Maxwell's Demon

by Martin Sherwood

1st Science Fiction Book Club edition fine hardcover book & fine (as new) dw (dust jacket), Science Fiction Book Club In stock shipped from our UK warehouse

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction

172 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1976

Reviews

[Aisha Lawson · Rating 3 out of 5]

A really great premise, and an unsettling end… The characters could do with some more development and the science aspect can get a bit boring at times, but I still enjoyed it. Sherwood really made me laugh at times as well, worth a quick read if you stumble across a copy.

‘What you are about to watch,’ says Crispin, ‘is a disgraceful act. But no more disgraceful, in the circumstances, I think, than parking on double yellow lines.’

[Nick J Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lost gem this one. I'd never heard of Martin Sherwood before. A bio-chemist, he wrote two science fiction novels in the mid-Seventies. The sense of Britain during that era is palpable and throughout it is the background details together with a very English dry humour that make Maxwell's Demon an enjoyable read. The narrative is structured like a revenge-slasher film. There are jump cuts, unexpected scenes of quite nasty violence and a crescendoing plotline. The body-count doesn't rise too steeply until the final few scenes, however, and there are just enough passages of tech-speak to warrant the SF label rather than horror or noir detective fiction. The writing is good, with only a few instances of lagging pace, and the ending is a slightly surprising and definitely satisfying one. The characterisation is dated and there is a vintage feel to the whole. An enjoyable read, if not a challenging one.

[A B · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting little hidden gem. I bought this in an ebay bundle. I might go back to this later as I mostly skimmed through it, but it wasn't terrible and the ending was pretty good. The premise was decent, in that a bunch of interconnected deadly occurences happen, only for it to turn out to be a demonic race of shapeshifters. Yeah, this novel is totally fine. It didn't blow me away but it left me satisfied.

[Helen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Found this at the back of a book case in a 2nd hand shop and invested 25p. Written in '76 it reads like a Tales of the Unexpected. Good premise but rather dated in it's writing style and general execution.

[Zechy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good sci-fi. Very original, didn't see it coming.