In
2022, Alan Moore signed a Bloomsbury deal to write a five-book
series. At the time Moore was excited, saying he bubbled with
fiction (I paraphrase). A difficult feeling to sustain, Moore
nevertheless delivered a sparkling, exuberant effort two years later
in The Great When. An irreverent mix of Dickens, Joyce, and
Aleister Crowley, Moore deployed his singular style on an alternate,
mid-20th century London indeed, in bubbly fashion. But could Moore
maintain the groove in 2026's I Hear a New World, second book
in the series?
It
takes a fun, meandering road, but I Hear a New World
eventually picks up on the happenings of our weak-chinned hero,
Dennis Knuckleyard. Roughly ten years after the events of The
Great When, Dennis is still possessor of the key brought back
from Long London, and in the early going, he uses an opportunity at a
socialite party to pass possession to Joe Meek, a music producer.
Meek's never the same after, and Dennis finds himself caught between
an occult rock and octogenarian hard place.
