Desolation Road [Mass Market Paperback]

Ian McDonald (Author), Jerry Lofaro (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 1988

It all began 30 years ago on Mars, with a greenperson, but by the time it all finished, the town of Desolation Road had experienced every concievable abnormality from Adam Black's Wonderful Travelling Chataqua to the Astounding Tatterdemalion Air Bazaar.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

ea. vol: Spectra: Bantam. Feb. 1988. sf Founded by accident in the Martian desert by a scientist obsessed with the nature of time, the town of Desolation Road grows from a whistle stop on the Bethlehem Ares Railroad to a stronghold of freedom ranged against the ROTECH bureaucracy. The loves, hates, and intrigues of the town's residents come to life and build to a vivid climax in this compellingly executed novel. In Empire Dreams , McDonald's craft as a storyteller takes on smaller dimensions but remains intact. Ranging from the inner torment of Vincent Van Gogh ("Unfinished Portrait of the King of Pain by Van Gogh") to a young boy's private battle for life in modern Belfast ("Empire Dreams"), the author finds evidence of the fantastic in unlikely settings. Both books are highly recommended. JC
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"Flavoured with a voice that blends the delightful prose of Jack Vance with the idiosyncratic stylings of Cordwainer Smith, this novel is, most of all, about the dusty town of Desolation Road in the middle of the red Martian desert. Episodic in scope, it would also work as short stories. An elderly couple get lost in the infinite space of their garden, a baby growing in a jar is stolen and replaced with a mango, a man called The Hand plays electric guitar for the clouds and starts the first rain for one hundred and fifty thousand years." --SFSite

"Ian McDonald's Desolation Road is one of the books that has influenced me the most as a writer. Funny and sad and wildly imaginative... What a book!" --Cory Doctorow


"This is the kind of novel I long to find yet seldom do. Desolation Road is a rara avis... Extraordinary and more than that!" --Philip José Farmer --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 355 pages
• Publisher: Bantam; First Printing edition (January 1, 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553270575
• ISBN-13: 978-0553270570
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,752,413 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "For three days Dr. Alimantando had followed the greenperson across the desert.", January 6, 2008

By 

frumiousb "frumiousb" (Amsterdam, the Netherlands) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Desolation Road (Mass Market Paperback)

I've had this book sitting around forever. Literally, I think. I have had it since I was a teenager and never read it. With every move it somehow gets boxed up anyhow and shipped with me. I would see it and think that I needed to read it, and then somehow I would forget about it. Anyhow, I finally read it. I am not going to say that it is worth a 20 year wait, because what would be? But it is a pretty good book, and I enjoyed it enough that I think I will look up some of Ian McDonald's more recent works.

Desolation Road was McDonald's first book, and was apparently released to all kinds of glowing praise. For a first science fiction novel, it definitely gets credit for imagination and unusual ideas. The book begins with Dr. Alimantando following a greenperson across a desert. This following, plus an unexpected accident lead to the founding of Desolation Road-- a town where no town is supposed to be. Rather than follow any one character, the book tells the story of the town itself. The structure of the book consists of a series of interconnected stories about the people who live in the town. It spans several generations.

I am always a sucker for this structure of interlocking stories. (Another good example is The Orphan's Tales: In the Night Garden, by Catherynne M. Valente.) There is something about the pace and flow that I really enjoy. McDonald is also a good writer with solid craftsmanship. I engaged with the characters, and was interested in the fate of the town. I cannot exactly put my finger on how, but sometimes the plot felt a bit like much of a muchness. This was the only real flaw I can identify, but it kept me from loving the book instead of just liking it.

Anyone out there recommend other McDonald books that would be worth the time to read?

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars McDonald's best work to date., July 1, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (Denver, CO) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Desolation Road (Mass Market Paperback)

Ian McDonald's Desolation Road is undeniably his best book, a rich and vibrant tale of village life on a terraformed Mars. Reminiscent (intentionally) of the magic realist novels of Marquez and Llosa it transcends the science fiction genre without denigrating it, revelling in both worlds to the credit of each. This is one of those books that critics should hold up as an example of great writing in sf, especially because it won't disappoint even the most hardened veteran reader--literally, a book for everyone.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Engaging, but lightly wanting, November 4, 2009

By 

E. N Ritchie (Christchurch New Zealand) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Desolation Road (Paperback)

I was drawn into Desolation Road immediately and enjoyed the book. It begins as an intimate, slightly fey, story of misfits on a terraforming Mars finding a place for themselves in as yet undeveloped stop on a desert railway.

But as it progresses towards the end it drags and what was an engaging story of a small society of misfits loses focus when the stories scope expands.

I became increasingly disinterested as the story seemed to become less about the characters and more about the wider world around them.

I don't think, as some reviewers say earlier, that this is McDonalds best work. I think his stories set in future India ('River of Gods' and attendant short stories) are much better.