What do you think?
Rate this book
Parallax
When a solar storm causes a worldwide blackout in the autumn of 2029, civilisation is thrown into turmoil. When several internet celebrities vanish in mysterious circumstances at the same time, is this more than coincidence?
Following the eventful lives of many characters from across Europe, Parallax brings this trilogy to its startling conclusion.
65000 words, British English. Includes links, definitions, notes and a soundtrack.
N.B. Parallax reads well as a stand-alone story, but the enjoyment will be enhanced for those who have read either Psinapse, Sirene or both before.
Following the eventful lives of many characters from across Europe, Parallax brings this trilogy to its startling conclusion.
65000 words, British English. Includes links, definitions, notes and a soundtrack.
N.B. Parallax reads well as a stand-alone story, but the enjoyment will be enhanced for those who have read either Psinapse, Sirene or both before.
- GenresScience Fiction
116 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 14, 2012
3 people are currently reading
24 people want to read
About the author
Andrew Ives
8 books9 followersWriter of dystopian near-future science fiction. Reader of pretty much anything that comes to hand, more usually non-fiction than fiction.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
February 25, 2013
Parallax opens in London a short while into the future, in the aftermath of a solar storm that has knocked out the electricity supply. A group of disparate people struggle to survive as best they can. The author draws a eerily plausible vision of life when shops have been ransacked, people can't access their money because the banks are closed and are reduced to trading what few worthless items they still have in order to feed themselves and keep warm.
I expected the story to be a continuation of how they survive.
But as power begins to be restored the action moves to Europe, where a contract killer accompanied by his increasingly reluctant girlfriend, is bumping off unsuspecting victims. Some of the characters from the author's previous book Sirene reappear; the action is fast paced and the writing is tight. Seemingly unrelated characters and incidents start to link together to form an intricate plot - read attentively because there are clues everywhere. The humour is subtle and delicious - watch out for rhubarb galette!
There are a few beautiful twists as the suspense mounts and the story reaches its unexpected climax. An intelligent and well-plotted thriller.
I expected the story to be a continuation of how they survive.
But as power begins to be restored the action moves to Europe, where a contract killer accompanied by his increasingly reluctant girlfriend, is bumping off unsuspecting victims. Some of the characters from the author's previous book Sirene reappear; the action is fast paced and the writing is tight. Seemingly unrelated characters and incidents start to link together to form an intricate plot - read attentively because there are clues everywhere. The humour is subtle and delicious - watch out for rhubarb galette!
There are a few beautiful twists as the suspense mounts and the story reaches its unexpected climax. An intelligent and well-plotted thriller.
November 30, 2012
I could picture this on the big screen, and I'd be the first in the queue!
Right from the start the description of the blackout on such a large scale struck an eerie chord as I dread to think how we Westerners would cope in such a situation. For me though, as a reader, it was just great to be back in Karen's world and to see where her work and fate would take her next, and I wasn't disappointed.
This is an intricate plot with the drama as strong as ever and many old characters resurfacing when you least expect them to, along with a whole new set of villains and innocents who get swept along by the criminal underworld.
I like a story that's full of action but is also written with a hint of humour and the author achieves this quite successfully. He also managed to surprise me right up until the very last page!!!
Right from the start the description of the blackout on such a large scale struck an eerie chord as I dread to think how we Westerners would cope in such a situation. For me though, as a reader, it was just great to be back in Karen's world and to see where her work and fate would take her next, and I wasn't disappointed.
This is an intricate plot with the drama as strong as ever and many old characters resurfacing when you least expect them to, along with a whole new set of villains and innocents who get swept along by the criminal underworld.
I like a story that's full of action but is also written with a hint of humour and the author achieves this quite successfully. He also managed to surprise me right up until the very last page!!!
December 18, 2017
Maybe the worst book I read in 2017
Some seriously stupid things happens in this book, there are some good ideas gone wrong by terrible execution, but most of then are bad from the beginning.
The writer freely mix his characters viewpoints without any thought nor purpose. Most of the book is told in paragraphs of different characters in different places doing unrelated stuff interchangeable.
The characters have no consistency at all, sometimes brilliant, sometimes stupid, but unfortunately most of times they are simple dumb.
With a bad written ending, I'm actually happy this is over
Some seriously stupid things happens in this book, there are some good ideas gone wrong by terrible execution, but most of then are bad from the beginning.
The writer freely mix his characters viewpoints without any thought nor purpose. Most of the book is told in paragraphs of different characters in different places doing unrelated stuff interchangeable.
The characters have no consistency at all, sometimes brilliant, sometimes stupid, but unfortunately most of times they are simple dumb.
With a bad written ending, I'm actually happy this is over
March 4, 2013
Parallax is a near-future sci-fi/techno thriller that is well written and completely believable.
From a solar storm that knocks out the electricity supply leaving social chaos in its wake, to the tracking of individuals through technology, the author has kept the plot ‘real’. All this COULD happen.
As with Mr Ives’ previous books, there’s a lot of detail layered into the plot, some subtle humour and quite a number of references that appealed to me personally because I had an ‘Oh, I remember THAT’ moment (definitely an age thing!).
As other reviewers have already pointed out, the reader will need to keep their wits about them for this title. The story is intricately pulled together, and although there are plenty of clues within the pages… you’ll have to have your brain in gear to keep track of everything that’s going on! Try as I might, the author STILL surprised me.
All in all, another excellent read and a great finish to the trilogy.
From a solar storm that knocks out the electricity supply leaving social chaos in its wake, to the tracking of individuals through technology, the author has kept the plot ‘real’. All this COULD happen.
As with Mr Ives’ previous books, there’s a lot of detail layered into the plot, some subtle humour and quite a number of references that appealed to me personally because I had an ‘Oh, I remember THAT’ moment (definitely an age thing!).
As other reviewers have already pointed out, the reader will need to keep their wits about them for this title. The story is intricately pulled together, and although there are plenty of clues within the pages… you’ll have to have your brain in gear to keep track of everything that’s going on! Try as I might, the author STILL surprised me.
All in all, another excellent read and a great finish to the trilogy.
September 29, 2024
(Pre-release Paperback version with the matt cover) As I'm the author, I wasn't going to rate my own book, but as reviews are slow in coming and I've had some peculiarly low ones from foreign reviewers, I'm going to break this self-imposed policy. As I've not read it myself in years, Parallax was 'new' again to me and I'm going to award it about 4.25, maybe 4.5 stars. I still find the plot perfectly credible compared to the James Bond ilk of stories that I've read in the interim, while being really rather complex compared to my earlier books. It's pacy, it made me chuckle a few times and the plot is really quite convoluted. All in all, I think it makes an entertaining and thought-provoking read which rounds off my trilogy in an unexpected way.
January 3, 2013
The story is set in the technology dependent world of 2029.
Karen awakens in London one Sunday, to find that a powerful solar storm has left the world without electricity. As panic and chaos grows, it’s everyone for themselves, out on the streets, no one is safe.
A computer genius is killed, and the makers of new computer people-tracing software called Parallax fear for their lives as murder and mayhem reign in a world where crime is rampant.
The story follows several characters, some of whom have been in the previous books, as the action unfolds across Europe in this exciting conclusion to the trilogy.
Karen awakens in London one Sunday, to find that a powerful solar storm has left the world without electricity. As panic and chaos grows, it’s everyone for themselves, out on the streets, no one is safe.
A computer genius is killed, and the makers of new computer people-tracing software called Parallax fear for their lives as murder and mayhem reign in a world where crime is rampant.
The story follows several characters, some of whom have been in the previous books, as the action unfolds across Europe in this exciting conclusion to the trilogy.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews