Land Of The Headless

by Adam Roberts

THE LAND OF THE HEADLESS is set in a far future where mankind has taken his religious dogma and the divsions that result from it out into space. On a planet where society is shaped by a strict adherance to the word of God as laid out in the Old Testament and Quran a poet is accused of the rape of a woman. Found guilty he must face the punishment laid down in the Good Book; beheading. Beheaded, he is fitted with a neck valve, ordinator and basic sensory equipment and sent out into the world. But he bears a terrible and very visible stigma. the only way he can make a living is to join the army and serve in the war against the neighbouring planet. And plan his revenge against the man he believes is really guilty. LAND OF THE HEADLESS is a searing satire of religious fundamentalism, a novel of love and war and a study of self-delusion. It is an elegantly written, thought-provoking and unique SF novel.

Genres: Science Fiction, Dystopia, Fiction

292 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Adam Roberts (born 1965) is an academic, critic and novelist. He also writes parodies under the pseudonyms of A.R.R.R. Roberts, A3R Roberts and Don Brine. He also blogs at The Valve, a group blog devoted to literature and cultural studies.

He has a degree in English from the University of Aberdeen and a PhD from Cambridge University on Robert Browning and the Classics. He teaches English literature and creative writing at Royal Holloway, University of London. Adam Roberts has been nominated twice for the Arthur C. Clarke Award: in 2001, for his debut novel, Salt, and in 2007, for Gradisil.

Reviews

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Adam Roberts is one of the best living writers of Science Fiction.

Whether he’s in the top ten, or top five (or perhaps top 100 if his particular style isn’t to your taste) there’s no denying that he is among the most consistently inventive authors in the business. For my money – and I’ve given him plenty of it in exchange for his novels – there’s no-one writing SF quite like his.

Land of the Headless is another brilliant Roberts concept novel.

In a distant future, on a faraway world, famed poet Jon Cavala awaits his beheading. His crime? Sex outside of marriage, one of three 'capital' offenses on the planet Pluse that attract an appointment with the executioner's axe.

But this is the distant future, and even nightmarish theocracies have evolved and have access to advanced technology, so Cavala's decapitation will not mean that his life comes to an end.

Prior to his 'execution' he is fitted with a computerized box at the base of his spine, into which his personality and memories are copied. When his head is surgically removed his neck is fitted with a cover and his consciousness endures in his maimed form. His newly decapitated body is fitted with sensors for sight and hearing, and he is turfed back out into the streets, forever marked as part of the menial underclass of headless who are scorned and mistreated by society at large.

And so begins Cavala's second life as a laborer, a soldier, a factory worker and a headless nobody.

We follow as he travels with fellow headless, endures the hate headed citizens heap upon him, and journeys with the army to fight an interplanetary war, all the while consumed by a desire for vengeance against a man he is sure injured the only woman he loves.

It's a hell of a trip, and despite the social commentary and the interplanetary soldiering this isn't a war story - it is a story of personal change, a story of overcoming disaster and overall, a story of love. Despite the fantastically inventive ideas that underpin his books, Roberts is no hack slaved to concept at the expense of other storytelling skills. Roberts can write, and he can write compelling characters that make you care.

Despite the central character in LOTH being largely unlikable for most of the story, as well as being completely headless after page two, I was utterly drawn into his story and his struggles. Like New Model Army, Yellow Blue Tibia, Bete and Stone, Land of The Headless is a fascinating journey through a beautifully imagined world, seen through the eyes of a compellingly flawed man.

Land of The Headless isn’t Roberts’ best novel - I would argue that Bete, Stone and Jack Glass would have to duke it out for that title – but it is among his finer work.

And that work is generally very fine. At his worst (For example in Swiftly), Roberts is still both engaging and entertaining. At his best his work lodges in a reader’s memory like a series of strange and wonderful memories. With Roberts I have visited a prison that sits in the corona of a star, an Earth turned 90 degrees on itself, and an Earth where newly sentient farm animals have thrown agriculture and society into chaos. Each scenario is as vivid in my mind as memories from my own overseas holidays.

Land of The Headless joins that list of fictional memories, and the image of Jon Cavala, Headless soldier fighting a brutal war where he is treated as little more than an automaton has lodged in my reading memory. It's well worth your time.

I’m going to invoke the name of a god here, as I have done before with Roberts' work. If there is anyone in SF who is carrying the flame that Philip K. Dick lit with his endlessly inventive brilliance in the 60s and 70s, it is Adam Roberts who is that torchbearer.


Four gonzo SF concepts out of five.


PS. If you’ve read Salt there is a tiny reference to the novel in LOTH- it's a nice little Easter Egg for fellow Roberts fans.

[Linus · Rating 5 out of 5]

Who Are You Without a Head?

I first came across Adam Roberts through the excellent Outlaw Bookseller YouTube channel, which provided an insightful overview of his career. Nearly all of his books sound intriguing, and the variety in style and subject matter is what struck me most. I am especially keen to read his adaptations of Gulliver's Travels and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. I plan to read his novels in random order.

Like Christopher Priest and J. G. Ballard, Roberts primarily writes stand-alone novels, which I strongly prefer to long-running series. The deeper one gets into a series, the greater the risk of losing interest or of the story losing its edge. For me, the essence of science fiction lies in its ability to extrapolate a paradigm shift — a new technology, invention or social order — and Land of the Headless definitely fits into this category. It’s an unsettling work that explores a society shaped by extreme moral and technological conditions.

The story follows Jon Cavala, a poet sentenced to death by beheading on the theocratic planet Pluse. Pluse's society is governed by a harsh fusion of religion and law, where fundamentalist moral codes carry the weight of life and death. What is termed 'rape' may in fact be consensual sex outside marriage. Divine authority from the holy book, the Bibliqu’rân, has become an accepted means of punishing heresy, murder and rape.

However, in this future society, decapitation is not a death sentence. Instead, with the help of a device called an 'ordinator', the individual is able to continue living with all their memories, but without a head. Sight and hearing are only maintained through prosthetic sensors. Imagine a human being without a head — specifically, without a face or facial expressions — essentially without all the characteristics that make a human humane. How can one live without the body part that represents everything that makes a man or woman who they are?

Jon Cavala is doomed to this fate, joining a group of two other men who have recently been beheaded, as well as a woman named Siuzan Deluge. She is so faithful that she accompanies the three headless men to another city, where they try to find work. From now on, Siuzan Deluge will be at the centre of Cavala's life; in almost every free moment, she is in his thoughts and heart. However, the story is a tragic one, eventually leading him to military service, where he experiences the brutality of the Sugar War. Headless men are trained like machines, stripped of dignity, to serve as fighting machines against the enemy. They must obey; everything else is irrelevant...

Overall, Roberts does not focus on spectacle. Instead, he explores what it means to live without dignity, identity or agency in a hypocritical society. The novel is bleak, intelligent and disorientating. I did not expect the story to focus on the military, but this amplifies the tragedy and nevertheless seems fitting. War and its inescapable brutality are always wrong and pointless, regardless of the society or its religion, and Roberts conveys this message well.

Land of the Headless is an excellent example of how science fiction can explore themes of human cruelty and institutional power, even with such a grotesque premise as living headless. At times, it is challenging, it left me wondering where the story is leading and whether there is any hope for Cavala, or if he deserves his fate. It will stick with me, that is sure!

[Brian Clegg · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's important that I explain why I've given this book four stars, despite the fact that I didn't enjoy reading it. I've rated it highly because it's a brilliant exercise in a certain kind of writing. Like Gulliver's Travels, for example, the idea is not to make a great story where the reader can really engage with the main character - the narrator here, Jon, is a strangely formal, wordy individual who is difficult to like. Instead, what Adam Roberts has done so impressively here is both come up with a concept that is so horrible it burns itself into your memory and also to use that concept, and the society that brought it into existence, as a vehicle for examining our own beliefs and attitudes. Just as the weird experiences of Gulliver were not intended to be a fun fantasy (forget the film versions) but a reflection of the unpleasant extremes of society, so Jon's experiences are a mirror to the nastier aspects of religion and modern social attitudes.

The main premise is simple, and doesn't get any less shocking from exposure to it. On a planet which has adopted a fundamentalist religion that appears to be a merger of the most unpleasant aspects of Islam and Christianity, three offences - murder, blasphemy and voluntary sex outside marriage - are punishable by beheading. But this is a modern, 'civilised' space-faring society - so judicial killing is frowned on. They have developed the technology to keep people alive after their heads are cut off, with their mental function transferred to an onboard computer.

Roberts does not hold back on the grisly detail of life without a head, but also sends his main character on a journey that involves shunning by 'good people', an encounter with a sadistic policeman and a life-changing period of time in the army, fighting a war on another planet. All along, that central character is driven by love for a woman he hardly knew.

It's not an easy read, as you might imagine - but it's insightful and it's hard not to admire Roberts' chutzpah in devising this concept and in getting it past a publisher. I wasn't entirely surprised that the paperback has gone out of print - but if you're up to it, it's a science fiction book that you ought to have read.

[Oscar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Land of the Headless de Adam Roberts presenta una sociedad futurista regida por leyes religiosas severas, donde la decapitación es el castigo para crímenes como adulterio, asesinato y blasfemia. La historia sigue a Jon Cavala, un poeta decapitado por adulterio que debe adaptarse a su nueva existencia sin cabeza gracias a un dispositivo tecnológico en la base de la columna que reemplaza sus funciones sensoriales. Jon emprende un viaje para encontrar propósito y reconciliación en un mundo que lo estigmatiza, acompañado de otros decapitados y la devota Siuzan Delage. La novela explora temas de religión, justicia, humanidad y redención en un contexto distópico y filosófico.

Adam Roberts ofrece una obra inquietante y profundamente reflexiva en Land of the Headless, ambientada en una sociedad futurista que combina un dogma religioso arcaico con tecnología avanzada. La premisa audaz, personas decapitadas que continúan viviendo gracias a dispositivos, sirve como metáfora potente para cuestionar la identidad, la moralidad y la alienación social. Aunque el concepto puede parecer absurdo a primera vista, Roberts lo desarrolla con una lógica interna consistente que lo hace sorprendentemente creíble. A través del protagonista Jon Cavala, Roberts examina el peso del juicio social, la hipocresía religiosa y la búsqueda de sentido tras una condena irreversible.

La narración en primera persona de Jon Cavala es convincente, ofreciendo una visión íntima y visceral de la experiencia de ser decapitado y "vivir" después. Roberts demuestra una habilidad impresionante para imaginar y describir las sensaciones y desafíos únicos que enfrentaría alguien en esta situación, desde la desorientación sensorial hasta las complejidades de adaptarse a nuevas formas de percepción.

Sin embargo, la novela no está exenta de desafíos. La exploración prolongada de debates teológicos y morales puede ralentizar el ritmo en algunos momentos, lo que podría alienar a lectores que busquen una trama más dinámica. Si bien es verdad que también hay una parte de enfrentamiento militar donde sí hay acción. Además, el carácter introspectivo de Jon, aunque complejo, puede resultar difícil de empatizar para algunos. A pesar de ello, Land of the Headless es una obra magistral que combina ciencia ficción especulativa con una profunda crítica social, dirigida a lectores dispuestos a reflexionar sobre los límites de la humanidad y la justicia.

[Nicky · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've read a couple of Adam Roberts' books now, and skimmed a couple of others, to see if I was interested in buying them. The weird thing is how similar all his narrators sound -- there's something almost like reading a translation about it, too, something stiff and not quite natural. It suits the characters, separately, but put together, I'm wondering a little if Adam Roberts can do any other tone.

Anyway, the ideas behind his novels are usually fascinating: I can't quite put my finger on exactly why this was so interesting, but -- the society he describes, the scenario he then leads his main character into, so that it asks all sorts of questions about guilt and love and lies and how we treat people we see as less than ourselves... There's a lot going on.

I can't say I had much emotional involvement, given that the main character is not necessarily a reliable narrator, so the part of it that was a love story didn't get through to me except intellectually, to ponder the dilemmas at work. More of a brain workout than one for the heart, but enjoyable for that.

[Guy Haley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Adam took exception to this review (like most on here, it comes from my journalism days), mainly on the basis that I described his work as “clever”. Apparently, in the rarefied atmosphere of academe (he’s a professor of English Lit), there is no higher insult. Still, he and I enjoyed a good correspondence over it, and became friends.

My slight reservations about Headless aside, Roberts is among the finest SF writers of this generation, and his books get better and better. Land of the Headless is a good book, but he has written great books. Why he hasn’t won a major award yet is absolutely beyond me. His hallucinogenic image of Stalin in Yellow Blue Tibia as a monstrous man forged from alien steel is one of those passages that lodge in the mind, and is one of my all-time favourite literary descriptions. He’s a marvellous stylist, and a fantastic ideator. Give him a try if you haven’t yet. Seriously. Do it now. Anyway, here's the review.

Newly headless pompous poet wends painful way to self-discovery in picaresque SF tale that is, at times, too clever by half.

Tricky, tricky Mr Roberts. He’s a tough one to evaluate. An accomplished sculptor of prose, a cunning satirist, Roberts writes playful SF with concepts so high you need a stool to get them off the shelf. Like On, which takes place on an Earth where gravity has swung round to work at 90 degrees to the norm, or Salt, where rival bands of colonists battle pointlessly over an uninhabitable planet. Or this, his latest, in which criminals on the strictly religious world of Pluse are beheaded for their misdemeanours. Fitted with computerised brains and plastic neck valves, they are sent out to live the rest of their lives bearing the obvious mark of their sins.

There’s a big part of me that loves Roberts’ stuff, it’s all that SF should be, packed with brilliant ideas and clever examinations of the human condition. Land of the Headless does both, taking the hero Jon Cavala on a painful road of self-discovery before finally, finally his eyes are opened to his inner self.

But he can be a plodding read. He’s a good writer, so good that he feels he can happily stuff a paragraph with analogies and similes until it chokes on literary merit, and this is bad. It slows the pace right down, as do the long discursive sections (which, to be fair, are an integral part of the tale), and robs the story of vitality.

There’s an additional annoyance with Land of the Headless, in that you’d quite happily cut Cavala’s head off yourself. He’s the most pompous ass since Lucius Apuleius, and though the story is concerned with his enlightenment, spending 275 pages with Sieur Cavala’s morbid whining is not an easy thing.

Of course it’s all a very clever parable on perspective, makes sly use of the picaresque form, and has a good deal of satire on fundamentalist societies (and the woe-filled, self-pitying mentality of writers, for that matter). Cavala’s character is at the very heart of this, but that doesn’t mean you won’t want to thump him, a desire shared by, and acted on, by quite a few of the other characters too.

However, Cavala’s salvation, when it finally comes, is a satisfying experience, and there are many great ideas in here, so hats off, if not heads, to Roberts.

One suspects Roberts is referencing Candide with this text. Similarities include Cavala’s fall from grace being precipitated by sexual desire, the resurrection of characters, and his experience of war. Roberts has played with early modern literature before – witness his excellent short Swiftly (later expanded into an equally excellent novel), a very smart story that follows on from Gulliver’s Travels.

[BooksAndFrogs (Mervi) · Rating 1 out of 5]

On Tuesday a genetic materials test confirmed my guilt (but of course this confirmation was only a formality) and on Wednesday I was beheaded. My crime was adultery.

Weird story of a religion ruled society where the word of All'God in Bibliqu'ran is the law. If you're found guilty of murder, blasphemy or adultery, your punishment is beheading. The trick is that your headless torso keeps on living, with your memories. But everyone knows that you are a criminal because, well, you don't have a head.

[William Leight · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Land of the Headless" is described on the back cover of my (well, the library's) edition as "a satire of religious fundamentalism", which is not, I don't think, entirely accurate. To be sure, the premise sounds kind of like it: a man is convicted of rape, the punishment for which is, as laid down in the Bibliq'uran, beheading, but thanks to futuristic technology, such does not mean death. Instead, the hero's mind is simply downloaded into a computer (referred to as an "ordinator") which is implanted in the base of his spine. After decapitation, a device is installed on his neck allowing him to breathe and take in nourishment; artificial eyes and ears can then be purchased, and he is free to join the many other headless on his home world of Pluse. The remainder of the novel is more or less a picaresque: the hero, who is also the narrator, adjusts (as much as possible) to his new status; walks to a city where he hopes to meet the woman who (he claims) he admitted to having raped to prevent her from being punished for having committed adultery; joins the army to escape police persecution (the headless -- beheading is also prescribed for murder and blasphemy -- are universally discriminated against, and the local police chief is a friend of the father of the woman he was accused of raping); is sent to fight in a pointlessly stalemated interstellar war; is captured, imprisoned, and then released when the war ends; spends a year working to get enough money to make his way back home; goes through some incidents related to the first part of the book that I will not spoil; and finally ends up in the titular land. The whole thing could probably work just as well as the story of a black man in, say, England in the mid-to-late 18th century, when slavery was just beginning to be questioned: the discrimination that our hero faces is largely similar, though with the advantage that the headless are not, and will not become, slaves. "Tom Jones", except that Tom Jones is black and is pressed into service in one of the many French-English wars of the 18th century, would just about fit the bill (there is even a vaguely old-fashioned quality about the prose). Adam Roberts is above-average in science fiction, both in the quality of his writing and his ability to come up with original ideas, and I must admit that I did not see the twist at the end of this one coming, though I probably should have. However, I thought "Blue Yellow Tibia" was superior, in particular because Roberts showed a sense of humor that is sadly absent here (and would really have to be present for the "Tom Jones" comparisons to be accurate).

[Matthew Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a tale of burning desire to reap cold, bloody revenge. The protagonist is beheaded for "adultery" in the first chapter (so I'm not giving away too much there!), but in Adam Roberts' "Land of the Headless" this does not necessarily mean death. The beheaded are fitted with devices which allow them to function and think normally despite not having heads, prior to beheading, but the senses of the head are not replaced. To gain back their eye sight, hearing, sense of smell, etc. the beheaded must fork-out for new artificial sensory replacements, and the quality of said replacements depends on what one can afford. Very cheap replacements having very poor quality sensory apparatus (black and white, low resolution, etc.).

Written in first-person, it is through the distorted lens of the protagonist's cheap sensory replacement that we view the story. This serves as a great analogy of the distorted perception of seeing events through the "eyes" of one individual, in fiction written in the first-person format. The protagonist does not seem like the most honest, balanced individual, so you are all ways questioning what he tells you. Is that a fact, or is it just his warped view of events? Has he got hidden, ulterior motives? Is he hiding information from the reader? The effect induced is one of infectious paranoia.

Despite the extreme religious fundamentalist society the story is set in, and the harshness of its “Bibliquranic” governing laws, I would not say that this book is critical of religion. It is critical of fanaticism, not religion per se (fanaticism being excessive, irrational zeal). I would not say this story is about religious fanaticism either, it is merely a back-drop, and a device to explore more general themes. Themes that are universal and do not just apply to religion. It's about distorted perspectives on reality, and about how things such as extreme emotions, burning desires and limited understanding can shape the way you see the world, and thus your actions.

Religious aspects aside, at the heart of this story is a "ripping good yarn". It's a real page-turner, I just couldn't put it down, and finished it in only two sittings. Which is pretty amazing for me; if a story doesn't grab me I tend to not finish novels. Characterisation is pretty good for a SF novel too.

If you enjoy contemporary speculative fiction that isn't afraid to reflect/explore current, controversial themes you should enjoy this novel as much as I did. This is a fine example of the genre, and you could do a lot worse.

[Eric Lawton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Goodreads' description of this book is just a fraction of the plot. It is, as with all Roberts' previous books, a multi-threaded social commentary. In this case about the military/prison/industrial complex in a hierarchical state as well as the story of an individual caught up not only in that but his own delusions of love and guilt (his own and another's). The bizarre "science" part of the fiction is almost a distraction but serves to emphasize our own collective illusions about crime and punishment.

Although it deals with serious themes, I found it hard to put down as there are unresolved plot twists that kept my attention long after I should have been asleep for the night.

(That's the last of the Roberts books I have on my shelf. I read them all, for the second time, in a few weeks. I'll take a break before I see if the library has the more recent ones.)

[Allan Hansen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible story. True science fiction.
Among the best of Roberts's work.

[Augustus · Rating 4 out of 5]

There were times when I wondered why the author had written this book, it's premise is so starnge, that criminals should have their heads removed and yet continue to live.
As is the case with most good books, whatever their setting, they are about the human condition and this delves into the themes of honour and what we believe of ourselves and how this shapes our whole lives.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lacks the polish of his later works, but as soon as you are introduced to a fundamentalist society that has found a way to behead people and still keep them alive to marginalize and exploit them further (in the name of compassion of course), you know it's going to be good.

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

I randomly picked this up at the library on the strength of its satirical central conceit: that the characters live in a strict theocracy where adultery is punished by beheading, but that technology is advanced enough that people can continue to live without their heads.

Though it cover quote name-checks Margaret Atwood, this is a book that thoroughly fails the Bechdel Test. (Personally, it reminded me a bit more of Kafka and Voltaire in any case.)

I expected a lot more world building than there turned out to be; this turned out to be a book more about the character's inner journey than about the society that he lived in. In the end, I found the morality play ambiguously thought-provoking enough to want to check out the author's other work.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't really take to this book. The tone is quite downbeat, and I found the narrator irritatingly self-involved, full of his own importance, and miserable. Okay, so having your head cut off in the opening chapter probably doesn't help one's mood, but...!

That premise is quite intriguing, and I did think the day-to-day of living with your 'self' stored in a box in your spine rather than in a brain was mostly well handled.

The rest of the plot felt a little distant, described more than lived at times, while that narrator rehashed his obsessive woes. Which may have been forgivable, but the ended just sort of 'meh'ed', for me, leaving a single tantalising hint of the far more interesting story, untold.

[Adrian · Rating 3 out of 5]

In Land of the Headless, the premise is that science has caught up to religion. Beheadings for adultery, assault or heresey now don't prevent you from leading a full life, but they do form a new criminal underclass of 'headless'. The world is well realised and logical, Adam Roberts does speculative fiction better than almost anyone - we're talking Atwood or Ballard here...
But Jon Cavala's journey through the world is not nearly so well put together and I think this muddies the overall point of it all. So it is very well written, but lacking a little soul.

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting concept, and oddly handled, too. Very Dostoyevsky-esque in the all-consuming guilt, and the main character made a lot of silly assumptions & went on about his philosophy on life and honour quite a lot - in fact, very Russian in that sense! Bit sentimental, bit self-indulgent (the protagonist, I mean)... but yet it all worked, for me!

Loved the beginning, thought the end's "twist" was a little contrived & also concluded too quickly for me... wanted it to go on longer. Will check out more of his books.

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A superb SF novel about a world where, according to Bibliquranic law, heretics, murderers and adulterers are punished by beheading. This being a future society, this law has been somewhat tempered by the ability to record the victim's brain patterns into a device which is then attached to the truncated body, preserving life and continuity of personality. A fascinating story which works on a variety of different levels, not least of which is as as examination of theocracy.

[Robbo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting premise, the Initial part of the story is the strongest and I always suspected the outcome, that Cavala had been duped. However I felt that the conclusion was too rushed and uncharacteristic of the main subject.
It did however pose some interesting questions on the nature of fundamentalism and personal freedom.
Every Adam Roberts novel I have read is a challenge in some way and it was a good read on long journeys.

[Gabriel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Discussed at SF Gospel:

"It's still highly critical of religion... but it's always nice in stories like this to see some indication that the author sees light at the end of ultraconservative religion's tunnel."

Full review here:

http://sfgospel.typepad.com/sf_gospel...

[Ketan Shah]

A satire ,in the tradition of Jonathan Swift. Worth reading ,even though the ending fizzled a bit.If you enjoyed this,you might like Andreas Esbach's The Carpet Makers.Parts of it also resemble Joe Haldeman's The Forever War.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining read. Interesting concept and the scenes of "headless" people were great. Writing was easy to get into and I like the way the characters spoke. But I found the main character annoying even if he was believable within the premise.

[Ian · Rating 3 out of 5]

As always, some interesting ideas, but not my favourite AR book.

[Liam Proven · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finished after about 2 years!

A difficult novel -- it's hard to relate to the protagonist's predicament.

However, like the Silmarillion, it's worth battling through the difficult middle section in order to get to the much more interesting resolution and conclusion, which I found both satisfying and utterly unexpected.

There are some small holes in the remarkable set-up of this odd novel, but you can look past them. Its takes, its insights, its satirical demolitions and much more all have valuable insight.

Worth the time.