I made this so much harder for myself by just sitting down and starting to read (in my defense, it's an old edition from 1984, ripped and damaged in the first few pages so it seemed the most gentle way forward was to open and begin) so I did NOT see there was supplementary material at the back that could spell out geography and definitions. instead, I used the story to provide clues as to what these made-up words meant. And having seen the original movie more than 20 years ago (where I was both bewildered and bored), I DID have a framework to place the details as they emerged, otherwise it would have been near impossible for me to press on in this task (ok, ok, I set a goal to read the damn thing before I watched the Timothy Chamolet version and my hold at the library is coming up so maybe I wouldn't have actually given up, just skimmed a whole lot)

And it's fantasy. C'mon, it's even compared to Lord of the Rings; it is not science fiction. sure, it's a commentary about the environment and capitalism and eugenics, but fantasy must do commentary too?