"Heroes Die" (Acts of Caine, Book 1) by Matthew Woodring Stover

This novel is set in a future were earth's resources are limited and world society has split into a rigid cast system based on the work you do, or what your parents do. Hari Michaelson is an actor and a world-wide superstar. In an alternative earth, known as the overworld, where magic works, he is also known as the assassin Caine where his "adventures" are eagerly watched by billions. When Hari's ex-wife, another actor, vanishes in the overworld Hari is drawn into saving her for what the studio on earth sees solely as another action-packed adventure, but for Hari it is much more importance than that.

This is both a brutal and brilliant novel. You really shouldn't like Hari/Caine. He's not a nice man by most accounts. He swears all the time (lots of the "f" word in this book), he'll kill you as soon as look at you and is outstandingly ruthless. Despite all this, he is a compelling and complex character and this novel easily pulls you from chapter to chapter.

Both the overworld and earth society have been given a great deal of thought in this novel, and both are equally richly detailed to provide a combination of Sci-Fi and fantasy in the one book. I hadn't expected this book to be so well written, based on the blurb on the back, and while I'm disgusted by some of the things Caine does, its also fascinating, a bit like watching a natural disaster on TV - and in effect that is what Caine is to the overworld as he keeps earth mesmerised as he navigates both the politics of home and the brutality of everyday life in the overworld.

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