Review
Northern Irish Sci-Fi. Verbal wonders why this isn’t done more often?
- The Auditor
- Lagan Press
A Shaky Peace
It had never consciously crossed my mind to wonder why there hadn’t been more Belfast based Science-Fiction.
Until I read this novel that is. Hagan’s parable draws clear parallels between Northern Ireland’s real past and his disturbing vision of its future in this gripping story. The distancing device of the authoritarian, futuristic setting works like a charm to point out the shaky foundations of our peace and the ever present danger of an imminent collapse of moral authority. Don’t get me wrong – this is not a ‘Troubles’ novel by any stretch of the imagination. This is pure-blooded Sci-fi through and through – a genre which can be oft-maligned but to this reader’s mind often has more worthwhile things to say about life today than any amount of realist literary fiction. Hagan’s literary canon is aimed more at Orwell and Kafka than any well-known Irish or Northern Irish writer. However, this dystopian novel tracing a society’s collapse in on itself uses the historical and current political situation here with a deft touch to illustrate an unsettling vision of the future.
verbal