Flippin' 'Eck, Reader reviewed The Inverted World by Christopher Priest (New York Review Books classics)
Rightfully a classic, but left me feeling unfulfilled
I've only read one book by Christopher Priest before, A Dream of Wessex.
This one, Inverted World, is not in any way related to that but has a similar quality in that you gradually learn about the strange world in which the narrator lives by following their own disoveries about that world.
By around two-thirds of the way through the nature of the world starts to become not just apparent but largely explained, although the reason for its existence don't get touched upon until the very final few pages of the story.
And the story felt ... truncated. I wasn't clear to me what the final resolution was or what Helward (the main character) was going to do, or indeed what any of the characters were going to do next. I honestly feel like it could have done with another 50 pages or so to tie everything up.
Still, it's …
I've only read one book by Christopher Priest before, A Dream of Wessex.
This one, Inverted World, is not in any way related to that but has a similar quality in that you gradually learn about the strange world in which the narrator lives by following their own disoveries about that world.
By around two-thirds of the way through the nature of the world starts to become not just apparent but largely explained, although the reason for its existence don't get touched upon until the very final few pages of the story.
And the story felt ... truncated. I wasn't clear to me what the final resolution was or what Helward (the main character) was going to do, or indeed what any of the characters were going to do next. I honestly feel like it could have done with another 50 pages or so to tie everything up.
Still, it's a mind-bending piece of work and doesn't take too long to read. The prose flows well and is easy to read even in the 2020s, which can't be said for all 1970s sci-fi.
