Patrick Edwards

Edwards, Patrick. Echo Cycle. Tor, 2020.
Echo Cycle is the second novel by Patrick Edwards, a well-traveled British writer. It is one of the many pleasing time travel stories we have had lately. In this one, by 2070, Brexit has proved to be a predictable disaster. After Yosemite erupts, people are leaving a dystopian United States for places north and south. As the European Union negotiates a new relationship with a Britain that has become a tyranny that exploits its poor, a British show more functionary in Rome falls through a time slip and winds up in Nero’s Rome. After that, the plot gets complicated, and the cross-cultural comparisons are subtler than one might expect. There are several well-rounded characters. I could do without the rather bizarre narrative structure, but this is a novel that paid off in surprising ways. It is also the first post-Brexit dystopia I have read. Something tells me, there will be more opportunities. show less

A British functionary returns to Rome 20 years after a disastrous school trip in which one schoolmate disappeared and another lost an eye. After thirty years of self-imposed isolation, Britain is reaching out of its Brexit bubble to re-engage with a European Confederacy that has risen phoenix-like from the ashes of the crumbled Union of yore. But not all is as it seems. Rome - and Europe - are a little too inviting, a little too lovable. The lost schoolmate has returned with an unbelievable show more story of falling through the cracks of time into the 1st century AD. When the British delegation comes under attack, it becomes impossible to tell whether its a false flag or a thirst for vengeance 2000 years in the making...

What a brilliant read - pacy, engaging and with such juicy ingredients I couldn't help but gobble it up.

Full review

I received a free copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. show less