Arcadia

Iain Pears

Why I looked at this book

Quite a few Oxford authors have written about other worlds, with some of them having portals in Oxford itself. It's a bit surprising that it's possible to walk about the place without falling into a different universe, but I seem to manage it (as far as I know). I thought I'd take a look at Iain Pears story of interlinked worlds to see how it measures up.

First impressions

This is a long book so there's quite a bit available in the Kindle sample. It seems to be an interesting take on the alternative world idea, with a number of different worlds. Are they parallel worlds, or the same world at different times? Or are some just a figment of someone's imagination? There's one thing I wonder though. In other 'alternative world' stories, in particular the Narnia books, part of the interest comes from the 'hyperreality' of the alternative world, as compared with everyday life. Will the multiple threads in Arcadia mean that this is not so effective?