Inverted World. Christopher Priest December 2, 2008
Posted by Cyd in science fiction.Tags: Christopher Priest, classic, future, hard SF, mathematics, science, science fiction
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Originally published in 1974, this novel is a classic of science fiction. It’s very definitely an idea driven story. We follow the progress of a young man, Helward Mann, who, at the age of six hundred and fifty miles, is coming of age and pledging himself as an Apprentice to a Guild. He knows very little of how things work in the city he grew up in – he was raised inside a crèche with other children. He saw his father, a Guildsman himself, infrequently, and never knew his mother. Now he is being sworn to utmost secrecy, and is being given the freedom to leave the city and learn his trade.
As Helward spends time in each of the guilds, we learn along with him the true nature of the city he grew up in, and the world it exists in. Although we also meet other people, including Helward’s new wife from an arranged marriage, the people and their relationships are not the important focus of this story. The main focus is learning about this odd world.
To begin with, the city is on rails, and must be kept moving. The Guilds exist to keep the city on track, and to keep life within the city running. The rest of the citizens inside the city are kept in ignorance of their actual situation, as they carry on their lives and work inside the city walls . But of course things can’t go on like this forever, and as Helward takes on his work as a full Guild member, society within the city begins to suffer from internal and external problems. These lead up to an incredible ending, with revelations that cast a new light on everything.
I loved reading this book. I loved being pulled along with Helward as he learns more and more about his world. The concepts are fascinating. The ending was a complete surprise. It had the effect of creating mental vertigo, as everything suddenly shifted and fell into a new order. I enjoyed the effect immensely.
This edition has an afterword by John Clute that gives a historical perspective to the story within the science fiction genre. It’s well worth reading, but it reviews details of the story so don’t read it first. There’s a good reason it’s an afterword.
Anathem. Neal Stephenson November 23, 2008
Posted by Cyd in science fiction.Tags: alternate worlds, hard SF, history, life on other planets, long works, mathematics, monasteries, Neal Stephenson, philosophy, science, science fiction
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I finished this book at last. I’m a fairly slow reader, and it took me about 5 weeks to finish (with a short break to read a few graphic novels in between). I enjoyed it every step of the way.
I don’t want to give any spoilers, so I’m not going to comment here on what happens to our hero, Fraa Erasmus, or his world. I don’t like knowing too much about a story before reading it, and I’m sure most people feel the same way. As I mentioned in my earlier post on this book, we learn about the world as it is, and then things get interesting.
Stephenson plays around with a lot of scientific and mathematical ideas, and a lot of the book is taken up with educating readers so that by the end we understand what is happening. His world makes it easy for him to do this. Because the main characters live in a world of learning, we merely go along with them, listening in on their discussions and investigations. It all works in context with the ongoing storyline. Every time I started to feel bored with extended scenes of these discussions, Stephenson would break away into more action. In this way I thought he struck a good balance. Of course, I love hard SF for this reason, so I might have more tolerance than some readers to lengthy discussions of scientific and philosophical ideas. But I think it’s worth reading them because they are all there for a reason – to inform what happens later in the story. As far as I can remember, nothing is included for no reason. This is one of Stephenson’s strengths as a writer – that everything that happens is there for a reason (which makes me think of Chekhov’s gun). I admire that he is able to sustain this over such a long book, and that very close to the end I found myself seeing how a character’s interest in something way back in the beginning introduced ideas that were returned to and built on over and over through the story. One simple example of this is Fraa Lio’s interest in Vale-lore, which introduces us to the idea that martial arts is considered worthy of study in the Concents. As the plot moves along, Vale-lore, and the Valers who devote themselves to its study, come up again and again, playing ever more important roles. Another example is the frequent reference to the history of the people on this planet. By learning about its history, events in the present have more context, and the events at the end have a far greater meaning than they otherwise would have.
On top of all of the science, there is also, of course, a very good story. It has plenty of suspense and action, and goes in directions that I would never have guessed at when I first started reading. Which is why I don’t want to give away any plot points in this post. I might write about the plot in a future post, though. I’m still going back to the book, and thinking about the story. This book is a great one, worth reading and thinking about and discussing.
Further reading:
Extended acknowledgments of the origins of some of the ideas used in Anathem are listed on Neal Stephenson’s web site.
Anathem wiki (contains spoilers)
