Report to Megalopolis: The Post Modern Prometheus

The History of Arcadia #4

by Tod Davies

You won’t need to have read any of the other History of Arcadia books to become engrossed in the drama of Aspern Grayling, whose obsession with creating a new life-form - in the person of ruthless adventurer Pavo Vale - could destroy his whole world. A compelling descendant of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, this is a tale of a man bent on conquest and of an adversary that may yet defeat the ghost of the Arcadian Devindra Vale, the only woman he has ever loved.

Genres: Fiction

Audible Audio

Published June 20, 2020

About the author

Tod Davies is the author of Snotty Saves the Day and Lily the Silent, both from The History of Arcadia series, and the cooking memoirs Jam Today: A Diary of Cooking With What You’ve Got and Jam Today Too: The Revolution Will Not Be Catered. Unsurprisingly, her attitude toward literature is the same as her attitude toward cooking—it’s all about working with what you have to find new ways of looking and new ways of being, and in doing so, to rediscover the best of our humanity. Davies lives with her husband Alex, and their two dogs, in the alpine valley of Colestin, Oregon, and at the foot of the Rocky Mountains, in Boulder, Colorado.

Reviews

[Brian Griffith · Rating 5 out of 5]

This well-painted fantasy world features cultures in collision, with imperial ambition meeting a stunningly sane society of local yokels. Not since Starhawk's imaginary confrontation between a fundamentalist military state and a future society of the witches (in "The Fifth Sacred Thing") have I seen such an illuminating encounter between possible civilizations.

[Steve Wiggins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Continuing the History of Arcadia series, Report to Megalopolis is quite timely and a serious exploration of what happens when one man's personal desires usurp the common good. Part Frankenstein and part Trump—what a scary combination!—Pavo Vale can see or understand nothing beyond his own wants. Taking over a country is just a means to personal gratification. The only option for the people of Arcadia is to resist, which they do by accommodating and believing in justice larger than the moment. In fact, magic appears to be on their side.

Since I received a pre-publication copy I don't want to put any spoilers in this review. I can say that this is a thoughtful, heartfelt book that vacillates between hope and despair. It's like reading the daily headlines. Like the people of Arcadia, many of us had assumed we'd grown beyond the ugliness and horror that marked the Fascist movements of the last century. We've found they weren't dead, only sleeping. Tod Davies knows that real life is sometimes best handled by fantasy, and this story is yet another example of that. The only way ahead is to resist. More of us believe in higher values than our governments seem to display, and our strength is in our numbers.

I wrote a little about this on my blog as well (Sects and Violence in the Ancient World), for it's important to get the word out. We need books like this. We must resist.

[Jennifer Collins · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although this book is advertised as standing on its own, with readers not needing to have read the earlier books in the series, I suspect/hope that reading the earlier books would make a big difference in reading experience here. For me personally, I found it extremely difficult to really engage with the book and remain interested even though there were flashes of content that felt intriguing, and suggested the read I expected to be falling into here.

The book is split into three parts, and that's part of the problem, as there is a fairly disjointed feel to things. The first part actually reads like nonfiction, and although that may be what the writer was going for, I had an incredibly difficult time engaging with it--in fact, the only thing that kept me going was flipping forward enough to see that Part 2 would take up a different style, or I might have DNF'd fairly early. Part 2 was far more readable and enjoyable, with more attention to story, but the narrator's voice--as the book is primarily an extended monologue told in letters--began to get old early in Part 3, and I struggled to finish the book as a result.

If I'd gotten another view of the narrator from earlier books, or if there'd been less reporting and more scene-based storytelling, this might have been a very different reading experience, but as is, I can only say that although the book was well-written, it absolutely wasn't for me and probably isn't something I'd recommend. I would potentially try something else from the writer, but probably not in this series.

[Vonlenska · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a drifter from an obscure utopia myself, I really treasure this series and think about the dynamic between Arcadia and Megalopolis frequently. These are Megalopolitan times, I suppose, but I still keep the dream of Arcadia close.

[angelofmine1974]

Nope made it to page 22 and had to stop. First off, I didn't realize this book was fourth in the series. So of course I was lost when I started reading the book. And it was very very boring. I get it that it's the Professor's diary but way too long winded and too much for me to comprehend. Pass on this one.