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On (Gollancz S.F.) (Hardcover)

by Adam Roberts (Author) "On Tighe's eighth birthday one of the family goats fell off the world ..." (more)
3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (17 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Hardcover: 400 pages
  • Publisher: Gollancz (21 Jun 2001)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0575071761
  • ISBN-13: 978-0575071766
  • Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 1,097,713 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #61 in  Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Authors, A-Z > A > Adams, Robert

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Product Description

Product Description
Tighe lives on the Worldwall. It towers above his village and falls away below it. It is vast and unforgiving and it is everything they know. Life is hard on the Worldwall, little more than a clinging on for dear life. And then one day Tighe falls off the world. And falls, and falls and falls . . . and survives. He finds a new part of the Worldwall, a city, more people than he ever imagined existed and a war. A war fought by the Popes and their armies. A war Tighe must join, a war that will take him on a journey into the heart of the mystery behind the Worldwall. ON is a superbly confident novel of a changed world. It has echoes of a Canticle for Leibowitz and The Book of the New Sun. It is a remarkable feat of imagination and sustained narrative drive. Its hero is immensely appealing. Coming after SALT it is evidence of an extraordinary SF career in the making.

About the Author
Despite being only 35 Adam Roberts is a senior lecturer and reader at London University. Not content with editing the Oxford edition of Tennyson's poetry he has also written books on Browning as well as a critical guide to SF.
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On Tighe's eighth birthday one of the family goats fell off the world. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews

17 Reviews
5 star:
 (4)
4 star:
 (4)
3 star:
 (2)
2 star:
 (2)
1 star:
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Average Customer Review
3.0 out of 5 stars (17 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A great idea turned into a great story, 9 Sep 2001
This review is from: On (Gollancz S.F.) (Paperback)
ON demonstrates that Adam Robert's will be a talent to take seriously. This book keeps you turning the pages to find out want happens to the hero Tighe and also how the world became the Wall. Roberts teases the reader with a primitive village environment where plastic and old electrical goods also exist. The tempo of the book keeps you moving through Tighe's adventures and leads to a dramatic conclusion where the secret of the Wall and indeed Tighe's existence is brilliantly brought to a conclusion.

I really enjoyed this book and if you like believable Science Fiction as per Banks and Hamilton, you will love this.

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8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars An unusual story and a great second book., 13 Aug 2001
By A Customer
This review is from: On (Gollancz S.F.) (Paperback)
Adam Roberts has delivered a book that has a lot to like. A novel of science fiction needs ideas or environments we have never seen before, believable and intriguing details, a STORY with many surprises and pleasures along the way, interesting characters that the reader can relate to, and a conclusion to set the whole work back into a broader context. This book delivers on all these accounts.

Tighe lives on the wall. It towers above his village and falls away below it. It is vast and unforgiving and it is everything they know. Life is hard on the wall, little more than a clinging on for dear life.

And then one day Tighe falls off the world. And falls, and falls and falls....and survives. He finds a new part of the wall; a vast expanse of cluttered ledges packed with more people than he ever imagined existed.

And a war. A war fought by the Popes and their armies. A war Tighe must join, a war that will take him on a journey into the heart of the mystery behind the wall.

I have no scientific background. I've never studied physics, so my lack of a scientific background helped me to enjoy this book. There may be concepts of scientific impossibilities or implausibility, but my scientific ignorance allowed me to sit back and truly enjoy this story. All being said, I really enjoyed this book!

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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Lots of ideas, but unsatisfying, 17 Sep 2003
By A. Key "angry-nun" (Hampshire, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: On (Gollancz S.F.) (Paperback)
I have to go with the reader from Sandown. There's a lot of invention packed into this book, and the main character is effectively drawn, but then it all tails off into a series of disjointed scenes and, ultimately, the arrival of a deus ex machina (in more senses than one) who explains nearly everything but then sets up a couple of brand new mysteries, and then... the book stops. Roberts fits comfortably into the millenium wave of British SF writers - the belief that novels don't need a proper ending, the obsession with gore, blood, guts and severed limbs, all the trademarks are there. So long as you can get past that it's not a bad book, but it's lacking something.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing and disjointed
The quote on the cover says "very high concept". This is true, but the story is driven along by the need to reveal the "high concept" underpinnings of the world, not by the... Read more
Published 18 months ago by Pie56

1.0 out of 5 stars Very poor sci-fi novel - disappointing
I have read other books by Adam Roberts such as Salt that I enjoyed. However this book left me very disappointed. Read more
Published 19 months ago by M. Clare

4.0 out of 5 stars Yes but...
Reading the reviews here I find myself agreeing with some of the main points- yes the main character is a bit passive, the deus ex machina explanation was a trifle unnecessary and... Read more
Published on 10 Mar 2007 by J. M. Carey

5.0 out of 5 stars World building worthy of Wolfe
Adam Roberts' second novel demonstrates that here is an author who refuses to be straight-jacketed by the 'normal' rules of hard sf as he creates the most bizarre of worlds and... Read more
Published on 3 Dec 2002 by thealienonline_editor

2.0 out of 5 stars A one-concept conceit
The book started well, with some great characterisation. I really enjoyed the introductory part, which was very short, but then half the good characters got effectively killed... Read more
Published on 25 Nov 2002

3.0 out of 5 stars Bit of a road movie - feels like part 1 of X
Various reviewers have either raved or ranted about the lack of conclusion to the book but actually, it kind of stops on a bit of a cliff-hanger that feels like ON - Part 2 may... Read more
Published on 21 Nov 2002

1.0 out of 5 stars Deeply disapointed...
Having read so many positive reviews for this author and the reviews on the book cover I was left deeply disapointed by the actual book. Read more
Published on 18 Oct 2002

1.0 out of 5 stars A cardboard main character and directionless plot
If you like tightly-plotted sci-fi with believable characters and a gripping storyline then avoid this book like the plague-'cos there's none of that here! Read more
Published on 31 May 2002

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderwall
As with Robert's previous novel viewpoint really matters in ON and it is important to read between the lines... Read more
Published on 13 May 2002

1.0 out of 5 stars Empty
There is a particular brand of fantasy writing where the author has an apparently inspired idea or concept, and then proceeds to tell you about it...badly. Read more
Published on 6 May 2002 by Jonathan Waterlow

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