In a mall, just like any other, Sun and her two friends get on the wrong foot with the wrong gang. What follows is a fight for survival on a battleground littered with trademarks.

In another place and time Meniscus, a cloned test subject locked up in a sealed chamber, is waging his own battle against the viruses he has been infected with.

Of course the two storylines are connected and together will affect the future of humanity. I quite liked that connection, but going into further detail would probably give away too much.

Having picked up Maul (along with Lethe by the same author, but more about that one later) when browsing the library’s sci-fi section while waiting for a bus one rainy day, I didn’t know what to expect – but I have to say I’m not very disappointed with this discovery. While the author herself describes the science in the book as “pure fudge”, the concepts she writes about are quite clever. Sun’s world is full of glorified consumerism – not without an underlying reason – and Meniscus’s future is an interesting take on a world where men have become an endangered gender and propagation is big business.

To conlude, I’d say that my opinion of Maul is “a bit better than not half bad” – a not too heavy but still stimulating read. “Good for lazy summer afternoons” may be the appropriate description.

(and the links for those who want to check it out at Amazon.comor Amazon.co.uk)