In the 21st century, fluctuations in solar radiation have caused the ice-caps to melt and the seas to rise. Global temperatures have climbed, and c...
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Apr 04, 2011
Ben
rated it: 
What images do the words "science fiction" conjure in your mind? Do you think of spaceships, lasers, phasers, light-sabres? Rockets, robots, and radon gas? Green chicks and blue boxes? Science fiction is a genre built upon difference. Science fiction stories are essentially thought experiments in which the author asks what would happen if the world were different in one or many ways.
We often (rightly) associate science fiction with fantastic technologies, but that kind of More...
We often (rightly) associate science fiction with fantastic technologies, but that kind of More...
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Dec 16, 2009
Ben
rated it: 
Dull plotting.
Duller psychology.
Shallow characters.
Improbable coincidences galore.
Pretty racist.
And yet almost entirely saved by some great descriptive work in painting the submerged world.
Worth reading, barely.
Duller psychology.
Shallow characters.
Improbable coincidences galore.
Pretty racist.
And yet almost entirely saved by some great descriptive work in painting the submerged world.
Worth reading, barely.
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Dec 23, 2011
Sam
rated it:
Fluctuations in solar radiation mean that the ice-caps have melted and temperatures reach up to 150C. Most of the cities of the Northern Hemisphere are submerged in tropical lagoons populated with prehistoric animals and massive bugs of all kinds. The main character, Kerans, is a scientist sent to study the animal life forms but soon gets caught up with all kinds of people.
I liked the premise of this book, and indeed the initial third or so of it was amazing. I liked the scenario of More...
I liked the premise of this book, and indeed the initial third or so of it was amazing. I liked the scenario of More...
Jun 20, 2011
MJ
rated it:
The novel Ballard liked to pretend was his debut—The Wind from Nowhere, anyone?—depicts a world stuffed to the runnels with silt, salt water, silt and more silt. Rich in near pornographic descriptions of bogs, croc-filled lagoons and giant lizards, this is a tough and horrendous novel, all the more so knowing this fate awaits our grandchildren.
Because Ballard is always right. The flood is coming. Get your paddles, ladies. In the meantime, read this book. What is it? Hmm. Apart from t More...
Because Ballard is always right. The flood is coming. Get your paddles, ladies. In the meantime, read this book. What is it? Hmm. Apart from t More...
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Jun 15, 2011
Shawn
rated it: 
Quite a nice little novel, part of Ballard's "elemental apocalypse" quartet. Not as good as The Crystal World, on par with The Drought aka THE BURNING WORLD (although very different in focus), better than The Wind from Nowhere (which was probably a better title than THE BLOWING WORLD).
Much like all the others save WIND, this is in some ways Ballard reworking THE HEART OF DARKNESS by Conrad. In an oddly prescient, if coincidental, mirroring of global warming, the angle of More...
Much like all the others save WIND, this is in some ways Ballard reworking THE HEART OF DARKNESS by Conrad. In an oddly prescient, if coincidental, mirroring of global warming, the angle of More...
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Nov 17, 2009
Derek
rated it: 
fittingly, The Drowned World takes place in London, post-global warming when the ice-caps have melted & sea levels have risen, turning the city into a fecund swamp...the surprising thing is that Ballard wrote The Drowned World in 1962, when i'm sure little was known about climate change...not only is the [drowned:] world more flooded [& mottled with vast alluvial silt deposits:], but the rising temperatures had also induced a regression back to a new Triassic Age dominated by reptiles & large pr
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Aug 06, 2011
Jason
rated it:
Not a whole lot to say about this book, as it's not like your regular novel where you may have an idea of what's going to occur next. Plot just isn't there, but neither does it seem to need it to keep you interested, as the world itself(in any post-apocalypse novel) does it on its own. That's not to say that those types of novels are void of plot, but just that if they lack it then their imagined world usually can stand up on its own if it's been clearly created. I had this problem with The Drow
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Dec 11, 2008
Ethan
rated it:
Wow! I am beginning to think J.G. Ballard has the touch. I can't say that the "Drowned World" propelled me along the way that "High Rise" did but still Ballard's blend of big, dark concepts that you can continue to wrangle with long after you finish and his ability to spin a great yarn with sharp, succinct characters is such a rare thing. So quickly the edgiest concepts in post modern sci-fi can get lost in a labyrinth of it's own genius that too often leave the reader outsid
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May 14, 2011
Keely
rated it:
The problem with writing a racially-charged tale of madness and death, lost deep in an alien and antagonistic jungle is that you're going to draw comparisons to 'Heart of Darkness', and that's not a comparison from which most novelists are going to emerge unscathed. The white men lose themselves in the brutality of the primordial past, going 'native', or even beyond native, but Ballard does not have the unique voice or psychological insights of Conrad.
Ballard distinguishes himself as More...
Ballard distinguishes himself as More...
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Feb 16, 2011
Sarah
rated it:
Another random pick-up from the library. Been meaning to read a) more scifi; b)some JG Ballard for a while. I loved the first sector of the book, but felt that the episodes were quite disjointed.....then I read that this was Ballard's first novel, which might explain some of its niggles. The opening section of the novel creates a real atmosphere of abandoned civilisation. It was reminiscent of the castle overgrown with creepers in 'Sleeping Beauty'.
Robert Karens, the protagonist, is a More...
Robert Karens, the protagonist, is a More...
Oct 31, 2009
Drake
rated it:
Honestly, ‘The Drowned World’ was one of the books I most anticipated reading this year. After Ballard’s death last April, I finally wanted to get around to reading this classic. Post-apocalyptic science fiction, mankind’s struggle for survival, men battling in an ocean covered world, all of it was right up my alley. Perhaps this was one of the reasons I was so let down as I trudged through it.
First of all, the story is quite disjointed. Episodes leap from one to another in no c More...
First of all, the story is quite disjointed. Episodes leap from one to another in no c More...
Jan 22, 2012
Perry
rated it:
The world has flooded after years of solar storms weaken the Van Allen Belt, humanity has been exiled to secluded communes in the poles. The story follows a group of roving biologists, analyzing the evolution of the botanic life smothering the old, transformed continents.
Ballard's descriptive prowess is very hypnotic and seductive, using repetitions of the same tropes to create a vivid sense of the incapacitating heat and humidity on the human cast. There are continual passages giving More...
Ballard's descriptive prowess is very hypnotic and seductive, using repetitions of the same tropes to create a vivid sense of the incapacitating heat and humidity on the human cast. There are continual passages giving More...
Jun 15, 2009
Thylacoleo_carnifex
rated it:
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Jul 10, 2010
Jouni
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Feb 06, 2012
Chris
rated it:
I'd give it a 2.5, but that's not an option.
I purchased The Drowned World because I was told it was Ballard's first and finest work. Though it was his first; it certainly wasn't his finest.The concept of the novel was brilliant and the description was beautiful in parts. The way Ballard conjures up the images of a world ruined by the sea is great but I felt that the problem was the characters.
His writing style is brilliant but unlike another on of his books, High Rise, I found the More...
I purchased The Drowned World because I was told it was Ballard's first and finest work. Though it was his first; it certainly wasn't his finest.The concept of the novel was brilliant and the description was beautiful in parts. The way Ballard conjures up the images of a world ruined by the sea is great but I felt that the problem was the characters.
His writing style is brilliant but unlike another on of his books, High Rise, I found the More...
Aug 08, 2010
Marvin
rated it:
Civilization is a tenuous thing in a Ballard novel. It is a illusion which is easily exposed leaving the protagonist in a precarious and existentially challenging position. The Drowned World is no exception. In the 21st century, the earth has heated up immensely, melting the icecaps and drowning most of the Earth. The remaining population is living in the Arctic or Antarctic. A research crew is exploring the remains of London which is now submerged in a swampy jungle that is reverting to the Tri
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Jul 25, 2011
Melissa
rated it:
The story is set when earth is experiencing a global warming and is therefor experiencing the regression of plant and animal life. The story focuses on the experience of one scientist of a team of scientists and military people at the limits of human habitation as mass migration towards the north and south poles seeking milder climates. I read this during the heatwave in NYC so I really felt like I was experiencing the climate set in the book. I found myself not paying attention to some straying
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Jun 26, 2008
Jason
rated it:
Another disaster SF (can you guess the disaster in this one?). Great idea, beautifully written. Surprisingly un-resonant given global warming, but a great read.
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Dec 23, 2011
Philip
rated it:
Not really my genre of choice - science fiction. There are interesting elements regarding the way that changes in environment may affect the underlying psychology of human beings. Also the idea that we may have primeval memories of living through the jurassic period. In the main however it reminded me more of the Mad Max films as the scientists living in the swamped cities of Europe not only have to put up with giant lizards, crocodiles, bats and insects but also with privateers who are looting
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Oct 15, 2010
Ben
rated it:
Finished this last night. Mixed feelings about it really. I was intrigued by the premise, global warming leading to flooding and a gradual return to a Triassic Age, not that its a novel idea now, but because this was written before 'global warming' was a 'popular' concept. Also fascinated by the idea that this reversion in conditions to an earlier time would awake genetic memories of our ancestors within us.
Did the book work? The language did for me. It created a languid feel that mir More...
Did the book work? The language did for me. It created a languid feel that mir More...
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Feb 12, 2012
Angie
rated it:
Reading this hugely imaginative and frighteningly realistic futuristic thriller has only bought home to me just how prolific an author JG Ballard was.
The premise is self-explanatory - the future, the planet heating to an alarming level and the remaining inhabitants heading to the poles while the main land masses are flooded by rising sea levels and soon emerging jungle landscapes appear; giant silt banks complete with jungle life - iguanas, alligators amongst others.
The ce More...
The premise is self-explanatory - the future, the planet heating to an alarming level and the remaining inhabitants heading to the poles while the main land masses are flooded by rising sea levels and soon emerging jungle landscapes appear; giant silt banks complete with jungle life - iguanas, alligators amongst others.
The ce More...
Aug 25, 2010
Halik
rated it:
Not exactly what i expected for a famous work by one of the most highly regarded sci-fi authors ever. This book should have been a short story. It reads like a short story stretched and milked to fit into a novel. The plot (was there a plot?) is dull, characters are pushovers and a not very convincing. But full points to his description of a post apocalyptic world slowly going back to prehistoric times. And also points for his creepy hypothesis on the psychological relationship between living be
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May 28, 2010
Sooz
rated it:
written in the 60's - before the term global warming had been coined - Ballard describes a world in which the ice caps have melted, the oceans have risen dramatically and jungle-like temperatures have completely transformed Europe, making most of it uninhabitable. well except for the crocs and iguanas that have taken up residence. reminds me a little of Lord of the Flies or Apocalpyse Now in that Ballard explores the impact of the environment on the human psychic. explores might be too strong a
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Feb 08, 2011
Remy
rated it:
I chose to not finish this book. I found it deathly boring, which is strange because in many ways it's brilliant. About a world where it is hot all the time and the polar ice caps and what not have all melted, it is oddly prescient (of worries that are no longer just sci fi territory, or at least of "AI"). The atmosphere was good and the writing good but, I don't know, the characters were dull and there was little plot. Disappointing. I'll try something else by him sometime (I qui
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Jul 27, 2009
Eric
rated it:
Ballard's second ecological disaster novel strays even further from the genre's cliches than The Wind from Nowhere does. The disaster--a worldwide increase in temperatures and sea levels--has already destroyed civilization when the novel opens. (All that keeps this setting from being post-apocalyptic is that the apocalypse isn't over; the increase is still happening.) Humanity didn't create the phenomenon, which stems from an increase in solar energy output, and none of the characters have an
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Jun 13, 2010
Rod
rated it:
Great apocalyptic surrealistic Freudian end-of-the-world beginning-of-something-new novel. One of Ballard's first (1962), I found it an enjoyable, disturbing (and disturbingly relevant, perhaps, with climate change scenarios) novel. If there's any indication that this is a young writer, it may be that Ballard sometimes tells us that things are strange o9r surreal instead of just showing us. I'm looking forward to the two novels that followed this: The Burning World and The Crystal World. No
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Jul 10, 2011
Kris
rated it:
The Drowned World is a 1962 sci-fi novel by J. G. Ballard that differs a little bit from most post-apocalyptic fiction. The central character, rather than being disturbed by the end of the old world, embraces the changed existence that is coming.
It’s an interesting little book. Ballard has done well to create a detailed and believable scenario that explains the apocalypse that spurs the story: changed astronomical conditions has caused solar radiation that has melted the polar ice-c More...
It’s an interesting little book. Ballard has done well to create a detailed and believable scenario that explains the apocalypse that spurs the story: changed astronomical conditions has caused solar radiation that has melted the polar ice-c More...
Nov 27, 2011
Pauline
rated it:
When I first got my Kindle a year ago, and before I got side-tracked by fantasy (thank you George R R Martin!), I set out to read the top 100 sci-fi books I found on an internet list somewhere. Fortunately for my bank balance, very few of them were then available for the Kindle, but this was one of the ones I downloaded, which has been waiting patiently in my 'to read' folder ever since.
This was first published in 1962, and has held up pretty well, on the whole. This is largely because More...
This was first published in 1962, and has held up pretty well, on the whole. This is largely because More...
Jul 05, 2011
T. Edward
rated it:
I have to say I was disappointed with this one, my first foray into the catalogue of this daring, remarkably prolific, writer. Now, I realize it's his first novel and he's working with a high concept, sci-fi story with some pretty high-fallutin ideas about primordial dream states and global warming, but still, it should have been more engaging and richer in content. The characters are all cut-outs and precious little is ever revealed about any of them. It's just hard to care about characters
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Aug 08, 2010
M.
rated it:
Realistically this is closer, probably, to 3.5 stars instead of 4, but I liked it more than most books I guess 3 stars, so I didn't feel like that was the right rating. ANYWAY.
Ballard's first novel (other than the one he's disowned, I guess), is very interesting in premise, and definitely shows where he would go in his career, but to me the narrative gets bogged down by featuring too many characters that are more than just background noise. What I liked so much about High Rise and More...
Ballard's first novel (other than the one he's disowned, I guess), is very interesting in premise, and definitely shows where he would go in his career, but to me the narrative gets bogged down by featuring too many characters that are more than just background noise. What I liked so much about High Rise and More...
