Matt McAvoy Book Review

“Only Human…” really is as entertaining as it sounds, and I couldn’t put it down, reading from cover to cover in just a couple of hours; the stories are both atmospheric and surprisingly chilling – more so than the tongue-in-cheek dialogue of the opening chapter might suggest.  There is a degree of humour from the off, but this is subsequently dropped in favour of a more menacing undertone.  As one reads on, it soon becomes apparent that the stand-alone stories are actually directly connected parts of the same sum, creating a time-spanning story which crosses dimensions, not dissimilar in structure to “Cloud Atlas”, if a great deal more contemporary.  The further it progresses, the more profound and philosophical this book becomes; what begins with the suggestion of a 70s Hammer horror-style anthology gradually evolves into a hellish kind of sci-fi fusion, until the Underworld dimension in the book becomes a metaphorical reflection of our own corrupt, Dystopian, oligarchic future. 

This is a very intelligent and imaginative book - highly enjoyable and genuinely thought-provoking - but only if you’ve the determination to unravel the metaphor.  Unfortunately, the reader is required to think a lot more than I believe the author intended, because it is necessary to unravel Leigh Holland’s writing to some extent.  While she is a very professional author with a good technical knowledge and grammatical ability, I do feel this book suffered badly simply because it is so confusing to read; Leigh’s explanation of events and timelines is not necessarily clear, and I did find it necessary to go back a couple of times to check where (and when) I was at.  Natural breaks in the text and story are fragmented and disjointed, and scenes are often not coherently discerned from each other – it felt as though the author is picturing the events in her mind, but foggily articulating them onto the page; unfortunately, this does leave the reader, in my view, with too much work to do.  It is a shame this was such a prominent issue, as I otherwise believe “Only Human…” is a book I would have scored with a significantly higher star-rating.

An ambient read this is probably not, but intriguing and fun it certainly is.  If you are willing to put in the brainpower, and are perhaps a little more laterally-minded than myself, I think you will enjoy it a great deal.