Captive Universe

by Harry Harrison

"For the first fifty pages you'll swear that Harrison has been rummaging in an old trunk. Here's that tired old theme...the lost community of Aztecs who have been cut off in a hidden valley by a landslide centuries ago. Presently they will discover the outside world--our world. The stalwart Aztec maverick may even fall in love with a beautiful white explorer...Of course, any reader of Analog Magazine should know Harry Harrison better than that. There are rumblings, even in the first chapters. The Aztecs are blond--that old Fair God bit again. Someone is feeding the vultures meat from an unspecified source. And surely we're not supposed to accept a snake-headed goddess? Trust Uncle Harry. On page 55, young Chimal follows the goddess through a secret door in the cliffs, with his whole tribe hunting him, & the story turns inside out."--P. Schuyler Miller

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Fantasy, Science Fiction Fantasy, American, Space, 20th Century

160 pages, paper

First published February 1, 1969

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Harry Harrison (born Henry Maxwell Dempsey) was an American science fiction author best known for his character the The Stainless Steel Rat and the novel Make Room! Make Room! (1966), the basis for the film Soylent Green (1973). He was also (with Brian W. Aldiss) co-president of the Birmingham Science Fiction Group.

Excerpted from Wikipedia.

Reviews

[Manny · Rating 3 out of 5]

He's a member of an Aztec tribe who live in an isolated valley. There has been no contact with the outside world for as long as anyone can remember. No one seems very curious to find out more.

But the hero notices weird stuff he can't explain. (I mean, weirder than the fact that it isn't safe to go out at night because of the snake-headed goddess, Coatlicue, who prowls in the woods). He watches the sun as it goes down, and there's always this bizarre flash just as it disappears from view. Now what could be causing that?

It turns out to be a variation on a well-known SF theme, but it's quite a nice one...

[Bbrown · Rating 2 out of 5]

Harry Harrison may just be the purest exemplar of the pulp sci-fi writer. His books are filled with tropes you’ve seen before, his characters are archetypes at best but usually just cardboard cutouts, and his writing is devoid of inspiration. Captive Universe is a good case study for how a pulp rendition of an idea can fail even when that same idea, done more skillfully, can succeed.

First, a brief overview of the plot, including spoilers (though certain covers for Captive Universe, and perhaps the title itself, already spoil the main twist). Our protagonist Chimal is an Aztec that lives in a valley where everyone grows corn, worships the gods with blood sacrifices, all that good Aztec stuff. Chimal is the product of an affair between two Aztecs from different villages, and such affairs are a big no-no. While the rest of the Aztecs are slack-jawed idiots that unquestioningly accept the status quo, Chimal wonders what is outside of the valley that all the Aztecs have been trapped in for hundreds of years, doesn’t like his whole life being dictated to him by society’s rules, and eventually breaks from tradition in ways that earn him the ire of the Aztec establishment. Harrison fails to write Chimal as a person that has been trapped in this valley and indoctrinated in the Aztec ways for his entire life, instead Harrison writes Chimal as nearly indistinguishable from a normal 20th century guy dropped into this setting.

After his breaking of traditions Chimal goes on the run, which eventually results in Chimal escaping from the valley and learning that it’s not a valley at all, but rather the central chamber in a giant generation ship that has been travelling to Alpha Centauri for over 500 years! This generation ship is crewed by the Watchers, who observe the Aztecs and control their environment, and who are so dumb and helpless that I originally thought they had all been lobotomized or were mentally disabled due to radiation. While the Watchers are initially hostile to Chimal, they soon realize that he is an ubermensch in their eyes and revere him. Eventually Chimal discovers that the Watchers, despite being dimwits, had enough control that they changed the course of the generation ship and screwed up its entire mission. Chimal hurries to correct their mistake.

Captive Universe didn’t break any new ground for science fiction, instead it’s a pulp sci-fi adventure story with a novel setting. At least, that’s what it is on its surface. If you examine nearly any element of the narrative you’ll find that it’s either arbitrary or doesn’t make sense. Case in point: why Aztecs? The book hand waves that away, saying only that they were “chosen after due consideration of all the primitive tribes of Earth.” My bet is that Harrison found an Aztec history book at his local library, and he was off to the races. Why is everyone an idiot? The book suggests that everyone in Captive Universe was selected to be stupid in one way or another, but nothing of the grand design at play necessitates that they all be dumb dumbs. If anything, the book illustrates why this was a terrible idea, as the idiots are unable to fix things and intentionally screw things up (though, again, why they were given enough control to do that instead of everything being pre-set is nonsensical). Affairs between the different villages being verboten ends up being so important that I have to wonder, why weren’t the two villages made to be physically separate, rather than relying on cultural taboos? There are a dozen issues with the story, and they magnify each other to the point where the entire plot falls apart if you try to actually think about it. But hey, this is pulp, so it’s not meant to be seriously considered.

And it’s a shame that Harrison was satisfied with setting the bar so low, because this same concept has been done more than once to far better effect than in Captive Universe. The two examples I have in mind are the film WALL-E and Gene Wolfe’s The Book of the Long Sun. These two works are vastly different in execution, but both deal with generation ships where the population has largely forgotten their terrestrial roots, and furthermore where the mission of the generation ship has been accomplished but its inhabitants are ignorant of that fact. There are additional similarities as well, for instance in WALL-E the ship’s artificial intelligence plays the same role as the Master Observer in Captive Universe, wanting to perpetuate the journey forever. In The Book of the Long Sun the generation ship likewise takes the form of a huge hollowed out cylinder, though in that book the physical reality of living in a cylindrical space actually makes sense unlike in Captive Universe. I’m not going to go into the virtues of both of these works, but, suffice it to say, they are both more satisfying than Captive Universe.

This book is fluff, something to be consumed so as to help pass the time, but that will not leave you with any new ideas or inspire any heartfelt emotions. At its most substantive it is a banal criticism of mindlessly adhering to cultural norms, whether in the form of religious faith or some other type of zealotry (a piece of sci-fi that covers this topic much more substantially is A Canticle for Leibowitz). And this boring message is delivered through an adventure story that is, if you don’t think about it too much, boilerplate, and, that if you do think about it critically, doesn’t make much sense. If you’re looking for a purveyor of pulp then Harrison’s works may well fit the bill. If you’re looking for anything better, look elsewhere. 2.5/5, rounding down.

[Tomislav · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, I’ve skipped forward another decade in my reading list of generation ship novels, from Robert Heinlein’s Orphans of the Sky (1941), to Brian Adiss’s Non-Stop (1958), and now to Harry Harrison’s Captive Universe (1969). In it, Harrison gives us a generation ship carved out of a rotating rocky asteroid with an internal human civilization based on Aztec culture. It is an especially bloody culture, locked in a static survivalist level of technology, which probably bears only superficial resemblance to real Aztecs. For example, the Aztecs are blond and blue-eyed. Secretly observing them and maintaining the status quo is another group of humans, locked in a monastic culture also static but at a higher level of technology.

Chimal is the now adult product of a forbidden sexual relationship between an Aztec man and an Aztec woman of a differing village. There are clues, but the reader is immersed in Chimal’s world for almost of a third of the novel before he really sees the anachronisms. As he gradually learns of the reality of his world, it also becomes clear that he is vitally and intellectually superior to all members of both cultures in his world. The reason he is superior is revealed as part of the design of the world itself, and he is believably frustrated with dealing with the others. The narrative suffers from having essentially only one character, surrounded by minor characters of intentionally dull personalities. Harrison’s clear preference is to use this story as a platform for describing his creatively imagined generation ship and its origins, sometimes in clumsy info-dump form.

The novel is intriguing and easily read, but from a characterization point of view, just mediocre. It is something of a throwback to science fiction’s Golden Age of earlier decades. I read it because it is covered in Lecture 8 “The Spaceship as a Science Fiction Icon” of the video lecture series How Great Science Fiction Works.

[Sean Randall · Rating 4 out of 5]

right from the opening pages of this work, you get a sense of stifled expression, of set ways and things not to be broken. the "Clan Taboo" applying to relationships mentioned almost at the outset and the expectant nature of Quiauh's punishment for her transgression of over a decade ago is a gripping entree.

Chimal is a different sort of character, though - Chimal Junior, I mean. The obvious inference is that the relationship - the forbidden, taboo, hither too unthinkable relationship has something to do with it. I suppose reading beyond the start of Chapter 3 might aid me in finding out precisely why...

The sacrificial nature of these people can't help but disgust me. perhaps I'm forcing my own religious views onto a work of fiction, but the description of the 'wriggling puppy's' sacrifice - "It looked up at
them, its tongue out and panting in the heat, while Citlallatonac, as first
priest this was his duty, plunged his black obsidian knife into the little
animal's chest. Then, with practiced skill, he tore out its still beating heart
and held it high as sacrifice to Tlaloc, letting the blood spatter among the
stalks of corn." makes me quite annoyed. I'm a sucker for furry, cute little animals.

By the end of the "inside" portion of the novel, it seems obvious that there's a lot to answer - and with 2 thirds of the book to go I assume I'm going to get my wish. Chimal's got his exit, we've confirmed his biological father to be someone from a neighbouring village rather than a local, and we have a mysterious, dangerous God who cannot see him when he hides underwater and a sun that won't rise if the appropriate prayers haven't been said. Chimal is the watcher, of course, he's discovered all this: but to corrupt Juvenal's words to our own context, Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? nothing about women or police here, perhaps; but who's watching the villages?


"She obviously had little curiosity about things unknown." We're well and truly "in", now; or outside, if you want to stick to it. Seems to be a motif, this lack of curiosity. People with advanced technology, vast stores,, vacuum-sealed equipment - all points at this stuff being kept until needed, with simple operating instructions for those who intend on doing the operating. Looks like they need it, too - they aren't the brightest bulbs in the candelabra. But the religious symbology is strong here, as strong in a way as it was in the village, which points to a conjoined origin for the two now very diverse groups. Whether that's origin-as-ancestors or origin-as-overseers... Time will tell.

So, as I start "the stars" portion with the final third to go, I will desist in this little commentary so as not to spoil the ending. I shall return to finish and post this upon my completion of this intriguing work.

And thus, but for the split of a paragraph, I return, the novel finished and the day an hour or so lost. As I wrote above, I daren't ruin the surprise of the ending, although I will say that it's a shame it ended the way it did - i.e. in such an open and "there may be more to say but I didn't bother" kind of a way. Still, the characters were interesting, the plot at least mildly gripping and the story, although not quite original, well-told.

[Annika · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mu hinnang kukkus peale seda, kui Asteekide talupoeg, kes oskas vaevu lugeda, hakkas järsku tehnilisi juhendeid lugema ja inimestele gravitatsiooni õpetama.

[Antonis · Rating 2 out of 5]

Captive universe is a rather short novel about an Aztec young man whose restless and inquisitive spirit makes him dare to deny tradition and fears and start discovering the real world around him. What he discovers is something he could never have imagined or believed.... but we, readers, must have expected just by looking at the front cover! And that is my first major complaint of the novel! Maybe this would have had more of a kick if I didn't already know what's going on.. but we are being shown and told before we even start reading. Actually it's very hard to talk about this novel without spoilers but I will do my best.
Complaint no 2 is of course plot and character development, which is a big mess and totally absolutely unbelievable... in a bad way! At one point in the book, a certain person has hardly seen a tool made of metal or a wheel before and lo and behold! a few hours/days later he can fix a huge air-purification or air-conditioning system just by a quick glance in a few minutes or explain cosmological and geophysical differences based on centrifugal forces vs gravity or understand the nature of hospitable planets and solar systems... and you get my meaning! Other characters also display the same incontinuity of personality and mentality which is a rather poor feat if we take into account that the number of all the main and secondary characters is not even half a dozen.
Complaint no 3 is that Harry Harrison is not that great of a writer. He's not bad but he will not excite with his wordcraft either. As I always focus a lot more on dialogue than descriptions, I thought his dialogues were rather rough, forced and not very realistic.
Maybe my expectations were higher that they should have been but I felt disappointed by this book. I can't really recommend it.

[Malcolm Cox · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a tough one to talk about without giving away spoilers. For the first quarter of the book the story follows Chimal as he lives his life in the valley with the two Aztec villages and patrolled by a murderous snake-headed god. The story is barbarous and looks to be headed in a particular direction regarding what's beyond the rockfall blocking off the exit to the valley. Once Chimal finds out the story takes on a completely new take.
In some ways this story feels very classic sci-fi and if this were put on screen as is it would look very much like sci-fi from the 60s. However, people are still people and the discussion into the human condition is just as relevant now. The characters may be extreme caricatures of particular human characteristics, but the message behind it is very clear.
A very clever book with hidden layers to it with a very satisfying ending.

[Garrie Fletcher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brilliant old school sci-fi with enough twists n turns and big ideas to keep you turning the pages until the end. This was recommended to me by my brother in law and he was bang on the money, great book. What starts off as a tale of ancient Aztecs terrorised by a real god ends up as a claustrophobic epic set aboard a vast colony ship heading towards the promised land. Very well written with economy and wit a must for any sci-fi collection.

[Antonio Ippolito · Rating 2 out of 5]

“La valle è lunga, stretta, percorsa da un fiume e interamente chiusa in una cerchia di montagne invalicabili. La leggenda dice che un giorno il popolo ne uscirà, ma da tempo immemorabile tutti obbediscono alle ferree leggi stabilite dai sacerdoti o da Coatlicue, la crudele divinità che si aggira di notte per la valle con la sua veste di serpenti vivi e che uccide in un istante chiunque si trovi fuori dalla propria capanna. Una vita regolare, monotona, priva di orizzonti, che tutti accettano senza discutere, senza pensare. Tutti meno il giovane Chimal, che vede volare i neri avvoltoi verso le montagne e comincia a chiedersi: che cosa ci sarà al di là?”
Così la IV di copertina. Questo “Captive world” del 1969 rientra nel filone, appunto, dei “captive worlds”: dove società umane vengono tenute completamente all’oscuro della loro vera situazione, e indotte a credere che la realtà intorno a loro sia completamente diversa. Possiamo assumere come esempio il Dick della Penultima verità, o il Budrys di Morte dell’Utopia, nonché “La città di sotto” di Tofte, o “Found wanting” di Lin Carter, quasi tutti in ambientazioni sotterranee; oppure, in ambientazioni spaziali, l’indimenticabile racconto di Ballard “Tredici verso Centauro”, o il suo emulo “Eclissi 2000” di Lino Aldani. E sono tutti, in fondo, lontani discendenti del mito platonico della caverna: dove un solo spirito illuminato saprà uscire a cercare la vera essenza della realtà.
Il romanzo di Harrison non è, diciamolo, all’altezza di questi illustri progenitori; pur senza arrivare a un giudizio tagliente come questo: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... , non posso cosiderarlo più di un buon romanzo di intrattenimento.
La ricostruzione della vita azteca è buona; c’è qualche dettglio incomprensibile, es. i ripetuti accenni ai capelli biondi dei personaggi (secondo il romanzo, quanto meno nella sua traduzione, questi non dovrebbero essere americani convinti a vivere come Aztechi, ma veri Aztechi!) Altrettanto strano è che macinino continuamente frumento, visto che quella civiltà conosceva solo il mais: ma questa dev’essere una svista della traduzione. Il fatto che i misteriosi Osservatori si ritirino più volte “per un servizio”, probabilmente “service” nel senso di funzione religiosa o vera e propria Messa, può essere un’attenzione della traduttrice in un testo già piuttosto anticlericale di suo, visto che la prima pubblicazione è del ’70.
Ammirevole la copertina: Thole sfoggia un iperrealismo da fare invidia a Rich Corben, e soprattutto, a differenza di molte copertine anglosassoni, NON spoilera la trama.. di conseguenza, NON le propongo qui.

[Hirondelle (not getting notifications) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read long long ago, no clue how I would respond to it now, but the idea, the concept of the setting, the verve, the pace, it was exhilarating...

[John Kirk · Rating 3 out of 5]

I first read this book when I was a teenager. 30 years later, it's held up to multiple re-readings, and I picked up a few points on my latest read which I don't think I'd noticed before. It's not the greatest novel of all time (or even the best novel by Harry Harrison), but it's a solid story.

I'm not going to give content warnings for this book. Suffice it to say that there are some characters with pretty unpleasant views, but I don't think they represent the author. (That includes the protagonist, which is handled in quite a subtle way.)

The front cover (at least in this edition) gives away quite a bit: it shows a stone spaceship with Aztec carvings. The book never actually describes the outside of the ship, and I don't think it would actually have had those carvings; in particular, the snake head on the front would probably interfere with the telescope/window in the navigation chamber. However, it's eye catching without being cluttered, and it encouraged me to read the book.

Similarly, the back cover establishes that the main character is called Chimal. Chapter 1 starts with Chimal running for his life, and it's reasonable to assume that he'll escape, because he has "plot armour". However, he gets killed 2 pages later. It turns out that the main character is actually his son (also called Chimal); possibly not the most subtle way for his mother to hide her affair, but a nice piece of misdirection. That scene also establishes that Chimal (senior) was right to be afraid of the gods, rather than this being a foolish superstition, because Coatlicue turns up to kill him.

Some other aspects are less obvious, depending on how much you know about geography/history. Chapter 2 describes Chimal's mother: "her typical Aztec features relaxed, with the firelight glinting from her golden hair and blue eyes." The Aztecs lived in Mexico; as I understand it, blonde hair only showed up after the Spanish conquest. So, that should be a hint that something's out of place.

In chapter 6, the high priest collapses. In chapter 7, the narrator describes his condition: "He could move neither his right hand nor his right leg and he had trouble speaking." Those are obvious signs of a stroke, but the Aztec villagers wouldn't know that, and I like the technique of putting things in terms that they'd understand.

This also comes back to the earlier point about the gods being real. When the high priest can't perform the morning ritual, the result is that the sun doesn't rise. There's a similar plot point in Pyramids, although the underlying cause is different.

Later, Chimal (junior) escapes from the valley, and discovers that it's inside a spaceship; more precisely, a generation ship. The ship's crew are more advanced, and even though they speak the same language (presumably English), he doesn't recognise all the words they use. The author deliberately mangled the pronunciation, and I liked that, because it puts the reader in the same situation as Chimal, struggling to understand.

Later, Chimal flees back inside the valley, although he starts out in the sky (i.e. standing on the opposite side of the cylindrical chamber). I had to pause and do some mental gymnastics to figure out what was going on, and I think this would have been clearer with an illustration, but I don't mind a challenge. You could also just take it on trust and skim over that section if you get confused; ditto for the descriptions of geography when Chimal is hiding in the marsh.

The ship's crew have exoskeletons which support their weight and do most of the work to move them around. It's also established that the crew live a lot longer than the villagers (a typical lifespan being 200 Earth years), and the characters clearly believe that this is cause and effect. That seems a bit odd to me, since I'd expect regular exercise to be a better plan. However, there might be more to it than that; the book establishes that "the Great Designer" used genetic engineering, so weaker bodies might be a side-effect of the extended lifespan (whether accidental or deliberate).

Due to that genetic engineering, Chimal (whose parents broke a taboo) is a genius, while everyone else he meets (villagers and crew) is less intelligent. This is familiar territory for Harry Harrison, as seen in the "Stainless Steel Rat" and "Deathworld" series. (Also in The Hammer and the Cross, to a certain extent.) However, Chimal is far less glib than Jim DiGriz, which helps to set him apart.

The ship's crew have their own taboos, and they've been modelled after medieval religions. This includes mortification of the flesh, i.e. deliberately inflicting pain on themselves. Also, while the villagers procreate in the traditional manner, the ship's crew avoid that. When Chimal investigates, it's revealed that some of the female staff were chosen to become mothers (using a sperm bank), "because they did not do satisfactory work in their studies and could not master their assignments". That's horrific, but I think it's supposed to be.

The more interesting point is that Chimal spends a lot of time with a female crewmember (Watchman Steel), and she makes it very clear to him that she has absolutely zero interest in sex or motherhood. Chimal criticises the society she lives in, describing it as unnatural, and he keeps trying to help her. "I want to give you a chance to feel like a woman. I think you have been cheated by life."

Reading this book in 2023, I would describe Steel as asexual. (More specifically, sex-repulsed.) In fictional stories, it's quite common for asexual characters to be treated as if they need saving. Likewise in the real world, asexuality was considered a mental disorder (as per the DSM) up until 2013.

So, it was a nice surprise at the end of the book when Chimal backs down, and admits that he was wrong. "I'm sorry. I have been trying to make you something you are not and preventing you from being something that you want to be." Considering that this book was written in 1969, I think that's remarkably progressive!

There have been similar stories told elsewhere, e.g. the TNG episode "Homeward" (with Worf's foster brother) has a primitive society being transported inside a spaceship without their knowledge; Babylon 5 had a cylindrical space station which rotated to produce artificial gravity, with a central axis where characters were essentially weightless. However, this novel is an early example, and I think it's still worth reading.

[Steve Merrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sometimes a book goes in a circular and almost wave like rhythm, Chimal the main character is deftly drawn with a beautifully pragmatic eye, I first read this when I was barely a teenager, it was one of the books that made me long to write, I won't hit you with the plot because somewhat like the Matrix if you know what is coming it lessens the whole story, but its a rough and tumble journey through the world the hero inhabits........ I am grinning as I write the words because This was the very first book that I couldn't put down.....

If Harry Harrison ever reads these words all I would like to add is "Thank You."

[Liedzeit Liedzeit · Rating 4 out of 5]

Young Atztek leaves village to discover that the world he lives in is artificial. A generation starship. I very probably have read this before, everything seemed so entirely predictable. But very good. Of course, he saves the day when he as the First Arriver redirects the ship back to Proxima Centaury. The ending is great. The girl he met with the nice name Watchman Steel in the end declines his offer to become his woman. She prefers to be what she was raised to be - a watchman.

[Dmitry Verkhoturov · Rating 3 out of 5]

Кажущаяся теперь, спустя столько лет, очень наивной, тем не менее весьма интересная книга с задум��ой, котороая впоследствии нашла отголоски у многих фантастов — корабль к другой звезде размером с планету, на путешествие которого к точке назначения уходят сотни лет и поколения людей успевают родиться и умереть в полёте.

[Jim Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

Очень хорошая книга о том как один чувак из племени внезапно обнаружил что на самом деле они летят на огромном корабле куда-то в космосе. А раньше жил в каком-то тупом племени.. И начал внедряться в управление кораблем.

[Ultron · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite books ever

[Lauri · Rating 2 out of 5]

Originaalis 1969. aastal "Captive Universe" nime all ilmunud teos on nüüdseks totaalselt vananenud ja muutunud selleks milleks ulme vananedes ikka muutub. Nimelt absurdseks nohikute muinasjutuks. Lugu saab alguse kui suletud orus elav asteekide hõimu kuuluv noormees hakkab põhjuseta mässama elukorralduse vastu, ei allu preestrite korraldustele ning põgeneb külast. Õige pea avastab ta, et kogu suletud org on illusioon ja tegelikult on tegu kosmoselaevaga. Siinkohal pole tegu spoileriga, sest Meelis Krošetskini esikaanejoonistus paljastab mõnusalt kogu ploti ära ilma et tarvitseks ridagi lugeda. Kõigele lisaks on see joonistus ka ebatäpne, tegu polnud asteekide püramiidi kujulise kosmoselaevaga, tekstist ilmnes hoopis, et kosmoselaeva asukad elasid pikerguse sigarikujulise 20 miili pika asteroidi sisse ehitatud maailmas.
Aga jah, kirjaoskamatu asteek paljastab saladuse ja paari lehekülje pärast juba navigeerib sügaval kosmoses, sätib kursse, loeb manuaale ja parandab rikkiläinud seadmeid. Pole tarviski lisada, et ta saab kähku ka pealikuks. Ühesõnaga, võibolla 1969. aastal tundus selline metamorfoos tõepärane ja ka sisu oli ulmekontekstis realistlik. Tänapäeval aga jätab selline lapsikuste ja absurdsuste jada üsna vananenud ja muinasjutulise mulje. Korra lugemiseks kõlbab.

[David Robert Bloomer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Opens your eyes

I love Harry Harrison books, which is why I gave this book a go. Try out a trusted author to see if it's worth sticking with him. I've read some of his other works (the Eden trilogy and others) and thought I'd give this, one off story a go. Which I will now look at his other work because I really enjoyed this one.
It's a brilliant story and even though it's over 50 years old, I'd say that the story holds up to this day. Primarily because it's subject matter doesn't date it. There aren't references to a lot of 60's things or ideas. So it keeps it fresh to the reader rather than aging it.

We follow Chimal who rebels against the priests of his tribe. As an Aztec we know this is not a very good plan but it leads to truths that will change everything for him. I really don't want to describe too much of the plot as, going in blind, is the best way to approach this book. It is fast paced and the lead characters are all well written. It really is a fantastic story and it isn't the biggest book but its relative shortness, at under 200 pages, helps it. It doesn't drag and the action keeps your attention. Give it a go, you won't be dissapointed.

[Devero · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meno male che non ho visto la copertina originale (edizione in lingua inglese) del romanzo, altrimenti lo spoiler sarebbe galattico.
Quindi metto la recensione in parte sotto spoiler. Nel complesso il romanzo ha un certo interesse, alla fine però restano alcune domande sulle scelte che l'autore ha fatto nella costruzione dello stesso.
Partendo dal fatto che è certamente un romanzo di SF perchè è un Urania, l'idea di una valle isolata tra le montagne, abitate da due villaggi separati da un fiume con popolazione di cultura azteca pone degli interrogativi. Nei primi due capitoli qualche dettaglio ti fa capire che la popolazione ha cultura azteca ma non è di etnia azteca, tipo i capelli biondi e gli occhi chiari del ragazzo protagonista. Poi all'inizio del terzo capitolo, di fronte a eventi soprannaturali s'instilla il dubbio che quel mondo chiuso sia in realtà un cilindro di O'Neill diretto verso le stelle. E in effetti il romanzo è una variazione sul tema di Incontro con Rama e soprattutto di Universo con una forte nota culturale biologica. La trovata del tabù dei matrimoni tra i due villaggi è un colpo di genio che però pare non troppo plausibile a livello di motivazione: mando due popolazioni scelte verso le stelle e pongo degli inibitori genetici per renderli stupidi e apatici e accondiscententi finché non servirà loro l'intelligenza? E i loro guardiani segreti e custodi li rendo stupidi allo stesso modo? Mi pare ovvio quello che accade a un certo punto, quando il protagonista, solitario genio (perché in un mondo di ciechi anche un orbo fa furore) si accorge che nella loro stupidità i guardiani non hanno capito cosa dovevano fare per c'entrare il target di una missione che non hanno capito perché creati troppo stupidi per farlo.

[Joachim Boaz · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.25/5 (Vaguely Good)

Harry Harrison’s Captive Universe (1969) contains a captivating premise: an Aztec society encased in an artificial world–the purpose and true nature of which is slowly uncovered. Harrison’s use of a limited perspective means that the reader learns about the world entirely through the eyes of the main character.

(*spoilers*)

The Fascinating: The narrative and the world! Chimal, the son of a disgraced Aztec father who slept with a woman from the wrong village, leads a tightly controlled existence in a valley cut-off from the rest of the world. He is expected to plant maize, perform the correct rituals, and find a wife. The world around him is a brutal one–the goddess Coatlicue with her “writhing serpent kirtle” kills those who defy the rules (7). The human priests [...]

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[Colin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Reading this was a bit like watching a bad 1950s B Movie. I deliberately chose a generation ship novel to read as I’ve decided to read several of them over the coming months. This one was a disappointment. The general concept is OK but the characters have no depth and it isn’t particularly well written. I almost gave up on it when the main character transformed in no time at all from a primitive (albeit very intelligent) Aztec to a much more sophisticated and savvy person who was able to fix some advanced machinery that had malfunctioned, sort out a bit of astral navigation and give a lecture on the operation of centrifugal force. Even given that much of the ship was pretty user friendly, it was very unconvincing and pretty lazy writing. As it isn’t a long read I endured it to its predictable conclusion, but don’t think I’ll read anything else by this author.

[KDS · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not the best of its sub-genre in SF, but it gets a special place for the being the book that introduced me to this area of science fiction. I'm being deliberately grey in saying which sub-genre to avoid spoilers, but those who have read it or are aware will understand what I mean.

It's been twenty five years or so since I read it, so I can't review it fully, but I remember enjoying it and being surprised at the twist so I'm glad I went in blind

[Charlotte P-S · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very entertaining read. The concept reminded me somewhat of The Truman Show. For the first half of the story, I had no idea where it was going. Then the pieces all began to fall together in a satisfying, exciting way. Harrison explores the concept of neurological genetics in a way I haven't heard much of. The concept of the genes being "locked" as a recessive gene was intriguing. Overall it was a fun, very unique science fiction read, quick to get through, and quite the page turner!

[Mr Matthew Jennings]

A book that I read many years ago and have wanted to re-read. I had to search on the net as I had forgotten the title and author. Although I had remembered the main plot there was a lot I had forgotten and it was great fun to re-read.

[Johnny · Rating 4 out of 5]

A story set in a small village which expands into something so much deeper. A story of an Aztec boy who longs for something knew.. always searching for what lies over the hills in the distance..he finds something he can't comprehend.

[Toomas Jürgens · Rating 2 out of 5]

Täiesti tasapinnaline ja kehvapoolne põlvkonnalaeva lugu, mis on läbi kukkunud nii tegelaste kujutamisel kui ka žanriomaste troopide lahtikirjutamisel. Ma ei suuda siiani mõista, miks seda klassikaks peetakse. Klassika ei peaks lugejat nii tugevalt alahindama.

[Bruce Stephenson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A unique journey of discovery for 21 year-old Chimal. His curiosity leads to the unveiling of the reality behind his life in his native valley which is guided by ritual and superstition. Ultimately Chimal brings freedom to the people of the valley and they become part of a vast universe.

[Brian Terence · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not going to reveal any spoilers, although it's decades old, so if you haven't read it by now, you've only yourself to blame, let's just say it's employing the 'world in a bottle' trope.
I read this as a teenager, the ending was surprising.

[Phil Odgers · Rating 3 out of 5]

Old school Sci Fi but lacking in substance.

[Claudio · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anche dopo tanti anni, riletto con piacere ed è sempre avvincente ed ancora credibile ed interessante.