Non-Stop
★★★★★
Regressed tribes of hunter-gatherers scratch out an existence along the corridors of a generation starship. Our protagonist, Complain, wants more from his life and teams up with a priest to go on a journey across the ship to uncover its secrets and maybe take control.
Aldiss does a stellar job of blending the architecture of the expansive ship with the rampant plant growth that has taken over and created a vivid mini ecology within which tribes of humans play out their short subsistence lives. The tribes’ cultural difference is similarly well-realised; they’re often shockingly callous with their psychoanalytically based religion, espousing the virtues of rage and letting desires out - a survival trait for their bottled-up existence.
Aldiss packs a lot into his first novel, nailing the world-building but falling forgivably short with some flat characters, insta-romance, and, at times, clunky dialogue. The plotting is fast-paced as our protagonist adventures across the ship, peeling back the mysteries, but sometimes the story feels like it’s overloaded - I think the underdeveloped rats and psi side stories could have easily been dropped and made the story tighter.
Overall, a satisfyingly snappy adventure story packed with great world-building and mystery, which was foundational for developing the generation ship trope. A deserving classic that holds up well today.
