Theatre of the Gods (2013, Penguin Random House)
English language
Published Feb. 26, 2013 by Penguin Random House.
This is the story of M. Francisco Fabrigas, explorer, philosopher, and heretical physicist, who took a shipful of children on a frightening voyage to the next dimension, assisted by a teenaged Captain, a brave deaf boy, a cunning blind girl, and a sultry botanist, all the while pursued by the Pope of the universe and a well-dressed mesmerist. Dark plots, demonic cults, murderous jungles, quantum mayhem, the birth of creation, the death of time, and a creature called the Sweety: all this and more waits beyond the veil of reality. Tolkien and Verne meet Douglas Adams and Pratchett, care of Gulliver's Travels.
An action-and-idea-packed book, which certainly kept me reading. Probably a few too many ideas, to be honest: some of them could have done with a little more development. I would have given it 4 stars (which to me means "would recommend"), but had to deduct a bit. A very solid 3. Not as strong as Suddain's later book.
