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Swiftly
Written by Adam Roberts
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Average Score:
78(7)
It is 1848 and the British Empire has grown rich exploiting Lilliputian slaves—the finesse of their working allowing unheard of feats of miniature 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 center of scale. Lilliputians are 12 times smaller than us but there are those 12 times smaller than them, and 12 times smaller again and so on. And the scale of being goes up from Swift's giants, as well. This Wellesian sequel to Gulliver's Travels is a unique piece of sci-fi literature. |
Book Details
Fantasy
Paperback,
368 Pages
Published
by Gollancz on January 01, 2010
First Published by Gollancz in 2008
ISBN-10 0575082348
ISBN-13 978-0575082342
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Reviews
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SF Site
| Nick Gevers
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Review Rating: 100
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Swiftly by Adam Roberts -- not to be confused with his similarly titled collection from Night Shade Books a few years ago -- is an enormously ambitious novel, a steampunk epic of considerable force and ingenuity.
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The Zone
| Duncan Lawie
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Review Rating: 100
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...clever, sharp and bitter
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SFRevu
| John Berlyne
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Review Rating: 80
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The result is more admirable than it is enjoyable, but once again it confirms Roberts as one of our most intelligent and versatile authors and I look forward to seeing what he offers up next.
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SFX
| Richard Cobbett
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Review Rating: 80
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It's an excellent piece of historical fantasy in its own right, and would likely stand even without the Gulliver connection.
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The Wertzone
| Adam Whitehead
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Review Rating: 70
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I found it intellectually stimulating and a rather different take on the story and world than I was expecting, which is a good thing.
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Stephen Hunts SF Crownest
| Martin Jenner
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Review Rating: 60
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...while 'Swiftly' has a lot to say, it unfortunately forgets to keep its reader entertained.
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sffworld.com
| Mark Yon
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Review Rating: 60
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My biggest problem was that I found the characters to a man (or woman) generally unlikeable: indeed, at times, downright unpleasant. [...] Where the book worked for me, though, it worked very well.
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Strange Horizons
| Dan Hartland
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If Roberts has explicated Swift's surreal world with wit and not a little learning, he has also in no small part written a book equal parts adventure story and social commentary. Its philosophy is Swift's, but its success is all Roberts's own.
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