Within Without (John Nyquist #4) by Jeff Noon

​       Weird fiction by its very nature can be an acquired taste, but Jeff Noon has been putting out just the right kind of weird out there. I’m a huge fan of his John Nyquist series (and I don’t even like series) and was very excited to find book four out on Netgalley. I didn’t even read the plot summary, because I kind of had a pretty good idea of what to expect based on the first three books. And sure enough, expectations met. Another strange, exotic and completely bonkers world for Nyquist’s latest investigation.
     This time it’s a world defined by its numerous boundaries, with every border delineating a new set of rules and social norms. There are some interesting, strange and dangerous things occurring within and without those. There are also personality enhancing transplants that may or may not be sentient and literary characters residing in the attics of one’s mind. If it’s sounds completely wild and out there, it’s because it is. So much so it’s actually difficult to do justice describing, especially after reading Noon’s descriptions. And so I’ll just leave it at that.
   Suffice it to say, Noon’s got a wildly prodigious imagination on a permanent overdrive setting and it results in some of the most spectacular worldbuilding speculative fiction has to offer.
    And having that been said, I should also mention that this one didn’t quite wow me the way its predecessors did. I’m not completely sure why. Something about this world wasn’t as exciting as the others or maybe it just veered down too many too strange alleys. Or maybe I wasn’t entirely in the mood for it this time. To be fair, having just revisited my review of book three, this is much of the same reaction as I’ve had then. Madly loved first two and then not quite getting the same high with the last two. Still though, even if it isn’t love as such, there’s so much to appreciate here and the entire thing is just so original and different and wild that it’s absolutely worth a read. Not sure where it’s going to go after that ending, but trust Noon to come up with something awesome. After all, he’s really got a knack for it.
   Strange, bizarre, trippy…what an adventure. There’s nothing like it out there, nothing to compare it to. Which is excellent in and of itself. Recommended. Thanks Netgalley.