Simul: Momenticon 2

Momenticon #2

by Andrew Caldecott

In this gripping sequel to Momenticon , with what's left of the world falling apart around their ears, the two great companies, Tempestas and Genrich, are continuing their bitter struggle for power, while our unlikely heroes strive to frustrate them.

But a new adversary, unnoticed by all, is about to enter the lists, for as final extinction beckons, Nature herself is bent on vengeance.

Genres: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Fiction

384 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2024

About the author

Andrew Caldecott is a QC specialising in media, defamation and libel law, as well as a novelist and occasional playwright. He represented the BBC in the Hutton Inquiry (into the death of biological warfare expert and UN weapons inspector David Kelly), the Guardian in the Leveson Inquiry (into the British press following the phone hacking scandal), and supermodel Naomi Campbell in her landmark privacy case, amongst many others.

His first produced play, Higher than Babel, was described as 'Assured and ambitious . . . deeply impressive debut' by Nick Curtis in the Evening Standard and 'Vivid and absorbing and grapples with big ideas without being dry, difficult or patronising' by Sarah Hemming, in the Financial Times, but informed by his love of history, which he studied at New College, Oxford, he was seized by the notion of a city-state hiding a cataclysmic secret: the result, Rotherweird. 'A history-tragic-comedy all rolled into one', says Hilary Mantel, author of Wolf Hall, and 'baroque, Byzantine and beautiful,' according to M.R, Carey, author of The Girl with all the Gifts.

A sequel, Wyntertide, is currently taking shape.

Reviews

[Melindam · Rating 5 out of 5]

4,5 stars

“Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.”
― Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland


The weirdest of journeys down the rabbit hole continues with author Andrew Caldecott making you believe countless impossible things the whole way, because he has the genius to do that.



He also has the genius to make me find his dystopian duology tale, started with Momenticon utterly exciting and enjoyable.

Simul: Momenticon, Book 2 is taking up the thread of the plot exactly where Momenticon ends while giving us flashback of past events previously unexplained (or only partly explained). The main characters, Morag and Fogg, accompanied by Niobe and the mysterious Benedict have to leave Deception Island and go down their own rabbit holes in search of answers of what exactly is Simul? and how find a tree of life (able to purify the toxic air of the Murk) that could save mankind or kill it once and for all.

Again it is a crazy, but captivating journey that reaches its climax in a very satisfying way.

ARC provided by the Publisher via Netgalley for an honest review.

[Annarella · Rating 5 out of 5]

This human being is a huge fan of Andrew CAldecott, Loved Momenticon and could wait for this novel, the second part in a duology that mixes distopia and Alice in Wonderland.
You never know if you're on a acid trip or lost in a novel full of fantastic twists and puzzles. I know I loved it, was hooked, I rooted for the my favourite characters and was enthralled.
And was left hoping for another novel by Sir Caldecott.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love this so much. Every character is great and I want to spend more time with them. My sweet babies Cavall and Mr J most of all. There's no dallying in this book, we get some flashback but otherwise it's all endgame, and it manages to wrap up the many many threads masterfully.

It's such a wonderful take on fantasy, it's like a children's story in so many of its influences but very much for adults.

[David Harris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Simul is the second part of the story that began in Momenticon. Almost impossible to summarise, it features a near-future world destroyed by pollution. Only small islands of inhabitability survive amidst the Murk - a toxic substance that erodes pretty much anything that isn't heavily protected or very lucky.

These protected zones tend to have been engineered, in particular the domes operated by two companies - Tempestas and Genrich - organisations with different ideas about how to preserve humanity. In Momenticon, the story started in another dome, one built to house a museum of art, and we met Fogg, its Curator, who rather drove that story, though he plays much less of a role in this book, although he does appear as do many of the characters from that earlier book.

Others appear to be fortuitous, the result of freakish weather patterns or other features

The cast is extensive. though the author provides a handy list, it took me a little time to work myself back into knowing who was who - that was perhaps made harder because many don't come across as very different people, and the story, told in short chapters, flits between them and between locations (travel is possible on airships, though perilous). As I've said, Momenticon was much more focussed on Fogg, so I did feel a bit more adrift among new people, scenes and plot developments (there are a few flashbacks. It's rather one thing after another as these people - some loveable, some roguish but nearly all very archly peculiar, if that makes sense - race to achieve very different objectives.

To do that they will need to unpicking an extensive history, since almost nobody here really understands what is happening (or has happened) and why. A new threat has emerged as Nature - infuriated by the way she has been treated, or perhaps merely irritated by this gallery of eccentrics - strikes back, carrying out new attacks on both flesh and on metal. It is a threat that nobody expected, but to which all respond in ways one would expect. Some try to coop the menace as a new weapon, others to find a defence, still others, a means of counter-attack. Crossed with all the conflicting motives, hatreds and misunderstandings that were set up in Momenticon and develop in the first part of Simul, that makes for a pretty exciting conclusion where - I don't think this is a spoiler - the villains (more or less) get their comeuppances and the heroes (more or less) their just rewards (although a few fall by the wayside).

It is maybe a bit less satisfying the more you try to understand what's going on and exactly how it came about. There are so many rabbits pulled out of hats that Watershed Down could well be in production somewhere in the background. However I don't think that most reader swill worry too much about doing that but will rather be enjoying the rush of events - so, probably, no harm done.

The cover design, illustrations and map (by, respectively, Leo Nickolls, Nick May and Nicola Howell Hawley) are evocative and intricate.

[Robert Goodman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Simul is the second and final volume of Andrew Caldecott’s second series which began with Momenticon. Suffice to say that if you have not read Momenticon, this second volume, even with its glossary of people and places at the back, is no place to start. To the point where even the description of the plot in this review is possibly not going to make too much sense. This is because when you buy into Caldecott’s altered reality, whether in this series or his previous Rotherweird series, you have to be all in and prepared to go where he takes you.
When Momenticon ended, the main heroes were separated after a big battle. Fogg and Niobe were left on Deception Island and Morag and Benedict were headed to a preprogrammed location in a balloon-powered airship, pursued by the evil Lord Vane and his mother. At the same time, various of the other characters in other parts of the post-apocalyptic world are lining up either on one side (Vane and the equally evil Lord Sine) or the other (Fogg, Morag and their allies). All of the action, when it is not about the bad guys chasing the good guys, centres around the discovery of a tree that has the ability to clear the ‘murk’ that accompanied the apocalypse which killed most of the wildlife and drove the surviving humans into domes. With this tree, though comes a danger that has the capacity to wipe out all of the survivors. Meanwhile various machinations for domination, discovery and revenge swirl around each other.
Caldecott is nothing if not idiosyncratic. In Simul he builds on his steampunk crossed with fantasy post-apocalyptic world. From balloon-driven vehicles, to hidden academic outposts, to villages that replicate famous paintings, to robotic characters out of Alice in Wonderland, to quests that replicate those from Greek mythology. And all of this infused with word games and puzzles, the ultimate in this volume being Lord Vane’s diabolical Tower of No Return which presents a series of puzzles that Morag and Benedict have to solve or die trying.
In the end, much like in the Rotherweird series, Caldecott sticks to a good versus evil plot. But readers will not be coming for the plot. They will come for the bonkers flights of fancy, the games and puzzles and the Terry Gilliam-esque characters, locations and set pieces. In those respects, Caldecott once again delivers in spades.

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

How to describe this book?
Simul is the concluding part to the Momenticon duology. It's a bizarre, post-climate apocalypse world of poisoned air, protective domes and controlled by one of two companies, and weird genetic experiments that are both whimsical and disturbing. Needless to say, you really really need to have read Momenticon first and, preferably, recently.
There are lots of characters to keep track of and plots within plots in Simul -there's no easing you in to the story. In fact, the start of Simul goes back and follows what some of the characters were up to off-page in Momenticon before continuing where we left off.
The main plot revolves around the discovery of a mysterious tree that could just save humanity from the murk or it could possibly kill everyone.
Much like Caldecott's previous series Rotherweird, these aren't easy books to follow - you need to be paying attention - but they do come together pleasingly in the end- like fitting jigsaw puzzle pieces together to gradually reveal the whole picture.
It is weird, absurdist, dystopian, science fantasy with an Alice's Adventures in Wonderland twist and I really enjoyed being taken along for the ride.

Thank you to Quercus and Jo Fletcher books for sending me a netgalley review copy

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found the glossary and dramatis personae at the back of the book really useful as a reminder, seeing as it is quite some time since I read Momenticon

The first part of Simul is the prequel to Momenticon, the second part of this book resumes where Momenticon left off. Which encourages the re-reading of the original I think.

A really clever book which leads the reader through puzzles and the weirdest of scenarios, which all do make sense in the end.

I really liked the characters, even the 'baddies' who acted out their parts in order to fulfil the story line. I was convinced that one of the main characters would end up murdered or dead. The different areas of the world were so different to one another because of the 'Fall' and this made how things worked together much more interesting as well.

If there is a third book I will definitely be reading it. I heartily recommend these books (Simul and its precursor Momenticon).

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's no way I can capture a tenth of what's going on in this sequel to Momenticon! Let's just leave it as: intelligent absurdist fantasy, crammed full of ideas including Indiana Jones-eque puzzle traps, deadly trees, and half the cast of Alice in Wonderland. Definitely one for fans of Terry Gilliam movies, methinks!

You can read my full review on my blog, LittleFrogScribbles if that sounds like fun to you :)

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought the second book in the series was better than the first. However, there were still too many characters, and locations and plot lines to try and keep track of.

[Christine Brealey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Disjointed is the best word for this I think. Half the time I didn't know what the point of anything was.

[Thistledown · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite enjoyed this, although my inability to remember who any of the characters are or what has happened to them before did hinder my ability to follow what was going on.

[Vivienne · Rating 5 out of 5]

“‘Resurrection . . . resurrection . . . remember Simul,’ stammers Lord Vane, before sinking back, seemingly at peace for his confession. … Mander closes his eyes and readmits the son and heir.”

My thanks to Quercus Books Jo Fletcher Books for an eARC and to Quercus Audio for a review copy of the unabridged audiobook edition, both via NetGalley, of ‘Simul’ by Andrew Caldecott. The audiobook is narrated by John Hastings.

This is the sequel to his wonderfully strange ‘Momenticon’ (2022). Caldecott advises in his opening Author’s Note that “Simul is a sequel and its story will make little sense unless the first volume, Momenticon, has been read first.”

At the end of ‘Simul’ Caldecott provides a glossary of things and places along with a dramatis personae. However, he does warn that this additional material contains major spoilers for ‘Momenticon’.

I had adored ‘Momenticon’ and while I didn’t have time to reread, I was able to refresh my memory before reading ‘Simul’, including by accessing the provided material.

The book is structured with Part I as a prequel to ‘Momenticon’ that ends where it begins. After this Parts II-IV picks up after ‘Momenticon’’s final page and carries the story onwards to its conclusion.

It’s difficult to give any kind of summary of ‘Simul’ as it quite unique and is best experienced first hand. It is a hybrid novel that playfully combines a number of genres: a literary post apocalyptic science fiction adventure with absurdist and steampunk elements. I especially loved the inclusion of various works of art and the homage to Lewis Carroll’s ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’ and ‘Through the Looking Glass’.

The hardback edition is beautiful with a cover by Leo Nickolls and decorative endpapers by Nicola Howell Hawley. There are also line illustrations by Nick May scattered throughout the text.

With respect to the audiobook edition, John Hastings is an accomplished theatrical actor who also narrated ‘Momenticon’. He has an excellent range and I felt that he brilliantly brought the duology’s many characters, its plot and world vividly to life.

Overall, I finished ‘Simul’ in awe of Andrew Caldecott’s imagination and creativity. His writing is excellent and quite lyrical. I consider both ‘Simul’ and ‘Momenticon’ amazing and intend to do a leisurely reread of the duology later this year.

Highly recommended.

[Mark Redman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just finished Simul by Andrew Caldecott, and I’m still wrapping my head around it—in the best possible way. This book was a wild, cerebral ride. As someone who enjoys speculative fiction with depth and intelligence, Simul hit all the right notes. It blends philosophical questions about reality and identity with a gripping narrative that kept me hooked from the first chapter.

What really stood out to me was Caldecott’s ability to weave complex ideas into a story that’s still emotionally resonant. The characters, especially the protagonists, Morag and Fogg felt real and layered. I found myself questioning what was real right along with them. There are moments where the book feels like it’s tipping into a dream—or maybe a simulation—and that uncertainty is part of the thrill.

The writing is sharp with just the right amount of ambiguity to make you think without feeling lost. Fans of films/TV like The Matrix, Black Mirror, or even Inception will find themselves right at home here. But Simul isn’t just echoing those ideas—it’s doing something fresh with them.

If you like your fiction thought-provoking, immersive, and just a little bit mind-bending, Simul is absolutely worth your time. I will be gearing up for a re-read, just to catch all the details I might’ve missed the first time around.

[Nigel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Andrew Caldecott writes complicated stories set in whimsical dystopias, but does so with an unapologetic intelligence and a straightforward approach to telling, not showing. So when a character decides something, changes their mind about something, or reaches certain conclusions, the story simply tells us about it as it is happening. It gives the characters an odd sense of agency, as if they are informing the reader and the writer that this is the way it is now, get used to it, work out the implications and see what happens. It's kind of refreshing.

In this second and final book in the duology, various forces and individuals align in conflict and alliance and temporary truce as the sins of the past bear all sorts of fruit, not excluding murder, revenge, redemption and the possible final extinction of humanity. The heroes and the villians are all interestingly complicated and flawed, the adventures are exciting and suspenseful and the post-apocalyptic world is unusally weird and wonderful as well as horrible.

[Louise · Rating 4 out of 5]

Still brilliantly strange, this is quite a rambling adventure with lots going on, although it begins to coalesce more towards the end. The 'flashback' scenes that make up part one hold up the story a bit, it's quite a long retrospective section before the story picks up where it left off at the end of Momenticon, let alone moves forward. This part of the story also brings the consequences of The Fall to the fore, where the past folly of humanity is more the enemy, rather than the present threats such as Cosmo Vane who dominated the previous book more. It's a rambling but well-told story with some brilliant creations and characters in it.

[MRS CA THOMSON · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book. I read it slowly so I could savour every moment.
We are back in the world of momenticons. The first part of the novel explains some of the history that happens before the first novel.
This is a mix of Alice's adventures and a dystopian future in which the world is too toxic to live in. Yet there is hope that a better future is about to come about. Depending on who wins the battle.
You need to read the first book for this one to make sense.

[Hans · Rating 4 out of 5]

Know your art history and Alice in Wonderland to enjoy this sequel to Mementicon fully. Several storylines make an intriguing plot. Note: Caldecotts near future looks very steampunk so don't expect heavy metal SF.

[Julia Lane · Rating 3 out of 5]

By the time I read Simul, I’d pretty much forgotten the plot of its predecessor, Momenticon. Everything comes together at the end of Simul, but the journey is impeded by a confusing, convoluted storyline and too much going on.

[Jane Stenning · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not quite as good as the first book Momenticom, as it felt a little more rushed but enjoyable just the same.

[Helen Lloyd · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series is definitely darker than Rotherweird and I was a little less invested in the charactets with a few exeptions. Still highly recommended from an imaginative world building author.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

A virtuosic fever-dream.

[Ash · Rating 4 out of 5]

What an interesting and wild follow up to the first book!

[Trish Graboske · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars Fiendishly complex, but explains much that was left unexplained in Momenticon, and sweeps excitingly to the end.

[Kate Wileman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I noticed more themes from Rotherweird were in Simul and I really loved how similar themes were explored in new contexts.

Simul made me realise just how much the books Caldecott writes are centred around the subjectivity of power and the complexity of power dynamics.