath Buckingham Palace in London while digging out a new top secret railway tunnel. As more and more experts are called to the scene more anomalous artifacts begin to be unearthed that cannot easily be explained. Are these things from our very distant past? Neolithic? Bronze Age? Are they extra-terrestrial in origin? More and more questions arise and the growing mystery really made this an unputdownable marathon reading session to get to the ultimate answers I was so desperately craving. And the reveal when it happens is absolutely mind-blowing to say the least.

I feel like I rarely read books like this anymore, ones that are so captivating that I need to finish them in a day or two. I mean, this is a 400 page book that I devoured in roughly 48 hours, that's how utterly absorbing it is. I think what also made it so hard to put down was the fact that it was so interactive of an experience. The pages fly by effortlessly as the puzzle pieces are deftly laid out for the reader to put together. All the while Rian Hughes' background as a photographer, typographer, graphic designer, and comic book artist really shine through magnificently and lend another dimension that keeps every sense stimulated and your brain fully engaged the entire time you are reading.

Upon finishing THE BLACK LOCOMOTIVE I immediately hopped on Amazon and purchased Rian Hughes' first book XX. I remember seeing it marketed when it was published in 2020 but for some reason I never picked it up. Well that has since been rectified. If it's even half as good as this one I can't wait to crack it open and be immersed in another (I hope) brilliant sf adventure. But until then I will continue to sing the praises of this awesome follow-up. If you are looking for an engaging science-fiction mystery told in a thrilling, unique and unconventional way, you are going to absolutely love this book. I hope that it garners way more attention with the upcoming release of the paperback version in the US, as in my opinion it is one of the most entertaining and interesting stories I've ever read. Please feed me more stuff like this!

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