Rating: 
Summary: Not what it initially appears.
Review: "Only Forward" starts out as an imaginative and quite funny sci-fi/mystery novel and slowly reveals itself to be something more - a powerful meditation on loss, memory, and regret that really moved me. A very good book.
Rating: 
Summary: Surprising depth and emotional intelligence
Review: "Only Forward," Smith's debut novel, is a sometimes funny, sometimes terrifying futuristic thriller that weds cyberpunk with horror a la John Shirley. A work of surprising depth, "Only Forward" is a literary funhouse where nothing is as it seems; the reader's role is to hold on tight (outguessing the hard-boiled narrator is next to impossible). Loaded with uproarious satirical shocks reminiscent of Neal Stephenson's "Snow Crash," "Only Forward" ultimately reveals itself as a work of moral and aesthetic maturity with enough humanity to counterbalance its unbridled surrealism.
Rating:
Summary: 2/3rds of it was brilliant, then if fizzled
Review: (1st third)This book started well, in a sort of futuristic combination of Phillip Marlow and Douglas Adams. Well crafted charactures, and interesting world. The story zipped right along (2nd third) It then went into other territory, and the author's aptitude for writing a story in the context of dreaming was truly excellent, probably some of the best stuff I've ever read. (Final third) Story gets muddled with a VERY unsatisfactory ending. If you really want to enjoy this story rip out the pages after the chapter where Stark is in the hotel full of cats to the next to the last chapter. You'll enjoy the book much more that way, trust me.
Rating:
Summary: A brilliant introduction to a talented writer
Review: A couple of years have passed since I read this book, as I was desperate enough to order the British edition after reading a handful of Mr. Smith's short stories in the small presses. Needless to say, I was far from disappointed ... I read ONLY FORWARD in one night, hooked from the very beginning. Aside from the vivid world, the sympathetic and fully realized characters, and the gripping plot, the book contains some accurate observations on the world and its inhabitants, giving it more depth than one would expect from a first novel. Mr. Smith blends science fictional elements with a good mystery story, adding a touch of fantasy here and there to keep things interesting, and it all blends together artfully. I'm ashamed to say I haven't read much more of his work, but the praise for SPARES and ONE OF US is equal to that of his debut, and it's hard to imagine that he doesn't get better with practice. (But if you need reassuring, check out his latest story, "The Book of Irrational Numbers," in the anthology 999.)Now that ONLY FORWARD is available here in the states, it would be a shame for anyone to miss it. Read it. Be amazed.
Rating:
Summary: A GREAT BOOK
Review: A great reading expierence. This book is a mystery, science fiction, horror and comedy all wraped up as one.But at the heart its a book about life. The only book that ever made me smile while I was reading it.Like his other books his observations on life are right on.
Rating:
Summary: Great stuff
Review: Can't beat this guy for a great sci-fi read, I think he is way underrated and I cant believe that this book is so hard to find
Rating: 
Summary: overrated
Review: disclaimer: i've never written an amazon book review before. i think they're usually just fan letters and don't provide honest insight. this book was SO lame i felt compelled to counter the waves of adulation. This book is just not the rave that everyone here seems to think. if you love the New Wave of the 60s and 70s, based on always-shifting, psychedelic, "if i think it, it can happen" style of fantasy, you'll love it. [i'm thinking of Amber, here - which i thought was interesting.] that said, I don't demand hard scientific explanations for fantastic situations, but i need something more than just [*SPOILER AHEAD*] "We stood on the beach and imagined that the water behind us would become a different world and when we turned around, it did, and it turns out to be the future, and my girlfriend got an abortion that made me sad so i became a tough guy even though i used to be a bookworm." ok. great. i can see how Dreamworks would eat this up. It's just the kind of pablum they could turn into a $500M picture. by the way, this is the FIRST book where the author is reduced to bragging about his movie-options in his bio. what a creepy, corporate thing to do. maybe this is the wave of the future and i'm too old-school, but that just seems embarassing. at least i bought it at a used book store for $2. i think they'll give me a buck back if i return it. so i'm out 4 hours and a dollar. all in all, i'd pay another buck to get the four hours back.
Rating:
Summary: Mix of John Woo, High Fidelity, and Douglas Adams
Review: Ever try to describe to a friend a scene in a movie that just made you cry because of the intensity, tragedy, and romanticism (think ending of the Sixth Sense in terms of emotion), or an action scene that just jazzed you up (think opening scene of John Woo's the Killer or any action scene in Face/Off), and your friend just looks at you like you're an utter git? Well, that's just the problem with Only Forward. My sister picked up this book for me while in England, and this is the book I hope to be buried with. Michael Marshall Smith's relationship and life observations reads like Nick Horn Hornby's High Fidelity, the humor reads like Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and the action scenes (let's put it this way, one of the characters, after finding out that his rivals have found out his plans to regain gang turf, isn't angry because his rivals will be prepared, but because they'll all run off and there will be less people to kill) rivals any John Woo/James Cameron scenes. And, although there is violence, there are scenes that will make your heart break (the realization that some relationships can never be fixed, that you can't be there all the time to protect the ones you love, or to say your goodbyes). This is the only book that has made me shed tears. Only Forward renewed my faith in fiction.
Rating: 
Summary: Really good - and yet not
Review: First off let me clarify one thing: This book is both science fiction and fantasy. If you're a fantasy fan, you probably won't have any trouble with this book. The sci-fi portions of it are quite creative and not at all hard. If your a science fiction fan, though, tread carefully! The last half of this book requires some serious suspension of disbelief. Now, as for my opinion of the story, I have to say it was a bit of a rollercoaster ride for me. At first it was a little hard to get into, because Smith applies a bit of quirky British humor in spots, and though I usually enjoy that it doesn't quite work for me here. However, once I came to terms with this, the first half of the book was really great. I enjoyed the action, the characters and The City - and the action! Then, in the second half, it took a nose dive. Frankly, I found the whole notion of Jeamland cheesy and unpalatable. And I like cheese! *Ahem* Anyway, by the final fifty pages or so, things seem to get more or less back on track, and the ending had me flipping pages as fast as I could. In summary, parts of this book deserve two stars and parts of it deserve four, so overall I have to rate it a three. Would I recommend this one? Not unless I knew your tastes well enough to think you'd like Jeamland more than I did.
Rating:
Summary: Really good - and yet not
Review: First off let me clarify one thing: This book is both science fiction and fantasy. If you're a fantasy fan, you probably won't have any trouble with this book. The sci-fi portions of it are quite creative and not at all hard. If your a science fiction fan, though, tread carefully! The last half of this book requires some serious suspension of disbelief. Now, as for my opinion of the story, I have to say it was a bit of a rollercoaster ride for me. At first it was a little hard to get into, because Smith applies a bit of quirky British humor in spots, and though I usually enjoy that it doesn't quite work for me here. However, once I came to terms with this, the first half of the book was really great. I enjoyed the action, the characters and The City - and the action! Then, in the second half, it took a nose dive. Frankly, I found the whole notion of Jeamland cheesy and unpalatable. And I like cheese! *Ahem* Anyway, by the final fifty pages or so, things seem to get more or less back on track, and the ending had me flipping pages as fast as I could. In summary, parts of this book deserve two stars and parts of it deserve four, so overall I have to rate it a three. Would I recommend this one? Not unless I knew your tastes well enough to think you'd like Jeamland more than I did.
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