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Desolation Road Paperback – December 10, 2020

by Ian McDonald (Author)
4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 109 ratings
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It all started thirty years ago on Mars. By the time it was finished, the town of Desolation Road had been witness to every abnormality yet seen on the Red Planet. From Adam Black's Wonderful Travelling Chautauqua and Educational 'Stravaganza, to the Astounding Tatterdemalion Air Bazaar, nowhere else boasts such sights for the wandering lucky traveller.

Its inhabitants are just as storied. From Dr. Alimantando -- founder and resident genius -- to the Babooshka, a barren grandmother with a child grown in a fruit jar; from Rajendra Das, mechanical hobo whose way with machines bordered on the mystic, to the Gallacelli brothers, identical triplets who fell in love with - and married - the same woman.

There's nowhere quite like Desolation Road. Once you go there, you may never be the same again.

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Previous page
  1. Print length
    368 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Gateway
  4. Publication date
    December 10, 2020
  5. Dimensions
    5.12 x 1.02 x 7.72 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    1473230993
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1473230996
  8. See all details
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Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Gateway (December 10, 2020)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 368 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1473230993
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1473230996
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 9.1 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.12 x 1.02 x 7.72 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 109 ratings

About the author

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Ian McDonald

Ian McDonald

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Ian McDonald was born in 1960 in Manchester, England, to an Irish mother and a Scottish father. He moved with his family to Northern Ireland in 1965. He used to live in a house built in the back garden of C. S. Lewis’s childhood home but has since moved to central Belfast, where he now lives, exploring interests like cats, contemplative religion, bonsai, bicycles, and comic-book collecting. He debuted in 1982 with the short story “The Island of the Dead” in the short-lived British magazine Extro. His first novel, Desolation Road, was published in 1988. Other works include King of Morning, Queen of Day (winner of the Philip K. Dick Award), River of Gods, The Dervish House (both of which won British Science Fiction Association Awards), the graphic novel Kling Klang Klatch, and many more. His most recent publications are Planesrunner and Be My Enemy, books one and two of the Everness series for younger readers (though older readers will find them a ball of fun, as well). Ian worked in television development for sixteen years, but is glad to be back to writing fulltime.

Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5 stars
4.3 out of 5
109 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Great item
Reviewed in the United States on December 31, 2023
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Super book and super service
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Ed Rybicki
4.0 out of 5 stars Strange....
Reviewed in the United States on October 22, 2018
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I know this is an early work by Ian McDonald: yes, it is clever; yes, it is fearfully well written; yes, like the later Brasyl it has you hanging on breathlessly to see what happens next.

Is it good? Hmmmmm...too clever by half, one could say. A little too fond of its progression of the hour-and-minute reiterations of times that things happen, too in love with its own complexity and inner darknesses.

And MUCH too fond of getting rid of characters one had just started to like.

So: good, but flawed - and a useful signpost to the brilliance to come in maturity and age.
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Mr Night
5.0 out of 5 stars So weird, so beautiful
Reviewed in the United States on January 27, 2022
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This is a hard one to review. It's so far from the standard narrative. It's like Canterbury Tales by Ray Bradbury in Mayberry. You get vignettes of peoples lives in this town through the generations, and they are SO crazy and interesting. But you are also flitting around, like EVERY chapter for the first 20 or so is meeting some new people. And then their kids come around, and grandkids. But, it's all such an amazing whirlwind, full of magic.

I loved the book, I'd call it a sci-fi must read. But, interestingly enough, I see by other reviews that there is a lot of disagreement on the topic, so who knows?
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E. N Ritchie
3.0 out of 5 stars Engaging, but lightly wanting
Reviewed in the United States on November 5, 2009
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I was drawn into Desolation Road immediately and enjoyed the book. It begins as an intimate, slightly fey, story of misfits on a terraforming Mars finding a place for themselves in as yet undeveloped stop on a desert railway.

But as it progresses towards the end it drags and what was an engaging story of a small society of misfits loses focus when the stories scope expands.

I became increasingly disinterested as the story seemed to become less about the characters and more about the wider world around them.

I don't think, as some reviewers say earlier, that this is McDonalds best work. I think his stories set in future India ('River of Gods' and attendant short stories) are much better.
4 people found this helpful
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Keith E. Eppich
5.0 out of 5 stars It's good.
Reviewed in the United States on August 2, 2023
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It's good.
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Bought this book as used paperback decades ago and loved it. I've re-read this many times
Reviewed in the United States on July 22, 2017
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Bought this book as used paperback decades ago and loved it. I've re-read this many times, picking up new things each time I go through it. It's complex and deep, but an easy and fun read. It's definitely a weird perspective, so I understand those who don't find it appealing. But even though I'm mostly a fan of hard science fiction, I found this mix of SF/fantasy to be just right. Haven't ever read anything else like it. I'm an engineer and my wife is a English major, and we both loved it.
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FredTownWard
4.0 out of 5 stars Flawed Nihilistic Masterpiece
Reviewed in the United States on November 16, 2009
but perhaps I repeat myself.

In the bookstore where I first saw it, they had me at the cover: a science fiction novel displaying a gigantic steam locomotive, and it wasn't even steampunk! And in the beginning I, too, like so many other reviewers, was captivated by the wonders depicted in each new chapter of this episodic novel. However, as each new wonder arrived in Desolation Road, either by train or across the desert, I began to be a bit jaded, even bored, though perhaps that was the author's intention.

The real problems with the novel IMHO started when the narrative flow reversed, and the denizens of Desolation Road began to leave their hometown in order to, quite literally, shake their world. The biggest problem it seems to me is that this gave the author the chance to write some of the least believable satires of current institutions I've ever read.

The most cringeworthy of these has to be his depiction of of the Bethlehem Ares Corporation: a fever dream of industrial age robber-baron-ism as retold by a Marxist. Thus, we see every idiocy ever committed by nineteenth century capitalism, like gunning down striking workers, repeated along with a few idiocies from earlier eras, like indentured servitude, and a few more only found in business ignorant fiction, like circular assembly/disassembly lines that pay workers to build then take things apart. What is missing from all this is any connection to the fundamental economic reality that corporations exist for the sole purpose of generating profits, which tend to be reduced or even eliminated by stupidities this colossal.

A bit less stupid, if only by comparison, is the author's satire of politics. It would seem that Ian McDonald is no great fan of democracy; well, join the club! However, like most critics of democracy, he offers no practical replacement because there IS none; there is simply no other form of government capable of providing even relatively "good" government over a sustained period of time. The reason is not because democracy always provides the "best" government (it doesn't) but rather because no other form of government offers a practical (and peaceful!) solution to "bad" government: voting the bums out. All other forms of government require violence and killing, often on a vast scale, in order to fix a problem with "bad" government.

Somewhat less stupid yet is the author's satire of lunatic revolution versus equally lunatic counterrevolution engaged in a simultaneous atrocity race to the bottom. It is not that there isn't plenty of historical precedence for his premise; in fact one need go no farther than the history of the author's place of residence: Belfast, Northern Ireland, site of one of the longest and certainly one of the stupidest internecine wars in all of human history, to "get" where he is coming from. However, this is hardly the only way such wars can turn out, and his all war is madness theme rings false not only today but also back when it was first written, when the Cold War was being won even as leftist intellectualoids sneered that it couldn't be done.

Arguably the least cringeworthy is his satire of religion, perhaps because he puts the most effort into it; however, even that boils down to: most religion is false, and even true religion is useless because the true god(s) are uncaring, capricious, and cruel. The former is uncontestable, but the latter is a good deal more than merely arguable. Interestingly, the institution Mr. McDonald appears to hold in highest esteem based on this novel is organized crime, but that may simply be a result of the brevity of its satire herein.

In addition Mr. McDonald appears to have had difficulty with the characterization of his villains or of any villainous behavior. Mikal Margolis, incurable momma's boy and catalyst of doom, makes little sense; Marya Quinsana, siren of doom and future politician, makes even less; and Johnny Stalin, post indenture, is pure stereotype: an amoral corporate ladder climber and backstabber straight from central casting. Arnie Tenebrae and Inspiration Cadillac are somewhat more understandably not understandable because we don't expect raving lunatics to make much sense.

Finally, as at least one other reviewer has noted, beyond the beautiful cover this book was rather poorly put together, the text being obviously scanned in and never even spell checked, much less proofread. Oh, it's readable but annoying.

In the end I'm glad I read it. It has certainly opened my mind to what science fiction can be, but I doubt that I will ever reread it -- too nihilistic and depressing.

Note: A sequel,  Ares Express , has recently been released.
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David J Roche
5.0 out of 5 stars STUNNINGLY BEAUTIFUL...
Reviewed in the United States on March 18, 2015
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My biggest regret is that I'll never be able to read this book for the first time again. This book has it all world development, great characters ,more than a dash of magic realism . It engages the reader from the first page to the last. I am retired, and have read more than a few books, this book would be in my top ten desert island book list. Now to choose my next book by the inestimable Ian McDonald.
(and look for the occasional green person).T
his book is recommended for the reader of any genre who is looking for a fascinating piece of literature.
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Top reviews from other countries

SilverfaceCosmicman
3.0 out of 5 stars Meh!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 2, 2022
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A combination of New Wave SF and Magic Realism! I should've loved it, but found it over stylised and containing too many characters. I enjoyed what I read but couldn't get further than half way. One to come back to, I think...
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Adrian L.
5.0 out of 5 stars Really enjoyed this book - well written
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 12, 2017
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Really enjoyed this book - well written, imaginative, engrossing, but not too heavy or pretentious. Will have to buy more by this author for an extended holiday planned this summer.
2 people found this helpful
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Ventura Angelo
5.0 out of 5 stars Douglas Adams meets Tom Robbins
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 2, 2001
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Zany combinations of a genetically rewired humanity,when the strange drift of fate and desire brings togheter fascinating and cryptic personae in a hyperrealistic martian desert.A masterpiece of the imagination.I'm savouring it slowly,to appreciate the melancholic,Sheckleyan twang of McDonald's intriguing writing. If you want to read a VERY good modern S.F. book on Mars,read this book.
8 people found this helpful
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