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Gradisil

3.49 of 5 stars 3.49 · rating details · 138 ratings · 19 reviews

Gradisil is an epic space opera of family revenge and the birth of a nation.

Not very long from now, if you are wealthy, space can be yours, space to grow. New technology has seeded a rebirth of the pioneer spirit. A new breed of adventurer has slipped the bonds of gravity and begun a fresh life in orbit, free from interference by government, free from the petty concerns o...more

Paperback, 458 pages

Published November 2006 by Gollancz/Orion (first published 2006)

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Jul 29, 2008 Jason Pettus rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

(My full review of this book is much longer than Goodreads' word-count limit; find the entire essay at the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com].)

Well well, so what do you know; we're finally at the end of a special series of reviews I've been doing here at CCLaP this month, taking a look at eight out of the twelve science-fiction novels nominated this year for either the Hugo or Philip K Dick award, basically two out of the four most prestigious awards in the entire SF...more (My full review of this book is much longer than Goodreads' word-count limit; find the entire essay at the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com].)

Well well, so what do you know; we're finally at the end of a special series of reviews I've been doing here at CCLaP this month, taking a look at eight out of the twelve science-fiction novels nominated this year for either the Hugo or Philip K Dick award, basically two out of the four most prestigious awards in the entire SF community (the others arguably being the Nebula and the Clarke, although I'm sure many would disagree with my assessment -- fanboys, start your hate mail!). And as I've explained here before, this has been an especially interesting exercise for me, in that I was raised on the genre by a dad and uncle who were Silver-Age fanboys themselves, hence me growing up in an environment containing hundreds upon hundreds of SF novels from the '40s, '50s and '60s; in fact, it's almost exclusively what I read until reaching college, at which point I realized that if one simply read contemporary human-interest authors and cutting-edge poets instead, one could get laid a whole lot more than I currently was (which was "never"). And thus it was that the "cyberpunk" movement in the '80s was the last period of SF I followed in any deep way; until this month and the intense re-immersion into the genre that I've done, I had pretty much lost touch with all the latest developments and hottest authors, other than occasionally picking up the latest by the aging William Gibson or Neal Stephenson.

Re-approaching the genre this year, then, now with the kind of sophistication as a reader that I simply could've never achieved as a teen, has made me realize in a much more detailed way than ever what exactly about SF I like, and especially what things within the genre I like the most; for example, in the ensuing years since high school, I've come to realize what a slobbering fan I am of alternative histories and fake histories of future events, and can now see that the majority of the projects I liked the most back in the '80s (Asimov's Foundation, Herbert's Dune, etc) contain these exact types of elaborate fake histories that I'm talking about. So it should be no surprise, then, that here at the very end of my little month-long look at contemporary SF, I should gravitate to Adam Roberts' Gradisil in a deep and profound way that I didn't with any of the other seven nominees; because Gradisil is not just one but two fake histories, related to each other and spanning basically the next hundred years or so of human history, touching on all kinds of important hot-button issues from our own exact times of 2008, written as a supposed oral history by the people surrounding the Ghandi-like figure in the middle of it all (the "Gradisil" of the book's title), looking back on events with outcomes they already know. I can't say in all honesty that it's for every SF fan -- many will find it tedious and politically wonky -- and I can't say that it even deserves to win the PKD Award for which it had been nominated earlier this year; but I can definitively call it my personal favorite of all eight of the nominees I read this month, the kind of book that will make certain people go absolutely gaga with complex narrative excitement.

Like I said, the book is actually two related yet distinct fake histories of the future -- part one covers the funky, libertarian beginnings of humanity's first-ever space colony, while part two details the efforts of this group to fight a revolutionary war against the US and gain independence for itself, the events covered basically lasting around a hundred years altogether, making this essentially a fake history of the entire 21st century. And in fact, Roberts starts the tale with an imminently believable idea, just the tiniest extrapolation from events that are actually happening in our society in this day and age; he starts by imagining a time just thirty or forty years from now, where there are basically now several hundred eccentric people who own their own private spacecraft, most of them bored trillionaire entrepreneurs who believe heavily in libertarian and/or Objectivist ideals. See, it turns out that someone figures out a way to get ships into space at an insanely cheaper cost than the rocket-obsessed NASA ever could; they basically invent a way for a regular plane to "glide" on the massive magnetic waves found in the Earth's magnetosphere, making it essentially free to travel and hover once actually within its borders. And since the magnetosphere actually touches the planet at the north and south poles, getting higher and higher as it reaches the equator, these entrepreneurs figure out that the costs of actually getting that plane into the magnetosphere "stream" is especially cheap when done from the far north, places like Iceland and Norway where the stream hovers just a few hundred feet above the ground itself.

And thus does this chaotic little community start amassing within this magnetosphere, which the "locals" start coming to call the "Uplands;" such people end up owning terrestrial homes in northern Europe for legal purposes and floating homes within the lawless Uplands that they spend more and more time at, coming back to Earth less and less and starting to think of the Uplands as their real home, moving back and forth freely through the use of their tricked-out Cessnas and Learjets and whatnot. And in the meanwhile, see, according to Roberts, by the 2050s or so things between the US and the EU have gotten downright hostile; in Gradisil's fake history, see, the US never does get over its neocon obsession with censorship and torture and perpetual warfare, turning them into a violent "evil empire" in the eyes of most Europeans, igniting a "Second Cold War" that occasionally flares into moments of very real violence. And thus it is that these Uplands "citizens" slowly start becoming more and more of a pawn in this cold war, because of most of these citizens being terrestrially based in northern Europe; the US wants to "take over" the Uplands, the EU doesn't want them too, while the Uplanders themselves mostly want to be left alone, the whole reason they packed up and moved into space in the first place.

I don't think I'm giving too much away by stating that the Uplanders eventually gain their independence, and that a remarkable (almost worshipped) figure named Gradisil turns out to be the catalyst for it all; there are plenty of hints and clues inserted throughout the manuscript to this effect, even from the beginning, making it not very much of a secret in my opinion. And in fact that's one of the many things that makes the novel Gradisil so fascinating, because the character Gradisil isn't even born until a third of the way through; instead, the first third of the novel is simply about the anarchic settling of the Uplands to begin with, as seen through the eyes of Gradisil's eventual mother when she was a young and sexually adventurous "space slacker" herself. And of course this is another remarkable thing about the book, that it's not just a look at these big events and fake history, but ultimately a small story about complex human beings as well, with Gradisil's mom Klara being a perfect example; the daughter of a Romanian hobbyist scientist who helped invent some of this maglev technology, she was one of the first people to live in the Uplands almost full-time without being filthy rich, an optimistic idealist and pessimistic realist at the same time, someone more than happy to exchange her "love" for access to technology she couldn't nearly afford, and especially after the bizarre death of her father and the stealing of her floating home by the Uplands' very first serial killer.

That in a nutshell is what makes Gradisil such a rewarding book -- it examines simultaneously not only this massive fake history of space settlement, not only the precepts behind anarchy and libertarianism and other radical political movements, not only the bizarre culture behind all these real activist billionaires of our actual Web 2.0 times, but also the deeply sociopathic and calculating personality behind this one particular character, the woman who is to eventually give birth to the "Mother of a Nation." And Roberts manages to do with as well with a great mix of humor and drama, knowing winks to real events that he never needs to explicitly state, not to mention a solid and unshowy personal style that makes this 550-page book a breeze to actually get through. (And let's not forget, mind you, everything plot-wise I've been talking about only covers the first third of the book; I haven't even touched on the real meat of this story, of the way this Gradisil woman ends up whipping all these spoiled trillionaires into a nationalistic and revolutionary frenzy, a story so complex that I'm intimidated by the idea of even trying to get into it here.) And in fact that's what makes reviewing this book so frustrating, is that it's actually the combination of a thousand little details that make it such a great read, not just two or three or four big things I can easily mention. I loved this book because of its examination of zero-g pregnancy; I loved it for its concept of "matriotism," which is...(less)

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Dec 21, 2011 Shara rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

For all my ramblings, nit-picks, complaints, and curiosities, I really did enjoy this book. It’s not often you get something entertaining that makes you think as well. And I’m looking forward to reading more of Roberts’ work. And I mentioned the “moral” earlier, and for me, I took this away from the book: no matter how optimistic or grand the technology, humans will always find a way to fuck things up.[return][return]That may be pessimistic of me, and I may very well be projecting, but as a read...more

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May 13, 2009 Tim rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: sf

Although certainly the exception and not the rule, science fiction is sometimes viewed as little more than the American western set in space. It tends to stem from placing characters with an independent streak as pioneers or settlers in new frontiers. If you imagine this trope placed in the hands of a British professor of 19th century literature, you have a taste of Gradisil .[return][return]To be fair, Adam Roberts invokes and utilizes elements of Oresteia -- a trilogy of Greek tragedies -- as...more

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Sep 26, 2010 Alex rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Gradisil's a hard sci-fi space opera of a strongly libertarian bent - it's a page-turner but flawed in so many ways. At heart, the author can't work out whether he's writing straight sci-fi or satire - when he attempts the latter he's clunky, and unfortunately a couple of the major plot elements (especially his description of a future legal system) hang on this. Adam Roberts has created a fascinating concept that draws you in - you want it to work - but the implausibilities keep stepping in to w...more

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Oct 17, 2012 Rinn rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-2012, sci-fi, reviewed

This is yet another hard one to rate. I really love sci-fi, especially high-concept, and the quote on the cover led me to believe this was one of those novels. However, I would describe as more of a low-key sci-fi - it is set not too far into the future, and the technology is not majorly developed. Although people (known as 'Uplanders') are living on the edge of the earth's atmosphere, this is a very rare occurrence; and despite this development in technology, the last manned moon landing was Ap...more This is yet another hard one to rate. I really love sci-fi, especially high-concept, and the quote on the cover led me to believe this was one of those novels. However, I would describe as more of a low-key sci-fi - it is set not too far into the future, and the technology is not majorly developed. Although people (known as 'Uplanders') are living on the edge of the earth's atmosphere, this is a very rare occurrence; and despite this development in technology, the last manned moon landing was Apollo 17 in 1972, as it is today.

The society in the book doesn't seem too changed from our own. There appears to be more of a continental emphasis, e.g. the countries are called England-EU, Finland-EU etc, but apart from casual space travel it doesn't seem too different. There are so many theories about the definition of 'science fiction' compared with fantasy, but the commonly accepted one seems to be that sci-fi is what could happen, whereas fantasy never could. In that case, I would say that 2050 seems far too early for this casual space travel, but it's really hard to query the plausibility of sci-fi!

Roberts has a very fluid writing style, and the first half of the book (narrated by Gradisil's mother Klara) was an account of her life as an 'Uplander', from her childhood to Gradisil's late teens, and was some very effective world building. Yet as soon as the story switched to Gradisil's half, it became much less interesting; it almost feels as though the two halves could quite easily be two different books. Whilst the eponymous character never provides the narration, we see her from two different sides: as a child and a teenager, from her mother; from a young woman to middle aged by her cuckolded husband. This has the effect of keeping Gradisil at a distance from the reader, as she is to all the loved ones in her life.

Yet for all the effective techniques that Roberts has used, there are some downfalls. The beginning of part two of the book, where narration by Slater (who becomes more and more entwined with the story) begins, was just a complete information dump. Too many facts and figures and information about technology was introduced in a matter of pages, and I quite honestly found all but one or two of Slater's chapters really dull. I don't even think his POV chapters were completely necessary.

The changes in spelling as time progressed, whilst showing changes in society, annoyed me. First it was the dropping of 'c', then 'h', then 'ng' became a strange symbol. I really can't stand this in books, hence why I dropped Feersum Endjinn by Iain M. Banks. It worked for Flowers for Algernon (which is a fantastic book, by the way) because it was a very effective way of portraying Charlie's rapidly increasing IQ. Here, however, it really isn't necessary and just bugged me.

Overall, I did enjoy the book but it honestly felt like it could have been two novels, or perhaps a novella - covering Klara's story - and a novel. The two halves were rather disjointed, and I enjoyed Klara's half more, despite Gradisil barely being in it. It was nice to read some low-key sci-fi though, something a bit more easily imagined.

Also posted on my blog, Rinn Reads.(less)

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Jan 27, 2012 Rob Adey rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Excellent adult-Nicholas-Fisk type account of an early history of Earth-orbit colonisation. A plausible and compelling unpacking of a wealth of scientific, political, emotional and satirical ideas. Adam Roberts creates a vivid and poetic sense of place out of Earth orbit - 'the Uplands' - without resorting to the phrase 'like a blue jewel'.

One complaint - as the years in the book pass, Roberts adds some slight 'language evolution' which in the last 100 pages becomes intrusive enough to snag you...more

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Aug 07, 2009 Kristin rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A sprawling novel in parts that follows three different generations of a family that inhabits the developing community in the orbital space zone of the earth and the tragedies, betrayals and politics that surround them. The three parts hang loosely together linked by a few characters but all have a very different feel. This lack of cohesion and as well as a shortage of sympathetic characters makes the whole seem a little less than the parts but it was still a good read.

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Oct 24, 2010 Peter Gillard-moss rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Enjoyable and not too geeky. Some nice ideas presented yet disappointingly lack exploration. Didn't get an amazing depth from the characters or find them terribly believable.

Overall the novel relies too much on convenience to pull the plot, characters and the politics together. There is nothing offensive in the content yet there is nothing challenging either.

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Mar 11, 2012 Bob rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: to-re-read

I picked Gradisil up in a used book store on the edge of the University of Pennsylvania campus recently. This is not the sort of space novel that you will find at your neighborhood book store. I really enjoyed reading it. Reading Gradisil reminds me of the first time I read a William Gibson novel. There are so many interesting ideas and thoughts that it introduces that I keep getting distracted and want to talk to people about them. There is a refreshing perspective and striking originality when...more

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Aug 29, 2010 Mark Harris rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

An interesting thought experiment, leading to a fascinating investigation of culture. Beginning and ending the book with the murder of a father was a nice way of Closing the Circle, as it were, the ending still seemed to get a bit lost.

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Mar 27, 2009 Chris rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: sffantasy

I don't find some of his future spelling conventions terribly plausible (there's a difference in sound and meaning between backing and baking that it's useful to be able to see), but that's my only real complaint.

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Feb 07, 2010 Siobhan rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: sci-fi

Liked but didn't love it. there was something unsatisfiying about this book but can't put my finger on it.

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Apr 18, 2012 Joey rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: re-read-in-2012

There are probably better times to read this than during a series of chilly, uncomfortable plane flights, since that's basically its setting. Since it was one of my best reads last year, I'm looking forward to a reread.

---

2012 reread: Was struck this time by the beautiful language, phrases like "the faceted running bulge and dip of the Appalachians". I've read criticism of Adam Roberts that suggests he's subverting or doing something strange with SF. Read it in a more literary mode this time.

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Feb 28, 2008 Genevra Littlejohn rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Most surprising murder scene I've ever read; null-g is something that isn't often fully explored even in hard SF, so int was interesting to see it used in such an abrupt fashion.

Also, I'm fond of hard women in fiction, provided they can also be kind, and Gradisil is pretty good at both when she needs to be.

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Sep 06, 2011 Jeremy rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: couldn-t-get-through-it

Read the first 180 pages and had to put the book down. It was plodding and dull all around. I did find it funny that the author said he was greatly indebted to Wikipedia for his research. Which probably partially explains why this book wasn't good.

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Jun 14, 2011 Ashish rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This was a soap opera. Decent in terms of the real-life implications of technology, believable and accurate, but ultimately, too much human relationships and family issues over three generations to be really enjoyable.

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Oct 02, 2008 Billy Abbott rated it 4 of 5 stars

The physics sounds plausible enough to me, even if it turns out not to, and the ideas are great and the writing is strong like usual. I'm not as big a fan of his closer to the present books, but this is still a good read.

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Jun 27, 2007 Meril marked it as dnf · review of another edition

the reviews are right: good with characterisation, but what a load of political and scientific crap. besides, I am so sick of space libertarians.

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Aug 23, 2008 bluetyson added it

isbn,original

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Jun 13, 2013 Seth Miller marked it as to-read · review of another edition

May 27, 2013 Stein rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

May 22, 2013 Kathryn Davies rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

May 22, 2013 Rachel marked it as to-read · review of another edition

May 18, 2013 Ashton Yorke marked it as to-read · review of another edition

May 09, 2013 Estée St is currently reading it · review of another edition

May 11, 2013 Steppenwulf rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction-sf-f

Apr 18, 2013 Chas rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: attic

Apr 05, 2013 Eugene marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Apr 03, 2013 Gordon rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction

Mar 30, 2013 Michael Presson rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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About Adam Roberts

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Adam Roberts (born 1965) is an academic, critic and novelist. He also writes parodies under the pseudonyms of A.R.R.R. Roberts, A3R Roberts and Don Brine. He also blogs at The Valve, a group blog devoted to literature and cultural studies.

He has a degree in English from the...more

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“I never liked the news; it pretends to be all different, every day, when in fact it is all the same.” — 2 people liked it

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