The Great Hydration

Rating:
Summary: A classic SF adventure
Review: THE GREAT HYDRATION is reminiscent of the work written in the 50s & 60s by Phil Dick, Robert Sheckley and Harry Harrison - something I wouldn't have been at all surprised to have come across in an old Ace Double. One could call it old fashioned but I've always thought this type of adventure fiction to be timeless, and that loose quality which I can't put into words is something I sorely miss in "modern" sf. Perhaps it is the (purposefully) careless manner in which sciences and technologies are described as opposed to modern clank-clank, or the way aliens and humans and spacecraft and rayguns mingle amongst the scenery and plotting, not taking any room from it but being simply functional towards the storyline. The integration of this all works wonderfully and in a pleasingly straightforward manner - the wonders of the world described with careful attention, yet with brevity rather than explained in tiresome detail.

The book is also luminous, vividly portrayed in glorious colour. I saw the whole book as I read the words, and though that is often true of scenes in a book, it rarely happens to the extent it did with this: visually I saw it all as a mix of the early Tatooine segment of STAR WARS, Frank Herbert's DUNE and THE ROAD WARRIOR.

In the end it is a minor book in Bayley's body of work, but solid entertainment all the way through, with crispy clear writing, some delightfully droll humour, entertaining characters and the lot of it. It's a rare pleasure to find such a book these days.