Genre: Literary Fiction
Description:
A disparate group of Londoners are brought
together by Sweeney, a mysteriously charismatic man of wealth, for a luxury
cruise in the South Pacific – they know not why. Sailing far from the normal
shipping routes, the ship weighs anchor just off an uninhabited tropical
island. Whilst its passengers are ashore exploring, the ship catches fire and
sinks beneath the waves.
With no means of communication with the outside world and no hope of rescue, passengers and crew must find a way to survive. In the scramble for power that ensues, the distinction between master and servant becomes meaningless as the more ruthless among them clamber to the top.
The inscrutable Sweeney, meanwhile, sits alone on a hillside. Coolly aloof, he watches the veneer of civilization disintegrate as his fellows fall prey to fear, desperation, and barbarity.
With no means of communication with the outside world and no hope of rescue, passengers and crew must find a way to survive. In the scramble for power that ensues, the distinction between master and servant becomes meaningless as the more ruthless among them clamber to the top.
The inscrutable Sweeney, meanwhile, sits alone on a hillside. Coolly aloof, he watches the veneer of civilization disintegrate as his fellows fall prey to fear, desperation, and barbarity.
Author:
Sam Youd was born in Lancashire in April 1922, during an unseasonable
snowstorm.
As a boy, he was devoted to the newly emergent genre of science-fiction: 'In the early thirties,' he later wrote, 'we knew just enough about the solar system for its possibilities to be a magnet to the imagination.'
Over the following decades, his imagination flowed from science-fiction into general novels, cricket novels, medical novels, gothic romances, detective thrillers, light comedies ... In all he published fifty-six novels and a myriad of short stories, under his own name as well as eight different pen-names.
He is perhaps best known as John Christopher, author of the seminal work of speculative fiction, The Death of Grass (today available as a Penguin Classic), and a stream of novels in the genre he pioneered, young adult dystopian fiction, beginning with The Tripods Trilogy.
As a boy, he was devoted to the newly emergent genre of science-fiction: 'In the early thirties,' he later wrote, 'we knew just enough about the solar system for its possibilities to be a magnet to the imagination.'
Over the following decades, his imagination flowed from science-fiction into general novels, cricket novels, medical novels, gothic romances, detective thrillers, light comedies ... In all he published fifty-six novels and a myriad of short stories, under his own name as well as eight different pen-names.
He is perhaps best known as John Christopher, author of the seminal work of speculative fiction, The Death of Grass (today available as a Penguin Classic), and a stream of novels in the genre he pioneered, young adult dystopian fiction, beginning with The Tripods Trilogy.
Appraisal:
I
recently enjoyed The White Voyage by
John Christopher, so I thought I’d give his latest novel a try. As with The White Voyage, this novel deals with
the social interactions within a small group of marooned travelers, but unlike
the previous story, the action that cuts them off from the civilized world is
no accident.
Once
again, I enjoyed the author’s writing style, filled with fresh imagery and
believable dialogue. Taken at face value, the characters could be seen as hard
to believe, but the author develops their idiosyncrasies in such a gradual and
believable manner that I found myself agreeing that, yes, this is exactly how
they would act. I particularly enjoyed Lydia
The
story has many similarities to Golding’s Lord of The Flies. And although the
ending seemed rather rushed to me and left open questions about Sweeny’s
motives that would have been interesting to explore, this was an enjoyable
read, and the journey more than made up for that minor quibble.
FYI:
English
spelling.
Format/Typo Issues:
None.
Rating: **** Four Stars
Reviewed by: Pete Barber
Print Length: 239 pages
2 comments:
Delightful to learn that John Christopher is still writing. I loved his Tripod books. Surely they were a major influence on the 'Falling Skies' SF drama series. And, of course, fabulous (if short-lived) TV series on their own account.
Thanks for dropping in and commenting, judimoore.
Post a Comment