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K-Machines (Players In The Contest Of Worlds book 2) by Damian Broderick
01/10/2006 . Source: Tom Lloyd-Williams 
pub: Thunder's Mouth Press. 319 page enlarged paperback. Price: $14.95 (US). ISBN: 1-56025-805-5. Buy K-Machines in the USA - or Buy K-Machines in the UK  check out website: www.avalonpub.com
Following straight on from the first novel in the pair, 'Godplayers', 'K-Machines' takes the now, not-so-innocent-in-the-ways-of-the-universe August Seebeck and springs quite a few more surprises. Still getting to grips with his new-found siblings - all eleven of them - and the dimension-hopping battleground they now inhabit, Seebeck's still got a lot to learn about the conflict he's playing an integral part in and the lady he's fallen for. As a result, August spends a large part of the novel bouncing from one place to another in bewilderment as the truth behind their whole family set-up and existence is teased out.
Having enjoyed the first, I knew exactly what to expect and had the experience to know that I should breeze through the quantum babble instead of spending too long trying to understand it. There was less of it in this volume but added distractions in the form of insert-sections that only bear relevance at the end. While those were fine in themselves, they're rather more literary in approach which didn't fit hugely comfortable inside an ideas novel that tips its hat towards pulpy SF. The main structure of the book also lacked a little from the fact that it was the second in a pair, there's no awakening to the truth as the book progresses. It's only as the truth behind everything starts to be revealed that I was caught up in what was going on. Before that the pages flew past in an enjoyably forgettable manner, but I couldn't shake the feeling that with such impressively complex theory underpinning everything the scale of the books should have been vast. Broderick really knows what he's doing on the physics side but seems to have reigned himself in to produce two slimmish novels. With August and his eleven siblings and an infinite variety of dimensions to hop between, my enjoyment of 'K-Machines' was diminished by the fact that it lacked a little ambition. It's a fun tale that on occasion also gives the brain a work-out, but could have been so much grander.
Tom Lloyd-Williams
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