Here's some comments by Jeanne Milostan...
So here's my thoughts on *September's* book, Inverted World.
After a false start with this here group thing (I despised July's book so much after reading only the first chapter that I returned it; I never found the August book), I finally actually found Inverted World at the library.
The books was an easy read; nothing fancy or challenging in terms of prose style or structuring, but certainly up to acceptable standards. My copy did not have the handy pointed-star picture on the cover; nevertheless I was able to envision what the protagonist saw through the author's descriptions, and did indeed catch on to what was going on with the planet structure before the author slapped the slower readers with the answer.
I thought Priest did a good job of depicting the social ramifications of keeping important information away from the general populace, although I found the rapidity with which the rebellion took hold to be improbable. More likely, what would have happened is that someone in the guild would have taken some of those most vocal down past and *shown* them what was up.
Just now I have deleted my analysis of why I was dissatisfied with the ending. Originally, I was going to say the the reasonable thing to do would be for the main character to go down past to see if turning off the generator did indeed stop the inversion. Thus his pessimism and sitting on his hind end moping was certainly out of character. But just as I wrote that, it occurred to me that his view of the inverted-sunset, which I originally attributed to the continuity of his old perceptions, could indeed be the result of genetic modification from being raised within the inversion field.
Which shifts us back to the ambiguity which Priest probably meant to portray - did switching the power off save the city and its people, or are they genetically altered so much that they will not survive beyond the next few weeks?
There, now I like the book more than when I started this note :)
Jeanne Milostan
Don't get me wrong - I loved it. But there are quite a few flaws in the physics of the concept. None of these however, detract from the sheer imaginational enjoyment of the world in which the people live. It's a really wonderful place to escape to, and to ponder. Priest does actually quite well with the science that can work, and doesn't resort to making his character too dumb (saying things like "I don't know why" too often). Instead the character has a thirst for understanding that should rival the reader's.
I had some concerns with the shift of view in the first three sections. (First person, then third person internal, then back to first, ...) However, when the perspective shifted to the woman, I realized that it was essential to tell the novel from her point of view, also. The other shifts may have been done to make this one important shift seem less glaring.
Good book overall! Definitely one that will stick with me.
Bryan Young
