Julian Comstock: A Story of 22nd-Century America

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Julian Comstock: A Story of 22nd-Century America

3.55 of 5 stars 3.55 · rating details · 1,449 ratings · 246 reviews

From the Hugo-winning author of Spin, an exuberant adventure in a post-climate-change America

In the reign of President Deklan Comstock, a reborn United States is struggling back to prosperity. Over a century after the Efflorescence of Oil, after the Fall of the Cities, after the Plague of Infertility, after the False Tribulation, after the days of the Pious Presidents, th

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Hardcover, 413 pages

Published June 23rd 2009 by Tor Books (first published June 1st 2009)

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Best Science Fiction of the 21st Century

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Julian Comstock by Robert Charles Wilson

2009 Locus Recommended Reading List--Science Fiction Novels

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Apr 26, 2011 Stephen rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: science-fiction, award-nominee-hugo, easton-press, signed-first-or-limited-edition, audiobook, 2006-2010, world-in-the-shitter

First the Postives: The book was well-written had a nice “new book” smell. Okay, on to the ~~negatives~~ MEHgatives , beginning with the advisory label I would require if I was Emperor of Literature for the world:

There is not a whole lot more that I can add to that so, like the book, I will just sort of d.....r.....a.....w.....t......h......i.....n......g......s....... o....u....t. Or maybe I could just emulate the book and say the same thing several different ways. You know like you say something...more

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Oct 01, 2011 Norman Cook rated it 5 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Expanded from his Hugo-nominated novella Julian: A Christmas Story, Robert Charles Wilson has crafted a magnificent future history that is a compelling and somewhat chilling vision of what America could become. As I recall, I did not enjoy the original novella very much because it was difficult to place the events in context. The novel does a wonderful job of filling in the details needed to fully understand the story. And creative details they are! Julian Comstock is a tale of America 160 years...more Expanded from his Hugo-nominated novella Julian: A Christmas Story, Robert Charles Wilson has crafted a magnificent future history that is a compelling and somewhat chilling vision of what America could become. As I recall, I did not enjoy the original novella very much because it was difficult to place the events in context. The novel does a wonderful job of filling in the details needed to fully understand the story. And creative details they are! Julian Comstock is a tale of America 160 years from now that shows the aftermath of the breakdown of our technological society. As a memoir ostensibly intended for readers of the time, the book only hints at the turmoil and upheaval visited upon the world at the end of the 21st Century, on the assumption that readers will be thoroughly familiar with those events. The pre-apocalypse time of the “Secular Ancients” is known as the Efflorescence of Oil. America emerges as an agrarian, Christian theocracy from the False Tribulation and Fall of Cities. Somehow Canada (and possibly Mexico) has been annexed to form an America with 60 states. The Presidency is now essentially hereditary, with sham elections to ratify the candidates that are approved by the real power, the Dominion of Jesus Christ on Earth, a coalition that suppresses dissidence and free speech. (Perhaps the most chilling reflection of the Dominion’s oppression is a passing reference in a short footnote that the 53rd Amendment abolished the Supreme Court.)

Seventeen-year-old Julian Comstock is the Aristo nephew of President Deklan Comstock. Deklan Conqueror, as he is commonly known, is the man who executed Julian’s father to help ensure his continued reign. Julian’s mother, fearing that Deklan will extend his fratricidal ways, sends Julian west to the town of Williams Ford, Athabaska, with Julian’s mentor Sam Godwin. There Julian befriends Adam Hazzard, the son of a lease-man (the new middle class lease land from the Aristo dynasties and manage the indentured laborers who work the land). It is from Adam’s point of view that the novel’s events take place. Adam is a naïve and somewhat unreliable narrator who nevertheless captures the essence of Julian’s life.

At Christmastime 2172 the Army arrives to conscript the town’s youth for the ongoing war in Labrador against Mitteleuropan (primarily German) forces. Julian, Adam, and Sam sneak out of town, knowing that Julian’s lineage would put him in danger in the Army. However, the trio eventually ends up in the Army anyway, using assumed names. Julian’s charisma, bravery, and luck quickly propel him to greater things. Meanwhile, Adam hones his burgeoning writing skills by documenting Julian’s exploits, eventually leading to the revelation of Julian’s real identity to the public. Julian’s triumphs and tragedies continue through Christmastime 2175, affecting the entire fabric of American government, class struggle, and religiosity.

Wilson’s portrait of a future America is fascinating, original, and frighteningly plausible. The people in this world are generally ignorant of the ways of the Secular Ancients because digital records are inaccessible and everything else is censored by the Dominion. Technology has by and large reverted to the level of the mid-19th Century. The theocracy persecutes scientists, sectarians, and free-thinkers like Julian. The pertinent background information is slowly revealed without unnecessary exposition.

Julian Comstock is an excellent novel, with authentic, three-dimensional characters, a believable yet unpredictable plot, and large doses of humor. The writing rings true to Adam’s perspective without being archaic. The novel is a contemplative and persuasive parable that illustrates the dangers of the collapse of technology and the rise of religious extremism. This is science fiction at its best.(less)

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May 05, 2012 Chinook rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: gift to Sean

Shelves: canada, north-america

I don't know if it's just because I read this while travelling solo, so it was my constant companion for 2 days, or if it really is worth the 4.5 stars I would give it if I could, but I loved this look at what the world might be like after oil. I laughed my ass off when I realized the author was Canadian, what with Canada becoming either a state or a battleground between the Americans and the Europeans.

The day after I finished this, I went to visit Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur. Petronus bein...more

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Jul 28, 2010 Bryan rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: sf

At time hilarious, this book shows how a book can succeed on its stylings. The plot is basic, and I could summarize it in two or three sentences (and there's very few twists that occur, so I'd capture the essence of the story quite easily).

But that's not the purpose of this book. The plot is fine, if a bit simplistic, but it only exists as a backdrop for these amazing characters. Lead male Adam Hazzard is a wondrous character - simple and naive, but capable of narrative description that really m...more

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Apr 28, 2010 Porter rated it 4 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Sep 16, 2010 Osho rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2010

This is the funniest of Robert Charles Wilson's novels to date, but no less engaging. Imagine Samwise Gamgee as Watson. The tale's narrator, Adam Hazzard, is that man. He reports what he observes, and speculates about Julian, politics, and the world on this basis, but he doesn't understand everything he sees. In some ways, the best part of this novel is seeing precisely how the historian's perspective shapes his narrative, and what we as readers can discern (for example, Julian's romantic procli...more

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Jan 28, 2012 Nzric rated it 2 of 5 stars

I had high hopes for this novel. The idea and the overall plot is very strong, and the world is well imagined, but overall this story has the feel of something that was outlined in an essay format and stamped out in a formula.

Likes:
- Consistent style of writing, the 'period' language is consistent throughout, with no noticeable slips in tone/style.
- General world building is ok - basic politics and some attempt at a timeline.

Dislikes:

- unbelievable 'future history'. This book should have been wr...more I had high hopes for this novel. The idea and the overall plot is very strong, and the world is well imagined, but overall this story has the feel of something that was outlined in an essay format and stamped out in a formula.

Likes:
- Consistent style of writing, the 'period' language is consistent throughout, with no noticeable slips in tone/style.
- General world building is ok - basic politics and some attempt at a timeline.

Dislikes:

- unbelievable 'future history'. This book should have been written as an alternate past history based around 18-19th century America being a dictatorship. It falls flat with the attempt to layer in a future history. The author seems to think that - although some groups hoard knowledge and political power - these groups don't take advantage of any knowledge (for their own benefit) beyond a 19th century level of understanding. I kept waiting for the layers of hidden/'lost' knowledge to be revealed as the characters moved further into the hierarchical politics and power structure. I thought that was the whole point of the book. But.... well, don't hold your breath.

- the main character is written as 'naive and loveable', which is fair enough for the first section of the book detailing their impressionable youth, but there is little if no character development in the main character. A naive narrator blundering into events he barely understands is okay for the first few chapters, maybe forgiveable for a third of the book, but by the end it just grates.

- I don't want to give any spoilers away but I'd say generally the last third of the book rests on trite pop culture references and there is little if any escalation and no real climax to the novel. The plot itself takes a ninety degree turn in the last part of the book - bringing in new themes from way left-field, and everything seems to be wrapped up all too nicely at the end.

- Something good happens around page two hundred and fifteen (I'll just say "the song"). Apart from that I don't have any other real highlights.

- Otis. What's the freakin point? It's not adorable, it's not funny. It's something you'd expect to see in a high-school short story, not a serious novel.(less)

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Dec 11, 2011 Hali Sowle rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: post-apocolyptic, america, robert-charles-wilson, dominion, feudal, dystopia

The future is bleak in this post-oil, post-democratic, theocratic dystopic America. America now has 60 stars on it's flag but still has the original 13 stripes, and the government still has three branches but now it is the executive branch, the church and the military, with the executive being the not so democratically elected Delkan Comstock. The story is told from the point of view of Adam Hazzard, the son of a Lease Holder on the Duncan and Crowley Estate, somewhere in the western reaches of...more The future is bleak in this post-oil, post-democratic, theocratic dystopic America. America now has 60 stars on it's flag but still has the original 13 stripes, and the government still has three branches but now it is the executive branch, the church and the military, with the executive being the not so democratically elected Delkan Comstock. The story is told from the point of view of Adam Hazzard, the son of a Lease Holder on the Duncan and Crowley Estate, somewhere in the western reaches of this feudal America and Julian Comstocks best friend. Julian was an Eupatridian or an "Aristo" and the nephew of the man who currently was President, and so their friendship was implausible except that Julian had been sent away from the Capitol city of New York with his mentor Sam Godwin and in Adam had found a companion who loved reading, a strange thing for a lease holders son but something that binds them together. Julian is as much of an enigma to Adam as he is a friend, Julian does not follow the rules and dictates that The Dominion (of Jesus Christ on Earth) or the central church dictates and he questions everything, something that the origionally pious Adam slowly begins to appreciate. But Julian is not safe from his uncles machinations in Williams Ford and during a "movie" that coincides with the "balloting" for president (a foregone conclusion since no one would ever vote against Delkan Comstock) they realize that they are about to be rounded up and conscripted into the army to fight against the "godless Dutch" in Labrador or worse. And so begins the tale of Julian and Adam and Sam as they take the train eastward to try to stay out of the hands of Julians uncle, until, after many mishaps and adventures that age and temper them, they meet the man face to face.

The story has many layers, on one hand it is an adventure as young boys set out and become men and try to change the world, dig a little deeper and you begin to ponder the nature of the society and the philosophical questions that Julian raises. The book is very post-apocalyptic in that it pictures 22nd Century America as a country that has reverted back to a quasi feudalistic roots after all the oil reserves have been consumed and nothing replaced it. Cities have fallen, Central Park is now the center of government with a huge wall around it and pieces of the fallen Statue of Liberty placed as statues in it, the population has been decimated and is slowly recovering but it stratified into the Eupatridian's the Lease Holders and the Servant class, no more than indentured serfs and there is no evidence that under the rulers that are in place that anything will change. A coming of age story that can make you worry for the future, well written with strong characters and a tight plot.(less)

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Feb 15, 2011 Rexton rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I thought the way the culture evolved was somewhat interesting, with a few interesting differences from the many stories where a neo-feudalism evolves (albeit one with laissez-faire capitalism) . In particular, there was an interesting mention of how the government decided how limited resources were allocated to the economy. While I'm not sure how plausible this culture was, I would really like more information to convince me. The cynical role of religion and the Owners brought back memories of...more

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Jan 28, 2011 Clay rated it 3 of 5 stars

Back in 1964, Gore Vidal wrote a very good historical fiction novel called “Julian”, which was based on the life of Roman emperor Flavius Claudius Julianus, whose brief reign was from 360-363 CE. Julian the Apostate, as he was known by his Christian enemies, tried to turn the empire away from Christianity, especially the church hierarchy, which was at that time doing its best to stamp out what it considered heresies.

Now, in 2010, Robert Charles Wilson has written “Julian Comstock” (Tor, $25.95,...more

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Jan 03, 2011 Jeff rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Tom, Camille, Jeff

Recommended to Jeff by: Found it on the library shelves

Shelves: science-fiction

After The Efflorescence of Oil, the Fall of The Cities, and the False Tribulation, America is once again becoming a world power uniting most of the North American continent, from Panama to Labrador, under the thirteen stripes and 60 stars of the American flag and for the sake of the Dominion of Jesus Christ on Earth.

But all this is backdrop. The immediate story is of young Adam Hazzard,naive and trusting lease-boy, born and raised on a fuedal estate on the north-central plains of Athabaska (ree...more

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Jun 16, 2010 Nicholas Whyte rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/1456594.html

Rather fortuitously I read this novel while also working through Gibbon's chapters in The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire on Julian the Apostate, the mid-fourth century Roman emperor who tried to reverse his uncle's adoption of Christianity and failed. (See here, here, here and here.) Julian Comstock, nephew of the 22nd century president of a post-apocalypse America, is modelled a bit on his namesake of 1800 years earlier, though there are some sign...more http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/1456594.html

Rather fortuitously I read this novel while also working through Gibbon's chapters in The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire on Julian the Apostate, the mid-fourth century Roman emperor who tried to reverse his uncle's adoption of Christianity and failed. (See here, here, here and here.) Julian Comstock, nephew of the 22nd century president of a post-apocalypse America, is modelled a bit on his namesake of 1800 years earlier, though there are some significant differences of detail - Julian Comstock is not promoted to junior co-ruler by his uncle, he is not proclaimed emperor by his own troops, he doen't have to march across a disputed continent to claim the throne, his uncle doesn't conveniently die of natural causes, Julian doesn't then take up arms against the traditional enemy to the East, and then doesn't die in battle. It should also be added that the real Julian the Apostate was a fervent pagan believer rather than an atheist, was never forced to enlist in the army under a false name, and was a writer of polemics and satires - sometimes self-deprecating - but certainly could not have written a musical screenplay about the life of Charles Darwin.

Still, it's interesting to compare the two narratives - Gibbon on Julian the Apostate, Wilson on Julian Comstock - because in the end both are about rulers who acquire imperial office through family relationships and military success, and then try to reverse the evangelical Christian regime established by their predecessors. (I haven't read Gore Vidal's novel Julian, which may be a more direct source than Gibbon for Wilson). There isn't a lot of suspense in either case; we have a pretty good idea how things are going to turn out. The reader's interest in both stories is engaged by the incidental details of the plot and the way in which the story is told.

As to the details, both writers are covering a world we barely recognise. Gibbon has Julian proclaimed Emperor in the great hall of the Roman baths in Paris, which we can still see today. Wilson has the presidential residence located in New York's Central Park. Wilson of course has the harder task here, as he is inventing a setting rather than retrieving it from historical accounts, and there are only three groups of settings described in much detail - the small village where Julian and the narrator grow up, the battlefields of Canada, and New York when Julian arrives as ruler. Wilson's future America has suffered economic and military catastrophe, and seems not to have many non-white people in it (though it does have invading Europeans and persecuted Jews). For Gibbon's past Roman Empire, the big catastrophe is yet to come, though he sees his Julian as the last, lost hope of reversing the Decline and Fall. Each story has a central military set-piece, the army of the West's march from Gaul to the middle Danube and the battle of Goose Bay (in both cases prepared by the central character's earlier military successes) and Wilson has the edge over Gibbon here as he can make up an eyewitness account rather than try to analyse other people's reports.

The most memorable feature of both stories is the way that they are told. The delight of reading Gibbon is that he thinks he is smarter than the reader, and nonchalantly shows it at every stage. Wilson's narrator, Adam Hazzard, is probably not as clever as the reader, and probably not as good a novelist as he thinks he is; luckliy for us, both the woman he falls in love with and his friends Julian and Sam are smarter than he is, and this drives the book's humourous side. As for the central character, though, I found Gibbon's Julian more interesting and convincing than Wilson's. (NB that the author in both cases is sympathetic to the project of rolling back Christianity, though Gibbon disapproves of the details of the attempted restoration of pagan superstition and Wilson's narrator isn't as sure of the virtues of the project in the first place.) The similarity of background and basic plot is there; but Wilson's Julian, once he gains power, starts to become dictatorial while also writing a screenplay about his hero, Darwin; Gibbon's Julian as emperor seems much more consistent in character with his behaviour before gaining power (including his continued literary output).

A final point on languages. Gibbon can nonchalantly throw in extended footnotes in Latin (in fairness, he doesn't do this often) in the expectation that the reader of 1781 will be able to follow the argument without too much difficulty. Wilson has the odd phrase in French (mostly from the narrator's Canadian lover) and most strikingly a letter in Dutch (p. 189) from an enemy soldier, killed in Canada, to his lover; I wonder how many readers will follow it (no translation is given) and get the rather grim joke about the dog on the next page?(less)

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Sep 28, 2009 Ryun rated it 5 of 5 stars

Robert Charles Wilson’s books have been on my “must buy” list since he wrote THE CHRONOLITHS in 2002, and he’s gotten successively better without becoming a corporate retread machine. The ties of family, friendship and love in its infinite variations are central themes in his work. JULIAN COMSTOCK: A STORY OF 22ND-CENTURY AMERICA is no exception; it’s also Wilson’s best book yet.

As the title explains, JULIAN COMSTOCK is set in 22nd-century America, a post-oil land run as an empire by an emperor...more

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Sep 23, 2009 Thermalsatsuma rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: book-a-week-2009

At some point in the early 21st century the oil ran out leading to a catastrophic collapse of civilisation, mass starvation and the evacuation of the cities in a time now known as the false tribulation. By the second half of the 22nd century America has returned to a state of feudal theocracy with the aristo class voting on behalf of their indentured servants for a Presidency that is hereditary in all but name. The ruling president, Declan Comstock, has already hanged his brother Bryce as a trai...more At some point in the early 21st century the oil ran out leading to a catastrophic collapse of civilisation, mass starvation and the evacuation of the cities in a time now known as the false tribulation. By the second half of the 22nd century America has returned to a state of feudal theocracy with the aristo class voting on behalf of their indentured servants for a Presidency that is hereditary in all but name. The ruling president, Declan Comstock, has already hanged his brother Bryce as a traitor and has sent his nephew, the now fatherless Julian, into exile in the rural west.

The long running war with the forces of Mittel-Europa for the province of Labrador is going badly and a new round of conscription is on the cards. Julian’s tutor and guardian Sam Godwin fears that as Julian reaches manhood he will be sent to the front lines to die as a noble patriotic hero before he can become a threat to his uncle, the President. Thus Sam, Julian and his friend Adam – a poor lease-boy and aspiring writer – flee the town, only to face greater dangers, not least from The Dominion – the coalition of fundamentalist churches that guards the nation’s morals by suppressing all knowledge of the decadent wonders of the ‘Secular Ancients’.

The book is written from Adam’s point of view as a memoir and biography of his friend Julian. Adam find his views of the world challenged by Julian’s free-thinking radicalism and atheism, as well as the horrors of war, and slowly has his eyes opened to truths that have long been suppressed. His passion for books – a dangerous folly in the eyes of The Dominion – leads him to such eye opening discoveries as a tattered copy of ‘A History of Mankind in Space’ which proposes the fanciful notion that men once walked on the surface of the moon.

This book is reminiscent of a Victorian novel, and Adam’s style is based on his literary hero, a certain Charles Curtis Easton who writes inspiring, patriotic adventures for the improvement of young men. A lot of the joy of this book comes from reading between the lines as Adam reports events and occurrences that he fails to grasp the significance of at the time given his rural naiveté, particularly in the moving and unexpected conclusion of the story.

This is excellent literary science fiction that explores the conflict between church and state, and the politics of sceptical thinking, in a thought provoking way. It is also a cracking good yarn that depicts a convincing future as well. Highly recommended.(less)

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Aug 18, 2009 Alan rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Readers of stylish sf

Recommended to Alan by: io9

Allow me to add my voice to the chorus of praise attending the celebrated Mr. Robt. Chas. Wilson's novel. For Wilson has done something truly extraordinary—he has taken the tired old subgenre of post-apocalyptic pastoral sf and revived it thoroughly.

Adam Hazzard, Wilson's narrator, is a pitch-perfect American voice, recreating the cadences of a 19th-Century orator in prose that brings to mind the elegant simplicity of a Mark Twain or a Nathaniel Hawthorne. It's a polished yet straightforward sty...more

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Dec 22, 2011 Robert Kroese rated it 3 of 5 stars

Wow, this book is long. Er, I mean sprawling. This is one hell of a sprawling book. It's like 600 pages sprawling.

OK, the good: Wilson's prose is impeccable. I wish I could write sentences like this. Also, he presents a very believable 22nd century America, as it might be after several major calamities and the rise of the Religious Right. The 22nd century, it turns out, is a lot like the 19th century. In fact, most of this book reads like the story of a country boy drafted to fight in the Americ...more

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Sep 13, 2009 Jason rated it 4 of 5 stars

OK, first of all, reading goal for the year made. I suppose we will get to 7 or 8 books before the end of the year. That's really my typical pace.

If you've been following this blog in the usual voyeuristic manner, you will have noted by now my attraction to post-apocolyptic literature. I largely chalk this up to a Cold War childhood, where scraping life together in a post-apocolyptic world seemed less science fiction, and more like contingency planning. Anywho, I am also an occasional reader of...more

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Nov 11, 2010 Brendan rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2010, adventure-thriller, book-club, fiction, politics, philosophy-religion, scifi

Julian Comstock tells the story of America after oil runs out, the modern infrastructure collapses, and we regress to a world of 19th century technology and 18th century agrarian social structure and economy. We follow Adam Hazzard, a lease-boy (child of lower-middle class artisans) who befriends, through happenstance, Julian Comstock, exiled nephew of the tyrannical "president" Declan Comstock. Adam follows Julian through adventures in the army and political life afterward, to great effect. A f...more Julian Comstock tells the story of America after oil runs out, the modern infrastructure collapses, and we regress to a world of 19th century technology and 18th century agrarian social structure and economy. We follow Adam Hazzard, a lease-boy (child of lower-middle class artisans) who befriends, through happenstance, Julian Comstock, exiled nephew of the tyrannical "president" Declan Comstock. Adam follows Julian through adventures in the army and political life afterward, to great effect. A few thoughts:

* Wilson proposes one interesting resolution to the idea of what will happen after we run out of oil: Cities collapse, there's a terrible time of starvation known as the "False Tribulation," and a religio-fascist state springs up in its place. We regress to 19th century technology because we don't have oil anymore, and most other high tech that we have depends on a fuel source at least as efficient as oil. It's interesting to compare this book to Brian Slattery's Liberation, which has a similar cover and similar sense of societal regression in its vision of America's future.
* Because the story uses the 19th century melodramatic bildungsroman as its model, there's plenty of adventure and excitement as well as a keen sense of moral arc. It's a little bit Ragged Dick and a little bit Great Expectations.
* Wilson suggests that the conservative element would take control again in this crisis. While I don't find it beyond belief, I would hope we can maintain our advances in the cause of human liberty and happiness, even in the face of technological and societal upheaval.
* The best part of the book, for me, is Wilson's use of naivete on the part of his narrator. Adam, as a devout lease boy with little knowledge of the world, is often unaware of the implications of what's going on around him. When Julian begins hanging around with Philosophers and Aesthetes, he remarks on the strange habits and dress of his friend's new companions. Codes that we read to understand that Julian is gay completely elude poor Adam.
* One of the amusing recurring themes in the book is Adam's wonder at the business of book publishing. At one point, he publishes an adventure tale about a young man at sea, which includes pirates and all sorts of fun. When he gets to see the book, he notices that the artist has added an octopus, which doesn't appear in the book and Adam worries may disappoint his readers. Adam writes the book in the past tense as a man who lived through the events. As such, the cover art we see here is a handbill for the book we're reading, posted on a wall somewhere in New York City. We can see a palimpsest of other handbills behind it, including the spurious octopus.

It was only well after I read the book that I remembered wondering, on two separate occasions, why there was an octopus on the cover of the book and whether I could expect to encounter one. In other words, the octopus on the cover of Wilson's book, meant to represent the octopus on Hazzard's book, which was meant to entice readers to fantasize about an octopus that wasn't there enticed me to fantasize about an octopus that wasn't there. Ha!

There were a few plot points I wanted to resolve a bit differently, but such is good drama -- if you can choose how it all ends, it's not very dramatic, is it? Overall, a good read.
(less)

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Aug 12, 2012 Nathan rated it 4 of 5 stars

This was an unexpectedly good book. I picked this up mainly because of the author's other works like Spin and Darwinia, both of which are astoundingly original and well-written. This book didn't sound as interesting as either of those. I'm not much interested in Westerns, which is what the description of this book made it seem like to me. I was wrong about that, however.

The book begins in the year 2172 in a semi post-apocalyptic world. 21st century civilization collapsed due to a number of reas...more This was an unexpectedly good book. I picked this up mainly because of the author's other works like Spin and Darwinia, both of which are astoundingly original and well-written. This book didn't sound as interesting as either of those. I'm not much interested in Westerns, which is what the description of this book made it seem like to me. I was wrong about that, however.

The book begins in the year 2172 in a semi post-apocalyptic world. 21st century civilization collapsed due to a number of reasons, but mainly because the oil ran out. Disease ran rampant (as it would if we lost our modern medicines) and humans suffered from infertility to the point that humans were threatened with extinction. By the time of the events of this book, however, civilization in the United States and Europe has progressed roughly up to the age of steam.

The political situation is set up such that the US has expanded its borders to the equator (either at the Panama Canal or past it) and almost the north pole, although the polar ice cap has melted. The melting of the ice is itself a plot point in that the European powers claim to control the now-extant Northwest Passage, and the US of course denies this claim. The US and Europe are perpetually at war over the issue.

This is the backdrop for the story of the titular character, Julian Comstock. He is an aristocrat exiled to live in the country out west because his uncle, the President, is afraid of having him as a rival, but unwilling to simply kill him out of hand. The story is told by a Julian's friend Adam Hazzard, a commoner but one with an unusual amount of writing ability and education. Adam is with Julian from his exile to his rise through the ranks of the Army (and his eventual end) and details the story throughout.

In reality, this book seems to be an exercise in the craft of writing, moreso than it is an effort to tell the story. The story itself is as simple as it sounds, although it is not without adventure along the way. The episodes in the tale serve both to illustrate points about Julian as well as to spice the story up and keep it from becoming dull reading. It's not as if Wilson is attempting to blind the reader to what it is though; indeed, he tells us over and over again that the writer (Hazzard) is emulating his favorite author, a man named Charles Curtis Easton, in writing a tale full of adventure, humor, and tragedy. Which of course is what Wilson himself is doing. The story hearkens back to an older style of sci-fi novel wherein any science elements served only to liven up the narrative by allowing the existence of ray guns or flying through space. Note that I am not calling this book science fiction other than that futurism falls under the category of sci-fi by agreement.

Although the narration itself is quite serviceable, the prose tends towards a plainness which can be rather irritating. Hazzard's impenetrable naivete is really too much to take at times, even if it is a put-on (which question I pondered quite a bit as the story went on). Of course, unreliable narrators are not necessarily a drawback, as most definitely proven by Severian in Gene Wolfe's The Book of the New Sun. Neil Gaiman (a devoted fan of Wolfe's) ,while not being prone to giving first person narration, also has a habit of being unreliable in his storytelling, presenting his stories from a third-person limited viewpoint. In other words, one needn't be too bothered by a lack of knowledge on the part of the narrator if the writing is done well enough.

Of course, all along, while Adam is writing the story of Julian, he's really telling his own story. Julian's thoughts and feelings were always presented as being opaque to Adam, although he could possibly have presumed to know Julian better than anyone else did. The fact is that Wilson was writing the story of a character who considered himself secondary to another character who was, in fact, secondary to his own story. The question is whether Wilson succeeded in writing an interesting story. I think the answer is yes, although I can see how someone less impressed with Wilson's style may not be as favorably inclined towards a book which is about a writer writing a book. But Wilson (and Wilson as Hazzard) never set out to write a book which is really more than the formula he sets forth as Mr. Easton's model; a boy goes out, has adventures and finally comes home. And I think he succeeds at writing that story admirably.(less)

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Jul 30, 2012 Michael rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, science-fiction, dystopia, post-apocalyptic, alternative-history

Outstanding cyberpunk noir detective tale of a future Earth society in which class differences get amplified through high-tech longevity for the rich. The premise here is of an expensive process for recording brain activity with an implanted "spinal stack" which allows transfer of the personality/mind to a new brain/body, which may be a cloned version of yourself or a body from one whose mind is being "stored" for a long time as criminal punishment. Our intrepid hero, Kovacs, is an off-world ex-...more

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Nov 15, 2009 Jo rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Carl Henn (& he'll know why) and anyone who wants a thought-provoking adventure

Shelves: fantasy-and-science-fiction

This book is written in the style of a 19th century novel, is set in the 22nd century, and deals with issues that are relevant today, in an amusing and thought-provoking novel . The author does a great job of extrapolating from current events to an all too plausible future. The world-building in the book is quite neat: our times are now known as the Efflourescence of Oil. Since then there has been The End Of Oil, The False Tribulation (apparently mass dying off after we ran out of cheap gas &...more This book is written in the style of a 19th century novel, is set in the 22nd century, and deals with issues that are relevant today, in an amusing and thought-provoking novel . The author does a great job of extrapolating from current events to an all too plausible future. The world-building in the book is quite neat: our times are now known as the Efflourescence of Oil. Since then there has been The End Of Oil, The False Tribulation (apparently mass dying off after we ran out of cheap gas & oil), the reign of the Pious Presidents, and then a hereditary Presidency. The US consists – in the “now” of the book --of most of North America. The US government has three prongs: the executive branch (headquartered in a Palace in NYC), the military, and the Dominion Church of Jesus Christ - which is based in Colorado Springs. The Freedoms of America include the freedom to worship at any sanctioned church, the freedom of Pious Assembly and the freedom of Acceptable Speech. The US is at war with the Dutch (who represent the Mitteleuropans as mercenaries because the sea reclaimed much of Holland & they had to resettle & find a way to support themselves), in and around Montreal, for the control of the Northwest Passage - which Global Warming has made real & viable.

The hero, Julian Comstock, is the nephew of the dictatorial president Deklan Comstock, who has been sent to the backwoods to remove him from the view of his uncle. Julian is forced to flee his country hide-out with his friend Adam, a lease-boy attached to the estate where Julian was staying, and Sam Godwin, who is Julian's mentor since his father died in battle - his father being Bryce Comstock, army commander and brother of the president, who was sent into a hopeless conflict by Deklan who feared his brother's growing popularity would endanger his own tyrannical rule. Thus starts the adventure that is Julian’s life.

The book is written from the point of view of the main character’s boyhood friend, Adam Hazzard, a backwoods innocent whose wide eyed, good natured response to the world provides a light touch to some dark times and makes for some utterly hilarious footnotes (e.g., a quote uttered by one of the characters was attributed in a footnote to "either St. Ambrose or Timothy LeHaye, depending on sources") and comic misunderstandings. We understand the story through the surface of Adam's narrative and through our own our speculations about what is "really" going on. The book includes a few passages of Dutch & French (untranslated because the narrator doesn’t understand them, but it’s really worth your while to get them translated, or puzzle them out, if you can). The book is sometimes laugh out loud funny and sometimes wrenchingly poignant. A good read.
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Apr 22, 2009 Liviu rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2009_release_read, genre-sf, read_2009, review_fbc, t1_recommended_2009

This is just a superb book written in a very quiet and understated manner. I *had* to reread it twice, it was so compelling that I could not leave its characters and universe easily.

Set in a late 22nd century USA, essentially - 2172-2176 - with glimpses from the past and an epilogue some years later, we visit an America that is very familiar from the history books of the 19th century with some twists.

After the "age of Oil and Atheism" ended in catastrophe, with the "Fall of the Cities", the r...more

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Mar 20, 2011 Laura rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: science-fiction, alternate-history

It was fine. Thing got great reviews, and it was certainly readable. Written by someone who Knew His Craft. The Story of the Revolutionary King Told From The Perspective of the Farmboy Sidekick is a classic, and he added some nice touches to it. I especially liked how oblivious our side kick POV character was to a whole lot of the subtext, though I felt a little uncomfortable being complicit in the author’s smugness towards him. We can’t all be Kirk. Our heroes live in a future where oil ran out...more

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Sep 03, 2010 Aaron rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: books-read-in-2010

This review has spoilers in it further down, but the first several paragraphs are spoiler free. I will give another "spoiler" warning before I start discussing details of the events at the end of the story.

I loved this book. I would give it four and a half stars, if I could. Robert Charles Wilson is an amazing author. I've only read one of his other books before -- Spin -- which I also loved, and in fact, this one has some similar plot elements: the main character is best friends with a prodigy...more

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Jan 28, 2010 Lightreads rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, lgbt, science-fiction

A very cool book, mildly disappointing. Post oil crisis United States, with a constricted population, Presidential-military-religious government, nineteenth-century values. Country boy Adam Hazzard tells the story of his life with the President's nephew, Julian, in the army and in the capitol of New York.

What's great about this book is that it's post-apocalypse specfic written as a boy's own adventure nineteenth-century novel. And that makes it kind of awesome. The world building is the treat he...more

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Nov 30, 2009 Cindy rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: dystopic-or-apocalyptic, fiction, made-me-laugh, spec-fic, 2009-best-reads, favorites

1 part Tom Sawyer
+ 1 part Handmaid's Tale
+ 1 part Thucydides

Stir contents vigorously. Serve with eggs on hard tack with maggoty butter.

Sounds implausible, doesn't it?

The narrator, Adam Hazzard, tells the story of the rise of Julian Comstock, nephew and unwanted heir to the current President Deklan Comstock in 2172.

The world has survived an almost-apocalypse with the End of Oil and the Plague of Infertility. By the start of the story, new mega-countries have been formed, the population is growing...more

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Sep 25, 2010 Mark rated it 4 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jul 09, 2010 Catherine Siemann rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: neovictorians

Set in the late 22nd century, Julian Comstock has an oddly nineteenth century feeling. That's because, after the oil economy has come to an end, the United States (which now incorporates most of Canada) is ruled in part by Presidents elected by a monoparty system, and in part by the Dominion, a fundamentalist Christian coalition which polices morality as well as the cultural remnants of the past. Adam Hazzard, the persistently naive narrator, is a lower middle-class boy who's befriended by arist...more

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Nov 05, 2010 Roger rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction, hugo-nominee, favorites

This book had an impact on me. It elicited feelings from a deeper place than usual. The only other books to do that recently were Stephen King's Dark Tower series. It is Roland Deschain describing his world in that series which perfectly captures the feeling I got reading Julian Comstock.

The world has moved on.

The world has moved on and I felt sad because Robert Charles Wilson was describing a possible future of my country. I didn't like the glimpse he provided because I can't abide the idea of...more

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Apr 27, 2010 Craighayden rated it 5 of 5 stars

Hard to encapsulate what is great about this book - since it is wonderful for so many reasons. I suppose its setting is "post-apocalyptic," for it imagines an America after oil that has refashioned itself as a kind of 19th century developing industrial nation, caught in the grip of crushing industrial feudalism and an oppressive church hierarchy. It also is written as a kind of 19th century novel, which adds to the world-building flavor. Yet while this novel excels in its truly inventive setting...more

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About Robert Charles Wilson

Born in California, Robert Charles Wilson lives in Toronto. Darwinia won Canada's Aurora Award, The Chronoliths won the John W. Campbell Award, and Blind Lake is a New York Times Notable Book. All three were Hugo finalists. Spin won the Hugo for best novel.

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“You must not make the mistake of thinking that because nothing lasts, nothing matters.” — 9 people liked it

“What a person runs from and what a person runs to aren't always as different as we hope.” — 3 people liked it

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