A review by david_agranoff
The Other by Matthew Hughes

2.0

I happened across this novel at the library and picked it up based on the strength of the press. Underland Press. A Portland based indie press who released books by two of my favorite authors Brian Evenson and John Shirley. Hughes a Canadian author is new to me but has novels published with both Nightshade and Angry Robot. I can’t say where this novel fits in with his greater style I can only judge this one.

The story centers around a character named Luff Imbry, he is an overweight ne’er do-well who starts off the story being abducted and dumped on the planet Fulda. A far off world that was founded by humans but long since forgotten. Imbry tries to get off the world and has many adventures while he discovers that the people of the planet founded their civilization on a belief of total conformity.

The best thing about this novel is the tongue in cheek tone and the many laughs throughout. The setting is interesting with effective and quick world building that doesn’t bloat the word count. Luff is a funny character, I can’t say I cared much about him, but the laughs carried me through.

The novel seems to explore the concepts of individuality, and that should have been more interesting. While I was amused thorough-out I found the setting of Fulda a little uninteresting after awhile. While I was not a huge fan of this novel, it had good enough moments that I probably will try another Matthew Hughes novel.