# The City and the Stars by Arthur C. Clarke



## Southern Geologist (Jan 22, 2013)

Once upon a time man crossed the stars and spread throughout the galaxy,  leaving Earth behind.   They met other intelligent life forms and  formed alliances.   Unfortunately, this took place a billion years ago.   In the interim they ran across a species that was not happy about man's  success, known only as The Invaders, and by launching war they forced  humanity to abandon the galaxy and retreat to Earth.   During the war  that resulted large portions of the earth were subject to  desertification and the surviving inhabitants were forced to flee to a  lone city, Diaspar.

A billion years hence Diaspar seems like nothing  short of a paradise to most.  Genetic modification and advanced  technology have come together to create a utopia.  Death is no longer an  issue:  The average life span of an individual is one thousand years  and at the end of that period one simply feeds their memories into a  computer, turns back into star dust, and waits for the inevitable  technological reincarnation some time in the future.  It will seem like  minutes rather than the eons that have actually passed.  They will be  reborn as 'children' that are in their twenties (in standard human  years) and will soon enough be able to access the memories of their past  lives.  Any food or furniture or adventure that one wants can quite  literally be created out of thin air.  Beautiful architecture and art  surround you everywhere you go.  Sex has become a purely recreational  activity.  There is only one caveat:  You cannot go outside, even in  adventures taking place in virtual reality.  Occupants of the city can  never leave, nor do they desire to.  A fear of the outside is bred into  them.  At least, it's bred into most of the occupants.  On the other  hand, why would you want to leave?

Once every fifty thousand years a 'Unique' occurs, a human that has been  born for the first time rather than being reincarnated.  These  individuals do not share the same inborn fear of leaving the city that  everyone else does.  Alvin, our protagonist, happens to be one of those  individuals and he finds himself staring longingly at the stars and the  desert with unfulfilled curiosity, determined that there has to be more  to life than the pleasures the city has to offer, that there must be an  adventure waiting if he can escape.

And so begins a coming of age story for both Alvin and humanity. (Sound familiar?)   Clarke uses this tale to elaborate on some of his viewpoints on what  the coming of age of humanity entails.  Specifically, it is a very  strong critique of political and social isolationism.  It also  unsurprisingly takes aim at religion.  That said, as a fellow critic of  religion that prefers these matters to be handled intelligently I found  the critique delightfully subtle.  The novel also deals with the  ramifications of the fear of scientific progress and repressing the  longing for adventure.

That this is a re-write of Clarke's first novel, *Against the Fall of Night*,  is noteworthy.  He states in the preface that he felt that the story  from that novel could be enhanced by what he had learned about writing  in the interim.  Given the elegant writing and the consistent flow of  the prose he was correct in asserting that he had learned a few things  about writing.

On the other hand, character development is lacking.  All of the  characters tend to feel like foils for the thoughts and actions of  Alvin, rather than an attempt at peopling this world with distinct  individuals.  Meanwhile, the main character suffers from very uneven  character development.  There are long stretches where absolutely  nothing is revealed about his personality except his desire for  adventure, punctuated by random bits of exposition (generally put into  the mouths of other characters) that show a new side of his personality,  making his personality seem like an after-thought.  Clarke, in this  novel at least, is clearly an idea man and not a character man.  A more  damaging flaw than the lack of character development is the sense of  inevitability that permeates the work.  There's never any feeling that  the main character will truly come to harm or fail in his quest.  You  know from the beginning that he will complete his quest, though you will  probably not guess where it will lead.  It removes all tension from the  story, leaving you to meander through at a casual pace without any real  page-turning moments.  Fortunately Clarke does demonstrate several  impressive leaps of the imagination throughout the story with  interesting twists that keep one reading  and help drive home his  philosophical points.  He also manages to wrap things up with a  satisfying ending, a difficult task.

In short, this is an interesting read with some great ideas in it and  some fascinating leaps of the imagination and could have been a  masterpiece.  Unfortunately, the lack of character development and  worse, the lack of any real sense of tension brings it down a peg.   Overall, four stars.


Originally posted here.


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## AE35Unit (Jan 27, 2013)

nice review! I noticed you have a blogger blog, and just added yours to my Watch list

http://sfaddict.blogspot.co.uk/


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## Southern Geologist (Jan 27, 2013)

Thanks very much for your comment on my blog (which I responded to) and for adding me to your watch list.   I blog about all sorts of crap but sci-fi reviews will probably make up the majority of upcoming posts for a while so I think you'll enjoy it.


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## Fried Egg (Jan 29, 2013)

Your thoughts on this novel pretty much echo my own thoughts on the novel. You've rated it slightly higher though.


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## picklematrix (Feb 10, 2019)

I agree with this review. There are flaws in this work, but I think they largely come with the territory. The characters aren't particularly well fleshed out, as they really do exist to fulfill jobs within the plot. 
Overall, the atmosphere and general feeling of futurism is what I like about this book. The strangenesd of the world really drew me in. 
Id say this book stands the test of time, as I only read it quite recently, after having read many of the authors that built on Clarke's influence.


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## kythe (Feb 11, 2019)

I like the utopian perspective in this book.  Clarke portrays a perfect culmination of humanity where people's needs are met and they have everything they could want.  Yet there is always that tug for adventure, a curiosity for what else is out there.  Diaspar is perfect, but it is like a "womb" humanity has created for itself.  This story shows a "rebirth" of humanity, where again people reach for the stars.  But this time, it is borne of hope with a sense of adventure, not wars, survival, and sacrifice.  This time humanity is ready to take a new step.


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## hitmouse (Feb 12, 2019)

This was one of the formative novels of my youth. I was drawn in by the vision of Diaspar and its beautiful stasis. I remember particularly enjoying the very calm tone of the narration which I think echoes this.


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