Next up for my read of BSFA nominations, this is an intricate juxtaposition of narrative segments set in different worlds and time streams, a lot of which draws from Priest’s own earlier work. Several chapters are set in a near-future Islamic Republic of Great Britain, rather reminiscent of the Darkening Island of his first book; we revisit the archipelago of The Islanders; and magicians and twins and alternate Second World Wars pop up too.

It didn’t quite come off for me. There are a lot of good ideas here, but the Islamic Republic is a bad one; and I had hoped for some actual plot resolution at the end, rather than just being expected to admire the pretty pattern of the bits of story put next too each other. (Oddly enough, The Islanders, on its face a more discontinuous text, worked better in that regard.) So I fear that my vote will put it at the end of what is a very good shortlist.