Trojans

There's an old Oysterband sleeve quote that goes something like “to love this land and its people while hating how it's ruled and a lot of what it stands for is a contradiction many people will find strange”. It's this contradiction that is at the heart of the Devices trilogy, the struggle between authoritarian rule and anarchist do as you please. It's very political, not in a partisan way, but in exploring what it means to be British, what Britain could and should represent. That may sound rather po-faced, but Purser-Hallard writes with warmth and wit, and he keeps the pages turning. There are weighty questions of national identity, personal responsibility, and the nature of stories below the text, but there are also swordfights, explosions and secret fortresses disguised as Civil Service offices. The idea of a modern day King Arthur sparring in the shopping centres and coffee shops of modern Britain could easily have fallen prey to cliche and silliness, but the books manage to sidestep that and offer a thought provoking and very entertaining read.