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Adam Roberts
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On Paperback – June 1, 2002

by Adam Roberts (Author)
4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 50 ratings
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Tighe lives on the wall. It towers above his village and falls away below it. It is vast and unforgiving and it is everything he knows. Life is hard on the wall, little more than a clinging on for dear life—and then one day Tighe falls off the wall. On is at once a vertiginous concept novel, a coming of age saga, a picaresque journey across a changed world, and an epic adventure in the very best traditions of science fiction.
Previous page
  1. Print length
    400 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Gollancz
  4. Publication date
    June 1, 2002
  5. Dimensions
    4.3 x 1.2 x 6.8 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0575072997
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0575072992
  8. See all details
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Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Gollancz (June 1, 2002)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 400 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0575072997
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0575072992
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 7.9 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 4.3 x 1.2 x 6.8 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 50 ratings

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Adam Roberts

Adam Roberts

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Customer reviews

4 out of 5 stars
4 out of 5
50 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Mr Night
4.0 out of 5 stars Some powerful surprises, if lacking direction
Reviewed in the United States on November 24, 2021
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The main concept of this novel, which surely you have read about in the description, does end up coming with a really cool pay off. I won't spoil it, but the surprise of the world was pretty rad.

There are also some powerful moments of monster horror in this one, surprisingly. I was impressed.

But, the narrator is a bit of a milquetoast, and remains that way through so much of the book that when he finally gets just a touch of the hero vibe, it is never enough to carry the plot.

Adam Roberts has a history of not that heroic characters, but unlike the engagingly simpering villain of Stone, this one lacks charisma. Still, the coolness of the world and some of the events therein made it worthwhile.
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Hollis Mortenson
5.0 out of 5 stars You should probably read this book.
Reviewed in the United States on September 6, 2018
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Roberts wins my award for the weirdest settings of any sci-fi book. I can't stop thinking about this book, with the inhabitants living on a giant wall. Bizarre ending, but it suffices.
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m raymer
3.0 out of 5 stars Expected more from this usually-great writer.
Reviewed in the United States on May 24, 2016
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Having read other books by Adam Roberts (The Thing Itself, Anticopernicus), which were excellent, this was a let down. Based on one basic scifi premise, that the whole world appears to be a vertical wall, peopled by fairly primitive and largely miserable folks, the plot seems plodding and barely holds together, with some scifi plot changes thrown in at the end, and no real resolution. Sorry, but I expected more from this usually-great writer.
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Explores a new, interesting "way of life"
Reviewed in the United States on December 16, 2002
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The protagonist of "On" lives on a world with an interesting twist that changes everything about it (except human nature, of course). The book is believable, exciting, a little gory here and there, driven by both plot and character. It doesn't have a typical ending, but the ending makes sense when you think about it, and the author's dedication at the end mentions the theme that the ending fits into. A short appendix lays out the science behind this world if you missed the clear info dumps from one of the characters. I liked this book a lot.
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Pablo Rodriguez
2.0 out of 5 stars Off
Reviewed in the United States on February 23, 2020
Adam Roberts is my favorite living author. I’ve been rereading his early novels as I’ve only read them once (they aren’t up to snuff with his later work). It was interesting to read ON a second time because I had completely forgotten the plot and characters. Turns out I also hadn’t retained the conceit of the story, which is that the Earth’s gravity has flipped 90 degrees. Gravity is now perpendicular to the surface rather than towards the center of the Earth, and everything falls east. The remaining population of the Earth numbers in the thousands, all of whom live on ledges that were once the sides of hills and mountains. The “wall” that the characters speak of is what we call the ground; even when I grokked this after a chapter or two, it was difficult to keep the concept in mind as I read. It’s a really interesting SF conceit and Roberts provides an appendix citing Hawking that describes how it could happen. Other than the sideways-growing trees, I think Roberts did a good job describing the premise.

I get the impression that ON started as an SF novella that Roberts wanted to expand to novel length. About 30% in a new thread starts that takes up the next 50% of the book. It strikes me as if an earlier Roberts had written the novella and then came back to it with his skills honed from having written and published SALT. Suddenly ON turns into a coming-of-age story where the young character Tighe gets recruited into a flying regiment in another army’s war (they ride man-sized kites). This section is very well-written and it serves as a reminder that Roberts can write action sequences and war scenes. It is exhausting, too; maybe it needed a few more kite-riding interludes to let the reader calm down. My real criticism of this section is that the entire 50% is not really SF. It could appear in a mainstream novel virtually intact.

Tighe grows and changes throughout the middle section, but when the original SF story resumes at the 80% mark he seems to be the old Tighe again. Very quickly the story just runs to a stop; there is literally no ending. I would’ve appreciated more effort on a new ending rather than the large middle section on the war. Surprisingly, a non-Amazon reviewer quoted Roberts as saying he could not think of any other ending for the story. I can immediately think of three (these are not spoilers):

1. The Inevitable Return: Tighe completes his coming-of-age by making the inevitable return home, where he sorts matters out and lives as an adult. It’s cliché, of course, but it’s what I expected for most of the book. Roberts is usually too clever for an ending like this and I’m glad it’s not what happened.

2. The Big Finish: Tighe fixes (or is involved with fixing) the gravity issue. This would’ve been exciting but I am glad I was able to finish the book with the sideways world still intact. Despite the structural issues of the book, the gravity conceit will stick with me and ending the book with it in place was a good decision.

3. The Likely Scenario: Tighe finishes his wartime adventures and settles down in his new home (because his old home is 50 miles of flat wall above him). He might be (a) a religious leader like his grandfather, insisting his cosmology of the wall is the correct one, (b) a goat-herder like his father, living a simple life in his new home, or (c) a retired war veteran running a kite-riding business so a new generation of youth can experience the pleasures of flying in peacetime. Maybe a combination of a, b, and c would be the best ending; it’d change my rating to 4 stars.

Last comment: if anyone knows what the title refers to, please respond!
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FilWi
2.0 out of 5 stars Neat ideas badly executed
Reviewed in the United States on October 6, 2012
On is the "story" of Tighe, a barbarian, early middle age, boy living on a neverending wall, stretching forever upwards and downwards. The world of On is intriguing, the descriptions interesting and catching. The sufferings and tribulations that Roberts puts Tighe through are described in excruciating and on occasion revolting or enraging detail, which is good: any book that manages to evoke that much emotion is worth looking at.

Unfortunately there is absolutely no story, no content, in On. The book is the exact opposite of a good novel, which I liken to a piece of candy: a shell of description wrapped around a solid core of story goodness. On is a solid wrapper of description with a molding, half-eaten piece of old lemon curd at its center.

Roberts starts out with a story, then grows tired of it and kills is. But there's still more book to write since the main character stays alive. So Roberts starts a second story, completely unrelated to the first, only to grow bored with it and start a third, a fourth and a fifth. That's right, five completely unrelated beginnings stacked on top of each other and never, ever coming to any conclusion. Even the last story, ending with a deux ex machina, isn't an ending at all as it resolves nothing and ends in medias res. Perhaps Roberts it trying to tell all his stories backwards but then he should have tinkered with time, not gravity.

This is the second book by Adam Roberts that I read and I'm sure there won't be a third. As with Salt the sentences are great, the paragraphs are good, the chapters are so-so and the book is bad. Unlike Salt, which mercifully ended rather quickly, On stretches on and on and on. There are better, more entertaining, things to do, like laundry or dishes.
One person found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Kindle Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Right On
Reviewed in Canada on April 14, 2023
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The mystery in this book is stunning, and the reveal is very satisfying. A real sense of long history/layers in the world building.
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Brian Clegg
4.0 out of 5 stars Mind-bending scenario if an abrupt ending
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 16, 2022
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This early Adam Roberts novel, is coincidentally, the third SF book in a row that I've read with teen protagonists. Tighe is a teenage boy (he's described as younger because his civilisation uses 20 month years) in a primitive society, inhabiting a strange world where everyone lives on ledges in a vast wall that appears to be thousands of miles high. Primarily by accident, Tighe gets to experience different cultures on the Worldwall, as well as the terrors of war and some evil, oversized insect life. Eventually we (but not he, because he can't grasp it) get to discover what is really happening. I won't give the game away here (though the cover image gives a hint).

There are strong similarities contextually with Christopher Priest's Inverted World. That novel is also set in a location that seems to depend on strange physics - in the case of Priest's world, one where the Earth appears to have taken on a hyperbolic shape and a city has to be moved all the time to avoid spacetime distortion (though these turn out to be probably perceptual alterations, rather than physical ones). I always found it difficult to get my head around what was happening in Inverted World - in On, the setup was considerably clearer, helped by a scientific appendix (though the fictional bits of the 'science' are rather overdone there). The Worldwall is still sometimes something of a struggle to visualise, but was a lot clearer to me than the inverted world.

The reader gets two things out of Roberts' book - the adventure (and, frankly, the rather miserable existence) side of Tighe's life and the gradual discovery of what has really happened and what the Worldwall is. I felt a little bogged down in the middle war section, but the latter parts really lift the book, even if it ends rather abruptly. The clever use of this strange physical environment, particularly when inhabitants take to the air and odd gravitational effects occur, is truly fascinating.

This isn't the best book Roberts has written by any means - it is an early one - but it illustrates, as his books so often do, an enthusiasm for stretching the science fiction genre and doing things with it that challenge the reader's imagination.
2 people found this helpful
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Exegeek
5.0 out of 5 stars Mind bending
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 9, 2023
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Trying to understand this story really is mindbending - when the answer comes it's well worthy it. A post apocalyptic society where nothing can ever be the same.
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Fintan15
3.0 out of 5 stars pathetic ending
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 8, 2022
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Just wasted several days reading this potentially interesting book with very odd primitive characters - they eat grubs and never wash or even clean their teeth - in a world that has obviously gone wrong somewhere. It switches tack several times and captures the attention, explaining much in a garbled way, until the sudden and useless end. There is so much still to discover, like how the Wizard has survived the catastrophe, what Tig-he does next, and much else. The boy seems to be weird in that he can learn languages very fast yet all he can think of is getting back to his village where he was miserable and constantly beaten. It seems to me that the writer ran out of steam or realised that he didn't know how to continue with the story. I don't think I will bother with this writer again, English or not. Disappointing.
One person found this helpful
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Sydney Mincing
5.0 out of 5 stars ON - by Adam Roberts
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 5, 2017
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Fascinating story told, read it to the end but didn't understand what it was supposed to be about.
One person found this helpful
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