A review by unfetteredfiction
Non-Stop by Brian W. Aldiss

3.0

This is the fourth novel I’ve read by Aldiss, and one I was drawn to as it’s the first he had published.

As always with Aldiss, the world building is exceptional. He can craft worlds and environments which are exciting and feel unique. This time, the story is interesting because the characters don’t know exactly where they are, or exactly how came to be here. For the most part, they live a life prescribed, not necessarily controlled, but one that doesn’t have a clear origin or reason. They’re indoors, plants roam between decks, rooms and rooms of cold metal remain unexplored, enemies could lurk at any turn abs an eccentric priest has a plan for escape. I don’t want to say too much more about the plot, as to avoid spoilers, but there are some good twists in this one.

This being said, this isn’t my favourite of Aldiss’s, that place is still held by Hothouse or Greybeard. Unfortunately, as with Cryptozoic!, I had an issue with some of the characters. I don’t know if it’s a “time of writing” issue (I don’t think it is), but Aldiss writes women oddly, in my opinion. His female characters aren’t always believable and lack a bit of depth. In this case, the female characters are few, which in itself isn’t necessarily an issue, but they’re a bit wishy-washy (technical literary term, lol). They are so ridiculously quick to fall in love and fall in love hard. There isn’t any build up it just happens, and I don’t buy it. The ending also felt rushed to me, but I don’t think it ruined the story.

Anyway, I still really enjoyed this read and I’ll keep reading Aldiss. I feel like I know where I stand with this writer, what I do and don’t like about their writing, which is good, right?