The Traveller by John Twelve Hawks (The Fourth Realm Trilogy: Book 1)

8/10

In today’s world trying to stay hidden from the Brethren is becoming increasingly difficult as cameras and sensors watch every movement. Security cameras have facial recognition and can follow any one person based on their biometrics. Chips in passports can be detected by scanners. It is the world that the Brethren have always wanted, a world of order and control, and a world that Maya now has to fight against with only a handful of people to help her.

Fighting against the Brethren are the Harlequins (protectors of the Travellers), humans who are able to pass between realms. They believe in the freedom of humans to be able to do as they wish without being followed or tracked.

The Traveller reminded me of 1984, where every movement made is watched. As George Orwell was able to foresee the future of the surveillance technology of his age, John Twelve Hawks has gone a step further and predict what will happen with our own surveillance technology, if it doesn’t already exist. As you read this book, and take it all in, it appeals to that inherent fear of being watched and creates a tingle whenever the characters are in the city.

The Traveller is an incredibly well researched and detailed book. Unlike some authors Hawks doesn’t fall into the trap of putting in so much detail that you get bored. He is very good at putting in the details that you need - enough to get an idea of character, environment and circumstance. It is clear he has either been to, or has thoroughly researched, the places he describes in his book.

The main problem with this book, however, is that besides the fear of the main characters getting caught or followed I felt little else in regards to the characters. I did not feel emotionally involved in the characters as I do in other books. You do start to sympathise with the characters, particularly with Maya, but that is all it is, sympathy. I rarely felt the sadness or loneliness that she feels, nor the heartbreak of a brother’s betrayal.

All in all this is a good book, and the fear of constantly being watched works well but is the story good enough to make up for the lack of emotional investment… However, I would highly recommend The Traveller to anyone trying to shift from high fantasy into the lower, more familiar realm of low fantasy. The book is well paced and the final few chapters keep the momentum of a fight going without making you think you’ve missed anything. The story was a little bit slow starting as Hawks establishes the world but by the end of the book I didn’t want to put it down.