Customer Reviews

OVERMAN CULTURE

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This is one of those classic tales set in an artificially sustained reality, such as in Shakespeare's The Tempest and Michael Moorcock's Dancers At The End Of Time and The New World's Fair.

Yet The Overman Culture unfolds like a set of Chinese boxes, to finally reveal the reason for the many paradoxes, temporal and otherwise, that haunt the reader as she/he progresses through this masterpiece.

Why is Sir Winston Churchill walking arm in arm with Queen Victoria as the Battle of Britain is re-fought above London's transparent pressure dome? Why do some children bleed and not others?

The answers are all in there. Treat yourself. Then pick up Cooper's A Far Sunset and Sea Horse In The Sky. Trust me.

I first read The Overman Culture in highschool and was rivited by the concept. I found it again as an adult, and on revisiting Mr. Cooper's London, was once again wrapped up in his world. I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes future history, end of the world and rebirth stories...

Characters have names like Michael Faraday, Emily Bronte, Jane Austen, Ernest Rutherford, Charles Darwin, and Horatio Nelson. The first part deals with Michael and Emily and such (mostly Michael) as children growing up in London during the Second World War. The kids aren't worried, though, because London has a force field.

When they grow up, the war is still going on. Michael and Emily have fallen in love. Michael and Ernest have persuaded Shakespear to teach them to read. They still don't know why some people bleed, and others don't. And why isn't the Thames going where it's supposed to? All is eventually answered, and even Michael is shocked.