Book review
Written by Adam Roberts
Gollancz trade paperback
Release date 15 April 2010

Tony Block is a soldier in the new model army Pantegral, contracted by the Scottish Parliament to fight a war of independence from the English. Fighting in a series of skirmishes around the home counties and the west of London, he takes part in a number of successful incursions. In the end, when Scotland has achieved its aim, he is badly damaged – physically and emotionally – but his desire for the battle and the joy of warfare is undiminished. His personal conflict has only just begun…

Related as a confessional piece, Roberts’ intriguing and spectacular work is less a novel than a philosophical treatise. If that sounds like a turn-off, it certainly shouldn’t be, for New Model Army is written in stunning prose that is often lyrical, if not poetic.

Roberts has a wonderful grasp of language and uses it to stunning effect on every page. Certainly, this is a piece of fiction, but the events in the plot are far less important than the ideas, and even the protagonist cannot describe himself as a hero.

Central to the engagement that Roberts undertakes with philosophy is the notion of democracy. But it is also infused with ideas about the self and the nature of consciousness. As the narrative unfolds it becomes increasingly ‘spacey’ (think Performance or 2001: A Space Odyssey), and takes the reader deep into the territory of intellectual speculative fiction. Brigid Cherry

VERDICT: 8/10
It might prove hard going for some, but New Model Army is completely lucid and keeps the reader guessing at every page turn about its protagonist’s fate.