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Wall At Edge Of World
Danlo Ree lives in a world within walls, in a society of telepaths. It is an efficient society, peaceful and pure. The Cleansings are sure of that.
Danlo thinks bad thoughts sometimes, about his wife, and the Cleansings.... but he pushes them away. He must survive here, for outside the walls lurks nothing but chaos and radiation and danger.
Now, something incredible has happened. And Danlo Ree has discovered that there is something else outside the walls...
Life.
Danlo thinks bad thoughts sometimes, about his wife, and the Cleansings.... but he pushes them away. He must survive here, for outside the walls lurks nothing but chaos and radiation and danger.
Now, something incredible has happened. And Danlo Ree has discovered that there is something else outside the walls...
Life.
309 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published March 1, 1993
3 people are currently reading
75 people want to read
About the author
Jim Aikin
33 books7 followersJim Aikin (born in 1948 as James Douglas Aikin) is an American science fiction writer based in California. He is also a music technology writer, an interactive fiction writer, freelance editor and writer, cellist, composer, and teacher. He has in the past written hundreds of articles for various music industry magazines, including Electronic Musician, Keyboard Magazine, and Mix. His modular analog synthesizer is close enough to his writing desk that he can reach out and touch it.
Aikin sold his first fiction story to Fantasy & Science Fiction where it appeared in the February 1981 issue.
Aikin sold his first fiction story to Fantasy & Science Fiction where it appeared in the February 1981 issue.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
July 18, 2012
Something of a lost sf classic. I stumbles across this at a used bookstore and found it to be compelling and surprisingly well written. I figured this had to be the work of a well established author, but no, Aiken wrote one other book a decade earlier and never any more, as far as I can tell. This one was published in paperback only and tragically, soon faded into out of print obscurity.
The Wall at the Edge of the World deserves to be in print. I've always thought if I was rich I'd open a publishing house specifically to bring my favorite obscure and forgotten books, albums, TV shows etc. back to light, and this is one of the first books I think of in that scenario.
The Wall at the Edge of the World deserves to be in print. I've always thought if I was rich I'd open a publishing house specifically to bring my favorite obscure and forgotten books, albums, TV shows etc. back to light, and this is one of the first books I think of in that scenario.
April 18, 2012
Jim Aikin neatly inverts the trope of telepaths persecuted by "normals", showing us a society in which the inability to connect with others telepathically, being a "null" is a capital crime. The main character becomes alienated and secretly rebellious when his beloved wife loses that ability and is executed. Danlo's society is literally walled off from the outside world, the wall marking the limited reach of their encompassing telepathic unity, the "Ktess". It is a society of insidiously gentle, but remorseless repression. When Danlo is kidnapped by wild null women he sees an opportunity to break free, but finds himself, for the first time, having to discover ways of communicating.
This is a story of blocked communication, rebellion and its dreadful cost, in which change and the ugly truths of the past play out against a detailed and richly imagined telepathic society.
This is a story of blocked communication, rebellion and its dreadful cost, in which change and the ugly truths of the past play out against a detailed and richly imagined telepathic society.
November 16, 2022
A thousand years from now in what was the United States an enclave of telepaths comprise a loose group mind called The One. Danlo Ree is part of this society but has managed to compartmentalize his mind so that his deeper thoughts remain hidden from the (literal) thought police known as joddies. People without psi are called Nulls and are Cleansed (a euphemism for beheading). A large wall to the east of the old California keeps the wild animals away. Outside this wall there are no people, or so they are all taught, but when a group of marauding wild women cross the wall and kidnap a group of males for husbands (as their own men are dying mysteriously) they are rudely awoken to the fact that their revered religious tract, The White Book, seems to be in error. A number of teens due to be Cleansed are also ready to find a new path and Danlo, with a wild woman named Linnie, recruit a number of disenchanted people to try to rescue the captured wild women and attempt to change the status quo. Jim Aikin’s book suffers the problem all psi books do - it’s a get-out-of-jail-free card for any problems that the protagonist cannot normally solve. You start to expect each rabbit as it gets pulled relentlessly from the hat. It’s a bit of a chore to read too in parts but ties things up satisfactorily.
August 11, 2020
A parable of white supremacy and ableism, where anyone not linked telepathically into "the one" is to be killed. This includes eugenics, where children born without telepathy are killed in a ceremony when they pass the latest age at which the telepathy emerges.
There is a wall enclosing "the one", which is assumed to exclude a wilderness without humans, but Danlo finds this is false.
The story is his struggle to come to terms with this and decolonise his mind so the he can accept that the wild people are also deserving of rights.
There is a wall enclosing "the one", which is assumed to exclude a wilderness without humans, but Danlo finds this is false.
The story is his struggle to come to terms with this and decolonise his mind so the he can accept that the wild people are also deserving of rights.
February 23, 2012
Fomenting discord in a dystopian society of telepaths isn't easy. Contrary thoughts will result in "Guidance", a mentally enforced adjustment to make you fit in the "Body". "Nulls" are people (usually children) who cannot be "Gathered" into the Body, so they are ritually "Cleansed". This is a scary tale of repression and lies of a perfect and harmonious culture that brought peace to a war torn and over populated Earth. Danlo Ree has lost his wife to the headsman's axe after she fell ill and lost her telepathic ability. This begins his path of "bad thoughts" and withholding a part of himself from his fellow citizens. After finding out that there is life outside the wall he has the idea to save those Nulls that he can and to help put a stop to the killing. But first he needs a guide to help show how to survive out in the wilderness.
Want to read
March 26, 2011This sounds rather epic, but someone needs to correct its page count. I know that it is longer than 1 page.
May 26, 2023
This questing into the underpinnings of a utopia swiftly turns disturbing. In the future, human beings have become telepathic. Being able to communicate with each other and feel each other’s emotions and pains mean a reluctance to engage in violence. However, as with many utopias, there is a darkness at the heart of it.
Danlo Spee’s dissatisfaction with a life of bland conformity initially takes root as with Guy Montag’s: somebody dies as a result of state mandate. In Danlo’s case, it’s his beloved wife, whose ability to participate in the ktess (telepathy shared by all citizens) diminishes and disappears after an illness. She is declared a null and subject to Cleansing, a euphemistic word for decapitation.
Danlo is jolted out of his vague dissatisfaction by an abduction that turns into a wary partnership that becomes love. Danlo is forced on a physical and mental journey as he explores his ability to dive into the ktess and manipulate the actions, thoughts and emotions of those near him. At first, his guilt over controlling people this way worries him. But his growing horror against the Cleansings and the realization that the state has conducted mass Cleansings in the past and plans more spurs him onward and towards a hopefully better future.
Danlo is forced into questionable actions, including repeated murders and killings, as he learns to survive on his own, gather allies, rescue nulls threatened with decapitation and awakening the citizenry to the inherent problems of a government that commands the killing of null children. He has to ferret out those who chafe against the mass submersion of one’s mentality into the blanket blandness of the ktess. Danlo must gently and firmly speak to those terrified of change and brutal reprisal, encourage them to try rebellion and escape.
It’s pointed out that he’s just one man. What can he do? But every revolution starts with a single spark and the end displays a spark that spreads into a cautious flame.
We are made to see the benefits of a world that possesses enough for everybody within the protective Wall and the harsher but more honest world that lies beyond it. The characters of Frank and Olivia (we’re not certain if they’re a state-produced hallucination or AI gone wrong) point out to Danlo the horrors of the past when humans governed themselves without benefit of empathy. They bred out of control, there was widespread poverty, starvation and the depredations of warfare. The duo make a good case.
So we are presented with a moral dilemma. Which is better? A world in which almost everybody has a great life or a life where widespread misery and death are prevalent but everyone possesses “free will”? Are the citizens within the Wall wrong to retaliate against the villages beyond when the villages have sent people over the Wall to abduct and blind their men or should they leave them alone?
At first dry and cool in tone, Mr. Aikin’s novel veers from straightforward prose to unexpected lyricism. Its topic will be familiar to readers of more familiar utopian novels like The Giver or Fahrenheit 451 with many familiar elements. There is censorship of literature, euphemistic language, citizens encouraged to inform on their neighbors and select culling of its citizens.
The notion that freedom can be found only be retreating to the wilderness is merely a metaphor. It is about removal of oneself from the cloistered shelter that proves to be less about protection and more about the hegemony of the individual by the state.
Danlo Spee’s dissatisfaction with a life of bland conformity initially takes root as with Guy Montag’s: somebody dies as a result of state mandate. In Danlo’s case, it’s his beloved wife, whose ability to participate in the ktess (telepathy shared by all citizens) diminishes and disappears after an illness. She is declared a null and subject to Cleansing, a euphemistic word for decapitation.
Danlo is jolted out of his vague dissatisfaction by an abduction that turns into a wary partnership that becomes love. Danlo is forced on a physical and mental journey as he explores his ability to dive into the ktess and manipulate the actions, thoughts and emotions of those near him. At first, his guilt over controlling people this way worries him. But his growing horror against the Cleansings and the realization that the state has conducted mass Cleansings in the past and plans more spurs him onward and towards a hopefully better future.
Danlo is forced into questionable actions, including repeated murders and killings, as he learns to survive on his own, gather allies, rescue nulls threatened with decapitation and awakening the citizenry to the inherent problems of a government that commands the killing of null children. He has to ferret out those who chafe against the mass submersion of one’s mentality into the blanket blandness of the ktess. Danlo must gently and firmly speak to those terrified of change and brutal reprisal, encourage them to try rebellion and escape.
It’s pointed out that he’s just one man. What can he do? But every revolution starts with a single spark and the end displays a spark that spreads into a cautious flame.
We are made to see the benefits of a world that possesses enough for everybody within the protective Wall and the harsher but more honest world that lies beyond it. The characters of Frank and Olivia (we’re not certain if they’re a state-produced hallucination or AI gone wrong) point out to Danlo the horrors of the past when humans governed themselves without benefit of empathy. They bred out of control, there was widespread poverty, starvation and the depredations of warfare. The duo make a good case.
So we are presented with a moral dilemma. Which is better? A world in which almost everybody has a great life or a life where widespread misery and death are prevalent but everyone possesses “free will”? Are the citizens within the Wall wrong to retaliate against the villages beyond when the villages have sent people over the Wall to abduct and blind their men or should they leave them alone?
At first dry and cool in tone, Mr. Aikin’s novel veers from straightforward prose to unexpected lyricism. Its topic will be familiar to readers of more familiar utopian novels like The Giver or Fahrenheit 451 with many familiar elements. There is censorship of literature, euphemistic language, citizens encouraged to inform on their neighbors and select culling of its citizens.
The notion that freedom can be found only be retreating to the wilderness is merely a metaphor. It is about removal of oneself from the cloistered shelter that proves to be less about protection and more about the hegemony of the individual by the state.
January 24, 2020
I read this book nearly 20 years ago. But I feel compelled to write about it because I can't get it out of my head. Small scenes of little significance have stayed with me for decades, even where major scenes of some of my favorite books have slipped away.
I remember the telepathic culture's practice of beheading "nulls" born without any telepathic talent. I remember characters' shock at the idea that wild animals and plants just grow and live without human supervision out in nature. I remember the singing contest between a group of telepathic men, who could instantly harmonize, against a group of stone-age-style tribal women who never stood a chance. I remember the humorous image of a matronly linguistics professor being forced to bathe publicly with the tribal women as she puzzled out their strange language. I remember the reasoning for why the tribal women's men were dying off. I remember how our main character could have been a telepathic police officer, but his telepathic society determined that they needed a "counter" (accountant?) more. I remember how the "gods" of the telepathic society were Frank and Olivia, who seemed to just develop the most telepathic power at the earliest stage, and thereafter shaped society in their image. Small details about a tribal woman hunting a black and white dog for dinner, not understanding that it was someone's pet.
A society of telepaths is interesting. A tribal culture with strict gender disparities is also a little interesting. But more, the writing itself was noteworthy. Relatable. Understandable. Painting a picture without seeming too flowery. Somehow, despite the fact I never thought of this as my favorite book, its staying power makes me wonder if it somehow makes the list.
Seriously. I read so many hundreds or thousands of books. I don't understand why this one is seared into my memory. In contrast, I recently re-read Tamora Pierce's Alanna books (very uncharacteristic for me to re-read), and I discovered that I had forgotten the existence of the books' villain. Sure, a bunch of little scenes had stuck with me for decades, but main characters and main portions of the plot? Lost.
Yet somehow, The Wall at the Edge of the World has amazing staying power, even in little details. I don't get why. But I'm grateful that out of all possible books I could accidentally memorize, at least it's a decent science-fiction novel with telepathy.
I remember the telepathic culture's practice of beheading "nulls" born without any telepathic talent. I remember characters' shock at the idea that wild animals and plants just grow and live without human supervision out in nature. I remember the singing contest between a group of telepathic men, who could instantly harmonize, against a group of stone-age-style tribal women who never stood a chance. I remember the humorous image of a matronly linguistics professor being forced to bathe publicly with the tribal women as she puzzled out their strange language. I remember the reasoning for why the tribal women's men were dying off. I remember how our main character could have been a telepathic police officer, but his telepathic society determined that they needed a "counter" (accountant?) more. I remember how the "gods" of the telepathic society were Frank and Olivia, who seemed to just develop the most telepathic power at the earliest stage, and thereafter shaped society in their image. Small details about a tribal woman hunting a black and white dog for dinner, not understanding that it was someone's pet.
A society of telepaths is interesting. A tribal culture with strict gender disparities is also a little interesting. But more, the writing itself was noteworthy. Relatable. Understandable. Painting a picture without seeming too flowery. Somehow, despite the fact I never thought of this as my favorite book, its staying power makes me wonder if it somehow makes the list.
Seriously. I read so many hundreds or thousands of books. I don't understand why this one is seared into my memory. In contrast, I recently re-read Tamora Pierce's Alanna books (very uncharacteristic for me to re-read), and I discovered that I had forgotten the existence of the books' villain. Sure, a bunch of little scenes had stuck with me for decades, but main characters and main portions of the plot? Lost.
Yet somehow, The Wall at the Edge of the World has amazing staying power, even in little details. I don't get why. But I'm grateful that out of all possible books I could accidentally memorize, at least it's a decent science-fiction novel with telepathy.
August 11, 2013
It took me three times to read this book fully (the first time was a loaner with a due date I did not meet, the second, the book was severely damaged; not easy to find, by the way.) I could totally kick myself for not finishing this the first time. Good find!
April 25, 2020
Really creative story about dissension and individuality in a society full of telepaths that forces conformity for the sake of harmony. Concepts such as censorship explored in many dystopian novels are taken to another level in this story. Highly recommend this one!
December 17, 2008
I read this and walk the moon's road in high school. I read this book first and it was by far my favorite dystopia novel. Looking back it is also an interesting "back to nature" story.
December 8, 2013
Read this long ago and remember it being really good.
October 18, 2014
Not like anything I've read. That's saying quite a bit since I read so much. Telepathy, group thought control, wild women and more. Worth the time.
April 8, 2015
Was basically an OK book. Really was expecting more with all the accolades on the cover...bestest sf book of the year, etc. Will try him again at a later date.
June 22, 2015
I'd forgotten this book until seeing it in one of the commentaries. I enjoyed this story of psi powers but it's been a couple decades since I read it.
February 1, 2017
It was very good, I think I just resonated with this book more than I thought I would. If you start it, give it until chapter 3 to really get into it.
March 20, 2020
Surprisingly great. Best 3.3 cents I ever spent.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews