Joseph O'Neill (2) (1886–1953)

A well rounded story, and interesting. The race reminded me of a combination of Vulcans and The Borg, and indeed the story wouldn't have been out of place as a Star Trek episode. However, I felt the book would have worked better as a short story, as some of the passages I found were quite long winded; perhaps more a reflection of the writing style in the 1930s when it was first published. A father returns to his home beside Hadrian's Wall, shell shocked from fighting in World War One. His show more wife and son patiently observe the changes in him before he disappears. The son goes on a quest into an vast underworld to find him, and discovers a society of Romans living peacefully and productively, but without emotions nor ideas. He encounters strange wildlife and plants (some phosphorescent), forests, seas, traders, and civilisation. He learns the ways of the people who communicate telepathically and use mind control to suppress violence amongst other things. show less

Well that was really something. I was expecting 'Journey to the Center of the Earth' but instead got a dystopian story in the vain of the 'Time Machine' (but much better).

A really nice original dystopia and deep psychological examination of how it came to be. This is when the book is at its best. The more our protagonist begins to understand this lost civilization the more interesting it becomes. For a brief period its a truly great novel before dropping slightly back to just really, really show more good :) .

Unfortunately the author isn't great at descriptive writing, combined with the bizarreness of the location this meant i had a hard time picturing the story at times. Luckily this is mostly only an issue at the start and end of the book as the dystopian elements don't really require the same sort of visuals. In fact much of the story relies on the lack of any visuals in this underground world.

As i said one of the times i would have liked a more descriptive style is at the end and this is also when the novel takes a hard left turn. The ideas it raises are much different from the dystopian elements used before and it almost feels like you've wandered into a different story, although not a bad story, its just a bit jarring. I also felt the ending used a bit too much writing as the author tried for a really dramatic climax.

In any case is you like things like [b:The Time Machine|2493|The Time Machine|H.G. Wells|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327942880l/2493._SY75_.jpg|3234863], [b:A Crystal Age|7890980|A Crystal Age|W.H. Hudson|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1354525853l/7890980._SX50_.jpg|2617370], [b:Herland|531509|Herland|Charlotte Perkins Gilman|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1403189138l/531509._SY75_.jpg|83484], [b:Erewhon|516570|Erewhon (Erewhon , #1)|Samuel Butler|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1175460304l/516570._SY75_.jpg|924128] or similar fare, this is an excellent read, it also has a certain Kafka-esque quality at times.

A deeply interesting dystopia in the trappings of a Hollow-Earth adventure novel.

Available from the Merril Collection. show less

Read 01/99
Very interesting work. Excellent evocation of alien topography and society. A little intense in description of thefeelings and impressions of the progragonist, but perhaps that was intentional in order to produce contrast with the soul-less inhabitants...?
When this was written, in 1935, Nazism was not yet fully exposed, nor was communism. It is remarkable that the author set up the dichotomy so clearly between communal society and individual effort and reward.
It's been 10 years show more since I read this. My general memory of this is that it was creative, interesting and worhthwhile show less

Contemporary with the rise of the European dictators, it explores mind control in a Roman state which has survived underground in England. O'Neill (1886 - 1953) is described as "Irish philologist & educator"; AE (George Russell), 1867 - 1935, wrote the Introduction.