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Well-Built City Trilogy #2
Memoranda
What terrors lurk in the ruins of the Well-Built City?
Where manufactured order once reigned, now there is peace. In this second volume of the Well-Built City Trilogy, the dominion has fallen, and its vicious ruler, Drachton Below, has been defeated. Cley has renounced the title of physiognomist, striking out on his own to establish the idyllic village of Wenau, where he lives as a healer and the inhabitants’ protector. But when the villagers suddenly start to succumb to a lethal sleeping sickness, Cley is pulled back into the struggle he thought he had left behind.
In order to cure his community of this horrible malady, Cley journeys back to the Well-Built City, braving dangerous ruins teeming with mechanical birds and werewolves. Amid the wreckage, he finds the deposed ruler, Drachton Below, comatose from the same sickness that has overtaken Cley’s village. Below created this disease, and he is the only one with the knowledge to cure it. In order to create an antidote, Cley must venture into Drachton Below’s mind to gather the information he needs from the source before the disease ravages the village—and Below’s mind—forever.
Where manufactured order once reigned, now there is peace. In this second volume of the Well-Built City Trilogy, the dominion has fallen, and its vicious ruler, Drachton Below, has been defeated. Cley has renounced the title of physiognomist, striking out on his own to establish the idyllic village of Wenau, where he lives as a healer and the inhabitants’ protector. But when the villagers suddenly start to succumb to a lethal sleeping sickness, Cley is pulled back into the struggle he thought he had left behind.
In order to cure his community of this horrible malady, Cley journeys back to the Well-Built City, braving dangerous ruins teeming with mechanical birds and werewolves. Amid the wreckage, he finds the deposed ruler, Drachton Below, comatose from the same sickness that has overtaken Cley’s village. Below created this disease, and he is the only one with the knowledge to cure it. In order to create an antidote, Cley must venture into Drachton Below’s mind to gather the information he needs from the source before the disease ravages the village—and Below’s mind—forever.
240 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1999
11 people are currently reading
501 people want to read
About the author
Jeffrey Ford
241 books511 followersJeffrey Ford is an American writer in the Fantastic genre tradition, although his works have spanned genres including Fantasy, Science Fiction and Mystery. His work is characterized by a sweeping imaginative power, humor, literary allusion, and a fascination with tales told within tales. He is a graduate of the State University of New York at Binghamton, where he studied with the novelist John Gardner.
He lives in southern New Jersey and teaches writing and literature at Brookdale Community College in Monmouth County. He has also taught at the summer Clarion Workshop for science fiction and fantasy writers in Michigan. He has contributed stories, essays and interviews to various magazines and e-magazines including MSS, Puerto Del Sol, Northwest Review, Hayden's Ferry Review, Argosy, Event Horizon, Infinity Plus, Black Gate and The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction.
He published his first story, "The Casket", in Gardner's literary magazine MSS in 1981 and his first full-length novel, Vanitas, in 1988.
He lives in southern New Jersey and teaches writing and literature at Brookdale Community College in Monmouth County. He has also taught at the summer Clarion Workshop for science fiction and fantasy writers in Michigan. He has contributed stories, essays and interviews to various magazines and e-magazines including MSS, Puerto Del Sol, Northwest Review, Hayden's Ferry Review, Argosy, Event Horizon, Infinity Plus, Black Gate and The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction.
He published his first story, "The Casket", in Gardner's literary magazine MSS in 1981 and his first full-length novel, Vanitas, in 1988.
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August 21, 2020Ford's "The Physiognomy" (volume 1) won the World Fantasy Award for best novel.
June 20, 2011
ORIGINALLY POSTED AT Fantasy Literature.
"In waking from a dream, we obliterate worlds, and in calling up a memory, we return the dead to life again and again only to bring them face to face with annihilation as our attention shifts to something else."
After the destruction of the Well-Built City (detailed in The Physiognomy), Physiognomist Cley has been living in a village in the wilderness, acting as herbalist and midwife. One day a mechanical bird, obviously built by evil Master Drachton Below, arrives in the village, explodes, and releases a gas that puts many of the villagers to sleep. Cley is the only person who’s equipped to find the antidote, so the villagers supply him with an old dog and an older horse and off he goes (looking a bit like Don Quixote) to the ruins of the Well-Built City.
The City is a real-life construction of Drachton Below’s Memory Palace, which is based on the mnemonic device called the Method of Loci. Everything in the city represents something he wants to remember, but the city has been destroyed, so Master Below has started a new Memory Palace in his mind. Unfortunately, Below is now unconscious because he’s been infected with his own poisonous gas, so Cley must enter Below’s mind and search there if he wants to find the antidote. When he gets in, he finds that he’s not alone in there and that there’s more going on in the Memory Palace than mere storage of Drachton Below’s memories.
In my review of The Physiognomy, I said it was “sometimes brilliant and always bizarre” and the same holds true for Memoranda. It’s got an original and fascinating setting, interesting symbolism, and thought-provoking ideas about memory, time, love, addiction, and evil.
The villain Drachton Below doesn’t quite live up to expectations here, since he’s asleep for most of the novel, but I liked the other characters better this time. Physiognomist Cley, who used to be an arrogant bigot, is now quite pleasant. The best characters, though, are Drachton Below’s adopted demon son who wears spectacles because he thinks it makes him look smart and has eschewed raw meat for salads, and a creature called The Delicate who is similar to J.K. Rowling’s Dementors, except that he’s exceedingly polite while he sucks out your soul. This was very funny, especially as narrated by Christian Rummel whose voices had me laughing frequently.
In general, the plot of Memoranda works better than The Physiognomy’s plot (which kind of fell apart at the end). Don’t look too close, though. I sincerely doubt that it all made sense, but a tight plot is hardly the point of these books. It’s supposed to be bizarre, a little bit silly and, perhaps more than anything, ironic.
If you do audiobooks, you definitely want to read Memoranda that way. Audible Frontiers’ production is flawless and Rummel’s narration is brilliant and adds quite a bit of humor.
"In waking from a dream, we obliterate worlds, and in calling up a memory, we return the dead to life again and again only to bring them face to face with annihilation as our attention shifts to something else."
After the destruction of the Well-Built City (detailed in The Physiognomy), Physiognomist Cley has been living in a village in the wilderness, acting as herbalist and midwife. One day a mechanical bird, obviously built by evil Master Drachton Below, arrives in the village, explodes, and releases a gas that puts many of the villagers to sleep. Cley is the only person who’s equipped to find the antidote, so the villagers supply him with an old dog and an older horse and off he goes (looking a bit like Don Quixote) to the ruins of the Well-Built City.
The City is a real-life construction of Drachton Below’s Memory Palace, which is based on the mnemonic device called the Method of Loci. Everything in the city represents something he wants to remember, but the city has been destroyed, so Master Below has started a new Memory Palace in his mind. Unfortunately, Below is now unconscious because he’s been infected with his own poisonous gas, so Cley must enter Below’s mind and search there if he wants to find the antidote. When he gets in, he finds that he’s not alone in there and that there’s more going on in the Memory Palace than mere storage of Drachton Below’s memories.
In my review of The Physiognomy, I said it was “sometimes brilliant and always bizarre” and the same holds true for Memoranda. It’s got an original and fascinating setting, interesting symbolism, and thought-provoking ideas about memory, time, love, addiction, and evil.
The villain Drachton Below doesn’t quite live up to expectations here, since he’s asleep for most of the novel, but I liked the other characters better this time. Physiognomist Cley, who used to be an arrogant bigot, is now quite pleasant. The best characters, though, are Drachton Below’s adopted demon son who wears spectacles because he thinks it makes him look smart and has eschewed raw meat for salads, and a creature called The Delicate who is similar to J.K. Rowling’s Dementors, except that he’s exceedingly polite while he sucks out your soul. This was very funny, especially as narrated by Christian Rummel whose voices had me laughing frequently.
In general, the plot of Memoranda works better than The Physiognomy’s plot (which kind of fell apart at the end). Don’t look too close, though. I sincerely doubt that it all made sense, but a tight plot is hardly the point of these books. It’s supposed to be bizarre, a little bit silly and, perhaps more than anything, ironic.
If you do audiobooks, you definitely want to read Memoranda that way. Audible Frontiers’ production is flawless and Rummel’s narration is brilliant and adds quite a bit of humor.
May 17, 2010
She shrugged. "How does the island fly? What ocean is this beneath us made of liquid mercury? What are we all doing here? These questions have become rather useless. We do our work and live in hope that someday we will be returned to the lives we have traded away for this commission."
Or maybe, more humorously:
"So many memories," I whispered, half-asleep, and as I began to drift off, I pictured myself inside a memory having a memory of a place created to store memories, lying next to a memory woman who stored within her the memory of the formula for a drug invented to ease the pain of memories. The mental exercise wearied me even more than the walking had.
Another excellent surrealist/oneiric meditation centered on the rather pathetic character of Cley and his adventures in the densely symbolic world (maybe I should say allegory?) of the Well-Built City.
Or maybe, more humorously:
"So many memories," I whispered, half-asleep, and as I began to drift off, I pictured myself inside a memory having a memory of a place created to store memories, lying next to a memory woman who stored within her the memory of the formula for a drug invented to ease the pain of memories. The mental exercise wearied me even more than the walking had.
Another excellent surrealist/oneiric meditation centered on the rather pathetic character of Cley and his adventures in the densely symbolic world (maybe I should say allegory?) of the Well-Built City.
November 5, 2018
Gran continuación a "La fisiognomia", en este segundo tomo el fisiognomista Cley deberá de volver a la acción después de haber huido de la ciudad bien construida ya que el malvado tecnomago Drachton Below "El Amo" sigue amenazando la vida de los reinos del relato.
En esta segunda novela hay un giro brillante, ya que el amo se encuentra inconsciente y su hijo, un diablo le pedirá a Cley que entre en su cabeza y salve al villano y de paso la vida del mundo que les rodea. Cley se internará en la bizarra mente del mago donde conocerá nuevos personajes y se enamorará mientras lucha por redimirse de todo el mal que hizo en la primera novela.
El argumento está muy bien construido y incluso me ha gustado más que el anterior tomo de la trilogía. Fantasía poco típica que explora nuevos mundos y lo hace de forma original.
En esta segunda novela hay un giro brillante, ya que el amo se encuentra inconsciente y su hijo, un diablo le pedirá a Cley que entre en su cabeza y salve al villano y de paso la vida del mundo que les rodea. Cley se internará en la bizarra mente del mago donde conocerá nuevos personajes y se enamorará mientras lucha por redimirse de todo el mal que hizo en la primera novela.
El argumento está muy bien construido y incluso me ha gustado más que el anterior tomo de la trilogía. Fantasía poco típica que explora nuevos mundos y lo hace de forma original.
March 5, 2019
Superior to the first book of the trilogy. Surreal, symbolic and entertaining. Ford's prose is simple yet effective and above all beautiful. It really flows! There is not one word out of place here. It's a solid, solid book. A work of art really that can be entertaining and that's really important. Weird fantastic literature at its best. Highly recommended to everyone who like good literature and doesn't care about genres.
December 29, 2019
Book two of three in the trilogy completed...and I like it slightly more than book one! The characters and such were as well fleshed out as in the first for the most part, but the biggest difference is this one's narrative felt less rushed...the ending didn't storm through the gates and out the opposite end, as it were. The whole concept was pretty interesting too, traveling through a mnemonic world on the quest to accomplish the goals in mind. Maybe not quite as many bizarre descriptions of creatures and places and such, but still enough. On to book three!
December 22, 2014
Mucho más intimista que "La Fisiognomía", este libro aumenta el surrealismo del mundo descrito por Jeffrey Ford en la primera parte. A diferencia de esta última, la peripecia del antiguo Fisiognomista de Primera Cley está mucho mejor conectada y deja de transmitir esa sensación de episodios aislados.
La fuerza alegórica se hace algo más sutil, y la lectura se vuelve más emocional y poderosa aunque abandone los ribetes naturalistas de los que hacía gala en la primera novela.
Para mi desconcierto, "Memoranda" me ha parecido superior por su sutileza, sabor y una amarga ironía mucho mejor llevada. Muy recomendable.
La fuerza alegórica se hace algo más sutil, y la lectura se vuelve más emocional y poderosa aunque abandone los ribetes naturalistas de los que hacía gala en la primera novela.
Para mi desconcierto, "Memoranda" me ha parecido superior por su sutileza, sabor y una amarga ironía mucho mejor llevada. Muy recomendable.
January 14, 2009
Book Two in the Well-Built City trilogy, wherein Cley, the "hero" of The Physiognomy, struggles to find meaning and redemption in a new life as a healer. This struggle ultimately launches him back into the Well-Built City and into the surreal memory palace of a madman, led on by a tamed demon, to find the cure for a terrible plague.
A vivid and bizarrely imagined book, but full of feeling and the struggle to define the nature of love, humanity, sacrifice and redemption.
A vivid and bizarrely imagined book, but full of feeling and the struggle to define the nature of love, humanity, sacrifice and redemption.
November 16, 2015
Genius, amazing, highly recommend :)
July 4, 2013
I liked Cley better when he was a jerk.
June 15, 2020
Part II of the Well Built City trilogy is almost a complete 360 degree turn on The Physiognomy. Where part I was about the pseudo science of physiognomy, part II has a definite Inception feel, being about the now ex Physiognomist Cley’s journey into the sleeping mind of villain Drachton Below, after Below infects most of the new town Clay has established, wenau, with a sleeping sickness that has the unfortunate, for Below, side effect of putting Below under as well.
Below has tamed and educated a Demon from the beyond and turned him into a kind of Son to him named Misrix. Misrix is able to transfer Cleys mind into Belows via the mind of Misrix, where Clay can explore Belows mnemonic memory palace, a place populated by items and people who represent something in the real world Below needs to remember. One of these people or items represents the cure for the sleeping sickness, and Cley’s mission is to figure out which represents the cure, find what said cure is and then signal for Misrix to come and retrieve him so they may wake Below and the sleepers in Wenau.
Like it’s movie counterpart, inception, Memoranda is at times a complicated follow, but if you can stick with it and hold the narrative strands together, it’s a very rewarding read. Not your typical fantasy novel, I would consider this a literary fantasy novel as apart from the usual fantasy narrative and visuals there are also some deep themes running through of memory and love and also serves as an allegory.
4.5* a great story again from Jeffery Ford that paves the way for part III nicely. Looking forward to The Beyond.
Below has tamed and educated a Demon from the beyond and turned him into a kind of Son to him named Misrix. Misrix is able to transfer Cleys mind into Belows via the mind of Misrix, where Clay can explore Belows mnemonic memory palace, a place populated by items and people who represent something in the real world Below needs to remember. One of these people or items represents the cure for the sleeping sickness, and Cley’s mission is to figure out which represents the cure, find what said cure is and then signal for Misrix to come and retrieve him so they may wake Below and the sleepers in Wenau.
Like it’s movie counterpart, inception, Memoranda is at times a complicated follow, but if you can stick with it and hold the narrative strands together, it’s a very rewarding read. Not your typical fantasy novel, I would consider this a literary fantasy novel as apart from the usual fantasy narrative and visuals there are also some deep themes running through of memory and love and also serves as an allegory.
4.5* a great story again from Jeffery Ford that paves the way for part III nicely. Looking forward to The Beyond.
May 8, 2024
This book was interesting, but not as interesting as it should have been. "The Physiognomy" blew me away with its unusual worldbuilding and creativity. Here, as our hero Cley (now far less dislikeable than in the first book) must enter the "mind palace" of the evil Drachton Below to locate the antidote for a sleeping plague that Below has unleashed (and fallen victim to). This setup seems like it might lead to even MORE weirdness, but the book is oddly subdued, instead focusing on an infatuation between Cley and a woman in Below's mind, leading to a somewhat frustrating main narrative.
As things go to hell in the final third of the book, it gets more interesting again, but never reaches the heights of the first book.
The strongest aspect of the book is the character of Misrix, a "civilized" demon whom Below has sort of adopted - he's a fascinating character who I wanted more of. Without spoiling anything, it looks like the third book may give Misrix more screentime, which I'm looking forward to.
As things go to hell in the final third of the book, it gets more interesting again, but never reaches the heights of the first book.
The strongest aspect of the book is the character of Misrix, a "civilized" demon whom Below has sort of adopted - he's a fascinating character who I wanted more of. Without spoiling anything, it looks like the third book may give Misrix more screentime, which I'm looking forward to.
March 2, 2024
The first one, 'The Physiognomy', is a fun, sillier Gene Wolfe; this really reads like he had to get through whatever was in his pitch doc for the trilogy and found himself uninspired. It's just conceptually got a lot less going on, does very little to follow through on the idea of being, this is the big notion, trapped inside someone else's mind palace. The first one is full of interesting doublings of all its symbols, its characters are only seen from one angle but generally only show up for a couple dozen pages at a time; here a cast of one-schtick characters hangs around for 150 pages and the narrator keeps insisting they're symbols. The no-good-deed-goes-unpunished ending briefly piqued my interest.
May 15, 2024
Turpinājums, kas, manuprāt, varēja arī nebūt.
Autors it kā cenšas līst dziļākās prāta dzīlēs, to visu atainojot ar visvisādu simbolismu, taču beigu beigās sanāk daudzumdaudz varoņu mīņāšanās un spriedelēšanas, pamaz sižeta un vietām pat sajūta, ka autors vienkārši "aizpilda vietu", lai sanāktu kaut cik pieklājīgs lapaspušu skaits.
Autors it kā cenšas līst dziļākās prāta dzīlēs, to visu atainojot ar visvisādu simbolismu, taču beigu beigās sanāk daudzumdaudz varoņu mīņāšanās un spriedelēšanas, pamaz sižeta un vietām pat sajūta, ka autors vienkārši "aizpilda vietu", lai sanāktu kaut cik pieklājīgs lapaspušu skaits.
April 23, 2023
Ah, hell. This trilogy is as much work for me as Tolkein apparently is for a lot of people. I don't hate it. It's full of ideas about memory and life and meaning. It even has characters and events. I'm not particularly sure it has a story. I just wish I actually WANTED to read more of it ...
June 19, 2018
hard to understand what the symbol is exactly behind the green veil, but still an amazing story nonetheless. can't wait to read what happens next in "The Beyond".
July 27, 2019
This book was even more absorbing that THE PHYSIOGNOMY, especially the extended metaphor (which Ford literalizes, as befitting an allegory) of the memory palace.
December 20, 2011
После падения Отличного Города прошло уже восемь лет. Про безумного демиурга Драхтона Белоу давно забыли и это было роковой ошибкой, месть изгнанника не заставила себя ждать. Однажды стальная птица с голосом бывшего владыки, прилетела в город и принесла с собой порошок, погрузивший половину жителей поселка Немо в беспробудный сон. Бывший физиономист Клей, уже много лет зарабатывающий на жизнь продажей целебных трав, оказался вынужден вновь пойти в Беспределье, чтобы найти Драхтона и выпытать у него рецепт противоядия. Встреча с созданным демиургом демоном Мисриксом подтвердила его опасения о том, что это задание вряд ли станет таким уж простым.
Оказалось, что Драхтон сам пал жертвой собственного адского зелья, поэтому единственный способ добыть рецепт противоядия – это проникнуть внутрь создания спящего демиурга и найти ответ в недрах его памяти. Понятно, что никто кроме Клея не в состоянии стать гостем на острове Меморанда…
Второй роман “отличной” трилогии с первых страниц теряет почти всю свою прежнюю магию и обаяние. Не исключено, что в этом виноват только переводчик, хотя все же надо признать, что винить несчастного работягу во всех смертных грехах слишком эгоистично. Первая утрата трилогии – это рассказчик. Клей перестал быть бездушным циником и сразу же лишился из-за этого львиной доли читательского внимания. Вторая утрата – это потеря последних остатков реальности. Если в первой книге мы всего лишь допускали иллюзорность окружающего мира, то теперь мы точно знаем что находимся в голове Драхтона Белоу. И это не радует, благо слишком уж банально и просто. Третья утрата – утрата таинственности вокруг прошлого Драхтона Белоу. Рассказывать о детских комплексах полубожественных персонажей, согласитесь, довольно пошло. Даже если они – полные психопаты. (2006.06.08)
Оказалось, что Драхтон сам пал жертвой собственного адского зелья, поэтому единственный способ добыть рецепт противоядия – это проникнуть внутрь создания спящего демиурга и найти ответ в недрах его памяти. Понятно, что никто кроме Клея не в состоянии стать гостем на острове Меморанда…
Второй роман “отличной” трилогии с первых страниц теряет почти всю свою прежнюю магию и обаяние. Не исключено, что в этом виноват только переводчик, хотя все же надо признать, что винить несчастного работягу во всех смертных грехах слишком эгоистично. Первая утрата трилогии – это рассказчик. Клей перестал быть бездушным циником и сразу же лишился из-за этого львиной доли читательского внимания. Вторая утрата – это потеря последних остатков реальности. Если в первой книге мы всего лишь допускали иллюзорность окружающего мира, то теперь мы точно знаем что находимся в голове Драхтона Белоу. И это не радует, благо слишком уж банально и просто. Третья утрата – утрата таинственности вокруг прошлого Драхтона Белоу. Рассказывать о детских комплексах полубожественных персонажей, согласитесь, довольно пошло. Даже если они – полные психопаты. (2006.06.08)
November 28, 2022
Memoranda on jatko-osa World Fantasy Award -palkitulle The Physiognomylle, jonka luin nelisen vuotta sitten. Memorandakin on lojunut hyllyssäni suunnilleen siitä asti, mutta parempi myöhään kuin ei milloinkaan…
Edellisen osan päähenkilö Cley, entinen fysiognomisti, viettää nyt rauhallista elämää Wenaun kylässä, työskennellen yrttiparantajana ja kätilönä. Elämä on hyvää, mutta julma autokraatti Drachton Below ei jätä Cleytä rauhaan. Eräänä kauniina päivänä kylään lentää metallisia lintuja, jotka levittävät unitautia kylään. Cleyn ei auta kuin lähteä etsimään vastalääkettä Below’n Hyvinrakennetun kaupungin raunioista.
Raunioissa Cleytä odottaa yllätys: Below itsekin on unitautinsa kourissa. Häneltä ei vastalääkettä heru, ainakaan suoraan. Onneksi Cley saa yllättävää apua ja tarjolla on erikoinen ratkaisu: Cleyn on matkustettava Below’n mieleen, tämän muistipalatsiin, josta voi löytyä muisto vastalääkkeestä. Tehtävä on juuri niin vaarallinen ja hullu kuin miltä se kuulostaakin, mutta Cleyllä ei ole vaihtoehtoja.
Edeltäjänsä tavoin Memoranda on sivumäärältään miellyttävän tiivis seikkailu. Se luotaa ihmismieltä ja rakkauden merkitystä. Mielenkiintoinen kirja. (19.1.2014)
Edellisen osan päähenkilö Cley, entinen fysiognomisti, viettää nyt rauhallista elämää Wenaun kylässä, työskennellen yrttiparantajana ja kätilönä. Elämä on hyvää, mutta julma autokraatti Drachton Below ei jätä Cleytä rauhaan. Eräänä kauniina päivänä kylään lentää metallisia lintuja, jotka levittävät unitautia kylään. Cleyn ei auta kuin lähteä etsimään vastalääkettä Below’n Hyvinrakennetun kaupungin raunioista.
Raunioissa Cleytä odottaa yllätys: Below itsekin on unitautinsa kourissa. Häneltä ei vastalääkettä heru, ainakaan suoraan. Onneksi Cley saa yllättävää apua ja tarjolla on erikoinen ratkaisu: Cleyn on matkustettava Below’n mieleen, tämän muistipalatsiin, josta voi löytyä muisto vastalääkkeestä. Tehtävä on juuri niin vaarallinen ja hullu kuin miltä se kuulostaakin, mutta Cleyllä ei ole vaihtoehtoja.
Edeltäjänsä tavoin Memoranda on sivumäärältään miellyttävän tiivis seikkailu. Se luotaa ihmismieltä ja rakkauden merkitystä. Mielenkiintoinen kirja. (19.1.2014)
August 5, 2016
n waking from a dream, we obliterate worlds, and in calling up a memory, we return the dead to life again and again only to bring them face to face with annihilation as our attention shifts to something else.
After the destruction of the Well-Built City (detailed in The Physiognomy), Physiognomist Cley has been living in a village in the wilderness, acting as herbalist and midwife. One day a mechanical bird, obviously built by evil Master Drachton Below, arrives in the village, explodes, and releases a gas that puts many of the villagers to sleep. Cley is the only person who’s equipped to find the antidote, so the villagers supply him with an old dog and an older horse and off he goes (looking a bit like Don Quixote) to the ruins of the Well-Built City.
The City is a real-life construction of Drachton Below’s Memory Palace, which is based on the mnemonic device called the... Read More: http://www.fantasyliterature.com/revi...
After the destruction of the Well-Built City (detailed in The Physiognomy), Physiognomist Cley has been living in a village in the wilderness, acting as herbalist and midwife. One day a mechanical bird, obviously built by evil Master Drachton Below, arrives in the village, explodes, and releases a gas that puts many of the villagers to sleep. Cley is the only person who’s equipped to find the antidote, so the villagers supply him with an old dog and an older horse and off he goes (looking a bit like Don Quixote) to the ruins of the Well-Built City.
The City is a real-life construction of Drachton Below’s Memory Palace, which is based on the mnemonic device called the... Read More: http://www.fantasyliterature.com/revi...
July 24, 2024
Den surrealistiska fantasyn som visade sig i periferin i den första delen blommar här ut fullständigt. Det mesta av boken utspelar sig i huvudet på Cleys förre detta chef, som ligger utslagen i en sömnsjuka han själv skapat. Liksom den första delen var det en snabb läsning; Fords språk flyter bra och ideérna han kommer med blir aldrig ointressanta. Kärlekshistorien mellan Cley och en av drömfigurerna var lite väl hastig men fungerade ändå hyfsat, speciellt när man fick vetga mer om figurernas funktion i världen.
Intressant och egensinning fantasy som borde vara mer känd än vad den är.
Intressant och egensinning fantasy som borde vara mer känd än vad den är.
March 18, 2008
This is the sequel to "The Physiognomy" and a much better book, in my opinion. They both fit in the surreal fantasy genre with a lot of similarities to Naked Lunch and are described as "Kafka-like." They are both gripping good reads, though, with characters that draw you in and keep you interested, even when the narrative gets a little too strange. It certainly is not anywhere as grotesque as Naked Lunch and a lot less sexual. The ending is rewarding and worth sticking around for.
January 15, 2016
Physiognomist Cley finds his life upturned by a sleeping plague unleashed on his village by the return of Drachton Below, master of the now-ruined Well-Built City. The villagers turn to him for a cure, so he embarks on a journey that takes him back to the Well-Built City to, quite literally, face his demons, and where he must travel into the mind of his once master, Below, and decipher the semantic memory world therein. Love, addiction, loss, guilt and the power of memory, wrapped in Ford's enjoyable writing style and clever imagination.
June 16, 2012
I didn't think it would be possible, but I loved this book even more than its predecessor, The Physiognomy. Ford's exploration of the dream/memory world of Drachton Below, and of Cley's romance with Anotine inside that ephemeral space, is a literary triumph. Second books in trilogies are notoriously considered the weakest volumes, but the converse is definitively true here. Highly highly recommended.
January 1, 2013
The voice of Christian Rummel, narrator of the audio book, fascinates me. It's ridiculously dramatic yet it works perfectly for this intriguing world. Very creative story, very strange, just bought the final part of this trilogy too. I still don't like physionomist Clay but next to his (former) Master he's a saint.
August 22, 2009
Wow- I always seem to forget what a great writer Ford is. His symbolic language says so many different things at once. I feel like I can only read a few pages at a time and then have to sit back and let them sink in. This was even better than The Physiognomist- the first book in the trilogy.
December 29, 2014
If you've finally recovered from the psychological trauma of reading The Physiognomy, this is the book for you. It's a tribute to the absolute brilliance of both books that one would be willing to suffer the same pain again so soon.
November 9, 2012
A great middle book in a journey so fantastical, I keep waiting for a cameo by the Great and Powerful Oz.
June 14, 2011
If you enjoyed Physiognomy, you are likely to enjoy this, pretty much. The pacing was a little slow for my tastes, but the sense of wonder was strong.
August 19, 2012
It's not quite as good as The Physiognomy, but still a pretty great installment in the Well-Built City trilogy.
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