“‘Resurrection . . . resurrection . . . remember Simul,’ stammers Lord Vane, before sinking back, seemingly at peace for his confession. … Mander closes his eyes and readmits the son and heir.”

My thanks to Quercus Audio Jo Fletcher Books for a review copy via NetGalley of the unabridged audiobook edition of ‘Simul’ by Andrew Caldecott, narrated by John Hastings.

This is the sequel to his wonderfully strange ‘Momenticon’ (2022). Caldecott advises in his opening Author’s Note that “Simul is a sequel and its story will make little sense unless the first volume, Momenticon, has been read first.”

At the end of ‘Simul’ Caldecott provides a glossary of things and places along with a dramatis personae. However, he does warn that this additional material contains major spoilers for ‘Momenticon’.

I had adored ‘Momenticon’ and while I didn’t have time to reread, I was able to refresh my memory before reading ‘Simul’, including by accessing the provided material.

The book is structured with Part I as a prequel to ‘Momenticon’ that ends where it begins. After this Parts II-IV picks up after ‘Momenticon’’s final page and carries the story onwards to its conclusion.

It’s difficult to give any kind of summary of ‘Simul’ as it quite unique and is best experienced first hand. It is a hybrid novel that playfully combines a number of genres: a literary post apocalyptic science fiction adventure with absurdist and steampunk elements. I especially loved the inclusion of various works of art and the homage to Lewis Carroll’s ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’ and ‘Through the Looking Glass’.

The hardback edition is beautiful with a cover by Leo Nickolls and decorative endpapers by Nicola Howell Hawley. There are also line illustrations by Nick May scattered throughout the text.

With respect to the audiobook edition, John Hastings is an accomplished theatrical actor who also narrated ‘Momenticon’. He has an excellent range and I felt that he brilliantly brought the duology’s many characters, its plot and world vividly to life.

Overall, I finished ‘Simul’ in awe of Andrew Caldecott’s imagination and creativity. His writing is excellent and quite lyrical. I consider both ‘Simul’ and ‘Momenticon’ amazing and intend to do a leisurely reread of the duology later this year.

Highly recommended.

Following on from the bizarre and brilliant 'Momenticon', 'Simul' concludes Caldecott's post-apocalyptic duology. The story starts before the events of 'Momenticon', giving a bit of history, and then picks up after the previous novel ending to continue the story to its conclusion. As the author himself forewarns readers, if you haven't read 'Momenticon' you really won't understand or enjoy 'Simul'. Caldecott's complex, strange worlds are hard enough to get your head around even when you have read the books. Likewise, even for those who have read and loved 'Momenticon', like me, a recap on previous events would have helped. The author's note did suggest there was information in the printed version that might have helped, but audiobook listeners don't have that benefit.

In 'Simul', our heroes are once again travelling around what remains of the world and into various paintings and painting inspired fantasies. They encounter horrible villains and eccentric allies, not to mention all sorts of genetically recreated characters from 'Alice in Wonderland' (my favourite: the Jabberwock). Where 'Momenticon' was an opening out of plots and possibilities, 'Simul' is about concluding them, closing things down to a final battle between the forces of humans and the forces of nature (interfered with by humans). In fact, all of our 'goodies' and 'baddies' with their advanced technologies end up in a showdown with a sinister tree.

I won't try to explain the plot further because it's hard to do so and really it's not the sort of book you can easily describe, it's better just to read it. There are points where I found it hard to follow and work out what was going on, which may have been heightened by it being an audiobook and by the lack of recap on previous events. But I think it's also a feature of Caldecott's books - you have to just let go and enjoy the madcap ride. Not because things are illogical or badly plotted - the exact opposite - but because it can be hard to keep up with Caldecott's mind.

If you are someone who loves books that are bizarre and different, intelligent and also fun, this is definitely for you (after reading 'Momenticon'). It also benefits from having some really loveable characters, and some really fascinating and sinister ones too, and from being funny and much easier to read/listen to than you might expect from something conceptually quite complicated. My four star rating reflects the difficulty picking up the story (if possible, I suggest reading it straight or very soon after 'Momention') and that with so many characters to follow, there was less about each which was a shame when I'd like to have heard more about them. But overall it was a great read particularly if considered together with its predecessor.