Earthworks

Brian Aldiss

This is a short novel set in an uncomfortable future where the earth is little more than a interconnecting collection of slave colonies overseen by the farmers who own huge swathes of land. It is a overpopulated and poisoned landscape, an ecological disaster zone where people struggle to survive. A group known as the travellers, made up of those who have escaped from the farms roam the country, trying to squeeze an alternative existance. Though others have a different plan, a puritanical group known as The Abstainers, who realise that one single act could completely change the course of the future.

This isn't a bad novel, though far from Aldiss' best. The writing is quite dark and gritty, the characters unlikeable, but it is a better premise for a short story. In fact it feels a lot more like a short story, as it reaches an ending, but doesn't really draw it through to the conclusion, just leaves it hanging.