Midlist Writer: Book Review: Trucksong by Andrew Macrae

Monday, 4 May 2015

Book Review: Trucksong by Andrew Macrae

Trucksong

Trucksong by Andrew Macrae
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is one of the most original science fiction novels I've read in a long time.
The action takes place in a post-apocalyptic Australia, where the tattered remnants of humanity are preyed upon by intelligent trucks. A lucky few humans, including our hero, learn to link into the trucks and make a symbiotic relationship with them, but that by no means guarantees their safety. Think Neuromancer meets Cars. Being the father of a small child and having seen Pixar's Cars movie about 20 billion times, it was hard to get that imagery out of my head!
The Outback slang and invented words took some time to get used to but I didn't find it distracting. In fact, it added to Macrae's masterful building up of atmosphere. In addition to the dialect, he uses bleak imagery, weird cults, and fleeting glimpses of the world left behind to create an almost visionary experience for the reader. He really can write and kept me gripped right until the end. I'll be sure to pick up his next book.

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