The Traveller

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

A Book Review
Malach has just finished reading The Traveller by John Twelve Hawks. It is the first book in the Fourth Realm Trilogy. Dark River the second book of the trilogy was just released. Both books have been best sellers, at least in their genre, and are fairly easy to find.

First I want to talk a bit about Twelve Hawks and the mystery surrounding the author. Very reclusive; supposedly Twelve Hawks and his editor have never met. They communicate via the Internet, and a untraceable satellite phone, using a voice scrambler. No photograph of him has been seen by the public, and the only biographical information on him is based on four sources.

1. A 2005 USA Today article
2. A 2005 interview in SFF World
3. A 2006 interview published in Germany in Titel Magazine
4. A small tidbit in a 2007 Daily Telegraph article

Random House's biography for the longest time only stated Twelve Hawks "lived off the grid" (a term we will explore a bit more in this article), and has recently been replaced by the line "John Twelve Hawks is the author of the New York Times bestseller, "The Traveler."

Theories abound about who Twelve Hawks really is, some are interesting, Malach has his own. some have been recently discredited. One thing is know, Twelve Hawks is a pseudonym and he is not an American Indian.

Much of the "information" about him has come from interviews. In one, Twelve Hawks made the statement when asked if the situation in Iraq was "Hell", Twelve Hawks relied Hell was more "like Lebanon in the '70's", a remark that suggests he was at least old enough to have some intelligent thought about that, putting him in his 40's or 50's or even older.

Twelve Hawks has also stated he grew up in a sort of commune, learned writing from stealing books from a restricted University Library, drives a 15 year old car, and does not own a television. His road agent has stated Twelve Hawks lives in London, LA, and New York, and by his writing he shows some familiarity with these cities. Twelve Hawks also states he does not plan in going public with his identity.

Some of the more popular rumors and theories about Twelve Hawks. According to someone who knows someone from Random House. Twelve Hawks has a serious physical disability and prefers to remain out of the public eye. This has lead to the theory that he is Stephen Hawking. Interesting thought; Hawking has world travel experience, can write, and would have some thought of some of the science involved in this book. Interesting though, Hawking has never shied away from the public eye, and has never hidden his disability; in fact he is a huge proponent of the rights of the disabled. There are theories that he is another published author, some of the more popular guesses are Michael Cunningham, Craig Strete, Kage Barker, and Dan Brown. The Brown one has recently been denied by Twelve Hawks (personally I don't see it either, Twelve Hawks is a much better writer). Also having not read any of those writers, so I really can't give an opinion.

Malach's theory is that Twelve Hawks is William Gibson. Why? Read something by both of them. Their writing style is very similar. In addition, they explore many of the same concepts.

OK, what about the book?
The Traveller is set in a contemporary alternative reality. Elements of magic and technology interweave with a dystopian modern day 1984. The World and it's population are overseen by a secret organization bent on creating a perfect society, perfectly controlled by technology, the Internet, media, surveillance and a police state. This organization is called the Tabula, and over the centuries have infiltrated much of the world's governments, and businesses, creating a culture of fear and naitivity. This group is opposed by people who have realized what is going on, and have chosen to "live off the grid", the world wide blanket of surveillance and control. The Tabula in bent on destroying these groups, specific certain people called Travellers. Travellers are people who can project their "light" (Souls) into other dimensions and realms. From these realms they bring back information (free will, living off the grid, living off the land) that is against the society created by the Tabula . Travellers over the centuries have become great leaders of men: holy men, prophets, genius, and change society for the better. The Tabula sees them as dangerous subversives and are bent on destroying them, which they have over the centuries. Harlequins and sword protectors of the Travellers, lonely fighting machines, who's only purpose in life in to protect the Traveller.

Both Travellers and Harlequins, being systematically wiped out, only number a few as we come to the modern era. Maya is a Harlequin from birth, abandoning that life to attempt to live a normal citizen. The daughter of a famous German Harlequin, she is thrust into the midst of this war on her father's last wish. She is asked to find and defend the two last remaining known Travellers, and travels to the States to do so. While there, she uncovers a massive plot by the Tabula, to use one of the travellers to contact, and perhaps eventually cross over to the other realms.

The plot is well written, has some really nice twists, and the character development is excellent. And overall feeling of paranoia and mystery is carried through the novel, and several ideas of free will, anti-technology, and religion are also explored in the novel. The book has a very interesting Buddhist cosmology to it, and it a excellent mix of fantasy, sci-fi, magic and cyberpunk.

This will easily translate to the big screen and reportedly the movie rights have already been sold. Can't wait to read the next installment.

I am Malach and I can read.