Review of ‘Travelling Without Moving’ by Nathan Jones

Dystopia, drugs and doppelgängers. This is an eccentric, unnerving dive into a post-apocalyptic world. The novel has tones of Philip K Dick, William Gibson and Neal Stephenson. It’s influenced by the work of Jeff Noon (I haven’t read him).

The story is set in a bio-dome, where the survivors live. Everyone is divided into tribes, which have the names of ancient tribes but look very different and have a variety of powers and specialities. The protagonist of the story is called Napalm. He’s invented a game-playing drug experience, ‘tickets’. They might just be a way out of the dome. Everyone wants to be involved and they aren’t all on his side…

I have to admit that sometimes I didn’t understand what was going on. That was the only downside of the reading experience, as I otherwise found this to be a very unusual book with excellent world-building and an interesting writing style. I enjoyed the imagery and the variety of words. A bonus point for using the word ‘snazzy’, which is one of my favourites!

The author describes the genre as ‘clockpunk’, which just perfectly sums it up, as the technology is clockwork-based. I might also say it’s a ‘philosophical thriller’ as there are deep concepts behind it.

Independently published in 2021.

2 thoughts on “Review of ‘Travelling Without Moving’ by Nathan Jones”

    1. I’m always impressed when authors have philosophy in their books! It was a memorable read with some cool ideas. Thanks 🙂

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