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 lnr_blair | Jul 7, 2009 |  I first read this one about fifteen years ago and I was very impressed. There's always the risk when you revisit childhood favourites - you might find them utterly daft. Not this one! While the book is somewhat naive - it's a book for kids, after all - it was still quite charming. After an apocalypse of sorts, group of people locked themselves in Arc One, trying to maintain knowledge through the dark ages. The society has become a rigid class society: lords on top, workers in the middle, slaves on the bottom with soldiers controlling them. Main character Tomi is a son of a lord, part of the ruling elite. When he comes of age, he's given proper access to the information databases. Unfortunately there's a slave rebellion, which ends up with Tomi being tossed out of the Arc. What a strange world he finds outside! It's a lovely, positive story. I'd recommend this to kids that are into science fiction without a doubt - and also to adults, looking for a quick and pleasant read. (Review based on the Finnish translation.) Original review at my review blog (  )1  msaari | Aug 5, 2007 | |
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An interesting far future earth tale of life both inside and outside of a dome built to survive the new dark ages following the running out of fossil fuels. New tech inside the dome is nicely portrayed, as is the more primitive lifestyle outside and the two very different cultures. Interesting tale of how technology can be a tool or how you can become a tool to it if you're not careful. In some ways not even the lords are free, but have even less chance of getting away than the slaves do. Different ways of looking at things can make them seem completely different. And the idea of fighting something quietly from the inside and gradually giving people the hope they need to escape, even though this could look to others like you're actually supporting the status quo.
It's simplistic in places, but I still enjoy it even now, and it was a good way to while away a couple of hours yesterday. (