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Across the Zodiac
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444 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1880
135 people are currently reading
336 people want to read
About the author
Percy Greg
97 books1 followerPercy Greg (1836, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk - 24 December 1889, Chelsea), son of William Rathbone Greg, was an English writer.
Percy Greg, like his father, wrote about politics, but his views were violently reactionary: his History of the United States to the Reconstruction of the Union (1887) can be said to be more of a polemic, rather than a history.
His Across The Zodiac (1880) is an early science fiction novel, said to be the progenitor of the sword-and-planet genre.
Percy Greg, like his father, wrote about politics, but his views were violently reactionary: his History of the United States to the Reconstruction of the Union (1887) can be said to be more of a polemic, rather than a history.
His Across The Zodiac (1880) is an early science fiction novel, said to be the progenitor of the sword-and-planet genre.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
June 19, 2016
This book was a chore to finish. The author was not concerned with entertainment and not really concerned with inspiring the imagination. Percy Greg spent almost 400 pages on a tiresome political statement that must have been dated back in 1880.
None of this book's problems really stem from it being from the 19th century, if that's what you're thinking. In that time, “stained glass” or “purple” prose was more common, but it was often a thing of beauty done in the service of satisfying genre plots. Percy Greg's walls of unbroken text read like stereo instructions.
I have a fatal flaw in that I am attracted to any seminal work of science-fantasy, especially if it's long and obscure. In this case it caused me to suffer through the entirety of this rightfully-obscure phonebook of a novel.
Let me make something clear: there is no plot.
In a sense, there is a story, a highly lopsided confused narrative with a structure that is little better than gelatinous. This is a mess. Some reviewers do describe a plot, but in truth this doesn't begin to rear it's head until the final third of the book.
In a typical sword & planet styled prologue, the reader is introduced to the “wrecked record” in question, found in the wreckage of a spaceship that crashed on a desert island. This really got my hopes up, but I'm warning you now that this was literally the best part of the entire book. Following this, we are introduced to an amateur scientist “hero” who builds a ship and wastes 50 very stuffy pages flying to Mars in it. Once on Mars, he makes some friends and promptly gets married to a safely human alien.
In one of the endless blocks of text that passes for dialogue, our hero's father-in-law on Mars gives us a lengthy history lesson which openly and repeatedly reinforced the points that communism never works and that woman is an inferior species who is too stupid to exist without a man. Shortly after these shatteringly progressive statements, we are also instructed that society is doomed without a return to religion and that atheism breeds destructive self-interest.
“Across the Zodiac” is a weak narrative wrapped around a reactionary political manifesto. Whatever science it may pose or predict is just window-dressing for the awful central idea. The drama is dishonest, especially since most of it concerns the hero's marriage to a wife who is constantly described as “childlike” and “the limitations of her sex” are discussed in nearly every piece of dialogue they exchange. I suppose this means that the only use of this relic would be for anyone curious about gender roles 140 years ago.
Also: this books takes place on Mars, but the narrator never uses the term “Martian”. At every turn he says “Martial”. It annoyed me to no end.
Oh, and there's polygamy and an obsession with human waste as fertilizer.
Oh! And action: there isn't any. In the whole bloated package there might be as many as 5 pages that contain any kind of real action. The rest is stuffing, woman-weeping, and grampa-ravings.
Some people called “Gulliver of Mars” boring, but compared with “Across the Zodiac” it's a taut thrill-ride. “Across the Zodiac” is not worth your time. It sucks and I hate it.
None of this book's problems really stem from it being from the 19th century, if that's what you're thinking. In that time, “stained glass” or “purple” prose was more common, but it was often a thing of beauty done in the service of satisfying genre plots. Percy Greg's walls of unbroken text read like stereo instructions.
I have a fatal flaw in that I am attracted to any seminal work of science-fantasy, especially if it's long and obscure. In this case it caused me to suffer through the entirety of this rightfully-obscure phonebook of a novel.
Let me make something clear: there is no plot.
In a sense, there is a story, a highly lopsided confused narrative with a structure that is little better than gelatinous. This is a mess. Some reviewers do describe a plot, but in truth this doesn't begin to rear it's head until the final third of the book.
In a typical sword & planet styled prologue, the reader is introduced to the “wrecked record” in question, found in the wreckage of a spaceship that crashed on a desert island. This really got my hopes up, but I'm warning you now that this was literally the best part of the entire book. Following this, we are introduced to an amateur scientist “hero” who builds a ship and wastes 50 very stuffy pages flying to Mars in it. Once on Mars, he makes some friends and promptly gets married to a safely human alien.
In one of the endless blocks of text that passes for dialogue, our hero's father-in-law on Mars gives us a lengthy history lesson which openly and repeatedly reinforced the points that communism never works and that woman is an inferior species who is too stupid to exist without a man. Shortly after these shatteringly progressive statements, we are also instructed that society is doomed without a return to religion and that atheism breeds destructive self-interest.
“Across the Zodiac” is a weak narrative wrapped around a reactionary political manifesto. Whatever science it may pose or predict is just window-dressing for the awful central idea. The drama is dishonest, especially since most of it concerns the hero's marriage to a wife who is constantly described as “childlike” and “the limitations of her sex” are discussed in nearly every piece of dialogue they exchange. I suppose this means that the only use of this relic would be for anyone curious about gender roles 140 years ago.
Also: this books takes place on Mars, but the narrator never uses the term “Martian”. At every turn he says “Martial”. It annoyed me to no end.
Oh, and there's polygamy and an obsession with human waste as fertilizer.
Oh! And action: there isn't any. In the whole bloated package there might be as many as 5 pages that contain any kind of real action. The rest is stuffing, woman-weeping, and grampa-ravings.
Some people called “Gulliver of Mars” boring, but compared with “Across the Zodiac” it's a taut thrill-ride. “Across the Zodiac” is not worth your time. It sucks and I hate it.
July 12, 2016
This is just so incredibly dull. I decided to pick it up for the apparent influence on later works and as I wanted something a bit mindless, however this is no pulp adventure. It's not even a Vernian scientific romance. It's like being told the holidays of someone who wants to list ever type of food they had at the buffet and then moans about all the locals being too foreign. Clumsy political speeches, cheap melodrama and paragraphs that run across numerous pages. Avoid this, you won't learn anything important.
March 15, 2019
About a man who flys to mars and the martian society he encounters. Lot of layers to this, its a romance, adventure with lots of stuff about society and technology. couple of really boring bits, but it gets better as it goes along.
July 31, 2014
This 400-page British science fiction novel published in 1880 is the progenitor of the sword-and-planet genre - and I consider it original "Steampunk." Influential on the writings of H.G. Wells and Edgar Rice Burroughs, but duller than watching beige paint dry in a dark room.
September 20, 2016
There are good bits here, but they are few and far between. The antiquated sexism and racism has not aged well.
June 7, 2016
I'm not a science fiction reader. Never have been. But in an effort to broaden my horizons I have set out to find the earliest examples to read. Across the Zodiac was published in 1880 but the story is set in 1830. It incredibly interesting to read about a trip to Mars written almost 80 years before we put a man in space.
The book was definitely a struggle to read. The language is archaic. The first quarter of the book bogs you down with faux-scientific minutia. A good two thirds of the book describes what is basically Martian harem life. The theme of most the book centers around the idea that if women are given equal status to men then they become more subservient to men. An additional theme is that of a Supreme Being (God) on Mars and Earth that gives hope in life after death. The only action in the book is in the last chapter. The book ends rather abruptly with no tie-in to the beginning of the book.
My digital copy was almost 400 pages long. With some careful editing this story could easily be abridged to 200 pages and nothing lost from the story.
The book was definitely a struggle to read. The language is archaic. The first quarter of the book bogs you down with faux-scientific minutia. A good two thirds of the book describes what is basically Martian harem life. The theme of most the book centers around the idea that if women are given equal status to men then they become more subservient to men. An additional theme is that of a Supreme Being (God) on Mars and Earth that gives hope in life after death. The only action in the book is in the last chapter. The book ends rather abruptly with no tie-in to the beginning of the book.
My digital copy was almost 400 pages long. With some careful editing this story could easily be abridged to 200 pages and nothing lost from the story.
January 14, 2018
This must have been more fun to write than to read. It coudn't have been less. Even with intensive skimming, it seemed interminable. There is no sense of an ending to match the beginning, which is horribly confusing in itself. Set aside the implausibility of Mars being just like Earth but with smaller people, it's pretty much rot from beginning to end, and creepily paedophiliac to boot. You really should avoid this book.
September 26, 2024
That was a… chore. But it was a good example, for contemporary genre authors, of precisely what NOT to do when it comes to worldbuilding exposition, aka info dumps.
January 13, 2023
A somewhat neglected but pioneering work of SF, "Across the Zodiac" straddles the gap between the social utopias/dystopias of the 19th century and the "sword and planet" adventures of the early 20th. I have previously posted about such fore-runners of the genre as "Gullivar of Mars" and "A Columbus of Space", but this book predates them all by over 20 years. And in truth, it has more in common with the social dystopias and satires of the 18th century than the pulpy adventures of Edgar Rice Burroughs.
As so often with 19th century SF, the book begins with the discovery of a manuscript, which contains the records of the protagonist of our story. In this case it is the pinnacle of evolution, i.e. a Brit. A former soldier and a scientist, the protagonist describes the invention of a space ship propelled by the fictional phenomenon of "apersia", he describes a trip to Mars, in which he finds himself among a diminutive race if highly evolved humans, and is taken in by a local lord, who turns out to be a member of a secret resistance movement. Falling in love and eventually marrying the lord's daughter, the protagonist soon falls in the good graces of the Prince of Mars, supreme ruler of the planet, and against his will is gifted a large mansion and an entourage of new wives, as is custumary for a lord on Mars to have. But his Christian morals and honour make life difficult for him in this brave new, technologically driven and soulless Martian society. With time he becomes a central figure in the resistance movement, which espouse the forbidden idea of the existance of a "higher power".
The book begins promisingly, anticipating high adventure and interesting social ponderings, as well as a number of very interesting technological inventions, such as the electric car, submarines, speech decoders, telephones, moving images and holograms. But it soon descends into a rather tedious court drama, and is bogged down by its wordy and stilted writing.
This is at heart a reactionary dystopia.
As so often with 19th century SF, the book begins with the discovery of a manuscript, which contains the records of the protagonist of our story. In this case it is the pinnacle of evolution, i.e. a Brit. A former soldier and a scientist, the protagonist describes the invention of a space ship propelled by the fictional phenomenon of "apersia", he describes a trip to Mars, in which he finds himself among a diminutive race if highly evolved humans, and is taken in by a local lord, who turns out to be a member of a secret resistance movement. Falling in love and eventually marrying the lord's daughter, the protagonist soon falls in the good graces of the Prince of Mars, supreme ruler of the planet, and against his will is gifted a large mansion and an entourage of new wives, as is custumary for a lord on Mars to have. But his Christian morals and honour make life difficult for him in this brave new, technologically driven and soulless Martian society. With time he becomes a central figure in the resistance movement, which espouse the forbidden idea of the existance of a "higher power".
The book begins promisingly, anticipating high adventure and interesting social ponderings, as well as a number of very interesting technological inventions, such as the electric car, submarines, speech decoders, telephones, moving images and holograms. But it soon descends into a rather tedious court drama, and is bogged down by its wordy and stilted writing.
This is at heart a reactionary dystopia.
June 1, 2013
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Book Review: Across The Zodiac By Percy Greg: A Slow Journey From Earth To Mars
Across The Zodiac by Percy Greg (Born 1836, died December 24 1889) is an interesting historical reproduction pertaining to the period prior to 1923. Across The Zodiac, written in 1880 is a good science fiction that can be treated as a predecessor of the genre that evolved later named as sword and planet. The title could seem to be misleading to some at first instance who would be thinking it as something related to zodiac, sun sign, moon sign, astrology etc.
The story revolves around secret societies, romance and military combats with excellent amount of characterization, sequencing, and script. Overall it is an interesting thriller. The story belongs to the latter part of 19th century where a man decides to chalks out to his way to travel from earth to a planet supposed to resemble earth known as Mars. The man manages to reach at Mars and strangely finds there existence of a society that resembles to those at earth but varied from them in many aspects.
The two negative points of this book are – one, the title that is confusing and misleading; two – the storyline which is damn slow. It takes ages (and pages) to read about a small instance that could be finished in half a paragraph which has been written in such a descriptive manner. Overall, if you have patience and persistence to afford and manage to get through the slowness and boredom while reading this book; you are bound to find it interesting enough to crossover.
Book Review: Across The Zodiac By Percy Greg: A Slow Journey From Earth To Mars
Across The Zodiac by Percy Greg (Born 1836, died December 24 1889) is an interesting historical reproduction pertaining to the period prior to 1923. Across The Zodiac, written in 1880 is a good science fiction that can be treated as a predecessor of the genre that evolved later named as sword and planet. The title could seem to be misleading to some at first instance who would be thinking it as something related to zodiac, sun sign, moon sign, astrology etc.
The story revolves around secret societies, romance and military combats with excellent amount of characterization, sequencing, and script. Overall it is an interesting thriller. The story belongs to the latter part of 19th century where a man decides to chalks out to his way to travel from earth to a planet supposed to resemble earth known as Mars. The man manages to reach at Mars and strangely finds there existence of a society that resembles to those at earth but varied from them in many aspects.
The two negative points of this book are – one, the title that is confusing and misleading; two – the storyline which is damn slow. It takes ages (and pages) to read about a small instance that could be finished in half a paragraph which has been written in such a descriptive manner. Overall, if you have patience and persistence to afford and manage to get through the slowness and boredom while reading this book; you are bound to find it interesting enough to crossover.
December 15, 2021
2019 Popsugar Reading Challenge - A book with a zodiac sign or astrology term in the title:
I normally enjoy sci-fi/futuristic books written long ago, and this one was promising as it was written in 1880 and involves space travel to Mars, and is set 30 years prior to publication. However, this one was a chore to get through. It concerns a man who flies to Mars and of course finds it colonized. I enjoyed the setup of the story, which actually begins with the narrator's ship crash landing back on Earth. We then jump to the trip there and the discovery of a society with some similarities but many differences to our own. The problem is that the scientific explanations, some of which are quaint, some of which were actually way ahead of their time, quickly get too detailed and over-explained. Similarly. the traveler's interactions with the Martians quickly become apparently a platform for the author to exhaustively share his political beliefs about different forms of government. This was definitely a promising read but ultimately a struggle to finish.
I normally enjoy sci-fi/futuristic books written long ago, and this one was promising as it was written in 1880 and involves space travel to Mars, and is set 30 years prior to publication. However, this one was a chore to get through. It concerns a man who flies to Mars and of course finds it colonized. I enjoyed the setup of the story, which actually begins with the narrator's ship crash landing back on Earth. We then jump to the trip there and the discovery of a society with some similarities but many differences to our own. The problem is that the scientific explanations, some of which are quaint, some of which were actually way ahead of their time, quickly get too detailed and over-explained. Similarly. the traveler's interactions with the Martians quickly become apparently a platform for the author to exhaustively share his political beliefs about different forms of government. This was definitely a promising read but ultimately a struggle to finish.
April 24, 2021
Wonderful fantasy 📚
Due to eye issues Alexa reads to me, a will written fantasy Sci-Fi space opera. The characters are interesting and will developed. The story line is about relationships, romance, and the discovery of Mars. I would recommend this novel to readers of fantasy Sci-Fi. Enjoy reading 🔰2021😣
Due to eye issues Alexa reads to me, a will written fantasy Sci-Fi space opera. The characters are interesting and will developed. The story line is about relationships, romance, and the discovery of Mars. I would recommend this novel to readers of fantasy Sci-Fi. Enjoy reading 🔰2021😣
July 16, 2015
Across the Zodiac isn't what I thought it would be, it isn't bad at all but I would have thought it in a Sci-Fi fiction. It drags quite a bit but it isn't bad.
Read
February 26, 2016Dreadful. But necessary if you want to know about early (1888?) science-fiction adventure fiction, especially on Mars.
December 6, 2024
Never mind the print-on-demand Kindle garbage: It's on Wikisource, for gosh sakes! https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Across...
Eminently readable, fascinating, and remarkable. The very idea! A fellow recovering from the U. S. Civil War journeys to Mars on a vessel names the "Astronaut" and finds himself in a society in which men have all the power, but . . . . In a world where everything is scientific and secular, but . . . . And, most, importantly, a world were Earthmen has swords and super-strength (Mars has lesser mass, so, lower gravity, so, Earth muscles are stronger). And airships (balloons) and submarines. And . . .
This may be were it all started, rambling on through John Carter, Ray Bradbury, and Matt Damon as The Martian™.
Yes, Greg is a sexist, racist product of his time.
Are you?
Or are you able to be a human being with an understanding of history? Can you rise above your own time? In this one area? Can you recognize when someone else rises above their own time for a moment, even when they sink to the mundane at others? Can you rise above you own time? At all?
There is so much of value in Across the Zodiac that it must be read, read, read.
Eminently readable, fascinating, and remarkable. The very idea! A fellow recovering from the U. S. Civil War journeys to Mars on a vessel names the "Astronaut" and finds himself in a society in which men have all the power, but . . . . In a world where everything is scientific and secular, but . . . . And, most, importantly, a world were Earthmen has swords and super-strength (Mars has lesser mass, so, lower gravity, so, Earth muscles are stronger). And airships (balloons) and submarines. And . . .
This may be were it all started, rambling on through John Carter, Ray Bradbury, and Matt Damon as The Martian™.
Yes, Greg is a sexist, racist product of his time.
Are you?
Or are you able to be a human being with an understanding of history? Can you rise above your own time? In this one area? Can you recognize when someone else rises above their own time for a moment, even when they sink to the mundane at others? Can you rise above you own time? At all?
There is so much of value in Across the Zodiac that it must be read, read, read.
January 27, 2021
La primera novela sobre viajes a Marte. Trata de un narrador anónimo que viaja al Planeta Rojo en una nave llamada Astronauta, capaz de repeler la gravedad de la Tierra.
¿Suena interesante? Sí, al principio lo es. La mejor parte del libro es el viaje por el espacio y la llegada al Planeta Rojo. Lo demás es basura. ¿Por qué? Bueno, resulta que Percy Greg era un tipo violentamente reaccionario, incluso para los estándares de su época.
Toda su novela (que no es nada corta: 400 páginas) es apenas más que un panfleto en el que este triste hombrecito utiliza el escenario marciano como un pretexto para despotricar sobre porqué la democracia es cosa del diablo, porqué todos deben creer en Dios, porqué la naturaleza debe ser sojuzgada por el hombre, porqué en el futuro todas las razas que no sean arias deberán desaparecer, porqué progreso significa homogeneización cultural y, en fin, porqué las mujeres deben permanecer en el hogar haciendo cosas de mujeres.
En conclusión, se trata de un libro aburridísimo que sólo le recomiendo a quien quiera adentrarse en los orígenes de la ciencia ficción temprana…
¿Suena interesante? Sí, al principio lo es. La mejor parte del libro es el viaje por el espacio y la llegada al Planeta Rojo. Lo demás es basura. ¿Por qué? Bueno, resulta que Percy Greg era un tipo violentamente reaccionario, incluso para los estándares de su época.
Toda su novela (que no es nada corta: 400 páginas) es apenas más que un panfleto en el que este triste hombrecito utiliza el escenario marciano como un pretexto para despotricar sobre porqué la democracia es cosa del diablo, porqué todos deben creer en Dios, porqué la naturaleza debe ser sojuzgada por el hombre, porqué en el futuro todas las razas que no sean arias deberán desaparecer, porqué progreso significa homogeneización cultural y, en fin, porqué las mujeres deben permanecer en el hogar haciendo cosas de mujeres.
En conclusión, se trata de un libro aburridísimo que sólo le recomiendo a quien quiera adentrarse en los orígenes de la ciencia ficción temprana…
July 13, 2015
Written thirty years before Edgar Rice Burroughs' masterful "A Princess of Mars" Percy Greg's vision of the Red Planet bears an uncanny resemblance to Barsoom! This is the action packed progenitor of every Space Opera to come after.
Read
August 22, 2008Across The Zodiac The Story Of A Wrecked Record by Percy Greg (2004)
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews