Book Review - The Lord of the Sands of Time (Issui Ogawa)

I think it might be a little unfair of me to review this book as I read it in a very on/off manner, but I'll give it a go.

In the future, mankind is under threat from a mysterious alien race that seems to simply want to extinguish the human light from existence. AI soldiers, known as Messengers, are sent back in time to different periods to attempt to "head them off at the pass" - to raise the alarm earlier on in Earth's history and to try and defeat the enemy and preserve Earth's future. One Messenger, Messenger O, has found his way back to early Japan, after jumping back in time several times after several failures. Can this one be the last?

You can tell already this this book has an intriguing concept - time travel is always good - but things become reasonably complex quite early on in the novel, when the characters start talking about saving different timestreams and "upstreaming" as jargon for travelling back in time. It's certainly challenging when trying to fit it all together in your head, but with enough time it will make sense. The fact that the book is very fast paced doesn't help matters, as things are often brushed over perfunctorily.

The book follows an alternating-time structure, similar to that of Banks' Use of Weapons. Between each chapter set in ancient Japan is a chapter set in a period that Messenger O has travelled to prior to ancient Japan, each subsequent one being set further back in time. This structure is interesting and adds a nice flavour to the book and seems well thought-out. Most of the main characters are developed well, but somewhat uninteresting and devoid of humour. Interactions between the characters are handled well, in particular the relationship between O and the Princess is honest and fulfilling without being overtly sexual, whilst the jealous Kan (the Princess' main servant) watches from the sidelines with disdain.

Whilst the story is interesting, under the surface Ogawa is perhaps asking what it will take to get everyone on Earth to stop squabbling and get along with each other. An alien threat capable of wiping out humanity is a good start, something which has been covered somewhat in Moore and Gibbon's Watchmen graphic novel.

A swift read (despite my slowness) with challenging time-travel concepts that doesn't really allow things to settle in. I am however glad that the translator used plain English instead of English slang with Japanese characters, as in the case of All You Need is Kill from the same Haikasoru imprint.

7/10