Introduction
One Word Kill by Mark Lawrence is the first book in the Impossible Times Trilogy. Nick Hayes enjoys playing Dungeons and Dragons (D & D) with his friends. The novel takes place in January 1986 in London, England. Nick has problems. They diagnosed him with leukemia and he likes the new girl in his D & D group, Mia, but a mysterious stranger arrives and turns his life upside down. Can Nick figure out his next move? His life and future depend on him making the right choice.
Summary
Nick friends are in his D & D group. They are Elton (the dungeon master), John (the warrior), Simon (the thief), Nick is the mage, and Mia is a priest in the group. Nick starts his chemotherapy for leukemia and thinks about his mortality. Demus is the mysterious stranger that wants Nick and Mia to do a dangerous task for him. Nick and Mia need the special talents of the kids in their group. John is wealthy, Simon is a skilled computer hacker, and Elton has a way to break into a computer facility The story is complicated by what the drug dealer Sacks wants and what the psychopath Rust wants from them.
Recommendation
I wasn’t sure where this novel was going because the cliched use of amnesia seemed unlikely. The thrilling ending saves the novel by connecting it all together. With the nostalgia angle, I thought this short novel would be more like Ready Player One, but it was not. One Word Kill is a time travel novel. It explores time travel, destiny, and paradox. I thought it interesting that the Goodreads readers shelved it as 144 Fantasy and 103 Science Fiction. In my experience, time travel was known as Science Fiction. Is this a changing of genres? What changed to make this story fantasy? Maybe readers shelved this novel as fantasy because they know Mark Lawrence as a fantasy author.
Links
This is the link to the Goodreads page of One Word Kill by Mark Lawrence.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39792427-one-word-kill
This is the link to the Goodreads page of Limited Wish by Mark Lawrence. Book 2 of the Impossible Times Trilogy.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41771517-limited-wish
A similar book that uses a knowledge of the 80s a critical part of the plot is Ready Player One by Ernest Cline.
This is the link to my review of Ready Player One by Ernest Cline.