Relaunch of spectacular Robert Westall fantasy novel that was way ahead of its time. A fantasy of the near future in which Britain is divided into Zones and castes to which men and women are pitilessly allocated at the end of their schooling. Whether crazed proles in the Unnem zones, smug pampered bourgeois Ests or arrogant Techs, all are ultimately pawns of the computer that governs it all. One boy penetrates the conspiracy by which the nation is governed and has the knowhow to strike at the heart of evil. This novel was originally published in 1983 and was runner up for the Carnegie Medal. It's a fantastic, if bleak, vision of the future -- all the more scary because many of its 'Big Brother' elements are so evident in our society today.
| ||||||||||||||||||
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
About the Author
Robert Westall was born October 1929, in Tynemouth, England. His first book, The Machine Gunners, was published in 1975, for which he won the Carnegie Medal. Amongst many more prizes and accolades, he won the Carnegie for the second time in 1980, with The Scarecrows. He died in 1993.
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An intelligent and mature book for readers of any age,
By A Customer
This review is from: Futuretrack 5 (Library Binding)
Robert Westall is one of this century's greatest writers for young adults, and this, in my opinion, is his very best book (although "Devil on the Road" comes a close second - they're very similar in style). An SF classic which eschews the normal spacecraft and explosions for complex political and social ideas. There have been genuinely few adult SF novels published in the last thirty years which compare to this novel's intelligence and dark humour. I read this first when I was 13 and have re-read it more times than I can remember... Simply put, my battered yellowing copy of this is very dear to me, and I suspect, will always stay that way.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Criminally Overlooked,
By A Customer
This review is from: Futuretrack 5 (Library Binding)
Like, I daresay, a lot of people, I first read this book when I was about 11-12. I've kept coming back to it ever since (I'm now in my mid-twenties) and it reveals new layers every time I read it.It's superbly written, darkly funny, fast-paced, and thought provoking. The characters are facinating and the way Westall gradually reveals the Big Picture is just masterful. A classic.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent book,
By
This review is from: Futuretrack 5 (Paperback)
A great book, I'm still reading it at nearly 40 and I first read it as a teenager. I recommended it to a friends daughter (14yrs) and its now her favorite. We use it as a guide to recommend books to each other.
If you love this one you should definitely give Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins a read.The Hunger Games
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items. |
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
