A New Science Of Navigation

by Martin Jenkins

LONDON: a network of living symbols threatened by the digital tentacles of an alien power spreading throughout the capital. Denys and Judith, Xaos Dave, Bloody Mary and Priesty John are a ragtag team of chaos sorcerors who have determined to fight this rising power: against the backdrop of a spectral metropolis these urban mages muster their forces for a final confrontation... only drink and incompetence stand in their way. They called themselves the Invisible College and hatched plans to overthrow capitalism with magic. High weirdness in squats and patches of land by canals; rites and ceremonies under railway bridges and in underpasses; old gods called in echoing, empty warehouses. Barbaric names ululated in woods and public parks after the gates were locked. A New Science of Navigation evokes the magic of a city in a prose that is by turns poetic, scabrous and often very funny. '...the hard nut son of a marriage between Peter Ackroyd, Gerald Kersh, Michael Moorcock, William Burroughs and Guy Debord. I was agog, Magog and Gog all at the same time. London, we love you.' - Matthew Loukes, author of Goose Flesh.

144 pages, Hardcover

First published December 7, 2012

Reviews

[Felicity Terry · Rating 1 out of 5]

A 2 out of 5 rating as far as a group read goes as without a doubt, given the right mix of readers, this is a novel that will provoke much debate, however as a personal read I'm struggling to rate it as anything other than a zero.

Far too full of gimmicks (the binary code, the pages containing as little as one word, the sentence structure itself), strange as it may sound, this is perhaps better described as a piece of modern art than a novel.

Then of course there is all of the sex and expletives. OK, so not used overly frequently but when they are used they are used at some length, the sex scenes crude and very graphic.

Most definitely not as it turns out my kind of read, in my opinion the author sets out to be different, to be unique. All very well but not when the cost is good story telling.

Copyright: Petty Witter @ Pen and Paper.
Disclaimer: Read and reviewed on behalf of NEWBOOKS magazine. I was merely asked for my honest opinion, no financial compensation was asked for nor given.

[David Graham · Rating 2 out of 5]

There's a glimmer of a good book here but it's let down by poorly conceived ideas - a stream of consciousness, in effect - that run away with themselves and the plot. What's good is the marriage between the vaguely occult and crystal set technology which has the spark of a decent Dr Who episode. And 144 pages is exceptionally short for a hardback novel priced at £11.99, particularly given the inconsistent formatting and the typos littering the pages.