Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
91st out of 110 books
—
86 voters
Swiftly
by
Adam Roberts
It is 1848 and the British Empire has grown rich exploiting Lilliputian slaves—the finesse of their working allowing unheard of feats of miniature engineering; even Babbage's computing device has been made to work. But now the French have formed a regiment of previously peaceful Brobdingnagian giants and invasion looms. In a world where humanity is both smaller and larger...more
Paperback, 368 pages
Published
October 1st 2008
by Gollancz
(first published 2004)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
182)
As I reflect on my lack of enjoyment of this novel, I find myself thinking that I really should have learned that Adam Roberts didn't deliver before I recently read 'By Light Alone'. Both books share the same elements: very interesting concepts, great hype, extremely poor execution particularly in the final section. I won't be reading another Roberts book, which saddens me given that his books get such incredible reviews and ratings in SciFi magazines like SFX. Like all of Roberts' paperbacks, t...more
Adam Roberts does what he always does.... produces a plot that's astonishing to start with and then takes turns that you would never, ever, in a million lifetimes predict. This one starts in Victorian England; in of course, an 'other' Victorian England in which Swift's world is located in ours and Lilliputians, Brobdingnadians and others have been enslaved by humans... anti slavery movements and rebellions follow, and much much much more.... breathtaking meditations on the relations and relativi...more
Three stars - it was an ok flintlock fantasy. The idea to extrapolate from the original Gulliver's travels is excellent, providing the for faeries and giants in a world/vs. industrialization (though nothing too new). The (main) male character is not very likable in my opinion, I found myself empathizing with the (main) female character more. The adventure element is there, though the action sequences are not predominant. The ending is what was disappointing. It felt rushed and was an "easy way o...more
this was a good book! i learned of this author from a steampunk collection. there were two stories in here that were steampunkish, the first and last story. they were part of the same storyline and showed some promise if he were to continue to expand on that universe.
the story i disliked the most in this book was "allen meets the devil." and that is sad, because i was really into the story until the end. the end of the story was anti-climatic and a cop-out. his job as an author (to me) is to fin...more
the story i disliked the most in this book was "allen meets the devil." and that is sad, because i was really into the story until the end. the end of the story was anti-climatic and a cop-out. his job as an author (to me) is to fin...more
feels like an opportunity to develop the story from eleanor's pov rather than bates' was lost - i found her more interesting by far - but that's a minor quibble in an otherwise impressive book. the spaceship was annoying but the afterword helped.
Very disappointing, I had such high hopes aswell :(
Review from the Thought Lost List Of Books to Read. "ZZZ."
Wow. If a bad novel may be said to be a "bomb," then this book is a WMD.
As Kelly said "this is a total wreck of a story". The flow of the book starts pulling you in after about 230 pages and seem to be alright for a long time, but at the very end the story fails completely.
This sort of sequel to Gulliver's Travels wasn't really my cup of Lilliputian.
Jun 04, 2013
J
marked it as to-read
May 14, 2013
Charles Spivey
marked it as to-read
Apr 30, 2013
Bimble
is currently reading it
Apr 11, 2013
Helen
marked it as to-read
Apr 04, 2013
Nicholas Harvey
marked it as to-read
Apr 02, 2013
Carl Phillips
marked it as to-read
Apr 02, 2013
Joel Bass
marked it as to-read
Mar 30, 2013
Yonatan
marked it as to-read
Mar 29, 2013
Ninja
marked it as incoming
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
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
More about Adam Roberts...
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
Share This Book
No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »
