All This Is So by John
Roe is an amazing, deep,
highly literate and
hugely entertaining
fantasy set in a
seemingly medieval type
world that is strange
familiar but not
quite...
The hero of the book is
a character called Orr
(although his name
changes more than once
through the course of
the novel) who at the
book's beginning
witnesses members of a
sinister police/army
type enforcement agency
called The Matrix
beating a young woman
and losing himself an
eye and his memory in
the process.
In this strange world
where there at least 2
races of humans (some of
whom have telepathic
abilities) including
some called The Twisted
Folk who live somewhat
on the outskirts of
society, as the story
progresses we learn that
sometime in the past an
unspecified catastrophe occurred
which made the people
lose the trappings of
their technological age
and revert to a more
simplistic life.
Out of all this Orr
learns that he could
well be the figure
talked about as the
chosen one, the only one
who can save the world
of Westermain.
Author John Roe has done
a wonderful job in
creating this new world,
at once strangely
familiar (there is a
wealth of mythological
and literature style
allusions) but oh so
different, Roe takes the
mythology of our world
and twists it on it's
side.
All this is so is a
highly original and very
recommended novel
that also boasts a
stunningly detailed
cover that I for one was
drawn to each time I
picked up the book.
