the guardians [Import] [Hardcover]

john christopher (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Macmillan; First Printing edition (1970)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0241017955
• ISBN-13: 978-0241017951
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.7 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,957,843 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars THE PRICE OF FREEDOM, June 21, 1998

By 

Plume45 "kitka12345" (Westchester, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Guardians, The (Paperback)

The year is 2053 in England, a nation where people live either in the Conurb or the County. The psychological chasm that exits between the two lifestyles is vast, although there are those Commuters who straddle both worlds. Rob Randall is a boy raised in the Conurb--a sprawling, densely-packed megalopolis, whose masses are entertained with controlled riots and bloody sports events. But propaganda has made him scorn life in the County, where the Gentry (What would England be without her strict class division?) deliberately live in simple but antiquated styles, and even the servants seem satisfied. Both sets of people despise and distrust the other; their worlds are separated by a physical Barrier with guarded gates.

After Rob's father dies in a mysterious work-related accident, orphaned Rob is packed off to a state-run boarding school. But the grim regimen is too much for the puzzled, grieving youngster, who decides to cross the forbidden Barrier and escape to freedom in the unknown County. But citified Rob can not cope with roughing it outdoors, nor hide for long on a rich estate. He soon discovers that Freedom isn't Free.

Unexpectedly Rob is befriended by a County boy, whose family agrees to shelter him and provide him with a false identity. How long can Rob hope to fool the County authorities? Will he endanger his compassionate hosts? Gradually we discover that there are two sides of the Barrier--but ONE set of Guardians, who exist to protect the status quo. Who are these shadowy manipulators anyway? What right do they have to defy government rules about No Guns or to condition their people to acquiescence--on both sides! Which lifestyle will Rob ultimately choose?

This is a good read but unevenly paced: 75% of this novel is slow, which is great for our hero, but not exciting to read. However the last chapter is quite long, full of surprise twists before we reach the final ending! The New York Times writes: "the novel is sparsely written, exciting and based on valid soci! al trends." Mankind is doomed to disillusion and social slavery if that judgment is correct. Just what does Rob suspect and learn about his father's death back in the Conurb? Will he join the Guardians or the rebels? Where will he make his home in the future, or can he fit in anywhere? A serious, thought-provoking read for peole who ponder possible scenarios for the Future.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars not up to The Tripods, but still quite satisfactory, May 10, 2006

By 

Bruce D. Wilner "Bruce David Wilner" (Alexandria, VA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Guardians (Hardcover)

I have never been a fan of "young adult sci fi" as an independent genre, but, having been introduced to Christoper's legendary "Tripods" trilogy (from which even the 2005 movie version of "War of the Worlds" borrowed liberally) as a young boy, I figured I'd read "The Guardians" when I stumbled across it on a library table and had two hours to kill.

Despite what many here have said, I would without compunction characterize "The Guardians" as a fast-paced adventure story. It details the adventures of one Rob Randall, a boy raised in a not-too-distant England, which has been subdivided into "the Conurb"--where Rob grew up, devolved into a bread-and-circuses-type situation where the masses can only be kept at bay through government-sponsored violence--and "the County"--where wealthy families and their live-in staffs luxuriate in nineteenth-century torpor. Afer Rob's father dies, he is spirited off to a rigorous boarding school where he runs afoul of the military-style discipline and is impelled to flight by his classmates' sadism. Rob succeeds in escaping under the legendary, underwhelming "fence" that divides the Conurb from the County. After injuring his foot and finding himself quite helpless, Rob is befriended by Mike, a well-to-do country boy who discovers Rob while out riding his horse one day. Mike's mother--discovering food missing from the kitchen and extracting the truth from a recently-fallen-ill Mike--rescues Rob and quickly incorporates him into the family. Rob and Mike are fast friends and are both quite happy until, one day, a wealthy visitor sees through Rob's thin veneer of "I'm Mike's cousin from Nepal"--backed up by Rob's having read a book or two about Nepalese customs, fauna, tourist attractions, etc.--and is about to deliver him to the authorities. We ultimately learn that, while Mike's father was long ago biotechnologically "subdued" (reminiscent of the "capping" in the Tripods trilogy), Mike is quite a rebel himself, "escaping" the superficial happiness of the County for the challenge of the Conurb. At the end of the story, a trepidation-filled Rob slips back under the fence to hunt for Mike, who provided Rob a forwarding address. The story wraps up rather too quickly, and I personally would have enjoyed following Rob's life story for at least a bit longer, yet Christopher does an admirable job of painting the essential elements of an imperfect future world and exploring the tormented psyche of a nice boy inextricably caught in that unforgiving world.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Contented Slaves, September 30, 2000

By 

Greg Hughes - See all my reviews

This review is from: Guardians, The (Paperback)

This is an interesting story about freedom, and in particular, our ability to make choices that could affect the rest of our lives.

Rob Randall lives in the Conurb - an overcrowded urban maze, where reading and thinking for yourself is unpopular, and life revolves around sport, holovision, and riots. When Rob's father is electrocuted, he is sent to a boarding school where life becomes a nightmare of over-zealous discipline and torment.

Rob hears about the Barrier, which divides the Conurb from the rural, open spaces known as the County. Rob runs away from the boarding school and crosses the Barrier, hoping for a better life. On the surface, life in the County seems perfect. But Rob soon learned that appearances are very deceptive...

Although "The Guardians" is not as fast-moving as the "Tripods Trilogy", it's an interesting book nevertheless. Some of the things John Christopher writes about in his imaginary future are rather close to the bone. In the culture I live in, sport is treated with much more reverence than literature and the arts. There are signs that people devote less time to reading, as it's much easier to slump in front of the screen, watching sentimental drivel. More than ever, our lives are controlled by the media and a growing lack of privacy.

The two worlds John Christopher writes about here are deceptively utopian, but are in fact places where people are ruled by a cynical elite. Books like "The Guardians" remind us that the freedom we have is something we must never take for granted.