It is a fantastic piece of writing. He shows you what he’s going to do. He rubs your nose in it, really, with repeated mentions of James Blish. And yet, when it happens, you’re still left with your jaw on the ground.

Ridiculous.

The final chapter left me with an enormous, disbelieving grin. It is an act of real chutzpah on MacLeod’s part and immensely funny and surprising.

Great, isn’t it? Even with the foreshadowing, you just never see it coming.

More importantly, and most fantastically of all, The Execution Channel assumes that there are people out there who actually give a shit what bloggers might say. And that’s obviously nonsense.

No comment, yer honour …