Fantasy/ SciFi, YA? Boy grows up in village building a giant Tower which has been worked on for generations. Medieval-type tech. He's forced out to find answers when relative gets killed working the tower. Title includes Tower? Read late 1990's. Spoilers.

[Chakshu]

I read this book in the late 90's I think the book has the word Tower in it. Something like the Black Tower or similair.

Spoilers ahead!

The boy grows up in village with middle age technology. There are no dragons or magic. For generations the villagers have been building a giant tower. The boys relative (uncle?) is killed in an "accident" because he asked too many questions(?). The boy finds an old man outside of the village that tells him secrets about the world. The boy goes to the town where the others live. The pople in the town look a little bit different and they buy all the goods the people in the builders village produce. The people in the town dont work - they only party and lead the work of the tower. The boy falls in love with a girl from this town and they wonder the planet for many years. During this journey the boy finds another tower that is being deconstructed by giant machines. The boy realizes that the towers is only a form of slavery that has been going on for ages. They also have sex and I think they have a child but maybe the child dies. Ending: The boy (and the girl?) are old living outside of a builders villlage near a tower. One day a girl finds their small hut looking for answers.`

I got this book as a birthday present somewhere betwen 1995-1997

[Chakshu]

Did I format the post correctly? :)

I really loved this book as a kid and I think it would be really cool to read it again.

[Kris]

Your post is fine. Please note you can bump your thread (post a comment in it) every 30+ days, because this group is so large. If you remember new details, you can add them at any time.

[Chakshu]

Kris wrote: "Your post is fine. Please note you can bump your thread (post a comment in it) every 30+ days, because this group is so large. If you remember new details, you can add them at any time."

Thank you Kris!

[Rainbowheart]

Do you think it was definitely intended for teens and not adults?

Did it seem more like fantasy or dystopian sci fi?

[Chakshu]

Rainbowheart wrote: "Do you think it was definitely intended for teens and not adults?

Did it seem more like fantasy or dystopian sci fi?"

Hello! In Sweden fiction for teens can be very similair to fiction for adults with themes like death, murder, sex and so on. I am not sure how you define this in your culture. But to answer your question: I am not compeltely sure but I do think it was meant for teens or young adults. If you compare it to a book like" The name of the wind" this one was more simple and did not go as deep in to the human psyche or more complicated human emotions and relations. It was also not as explicit in it's depiction of human misery. The book was more similair to something like the Belgariad in this respect (I read them during the same year if I remember correctly so this is based on my own memories from the age of 11).

The book felt like a coming-of-age fantasy story but the fantasy elements where very held back and there was no magic etc. but there was two different but also similair races of humans (I cant remember what made them different - one of them was darker, more slender an something weird about their eyes (maybe). But in the end it had a sci fi twist that basicall revealed that the world we experienced actually took place in a kind of bubble created by some kind of an empire in a sci fi setting. I dont know how to properly categorize it.

I've been googling trying to find it for hours. . . It's quite upsetting :D

Thank you Rainbowheart!

[Ayshe]

Did you read it in English? La Citadelle du vertige looks like it matches some details but I am not finding editions in English or Swedish.

[Kris]

Ayshe wrote: "Did you read it in English? La Citadelle du vertige looks like it matches some details but I am not finding editions in English or Swedish."

Google translation of Ayshe's suggestion - La Citadelle du vertige by Alain Grousset (publisher's description):

"Symon is a stonemason. He lives at the top of the cathedral but dreams of seeing the world "from below", of going to touch the ground. The day his father dies in strange circumstances, he decides to take the forbidden staircase ...|

Google translation of Goodreads reviewer's comment:

"... the construction of a cathedral. Young Symon, an apprentice stonemason, spends his days between work alongside his father Jacquemain and his escapades with his sweet Bertrade, whom he hopes to marry one day. Life is routine in the cathedral but the rise of floors will raise many questions for the young man who dreams of dry land. The descent of the floors will go hand in hand with disturbing revelations about his world.
It's a very easy novel to understand. the medieval world and its uses are remarkably described there, in the professional activities, the daily life and the very strong bond with the religion which punctuates the life of the inhabitants of the cathedral. The historical aspect takes precedence in the great majority of the novel and is only caught up by the science-fictional aspect in the last third..."

[Michele]

Could it have been a short story? Ted Chiang has one very much like this in his STORIES OF YOUR LIFE AND OTHERS, called "Tower of Babylon"