Status
Available
Call number
Publication
Popular Library (1975), Edition: 1st PAPERBACK
Description
The city is winched along tracks through a devastated land full of hostile tribes. Rails must be freshly laid ahead of the city and carefully removed in its wake. Rivers and mountains present nearly insurmountable challenges to the ingenuity of the city's engineers. But if the city does not move, it will fall farther and farther behind the "optimum" into the crushing gravitational field that has transformed life on Earth. The only alternative to progress is death. The secret directorate that governs the city makes sure that its inhabitants know nothing of this. Raised in common in crèches, nurtured on synthetic food, prevented above all from venturing outside the closed circuit of the city, they are carefully sheltered from the dire necessities that have come to define human existence. And yet the city is in crisis. The people are growing restive, the population is dwindling, and the rulers know that, for all their efforts, slowly but surely the city is slipping ever farther behind the optimum. Helward Mann is a member of the city's elite. Better than anyone, he knows how tenuous is the city's continued existence. But the world--he is about to discover--is infinitely stranger than the strange world he believes he knows so well.… (more)
Media reviews
Analog Science Fiction/Sciencd Fact
"... it is certainly one of the strangest SF novels of all time. Unfortunately the ending lets you down almost as badly as the traditional dream in Nineteenth Century stories."
User reviews
LibraryThing member BobNolin
Priest's "only real SF novel" was a bit of a disappointment. I think it would have made a better novella, perhaps even a short story, since the book is really all about revealing the "secret" of the "inverted world." This is how short stories work, but from novels we expect more depth, not just a
Show More
single cool idea held back till the end. There's lots of tedious description of how things work, but it's handled in a very wooden way, not as part of a human story. It reads like the thought experiment it is, and that's not good. Good science fiction is about more than just the science. The fiction needs to be good, too. Plus there were some plot holes (raiders from the South towards the end of the story: how could they be coming from there? Also, the city itself seemed incapable of supporting four or five hundred people. Too small, for one thing.) The ending made sense, but was not worth the 300 pages of tedium it took to get there. Show Less
LibraryThing member fantasymag
Inverted World opens in the first person, with the initiation of young Helward Ward into the guild of Future Surveyors. From the first sentence, “I had reached the age of 650 miles,” readers are aware that something is deeply wrong about this world. We know it has something to do with the
Slowly, Priest allows the details to leak. The guild arranges a marriage for Helward, but before he can visit his wife they take him outside the City of Earth for the first time. He’s stunned at the sight of the sun. He had always been taught that it was round, but it now appears differently, “a long, saucer-shape of light, spiked above and below with two perpendicular spires of incandescence.”
Helward has little time to meditate on this discovery, however, because he goes straight to his apprenticeship with the Track Guild. These men concern themselves with moving metal tracks out from behind the city and putting them back in front of it. Helward soon realizes that the city is always moving north, which the guildsmen call “up future,” and away from the south, which they call “down past,” trying to keep pace with a place they call the optimum. Every Guild plays a part in this endless struggle. The Traction guild winches the city forward along the tracks; the Barter Guild purchases labor and borrows women from the ignorant locals (the city’s women are mysteriously unable to bear female children); the Bridge Builders arrange passage across rivers and ravines; and the Future Surveyors venture up north so that the Navigators can plan the city’s route. They return from the future curiously aged.
Interestingly, the need to keep the city moving also distorts the relationships between people inside. Helward’s wife, Victoria, wants to know things about the outside world, but he has been sworn to secrecy. When he dodges her questions about the sun by saying merely that it’s “very bright,” she responds, “I’d like to find that out for myself.” Helward has never before thought about women’s exclusion from so many areas of life in the City of Earth. He begins to question the guild’s intentions.
It’s not just the relations between men and women that are soured by the demands of this moving city, either. The locals hate the city-dwellers, who live in relative luxury, pay them for their labor, borrow their women, and quickly move away. The residents of the city recognize the irony of claiming to be more civilized than the “tooks” while simultaneously treating them barbarously, but the Guildsmen’s eternal response is that “The city must keep moving.”
At this point, the stage seems set for Helward to find a way to release the city from its strange bondage. If things turned out that way, the book would fall predictably into the category of Hard SF, which John Clute, defines in an illuminating new afterword as “that kind of science-fiction tale in which a clearly defined protagonist (almost always male) leaves his endangered home on a great adventure, during the course of which he begins to understand the true nature of his world and, through a clearly defined, science-based cognitive breakthrough, comes to grips with the danger that threatens it.”
But what takes place is far wilder than any problem-solving plot line. When Helward’s guild sends him down past to escort some native women back to their local village, we finally learn why the city must keep moving. It’s the ground itself that’s always drifting south, he learns towards a place where the fabric of reality seems to come apart at the seams. Priest depicts this in a series of increasingly terrifying yet exhilarating scenes depicted in paradoxically calm language.
Helward returns to find that years have passed and many things have changed. The city’s population eventually splits over the question of whether it should keep sacrificing everything to keep moving or soldier on, and Helward’s role in this conflict is far from that of the liberating hero. But the book’s real genius is that neither group is quite right. The curious knot in time that prolongs their suffering is not an illusion, as the resistance claims. After all, we’ve seen through Helward’s eyes the bizarre fate that awaits there. But nor is it quite true, as the Guildsmen argue, that that knot has always been or that it must always be.
What makes Inverted World shine like no other book is that it illustrates so perfectly how human beings create the context for their own suffering, yet this explanation never dulls the agony of Helward’s predicament. And while Helward’s story is tragic, the underlying narrative is hopeful. We create the chains that bind us, so therefore it must be possible for us to cast them off. But if we could do this, help one another to do it, would we know what to do when we got free?
Helward certainly doesn’t. But his journey is a fascinating one, and anyone interested in fiction that explores the most radical reaches of the possible world would do well to pick up Inverted World.
Show More
relationship between space and time, but beyond this we can only guess.Slowly, Priest allows the details to leak. The guild arranges a marriage for Helward, but before he can visit his wife they take him outside the City of Earth for the first time. He’s stunned at the sight of the sun. He had always been taught that it was round, but it now appears differently, “a long, saucer-shape of light, spiked above and below with two perpendicular spires of incandescence.”
Helward has little time to meditate on this discovery, however, because he goes straight to his apprenticeship with the Track Guild. These men concern themselves with moving metal tracks out from behind the city and putting them back in front of it. Helward soon realizes that the city is always moving north, which the guildsmen call “up future,” and away from the south, which they call “down past,” trying to keep pace with a place they call the optimum. Every Guild plays a part in this endless struggle. The Traction guild winches the city forward along the tracks; the Barter Guild purchases labor and borrows women from the ignorant locals (the city’s women are mysteriously unable to bear female children); the Bridge Builders arrange passage across rivers and ravines; and the Future Surveyors venture up north so that the Navigators can plan the city’s route. They return from the future curiously aged.
Interestingly, the need to keep the city moving also distorts the relationships between people inside. Helward’s wife, Victoria, wants to know things about the outside world, but he has been sworn to secrecy. When he dodges her questions about the sun by saying merely that it’s “very bright,” she responds, “I’d like to find that out for myself.” Helward has never before thought about women’s exclusion from so many areas of life in the City of Earth. He begins to question the guild’s intentions.
It’s not just the relations between men and women that are soured by the demands of this moving city, either. The locals hate the city-dwellers, who live in relative luxury, pay them for their labor, borrow their women, and quickly move away. The residents of the city recognize the irony of claiming to be more civilized than the “tooks” while simultaneously treating them barbarously, but the Guildsmen’s eternal response is that “The city must keep moving.”
At this point, the stage seems set for Helward to find a way to release the city from its strange bondage. If things turned out that way, the book would fall predictably into the category of Hard SF, which John Clute, defines in an illuminating new afterword as “that kind of science-fiction tale in which a clearly defined protagonist (almost always male) leaves his endangered home on a great adventure, during the course of which he begins to understand the true nature of his world and, through a clearly defined, science-based cognitive breakthrough, comes to grips with the danger that threatens it.”
But what takes place is far wilder than any problem-solving plot line. When Helward’s guild sends him down past to escort some native women back to their local village, we finally learn why the city must keep moving. It’s the ground itself that’s always drifting south, he learns towards a place where the fabric of reality seems to come apart at the seams. Priest depicts this in a series of increasingly terrifying yet exhilarating scenes depicted in paradoxically calm language.
Helward returns to find that years have passed and many things have changed. The city’s population eventually splits over the question of whether it should keep sacrificing everything to keep moving or soldier on, and Helward’s role in this conflict is far from that of the liberating hero. But the book’s real genius is that neither group is quite right. The curious knot in time that prolongs their suffering is not an illusion, as the resistance claims. After all, we’ve seen through Helward’s eyes the bizarre fate that awaits there. But nor is it quite true, as the Guildsmen argue, that that knot has always been or that it must always be.
What makes Inverted World shine like no other book is that it illustrates so perfectly how human beings create the context for their own suffering, yet this explanation never dulls the agony of Helward’s predicament. And while Helward’s story is tragic, the underlying narrative is hopeful. We create the chains that bind us, so therefore it must be possible for us to cast them off. But if we could do this, help one another to do it, would we know what to do when we got free?
Helward certainly doesn’t. But his journey is a fascinating one, and anyone interested in fiction that explores the most radical reaches of the possible world would do well to pick up Inverted World.
Show Less
LibraryThing member jimroberts
Inverted World by Christopher Priest.
I first read this book back in the late 1970's when it was fairly new and I concluded that it was a good story, though based on an interesting idea which unfortunately did not work very well. I have been provoked to read it again by the Go Review That Book!
The main character, Helward Mann, who relates most of the story, is brought up in a mysterious city which calls itself the City of Earth. We are asked to believe that he has never even seen anything outside the city and that his education has told him nothing about conditions outside. This device permits us to learn slowly, along with him, just how strange the outside world is, for example, as some of the covers for the book show, the sun is not round.
Already during Helward's learning period, the basic plot device starts to creak a little if you stop to think how things fit together, but the pace of the story can carry you past that. In the second half, the City undergoes turbulent times, both in its relations with outsiders, who consider, with some justification, that the City has been exploiting them, and in its internal politics. Helward then makes a discovery which pretty much makes it impossible for the City in its previous form to continue to exist. Luckily he has also met an outsider, Elizabeth Khan, who may be able to help towards a less than disastrous resolution to the problems. How it turns out, we are not told.
As a science fiction story, the book suffers from insufficient description of how the world works: the plot in fact requires that there should be two good explanations for Helward's experiences. On the human interest side, we have Helward and Elizabeth each having great difficulty understanding the other's point of view, but they seem to give up too easily.
I have an extensive summary, with spoilers, here.
(Penultimate paragraph, "As a science ...", added 2008.03.30.)
I first read this book back in the late 1970's when it was fairly new and I concluded that it was a good story, though based on an interesting idea which unfortunately did not work very well. I have been provoked to read it again by the Go Review That Book!
Show More
group, and I enjoyed it, though without changing my opinion.The main character, Helward Mann, who relates most of the story, is brought up in a mysterious city which calls itself the City of Earth. We are asked to believe that he has never even seen anything outside the city and that his education has told him nothing about conditions outside. This device permits us to learn slowly, along with him, just how strange the outside world is, for example, as some of the covers for the book show, the sun is not round.
Already during Helward's learning period, the basic plot device starts to creak a little if you stop to think how things fit together, but the pace of the story can carry you past that. In the second half, the City undergoes turbulent times, both in its relations with outsiders, who consider, with some justification, that the City has been exploiting them, and in its internal politics. Helward then makes a discovery which pretty much makes it impossible for the City in its previous form to continue to exist. Luckily he has also met an outsider, Elizabeth Khan, who may be able to help towards a less than disastrous resolution to the problems. How it turns out, we are not told.
As a science fiction story, the book suffers from insufficient description of how the world works: the plot in fact requires that there should be two good explanations for Helward's experiences. On the human interest side, we have Helward and Elizabeth each having great difficulty understanding the other's point of view, but they seem to give up too easily.
I have an extensive summary, with spoilers, here.
(Penultimate paragraph, "As a science ...", added 2008.03.30.)
Show Less
LibraryThing member proustitute
What a wonderfully executed book! The structure of the book, its pace, how it negotiates between first-person, third-person, and a more distanced narrator in one section, are all handled superbly and lend a cadence to the episodes in the novel as well.
I did almost give up halfway through Part 1,
What I really found interesting here was how Priest handles gender and class in this seemingly organized world of the city. The social commentary here, aimed right back at late-1960s and early-1970s Britain, is unabrasive but it is also unrelenting, proving that speculative fiction can speak to social and cultural issues "on the ground," as it were.
Having not really read around much in the genre of speculative and/or science fiction apart from Atwood and some of the more canonical titles, I will say that Priest's ease at handling this material—and his talent at making it resonate and be of such immense interest—has me very eager to explore this genre in some more depth.
I did almost give up halfway through Part 1,
Show More
and I assume many readers might find the detailed pages—and pages and pages—of track-laying laborious. But, just as it is laborious for Helward, so, too, must it be for the reader; this is the crux of the "inverted world" and having this background allows what happens to make sense... as well as nonsense.What I really found interesting here was how Priest handles gender and class in this seemingly organized world of the city. The social commentary here, aimed right back at late-1960s and early-1970s Britain, is unabrasive but it is also unrelenting, proving that speculative fiction can speak to social and cultural issues "on the ground," as it were.
Having not really read around much in the genre of speculative and/or science fiction apart from Atwood and some of the more canonical titles, I will say that Priest's ease at handling this material—and his talent at making it resonate and be of such immense interest—has me very eager to explore this genre in some more depth.
Show Less
LibraryThing member BayardUS
Inverted World has writing that can charitably be described as poor, and characters that are almost impressively flat and uninteresting, but what partially makes up for these flaws is the world which the novel creates- an entire city has been put on rails and must be made to move continuously
At the end of Inverted World it is explained that the translateration generator that powers the city has been warping the perspective of the city's inhabitants, and said generator is shut down. There does not seem to be ambiguity as to whether this was the actual cause of what Helward Mann and the other inhabitants were experiencing, as when Mann leaves the city for the ocean he passes "a large crowd of men... heading south towards the city. Most of them were carrying the possessions they had taken with them to the bridge site... the bridge site was deserted." This seems to pretty clearly be a group of people who have had their perspective returned to normal when the generator was switched off, or else why would they all spontaneously decide to halt working when the city was facing its greatest challenge (the ocean)? Mann alone has persisted in holding onto his view of the world.
If what Mann saw down south was all a creation of his warped perspective, as it clearly appears to be, the reveal of the generator still fails to explain how physical objects like the rails warp when too far away from optimum, or why individuals north of optimum age faster, or a huge number of other things that appeared as clues to the nature of the optimum earlier in the novel.
Inverted World either leaves us with no explanation, or with the thoroughly unsatisfying explanation of "the generator did it." Either way, the writing and characterization are not nearly good enough to make up for this unsatisfactory conclusion.
Some examples of the bad writing: the text switches between the first person and third person perspective between the different sections of the book, but the narrative voice of Mann and the narrator are identical. The writing is terrible at conveying emotion, it just tells you what emotion the character feels. An example: "It was during this leave too that Victoria told me she was pregnant; an announcement that caused her mother much joy. I was delighted, and for one of the few times in my life I drank too much wine and made a fool of myself. No one seemed to mind." This short paragraph, dropped in between discussions of the construction of a bridge, is the only information we get about how Mann feels about becoming a father. Later, however, Mann almost refuses to go down south because he wants to be present at his child's birth. The text assumes we will recognize the birth as important to Mann without it having been properly established. Instead it comes out of left field because up until this point guild training has been much more of a focus of Mann's life and the text had not conveyed that Mann would have a strong desire to see his child born.
This book provides no evidence that Priest can write relationships. Mann finds it hard to relate to his father, but their relationship is relegated to a few odd paragraphs and the father's death is barely remarked upon. I was surprised to read the following line about three-quarters through the book: "But none of these could settle the personal crisis of becoming alienated from a girl I had loved in the space of what seemed to me to be a few days." The fact that Mann loved Victoria was never communicated, they seemed little more than fond of each other. The sentence also means that Mann had since fallen out of love with Victoria, an emotional transformation Priest does not even attempt to describe. Because the relationships are stated but not described I did not care about any of the characters or the lives they led, nor did I care about Mann. Uninteresting characters wedded to bad writing leaves the ideas and world to carry a science fiction novel, and as already discussed the ideas fell flat during the home stretch.
Show More
toward a mysterious changing location known as the optimum, or else disaster will befall it. What sunk the book for me was that the reveal of the forces at work in this world not only felt like an unsatisfying dump of information at the eleventh hour, it failed to make sense within the context established by the story.At the end of Inverted World it is explained that the translateration generator that powers the city has been warping the perspective of the city's inhabitants, and said generator is shut down. There does not seem to be ambiguity as to whether this was the actual cause of what Helward Mann and the other inhabitants were experiencing, as when Mann leaves the city for the ocean he passes "a large crowd of men... heading south towards the city. Most of them were carrying the possessions they had taken with them to the bridge site... the bridge site was deserted." This seems to pretty clearly be a group of people who have had their perspective returned to normal when the generator was switched off, or else why would they all spontaneously decide to halt working when the city was facing its greatest challenge (the ocean)? Mann alone has persisted in holding onto his view of the world.
If what Mann saw down south was all a creation of his warped perspective, as it clearly appears to be, the reveal of the generator still fails to explain how physical objects like the rails warp when too far away from optimum, or why individuals north of optimum age faster, or a huge number of other things that appeared as clues to the nature of the optimum earlier in the novel.
Inverted World either leaves us with no explanation, or with the thoroughly unsatisfying explanation of "the generator did it." Either way, the writing and characterization are not nearly good enough to make up for this unsatisfactory conclusion.
Some examples of the bad writing: the text switches between the first person and third person perspective between the different sections of the book, but the narrative voice of Mann and the narrator are identical. The writing is terrible at conveying emotion, it just tells you what emotion the character feels. An example: "It was during this leave too that Victoria told me she was pregnant; an announcement that caused her mother much joy. I was delighted, and for one of the few times in my life I drank too much wine and made a fool of myself. No one seemed to mind." This short paragraph, dropped in between discussions of the construction of a bridge, is the only information we get about how Mann feels about becoming a father. Later, however, Mann almost refuses to go down south because he wants to be present at his child's birth. The text assumes we will recognize the birth as important to Mann without it having been properly established. Instead it comes out of left field because up until this point guild training has been much more of a focus of Mann's life and the text had not conveyed that Mann would have a strong desire to see his child born.
This book provides no evidence that Priest can write relationships. Mann finds it hard to relate to his father, but their relationship is relegated to a few odd paragraphs and the father's death is barely remarked upon. I was surprised to read the following line about three-quarters through the book: "But none of these could settle the personal crisis of becoming alienated from a girl I had loved in the space of what seemed to me to be a few days." The fact that Mann loved Victoria was never communicated, they seemed little more than fond of each other. The sentence also means that Mann had since fallen out of love with Victoria, an emotional transformation Priest does not even attempt to describe. Because the relationships are stated but not described I did not care about any of the characters or the lives they led, nor did I care about Mann. Uninteresting characters wedded to bad writing leaves the ideas and world to carry a science fiction novel, and as already discussed the ideas fell flat during the home stretch.
Show Less
LibraryThing member GwenH
I recently read The Inverted World and the first thing I have to say is that the writing style glowed. It was as if there was always just the right word and never one too many or too few. It flowed with the same elegant precision of the novel's city itself. Told through the observant personna of
If the book had a flaw, it was that the ending felt a bit glossed over. After the level of detail in the description of the city throughout the novel, I'd been expecting a convincingly detailed explanation of the mystery of the city at the end. Instead, it felt a little rushed.
I still give the book very high marks as it was such a pleasure to read for it's elegant prose and the details of the fascinating city. It was a clear example of the journey being more significant than the destination. I came away wanting to read more by Priest.
Show More
Helward Mann, an elite of the city, the real star is the city. The workings of the city, down to the tiniest details, were well thought and explained. If the book had a flaw, it was that the ending felt a bit glossed over. After the level of detail in the description of the city throughout the novel, I'd been expecting a convincingly detailed explanation of the mystery of the city at the end. Instead, it felt a little rushed.
I still give the book very high marks as it was such a pleasure to read for it's elegant prose and the details of the fascinating city. It was a clear example of the journey being more significant than the destination. I came away wanting to read more by Priest.
Show Less
LibraryThing member lmichet
This book is utterly and deliciously surreal. Priest's world is so intricate and so inscrutable that the thing grips from beginning to end, despite the slow, detailed, scientific prose. I found myself contemplating cutting class to finish it-- I just wanted to know what the heck was going ON.
The
Like science fiction at all? Read it. Like surreality and have a rather large suspension-of-disbelief muscle? Willing to throw yourself into something? Go for it. Read it now. But anyone unwilling to go the distance is going to find themselves bitterly disappointed.
The
Show More
ending is particularly haunting, despite the obtusely science-fictiony aspects of it. I found this rather frustrating. Yes, I knew it was a 'hard sci-fi' novel when I picked it up, but that doesn't mean that I suspended my personal opinions about what's most important in fictional writing when I decided to tackle it. The final scene, though, makes up for any disappointment. It's brilliant. The afterword was also instructive-- in a way, this NYRB Classics edition presents the work less as a novel and more as a study in science-fiction style. Which is, of course, all right.Like science fiction at all? Read it. Like surreality and have a rather large suspension-of-disbelief muscle? Willing to throw yourself into something? Go for it. Read it now. But anyone unwilling to go the distance is going to find themselves bitterly disappointed.
Show Less
LibraryThing member Brasidas
I'm no great fan of Science Fiction, but this novel transcends the genre. It has a corker of a plot, which I won't spoil here. The only thing I was not crazy about was the way Priest uses dialog throughout to relay a lot of exposition. That's okay early in the novel because the narrator is a young
Show More
apprentice of a guild; it's natural for him to ask questions about his new duties and surroundings. Toward the end of the book, however, the device shows its creakiness. But don't let me put you off the scent. The suspense is beautifully handled. You never quite know where the narrative will end up. I think the book's real strength is its masterful use of omission. It withholds beautifully the information the reader needs to solve everything. But at the same time one is not frustrated by that because one is borne along so expertly. Priest hints at resolutions which never occur. Just when you think you know where he's going, he doesn't. Read it. Show Less
LibraryThing member TheAlternativeOne
Inverted World
Christopher Priest
NYRB Classics
2008
Trade Paperback
336 pages
ISBN: 1590172698
Literary Awards - British Science Fiction Association Award for Novel (1975)
Once upon a time there was a great City known as Earth that constantly, slowly, and persistently moved ever-forward on rails towards
Normally, I would label my evaluation of “Inverted World” as a classic book review since this story was first published in 1974. However, and shame on me, I did not read this marvelous work of fiction until recently and therefore I cannot in good conscience label it a classic. However, had I read it twenty or thirty years ago I think I’d have deemed it an instant classic then. The characters are believable and well-written but trapped within the confines of their Guilds. Some search for answers while others, like the City, plod ever-onward without question or purpose. Strange “distortions” follow the City and those who travel too far behind it suffer physical and temporal changes to themselves and their surroundings. The mystery of how this “world” came to be unravels slowly but expertly in Priest’s hands. The main premise of the book consists of pure hard science and while the laws of physics appear to be strained at first, all is explained in the end. And, in my opinion, the wait is definitely worth it. The mysteries of the planet and the city are skillfully, although slowly, unraveled throughout the narrative and kept me interested until the very last page. If there is a flaw with this story it is that it is much too short and the open ending might have been expanded to full closure (which I won’t spoil here with explanation.)
Written with compact and concise detail this too short novel drew me in from the very first paragraph and the themes of respect, responsibility, parity, warped realism, and discovery were woven together in such a way that kept me totally engrossed and my imagination working in hyper-drive. Overall I became lost in the story and its enormous sense of wonder, buildup of mystery, and ever-present suspense as Priest’s portrayal of this interesting society grew. Ah, to become lost in wonder while reading… isn’t that all we ever ask from any intelligent book?
4 out of 5 stars
The Alternative
Southeast Wisconsin
Christopher Priest
NYRB Classics
2008
Trade Paperback
336 pages
ISBN: 1590172698
Literary Awards - British Science Fiction Association Award for Novel (1975)
Once upon a time there was a great City known as Earth that constantly, slowly, and persistently moved ever-forward on rails towards
Show More
its grinding goal to reach, or , at least, pace “Optimum.” Slowly, at a tenth of a mile a day, the City slouched northward toward the horizon. To fall behind was unthinkable and deadly or so the denizens had been taught. Behind this lumbering behemoth, the Traction Guild strained to remove the ties and rails and quickly transport them to the front of the City. The Navigator Guild would send scouts great distances to determine the best routes forward. Rivers, canyons, lakes, and other natural impediments were spanned by the Bridge Guild. Protecting them all from dissident villagers along the way was the Militia Guild. So begins the quirky story of “Inverted World” by Christopher Priest.Normally, I would label my evaluation of “Inverted World” as a classic book review since this story was first published in 1974. However, and shame on me, I did not read this marvelous work of fiction until recently and therefore I cannot in good conscience label it a classic. However, had I read it twenty or thirty years ago I think I’d have deemed it an instant classic then. The characters are believable and well-written but trapped within the confines of their Guilds. Some search for answers while others, like the City, plod ever-onward without question or purpose. Strange “distortions” follow the City and those who travel too far behind it suffer physical and temporal changes to themselves and their surroundings. The mystery of how this “world” came to be unravels slowly but expertly in Priest’s hands. The main premise of the book consists of pure hard science and while the laws of physics appear to be strained at first, all is explained in the end. And, in my opinion, the wait is definitely worth it. The mysteries of the planet and the city are skillfully, although slowly, unraveled throughout the narrative and kept me interested until the very last page. If there is a flaw with this story it is that it is much too short and the open ending might have been expanded to full closure (which I won’t spoil here with explanation.)
Written with compact and concise detail this too short novel drew me in from the very first paragraph and the themes of respect, responsibility, parity, warped realism, and discovery were woven together in such a way that kept me totally engrossed and my imagination working in hyper-drive. Overall I became lost in the story and its enormous sense of wonder, buildup of mystery, and ever-present suspense as Priest’s portrayal of this interesting society grew. Ah, to become lost in wonder while reading… isn’t that all we ever ask from any intelligent book?
4 out of 5 stars
The Alternative
Southeast Wisconsin
Show Less
LibraryThing member Fence
Helward Mann was born, and grew up, in the city of Earth. Like all children he was raised in the creche, his father sometimes came to visit him. He never saw his mother, she left the city after he was born, returning home to her village. And that village is a long way in the past, for the city
But as Helward learns more about the truth of the city and the danger it is in, the people of the city begin to feel the bonds placed upon them. They want to know why they have to keep moving. And why are their so many boys born and so few girls?
Inverted World has been sitting on my shelves for years now. I picked it up because it just about fits into the Vintage Science Fiction Not-A-Challenge, having been published in 1974, and I’m so glad I did. It is a fascinating book. Then again, Priest’s books always are. His writing is so precise and detailed. The ideas so original. He really does tell fascinating stories.
Usually it is the characters that make a book work for me, but in Priest’s fiction it is usually the story and the originality of the central idea. This is no exception. Helward isn’t a character that inspires me to read all about him. He does the job of introducing me to his world and developing the story, but he is very much an every man. He follows the rules, does what he should, but he does question things. At least, at first he does. He isn’t a boring character, I don’t want to give that impression. He is the central protagonist after all, if he was boring the whole book wouldn’t work. And there are moments when you really feel for him. He has no idea, at first, of why he, and the others of the city, are doing things the way they are. He wants to change things. He wants to make things better.
And then he begins to understand why things are the way they are. And suddenly the status quo seems just about perfect to him.
Only are things really the way he thinks they are?
The book is divided into different parts. In some Helward is a first person narrator, in others he is the point of view character of a third person narrator. And then there is the only other point of view character, Elizabeth, who we meet in the prologue as well.
It is a great story. However, I’m not so enamoured of the roles of the majority of the female characters. The only woman from the city that we get to know is Victoria, Helward’s wife. Part of this is because there simply are less women and so they are too important to risk outside the city, where our protagonist spends most of his time. But there are also the women who are taken into the city. In effect these women are kept purely for their ability to have children. They are sex slaves, sold by their villages, although that is never really examined to any great extent. It disturbs Helward, until he grows used to it.
Show More
moves. If it stops for too long it will be destroyed. Most of those who live in the city don’t really think about the world outside all that much. The guild system is organised so that those who have the knowledge about why the city is moving, and how, don’t share it. The Oath forbids it.But as Helward learns more about the truth of the city and the danger it is in, the people of the city begin to feel the bonds placed upon them. They want to know why they have to keep moving. And why are their so many boys born and so few girls?
Inverted World has been sitting on my shelves for years now. I picked it up because it just about fits into the Vintage Science Fiction Not-A-Challenge, having been published in 1974, and I’m so glad I did. It is a fascinating book. Then again, Priest’s books always are. His writing is so precise and detailed. The ideas so original. He really does tell fascinating stories.
Usually it is the characters that make a book work for me, but in Priest’s fiction it is usually the story and the originality of the central idea. This is no exception. Helward isn’t a character that inspires me to read all about him. He does the job of introducing me to his world and developing the story, but he is very much an every man. He follows the rules, does what he should, but he does question things. At least, at first he does. He isn’t a boring character, I don’t want to give that impression. He is the central protagonist after all, if he was boring the whole book wouldn’t work. And there are moments when you really feel for him. He has no idea, at first, of why he, and the others of the city, are doing things the way they are. He wants to change things. He wants to make things better.
And then he begins to understand why things are the way they are. And suddenly the status quo seems just about perfect to him.
Only are things really the way he thinks they are?
The book is divided into different parts. In some Helward is a first person narrator, in others he is the point of view character of a third person narrator. And then there is the only other point of view character, Elizabeth, who we meet in the prologue as well.
It is a great story. However, I’m not so enamoured of the roles of the majority of the female characters. The only woman from the city that we get to know is Victoria, Helward’s wife. Part of this is because there simply are less women and so they are too important to risk outside the city, where our protagonist spends most of his time. But there are also the women who are taken into the city. In effect these women are kept purely for their ability to have children. They are sex slaves, sold by their villages, although that is never really examined to any great extent. It disturbs Helward, until he grows used to it.
Show Less
LibraryThing member datrappert
This is a strangely compelling science fiction novel about belief and perception. A city must move (on rails) ever northward to stay alive. Saying more would be to spoil the discoveries the reader makes through the eyes of the story's protagonist, Helward, who passes through the various Guilds that
It is questionable whether the book truly delivers on its premise, and the ending is rather abrupt, but it does leave the reader with a lot of food for thought, and the story is told in a compelling manner that maintains interest. At its best, it reminds me of why I used to devour so much science fiction when I was younger.
Show More
run the city and keep its secrets.It is questionable whether the book truly delivers on its premise, and the ending is rather abrupt, but it does leave the reader with a lot of food for thought, and the story is told in a compelling manner that maintains interest. At its best, it reminds me of why I used to devour so much science fiction when I was younger.
Show Less
LibraryThing member antao
The Inverted World is a cold book.
Most of Priest's books are told in a stiff and remote mode, which frequently suits the alienated subject matter. It's not the case here.
Faults:
1 - The sterile environment depicted is reflected in the unemotional natures of the characters and of their relationships
Show More
with one another: Helwood vs his wife Victoria and Helwood vs his father; 2 - The dialog is very stilted and stiff; it barely pretends to achieve more than information exchange. And as a result, it is difficult to become involved in the characters' lives or to care about their feelings;
3 - The leitmotiv of the book is abandoned three-quarters of the way through;
4 - It lacks an explanation on how the characters moved from this world to the Inverted World;
5 - The books wrap-up at the end, ie, The Explanation", leaves a lot to be desired. There're lots of questions unanswered. Intentional?
Redeeming factor:
1 - It has a mind-boggling idea that is at the very heart of the novel.
Compared to his later books I think it lacks the subtlety and ambiguity expected from him.
It's well worth the read simply for its basic concept (3 stars for that).
"
Show Less
LibraryThing member craso
Helward Mann is 650 miles old. When residents of the moving city called Earth reach that age they are considered adults and must marry and start a career. He becomes an apprentice to the Future Guild which plots the progression of the city. As part of his apprenticeship he learns about the nature
Sections of this book are written from different points of view. The story is told using third-person point of view in the beginning. The narrator is looking at the structure of life in the community and we know only what Helward is thinking. In the middle of the novel we switch to first-person, again seeing the world through Helward’s eyes. Then it switches back to third person, but this time we know only what the female from outside the city is thinking. This is done seamlessly and gives us a variety of ways to look at life on this world. In this way, the reader questions who’s seeing the world as it really is.
Christopher Priest’s novels usually deal with different perceptions of reality. The way the city dwellers see the world in this novel is very bazaar. The explanation is complicated, and though the story is illustrated, I would have liked to have seen an illustration of the shape of the world they live on rather than having to picture it for myself.
I enjoy Priest’s work because you have to think while you are reading his novels. He will also leave the ending open for interpretation, although this story does have a satisfying conclusion.
Show More
of the world he lives on and the reasons why the city must constantly be in motion. People within the city start to question these reasons and a mysterious woman brings their way of life into doubt.Sections of this book are written from different points of view. The story is told using third-person point of view in the beginning. The narrator is looking at the structure of life in the community and we know only what Helward is thinking. In the middle of the novel we switch to first-person, again seeing the world through Helward’s eyes. Then it switches back to third person, but this time we know only what the female from outside the city is thinking. This is done seamlessly and gives us a variety of ways to look at life on this world. In this way, the reader questions who’s seeing the world as it really is.
Christopher Priest’s novels usually deal with different perceptions of reality. The way the city dwellers see the world in this novel is very bazaar. The explanation is complicated, and though the story is illustrated, I would have liked to have seen an illustration of the shape of the world they live on rather than having to picture it for myself.
I enjoy Priest’s work because you have to think while you are reading his novels. He will also leave the ending open for interpretation, although this story does have a satisfying conclusion.
Show Less
LibraryThing member HenryKrinkle
Don't get too far ahead of your gravity field.
LibraryThing member AltheaAnn
My book club selection for February.
I was a little psyched to read this, because it's written by the same
author that the movie The Prestige was written by - but I didn't
perceive any similarities.
This is definitely an "idea" book (as opposed to a plot- or
character-driven book). The author saw some
hyperbolic math equations, and basically said, "hmm... what if a
planet existed that was based on the physics of a hyberboloid?"
Such a place is experienced by the denizens of The City (which, to us,
might resemble a giant, ramshackle wooden building than an actual
city). The City is in constant motion, laying down tracks in front of
it, and tearing them up behind, traveling through what seems to be a
poverty-stricken, third-world landscape, always in a desperate attempt
to keep up with "the optimum" - a point which is always moving
forward.
Most of the City's inhabitants know nothing of the optimum, and never
even go outside. However, when Helward Mann is recruited to an elite
group, he becomes part of the plan to always keep the city moving...
and the secret is bequeathed to him that they are not even on earth,
and if they fall behind the optimum, bizarre distortions of time and
space occur....
It's an interesting book, but I felt that the author started it
without deciding how he was going to finish it, and I thought that the
way it was finished left gaping holes (and contradictions) in the
logic of what was previously laid out in the plot. (To go into details
would be a total spoiler, however, so I won't!)
I was a little psyched to read this, because it's written by the same
author that the movie The Prestige was written by - but I didn't
perceive any similarities.
This is definitely an "idea" book (as opposed to a plot- or
character-driven book). The author saw some
Show More
diagrams based onhyperbolic math equations, and basically said, "hmm... what if a
planet existed that was based on the physics of a hyberboloid?"
Such a place is experienced by the denizens of The City (which, to us,
might resemble a giant, ramshackle wooden building than an actual
city). The City is in constant motion, laying down tracks in front of
it, and tearing them up behind, traveling through what seems to be a
poverty-stricken, third-world landscape, always in a desperate attempt
to keep up with "the optimum" - a point which is always moving
forward.
Most of the City's inhabitants know nothing of the optimum, and never
even go outside. However, when Helward Mann is recruited to an elite
group, he becomes part of the plan to always keep the city moving...
and the secret is bequeathed to him that they are not even on earth,
and if they fall behind the optimum, bizarre distortions of time and
space occur....
It's an interesting book, but I felt that the author started it
without deciding how he was going to finish it, and I thought that the
way it was finished left gaping holes (and contradictions) in the
logic of what was previously laid out in the plot. (To go into details
would be a total spoiler, however, so I won't!)
Show Less
LibraryThing member Veeralpadhiar
The Inverted World is choke-full of big ideas for a relatively short book. But the real problem with this book is, towards the end, Priest turns unconvincingly realistic with his approach and hence it seems a bit rushed and a lot of things are left unexplained.
I think Priest wrote himself into a
My suggestion to anyone who is interested in reading this book would be to start it without reading any reviews anywhere, and that’s the reason I am not even going to summarize the plot here.
The book will hold your attention right till the end as something weird and/ or amazing is always happening, but don’t expect to get all your questions answered as the ambiguity about certain scientific phenomena is never going to be elucidated in the context of the plot.
But even with its rather dull ending, this book is not likely to disappoint as the rest is pretty good.
3.5 stars.
I think Priest wrote himself into a
Show More
corner and then seeing no way out, rushed towards a more realistic and thus an anti-climatic end. But in retrospect, I think that might have been the only way as he himself was not sure how to end the book convincingly enough the message he wanted to convey was drastically different than I had expected while reading the book.My suggestion to anyone who is interested in reading this book would be to start it without reading any reviews anywhere, and that’s the reason I am not even going to summarize the plot here.
The book will hold your attention right till the end as something weird and/ or amazing is always happening, but don’t expect to get all your questions answered as the ambiguity about certain scientific phenomena is never going to be elucidated in the context of the plot.
But even with its rather dull ending, this book is not likely to disappoint as the rest is pretty good.
3.5 stars.
Show Less
LibraryThing member lib666
A terrific read, the best of smart sci fi
LibraryThing member clfisha
Imagine a city that must forever move forward, winched along it's old re-used tracks. To ensure this happens it's rulers have created a closed, fundamentalist society, a hidden world where only the few will ever be allowed outside to know that it moves and why this must be so.
Whether you'll like
Set into four parts which meander from 1st to 3rd person presenting differing views, we gradually get a very believable view of this strange world. However his 1st section build up takes an age to get anywhere and the main characters has the misfortune of being the cipher in which we explore the city i.e. not very fleshed and and he is also amazingly attractive to all women.
In fact flagging how awful of sexual inequality is juxtaposed with the inherent misogyny brings out the teeth grinding in me. Ahem. Anyway halfway through the book we swap out of 1st person and suddenly the story takes off and the plot becomes quite gripping. The slow build up then starts to work well in its favour as we are so grounded in the world and it builds up to what is a very very cool ending. It's just a pity about the beginning.
If you are lover of idea based sci-fi then this book is for you, everyone else will spend an interesting few hours with a neat idea. Oh hard sci-fi fans I have no idea if it all holds up.
Whether you'll like
Show More
this depends on what you need from a book. For this 70's sci-fi the world is all: the plot, the characters and their conversations all feed into the world building and this leaves time for very little else. Now this isn't really my type of thing but even I have to admit it's a good, satisfying story with a premise that even after all this time I found original and interesting.Set into four parts which meander from 1st to 3rd person presenting differing views, we gradually get a very believable view of this strange world. However his 1st section build up takes an age to get anywhere and the main characters has the misfortune of being the cipher in which we explore the city i.e. not very fleshed and and he is also amazingly attractive to all women.
In fact flagging how awful of sexual inequality is juxtaposed with the inherent misogyny brings out the teeth grinding in me. Ahem. Anyway halfway through the book we swap out of 1st person and suddenly the story takes off and the plot becomes quite gripping. The slow build up then starts to work well in its favour as we are so grounded in the world and it builds up to what is a very very cool ending. It's just a pity about the beginning.
If you are lover of idea based sci-fi then this book is for you, everyone else will spend an interesting few hours with a neat idea. Oh hard sci-fi fans I have no idea if it all holds up.
Show Less
LibraryThing member malcrf
Another excellent Christopher Priest. Maybe lacks some of the finesse and incisiveness of later novels, but a very good read nevertheless
LibraryThing member amandrake
To my mind this book is far superior to *The Prestige*. It is simpler and tidier, more conceptual but less metaphysical. I suppose it might be seen as less "literary", but in *The Prestige* I felt that the author, stylistically speaking, had bitten off more than he could chew.
*Inverted World* is
*Inverted World* is
Show More
satisfying in and of itself, but the short afterword does draw attention to the resonance that the book would have have for readers at the time it was published. However, it speaks eloquently of any society which has outlasted the forms and strictures that it has put in place for its own protection, and reflects the fact that the same thing can happen in one's own psyche. Show Less
LibraryThing member arning
Guildsmen's maintain a city and keep it moving to prevent it's destruction. The story is compelling and ends is a very thought provoking way.
LibraryThing member TomMcGreevy
Fundamentally this is an interesting and well written post-apocalyptic story. It tells the tale of a city that is constantly on the move because of what it sees as the fundamental nature of its world. When the world view clashes with another, one is left to wonder about the nature of subjective vs
Show More
actual reality. Show Less
LibraryThing member isabelx
"Sit down, please." Reluctantly, Helward complied. "Don't think I'm inhuman, but
ironically this expedition will reveal to you why some of the city's customs might seem to be inhuman. It is our way, and it is forced on us. I understand your concern for . . . Victoria, but you must go down past.
I read this book a long time ago, and decided to re-read it after it was reviewed on the sfbrp podcast. I spent most of the book wondering how the authorities had remained unaware of this city moving across the countryside on rails, as although I remembered the premise of the story, I had forgotten that it takes place a couple of hundred years after civilisation crashed due to running out of fossil fuels. Most of the story is told by Helward Man a member of the Future Surveyors guild, and the rest by Elizabeth Khan, who is not from the City, but I think the book could have been better if some of the story had been told from the point of view of Victoria and the Terminators (who wanted the city to stop moving), as the story comes to rather an abrupt endafter the meeting where Elizabeth explains the true nature of the City .
ironically this expedition will reveal to you why some of the city's customs might seem to be inhuman. It is our way, and it is forced on us. I understand your concern for . . . Victoria, but you must go down past.
Show More
There is no better way for you to understand the situation of the city. What lies there to the south of us is the reason for the oath, for the apparent barbarisms of our ways.I read this book a long time ago, and decided to re-read it after it was reviewed on the sfbrp podcast. I spent most of the book wondering how the authorities had remained unaware of this city moving across the countryside on rails, as although I remembered the premise of the story, I had forgotten that it takes place a couple of hundred years after civilisation crashed due to running out of fossil fuels. Most of the story is told by Helward Man a member of the Future Surveyors guild, and the rest by Elizabeth Khan, who is not from the City, but I think the book could have been better if some of the story had been told from the point of view of Victoria and the Terminators (who wanted the city to stop moving), as the story comes to rather an abrupt end
Show Less
LibraryThing member gregorybrown
I had a book review but GoodReads ate it so, uh, I recommend it! Will review it in more detail on the next episode of Books & Beer.
LibraryThing member adamwolf
Oh my. The first 20% were awesome, and I was ready to give it a 5 star rating!
Without spoilers, I can't really explain why, but oof. This is *almost* a really good novel.
Without spoilers, I can't really explain why, but oof. This is *almost* a really good novel.
Subjects
Awards
Hugo Award (Nominee — Novel — 1975)
British Science Fiction Association Award (Shortlist — 1974)
501 Must-Read Books (Emma Beare, 2006) (Science Fiction)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1974
ISBN
044500309X / 9780445003095