Set in a surreal time and land where the simple idea of what a neighbourhood should be, by what defines a person by both his job and acquaintances, simply from the locale from which one is reared, Only Forward challenges all conceptions of what character orientated science fiction is meant to be. Neighbourhoods are not simply urban and suburban dwellings where communities bustle to life at day and wind down for the night, they are Balkanized states which house people who choose to live a lifestyle particular to that particular neighbourhood. Stark resides in the Colour neighbourhood; a place where all who live there willingly adopt a lifestyle colour coded and controlled by artificial machines such as walls and street lights which jealously eye over the constituents apparel. Other neighbourhoods such as Red are hellholes where life is cheap and death cheaper. To give you an idea as to the disparity of living conditions the author informs the reader that in certain areas of Red, rubbish has fossilized. One morning after a hangover our hero/anti-hero/regular Joe/bounty hunter/ is called to the Center neighbourhood. This neighbourhood is one where deadlines and appointments are made and kept. Time is at a premium, a neighbourhood where over achievers and corporate back stabbers spend their time designing new technologies and ways of toppling those in position of power they avariciously have designs on. One of their brightest and best has been kidnapped. They don't know how but are desperate to have him safely returned. Stark accepts the contract. This however is a novel told with a difference.

Via first and third perspective we are regaled with a world which shouldn't quite exist, but does. Trips from neighbourhood to neighbourhood are commuted via monorail, each neighbourhood is separated by walls many hundred metres high and numerous metres thick, people know very little of the world beyond their own enclave and immediate surrounding neighbourhoods. The claustrophobic quality of the quotidian never threatens to implode, it serves if anything to give the novel and its protagonist free reign to go where he likes, see whom he likes, and search out what he needs to in order to survive. The first half of this novel is a soft science fiction adventure which bubbles with a psychotic killer gang lord who is on friendly terms with Stark, a respectful and powerful Actionist named Zenda, who is more of a respected confidant and true friend than a love interest, and a rich woman named Shelby, who owns a helicopter. Throughout the entire novel Stark engages the reader with a witty, acerbic, jaded and one sided banter about well..everything. It is written in such an immersive manner that it seems as if the reader is truly along for the ride of a lifetime with a friend whose shady past simply attracts us to them. The sheer vicarious nature of what Stark reveals, and he reveals a lot, though, he in turn warns the reader that what he says is not always to be trusted. After the first half of the novel finishes the author for some reason only known to him changes the tone of events. He dips the reader into a fantasy element. This is analogous to lightning striking the ground from a clear blue sky. The level of Smith's storytelling continues to be of the highest calibre. Then, after this fantasy element finishes, the tone of the novel changes gear and direction one more time. Now, a diffused horror element issues forth from the pages. This hodgepodge of elements being mixed and then dumped on the reader however is a dose of medicine that needs no sugar to help it go down. Simply put, Only Forward is one the greatest novels I have read. I will be recommending it to all I know. The ending to this novel, one which I felt was not going to arrive, is recounted with such a savage tenderness that it has burned a path in my memories that will burn bright for many a year.

Utterly compulsive reading!

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