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harryr's review
2.0
A sort-of utopian Victoria science fiction novel about a race of super-powerful psychic beings, the Vril-ya, living under the surface of the earth, whose society is organised around an energy force called 'vril' which serves as weapon, power source, medicine and whatever else the narrative requires.
I mainly read it, I must admit, because I was fascinated by the fact that the word 'vril' was the origin of the name 'Bovril' for the famous British beef extract. So the book obviously made an impact at the time. Slightly ironic, really, since the Vril-ya are all vegetarian. Marmite rather than Bovril.
It's a somewhat interesting book on various levels, as Victoriana and early sci-fi and so on; but it's not a great novel. There's not nearly enough narrative to leaven the expository stuff. And the world he invents isn't that amazingly convincing or interesting either.
Probably not worth reading unless you have a particular interest in utopias or early SF.
I mainly read it, I must admit, because I was fascinated by the fact that the word 'vril' was the origin of the name 'Bovril' for the famous British beef extract. So the book obviously made an impact at the time. Slightly ironic, really, since the Vril-ya are all vegetarian. Marmite rather than Bovril.
It's a somewhat interesting book on various levels, as Victoriana and early sci-fi and so on; but it's not a great novel. There's not nearly enough narrative to leaven the expository stuff. And the world he invents isn't that amazingly convincing or interesting either.
Probably not worth reading unless you have a particular interest in utopias or early SF.
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