One Word Kill

By Mark Lawrence

Book Overview

Ready Player One meets Stranger Things in this new novel by the bestselling author who George RR Martin describes as "an excellent writer."

In January 1986, fifteen-year-old boy-genius Nick Hayes discovers he's dying. And it isn't even the strangest thing to happen to him that week.

Nick and his Dungeons & Dragons-playing friends are used to living in their imaginations. But when a new girl, Mia, joins the group and reality becomes weirder than the fantasy world they visit in their weekly games, none of them are prepared for what comes next. A strange--yet curiously familiar--man is following Nick, with abilities that just shouldn't exist. And this man bears a cryptic message: Mia's in grave danger, though she doesn't know it yet. She needs Nick's help--now.

He finds himself in a race against time to unravel an impossible mystery and save the girl. And all that stands in his way is a probably terminal disease, a knife-wielding maniac and the laws of physics.

Challenge accepted.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1542042836
• ISBN13: 9781542042833
• Release Date: May 2019
• Publisher: 47north
• Length: 204 Pages
• Weight: 0.81 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.6" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

Ah, D&D -it has been a while.

The writing is a bit verbose. We get a lot of unimportant details about the type of writing found about 120 years ago. This initial discussion on cancer makes you want to say, “Get on with it.” For those with sensitive ears, there is a periodic potty mouth. The story is told in first-person narration. I had to stop reading for a bit to read “Principia Mathematica” 3 Volume Set (v. 1-3) by Alfred North Whitehead and Bertrand Russell (copyright 1927), to see what the reference was about, which our protagonist was reading. They used the public library as it is expensive. Head still reeling, I went back to the book. “One Word Kill” (Impossible Times Book 1) takes about five hours to read, so you may also want to get the Audible version to keep you going. You may wish to press the fast-forward button. Yet, you may miss something important to the story in all the chaff. Wasted pages on the virtues of tetrahydrocannabinol - then more talking. A lot more talking as D&D is played in the background, talking, talking, and talking. Finally, the stalker appears – then more talking. Oops, looks like another diversion; “The Many Worlds Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics” (Princeton Series in Physics) by Bryce Seligman Dewitt and Neill Graham - then more talking. Finally, the story moves forward (still quite wordy). However, you do not get bored with the words. It just took half of the book to get off the ground. It is quite annoying when they keep calling hashish “Cannabis Resin.” It is like calling your cat a “house animal.” Anyway, back to the story. The story moves on to a time-traveler thing. Who is this guy? You will not get the story from me. So, if you can put up with the foibles that I mentioned originally, you might appreciate this story.

Meh

Meh, not really my thing. Liked the D&D parts though