The World Is At War, Again by Simon Lowe {book review}
*This book was gifted to me by Literary PR in exchange for an honest review. This review is also a part of the Virtual Book Tour for The World Is At War, Again by Simon Lowe. More details at the end of this article.
ID: The book, The World Is At War, Again by Simon Lowe. The book has a striking red and yellow striped cover. With the book is the PR information sheet which includes a picture of Simon Lowe.
Hello friends,
A mysterious boarding school, Spies and Things Aren’t Going Too Well With The War! These are at the heart of Simon Lowe’s debut Novel, The World Is At War, Again published by Elsewhere Press. This genre twisting story brings together Speculative Fiction with all the elements that make a great Thriller, Spy Mystery with some humorous situations thrown in that kept me hooked every step of the way. So when the love people at Literary PR reached pout and asked if I’d not online an advanced copy of this book to review but also be a part of the Virtual Book Blog Tour, I just couldn’t say no!
But before I get carried away, I’m sure you’re all wondering what on earth this book is actually about. Well, let me tell you…
*taken from the back of the book
“In suburbia, low level Agent Assassins Maria and Marco Fandanelli are given a surprise promotion as “Things Aren’t Going Too Well With the War”. Leaving their son Peter behind, they set sail on the luxury cruise-liner Water Lily City, hoping an important mission might save their careers and their marriage.
Dilapidated and derelict, Panbury Hall is not what Peter expected from boarding school. Together, with his celebrity dorm buddy, he adjusts to a new life that involves double dates, ginger vodka, Fine Art face painting and kidnapping, as they attempt to uncover the mystery of Panbury Hall.
Despite being a member of the Misorov Agent Assassin dynasty, Chewti is a reluctant AA. she only joined the Family Business to track down her cousin Nadia, the rogue AA who killed her mother. Really, she wanted to be a school teacher. So when Nadia is spotted loitering in the grounds of Panbury Hall, the opportunity to avenge her mother’s death and have her dream job is too tempting to turn down.”
So now you know what this book is about, let me tell you what I thought about it, as spoiler free as possible…
Overall, this book was intriguing and humorous, with an interesting group of characters. Each chapter tells you which character you’re with, though the story is told in third person. This lends itself nicely to the story and helps it flow, even if you’re going from a flashback to the present. While you follow Maria, Marco, Peter and Chewti, the supporting characters are just as wonderful, intriguing and add to the comical situations the main characters find themselves in ~ which includes a tight-rope walking Lord at one point!
Simon’s writing style is really great to read, it flows nicely and once I hit around the 50 page mark, I found myself reading through this book quite quickly and I was always eager to pick it up each night! Although, the first 30 to 50 pages felt very focused on information dumping and world building, which is obviously necessary. You are given background to Read House, which is who the Agent Assassins work for, Maria and Marco’s background and living situation, how this effects they relationship and that with their son, Peter. You’re also given quite a bit of family background to Chewti and her cousin Nadia, which introduces some rather morally questionable characters. But all the information you’re given in the beginning really helps as you progress through the story.
ID: The book, The World Is At War, Again by Simon Lowe. The book has a striking red and yellow striped cover.
You also learn that the world is experiencing a technology regression and seemingly gone are all the technological advances because Things Aren’t Going Too Well With The War. Read House workers are back to using Type Writers, what seem to be Citizens Band Radios {CB Radios} to receive updates and Landline Telephones ~ there’s no mobile phones in this world kids! Reading about a world that is essentially living with equipment that was cutting edge around 30 or more years ago in our own time, was really interesting and it was refreshing to not have the characters relying on their mobile phones or the internet to get information.
There was also a number of humorous moments throughout this story and the situations these characters get themselves into, usually due to the supporting characters, was utterly ridiculous. But it completely worked because the main characters often used them to their advantage, whether as distraction or build trust and gain information. I also felt these scenes helped show the personalities of the main characters as well, especially with Macro, as it really showed his sense of humour and just how endearing he is, despite being an AA and maybe he isn’t all about the “Job” while being very good at it.
The character growth in general was something nice to see as the story progressed, especially with Peter. He really comes into his own and begins to play an important role towards the end of the book, he definitely rises to the situation he finds himself in at Panbury Hall and you just see his courage grow so much! I also liked how his parents, Maria and Marco, also come together throughout the book and how they begin to understand the other a lot more and are able to use each other’s strengthens within their assignment.
Through all the character growth and humorous situations, the mystery and missions these characters are trying to figure out and complete are not forgotten. Everything seems to lead back the Panbury Hall and as the plot thickens, this unusual boarding school almost becomes a character in itself. It holds so many secrets that kept me guessing and still guessing after I’ve finished the book and that shows just how great the thriller, mystery element of this book is. I mean the last thing you want is to guess everything before you reach end when you’re reading a book of this genre.
I’m sure, dear reader, you’re probably wondering about that War? I mean, I’ve told. you about the characters and certain aspects of the plot and how funny this book is a times but all you know about the War is that Things Aren’t Going Too Well With The War. Well, that’s the really intriguing thing, that’s all I can tell you about the War in this book. You’re never given more information. You don’t know which countries are involved, why it started and if it’s going to end soon. All the time I was reading, I was itching for more information on the War and Panbury Hall and before I knew it, I’d reached the last page, still none the wiser!
But all is not lost! I have confirmation from Simon himself, that he is working on a sequel! So hopefully all my questions and wonderings will be answered soon. Well, as soon as Simon has finished and published the sequel anyway…
So if you love a good thriller, spy mystery with plenty of high jinx, I’d really recommend picking this one up!
As I mentioned above, I’m actually part of the Virtual Book Tour for this wonderful book. I have the privilege of starting the tour today with this review and it carries on with other amazing book reviewers and bloggers for the next three weeks. So if you’d like to follow the tour and see what everyone else thought of the book, I’d listed everybody, their social media handles and the date of their review below:
15th June: Karen Dear ~ Twitter: @karteabooks Instagram: @karteabooks
16th June: Darshayita Thakur ~ Twitter: @darshayita / Instagram: @reading.corner25
17th June: Lindsey ~ Twitter: @lbookaccount / Instagram: @lbookaccount
20th June: Cam - Nightfall Mysteries ~ Twitter: @Camkhg / Instagram: @nightfallmysteries
21st June: Siobhán Devine ~ Twitter: @the_b00kreader / Instagram: @the.b00kreader
25th June: Annabel Gaskell ~ Twitter: @gaskella / Instagram: @gaskella
28th June: Alex Jones ~ Twitter: @alexjbooks / Instagram: @alexjbookreviews
28th June: Beth Ralphs ~ Twitter: @bookishworld_ / Instagram: @bookishworld_
30th June: Claire Parsons ~ Twitter: @c.isfor.clairereads / Instagram: @c.isfor.claire_reads
If you do decide to give The World Is At War, Again by Simon Lowe, I’d love to know what you think of it.
Stay Safe. Read a Book.
L x
