Reject World

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Reject World

Category:	Fiction
Author:	Marco Bucciferro
Publisher:	Apex
Price:	£5.99
ISBN:	1904444261
Pages:	156
Reviewed in issue:	8

Reject World tells the story of Mark, a man transported suddenly to another planet where, he is told, his high serotonin levels are needed to save the alien race.

However it soon becomes clear that things are not as simple as they appear. The novel’s cover, an orange explosion against a black background, is unfortunately one of the best things about it. Although there is a good idea of a story in there, it often reads like a first draft and could have benefited from some editing and rewriting to make the plot look a little less messy and to remove some inconsistencies – how, for example, is it possible for two men of a race incapable of feeling love to fall out because they both fell in love with the same woman?

The characters, through their dialogue in particular, seem under-developed and virtually indistinguishable. They are also generally happy to amble along in whichever direction the plot requires. The blurb makes bold claims about the novel’s ability to challenge the reader to question modern day events and wrestle with their conscience. I did not get any sense of this at all – instead Reject World seems to carry the rather dubious moral that love and compassion are negative qualities, or at best unnecessary. The book’s production is mostly good quality, although there are a small number of typing errors.

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