Given the original publication date (1970's) it's easy to appreciate the sci-fi competition of that era provided the impetus for crafting a topsy-turvy universe of perturbed physics. We follow the coming of age of a young guildsman inductee as he learns the ropes and experiences first hand the strange behavior of time and space relative to optimum that forms the basis for the need for the city to continually move. The whole operation is maintained by Guildsmen, a rather secretive bunch, while the internal functioning of the society is handled by administrators. Basically, a population of humans exist in a 'city' referred to as earth, but essentially a large office buildig type complex that moves along tracks, disassembled behind and reconstructed in front to keep the city moving, always toward 'optimum'. The origin for this unusual state is reserved for the final denouement. The Inverted World is an ambitious attempt to craft a world inhabited by humans in a region of space with altered properties of basic physics. It didn't ruin the book by any means, but I'd recommend skipping it and listening to it after you finish. A lot of the joy of this book is following his crazy-worldbuilding, and the forward makes a lot of the connections for you. Note: the forward (ie chapter 1 of this audiobook) has what I'd consider to be minor spoilers. He conveys the sound of an awed young apprentice wondering at a world full of new curiosities. Cree's narration was pitch perfect, in my estimation. In that respect, I'd say it's more along the lines of Terry Pratchett than Philip K.

It's heady, but unlike other brainmelting 70's sci-fi, I found it to be constantly humane - the characters maintain their charm and as a reader I felt like my amusement was the mission. Very subtly, the story shifts from a coming of age story to a bizarro, Odyssey-like journey to a chronicle of a very warped world, and back. Without giving anything away (the revealing is so much of the fun!), I'd just say that it's one of the more unique fictional worlds I've inhabited lately, to the point where comparisons are difficult - if you mash up China Mieville, Terry Pratchett and Haruki Murakami, with a dash of George Lucas, you might be in the ball park? The book is marked by a lot of playful, artful zig zags. The main business here is the building of an outlandishly original fantasy world, artfully revealed to us in provocative flashes by a young apprentice named Helward.

Inverted World is the first book by Priest I've read, and I found it to be a revelation.

The inverted world christopher priest