Of the City of the Saved... (novel)
Of the City of the Saved, of its diverse citizenry and of its sundry divinities, with a disquisition on the protocols of history, most commonly called Of the City of the Saved..., was the third novel in the Faction Paradox series. It expanded upon concepts introduced in The Book of the War and featured Laura Tobin, the original version of the Eighth Doctor's companion Compassion.
Publisher's summary
For Humanity, the War is over...
We all remember Resurrection Day. Even now, three centuries later, we cannot forget that awakening: our bewilderment, our terror and our joy. Each of us had experienced death, imagining ourselves bound for oblivion, Heaven or Nirvana, according to taste. Instead, we found, each member of the many human species — from tool-wielding australopithecines to posthuman philosopher-gods — had been harvested, gathered here by the Founders’ unfathomable technologies.
Reborn in our countless immortal bodies, we were given the freedom of the City of the Saved. A single conurbation as broad as a spiral galaxy, she has been our sanctuary from the ravages of the War. That monstrous conflict between inhuman cultures cannot touch us here: we live our afterlives beyond the end of time, in perfect safety.
We may be certain, therefore, that these rumours of a murder (the brutal stabbing of a City Councillor, no less!) are nothing more than lurid fabrications. The supposition that the murder weapon is missing, or that it could have been — as hysterical conjecture has claimed — a "potent weapon", capable of injuring a Citizen within the haven of the City, is equally absurd. The idea that a guerrilla war has already begun in one of our less harmonious enclaves need not be dignified with refutation.
Please go about your business, Citizens, as normal. We are perfectly safe, here in the City. Humanity has never been safer.
Of the City of the Saved... is not a novel of violence and political intrigue, set against the backdrop of humanity’s last resting-place. There is no evidence that it is the second in the series of original Faction Paradox novels.
Plot
to be added
Characters
- Compassion
- Laura Tobin
- Invincible Man
- Serendipity
- Scipio Africanus
- Gaius Ignotis
- Philip K. Dick
- Gally Redcross
- Lief
- Catriona
- Krish
- Godfather Avatar
- Julian White Mammoth Tusk
- Mesh Cos
- Sherlock Holmes
- Urbanus Ignotus
- Lucius Cassius Ignotus
- Handramit
- Big Finnish Benny
- Porsena
- Melicia Clutterbuck
- Self
- Jezebel
- Lo
- Vittoria Cellini
- Emblem Matchmark
- Charles Dodgson
- Konrad Lorenz
- Krisztina-Judit Németh
References
- Locations in the City of the Saved include: the Great Parks, Tantamount District, Erstwhile Plaza, Romuline District, Central District, Paynesdown District, Chandlerville, Beybridge District, Kempes District, Veneziana District, and Hensile District
- Baines Molesti is a popular crime novelist.
- Araminta District, Cerulean District, Samphire District, Godsdice District and Bonehall District are City of the Saved districts.
- Mesh Cos wrote Matter.
Notes
- A spin-off series, The City of the Saved, depicts life in the City before, during, and after the events of this novel.
- Range editor Lawrence Miles considered this novel as the best story he was ever involved in writing.[1]
- The three books of the novel were originally called "Paradise", "Purgatory", and "Inferno", in reference to Dante's Divine Comedy.[2] The final paragraph of the Epilogue was written to mirror the ending of John Milton's Paradise Lost, where Adam and Eve were cast out of the Garden of Eden.[3]
- The cover depicts Godfather Avatar and the green-haired Councillor Mesh Cos.[4]
Continuity
- Laura Tobin previously appeared in PROSE: Interference - Book One and Alison Tobin previously appeared in PROSE: Ship Of Fools.
- Laura occasionally recalls her previous interactions with Faction Paradox and her life on Anathema. (PROSE: Interference)
- Laura has been told that the final remembrance of herself, Compassion V, was kidnapped by the Great Houses (PROSE: Interference, The Blue Angel et al) and transformed into a timeship. (PROSE: The Shadows of Avalon et al) Laura notes that Compassion probably had an issue with the violation of privacy. (PROSE: The Fall of Yquatine)
- Siloportem, the Thirteen-Day Republic, the Timebeast Assault, and House Mirraflex are mentioned. (PROSE: The Book of the War)
- Various "corporate-cult" cliques of the 20th and early 21st centuries were headed by individuals wearing Avatar's distinctive antlered bone-mask. (PROSE: This Town Will Never Let Us Go)
- The Universal Machine was nearly manifested on 21st century Earth. (PROSE: This Town Will Never Let Us Go)
- Machines among the Universal Machine's resurrected human technology include "archaic wooden-looking automata with mask-faces" (AUDIO: In the Year of the Cat, TV: The Talons of Weng-Chiang) and a "locomoting geodesic spheroid with integrated flame-throwing device". (TV: The Chase)
- Faction Paradox: a Negotiable History by Selene Walmric reappears in PROSE: Weapons Grade Snake Oil.
- The Great Detective Agency reappears in PROSE: Tales of the Great Detectives.
- The Civil War is further explored in PROSE: A Hundred Words from a Civil War, Apocalypse Day, God Encompasses, and Tales of the Civil War.
External links
- Official Of the City of the Saved... page at Mad Norwegian Press
- Of the City of the Saved... at the Faction Paradox wiki
- Of the City of the Saved... at the Doctor Who Reference Guide
- The Discontinuity Guide to: Of the City of the Saved... at The Whoniverse
Footnotes
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
