Hughes, Matthew. The Other. Underland Press, 2011.
Matthew Hughes’ bio says he “writes science-fantasy in the Jack Vance mode.” Vance is certainly a model worth following, and The Other offers a good example of what Hughes can do with the form. The hero, Luff Imbry, a clever, self-reliant art dealer and con man is kidnapped by parties unknown and dumped on a backward planet with a ridged eugenic standard that the paunchy Imbry comes nowhere near meeting. He is thrown into a traveling circus of genetic misfits and has to figure out a way to escape and get off the planet that has no spaceport and no obvious way to phone home. Adventure, as you might expect, ensues. Imbry is an engaging character who has a way with artificial intelligences, in this universe called integrators, even if they have had their ethical subroutines suborned. The plot is a bit slow to develop, but patience pays off. 3.5 stars. ( )

I think of Matthew Hughes as a very civilized, very dry author. His characters always seem to be on the brink of drinking tea or discussing the etymology of various adverbs. No one seems to break a sweat, panic, punch--they might do all those things, but they don't seem to. I quite like him--his books are the opposite of visceral, and I'm not a huge fan of visceral.

His best are charming satires, in my opinion, with likable characters thrust in absurd situations. In The Other the main character is less likable, the situation less absorbing, the satire less pungent, and the overall sense of a polite carrying-out of the plot failed to grab me.

But this is unusual for me--I usually really enjoy his books. Basically I'd suggest you give him a try, but start with Fool's Errant, just in case, and work your way over to this one much later. If you don't like Fool's Errant, you'll hardly care for this.

I actually started it years ago, and failed to complete it. I picked it up again last week and finished it off--I'm making a huge attempt not to buy new books until I've finished reading my stash! But it certainly wasn't compelling enough for me to finish it the first time, even though I'd got myself 3/4 of the way through.

(Note: 5 stars = rare and amazing, 4 = quite good book, 3 = a decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. There are a lot of 4s and 3s in the world!) ( )

In which Luff Imbry, bon vivant, confidence man, and forger, finds himself kidnapped and dumped on a world populated with cultists who are obsessed with a narrow vision of physical perfection, and with no apparent way off; not that our anti-hero is going to let that stop him from making his escape and getting revenge. While this novel has a touch of the shaggy dog about it I enjoyed it, as I enjoy all of Hughes’ stories set in the Archonate. However, I also marked this book down a couple notches as it appears to be the opening book in a series and I want to see where Hughes takes the plot before getting too enthusiastic. ( )

Although the book has an interesting character and a curious premise, the end to this story takes some of the shine off it's charm with a deus-ex-machina conclusion that leaves the reader feeling somewhat lacking. ( )