Swiftly: A Novel (GollanczF.)
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"A worthy science fictional successor to Swift's indispensable masterwork... equal parts adventure story and social commentary. Its philosophy is Swift's, but its success is all Roberts's own." "--Strange Horizons"
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It is 1848 and the British Empire has grown rich exploiting Lilliputian slaves - the finesse of their working allowing unheard of feats of minature engineering; even Babbage's computing device has been made to work. But now the French have formed a regiment of previously peaceful Brobdingnagian giants and invasion looms. In a world where humanity is both smaller and larger than it once was, love and hate loom large. Mankind discovers itself at the centre of scale. Lilliptians are twelve times smaller than us but there are those twelve times smaller than them, and twelve times smaller again and so on. And the scale of being goes up from Swift's giants also . . . Adam Roberts has written both a rip roaring 19th century adventure, a love story and a thought-provoking pre-atomic SF novel about our place in the universe.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A brilliant book - apart from all the poo,
By
This review is from: Swiftly: A Novel (Gollancz S.F.) (Hardcover)
I'm sure you won't believe me, but the main problem with this novel isn't the 'flowery language' or the rather sprawling plot, it's the fact that the main character becomes obsessed with human faeces.
It's a shame that Roberts felt the need to introduce that particular scatalogical strand into the plot, because the concept the novel's based on is quite brilliant, and there's really no need for poo to be involved. The other problem is that, due to the insertion of the short story the novel's based around, at the beginning it appears that there are two protagonists. There aren't. Eleanor gets a couple of chapters to herself but then becomes a secondary character for the rest of the story. Which is a real shame, as she's much more interesting and sympathetic than the actual protagonist, who is wracked with self-doubt, shame and self-loathing, largely due to being obsessed with do do brown. This would be a four-star novel if the plot was a bit tighter and there were less plop-plops in it. Just to be clear, I'm not being prudish or anything, it's just that the cover blurb led me to believe I'd be reading a novel about Lilliputians and Brobdignagians, but it's mostly about self-doubt and poo poo.
0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A great fantasia on the great and the small.,
By Brian Flange "qflestrin" (Penge.) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Swiftly: A Novel (Gollancz S.F.) (Paperback)
If you've already acquired Adam Roberts' similarly-titled short-story collection 'Swiftly', don't be put off from acquiring this new volume as well - yes, there are a few areas of overlap between a couple of Roberts' earlier stories and this new novel but by my reckoning, something over four-fifths of the novel version is entirely new material. Okay, so the bulk of the novel is new - is it any good? Definitely yes: the central idea is a great one and Roberts delivers it with a host of surprises and engaging sidelights. The initial idea of a war between a nineteenth-century England revolutionised by Lilliputian craftsmanship and a France whose armies use Brobdingnagian giants is eye-catching enough but as the book progresses, a world initially developed from 'Gulliver's Travels' gradually extends into new realms, both bigger and smaller than those that Swift sketched. Roberts has a nice way with period detail and never forgets to keep his characters engaging and rounded. One of the most satisfying and diverting fantasies of recent years.
0 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not for me.,
By Gareth Wilson - Falcata Times Blog "Falcata T... - See all my reviews (VINE VOICE) (TOP 500 REVIEWER)
This review is from: Swiftly: A Novel (Gollancz S.F.) (Paperback)
To be honest a story with much potential and something that fans of Swifts original Gullivers Travels will probably more than want to read with it being set a century after the discovery of the Lilliputians and Brobdingnagians. Whilst the potential is fully realised in the story, what I find to be one of the biggest gripes is the problem surrounding the use of flowery language, which whilst all the rage in Swifts time, for me its an unnecessary extravagance that detracts from the story arc. However what perhaps comes across as the biggest cheat with this tale is that its based on Roberts own short story of the same name. Whilst it could easily be argued that it deserved more attention and a longer story frame that is originally given through a short story I do feel that this type of thing is a bit of a cheat to readers who had already paid good money to read it. Whilst it is interesting and innovative in the way that it plays on politics of the era in which the original was set I suspect that it might end up becoming one of those high brow fantasies rather than something for the masses.
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