Naomi de Bruyn penned this review.
Have you ever considered that just possibly, there might be another society right under our noses? Actually, in this case, right above our heads? Personally, I’d never really given the matter more than momentary speculation in the past. However, I now have something new to wonder about as I wander the busy downtown streets.
Roofworld is about a hidden society situated high above London. Not just any society, but one filled with misfits who either could not or did not wish to survive on the ground any longer, adhering to rules and regulations which allow people to starve to death unaided, or suffer just because they are poor. These misfits live by a rather bizarre code of honor, but one which has more justice to it than our own.
This society is known to only a few people who live on the ground, people who would die before divulging the secret to anyone who could or would bring harm. However, this secret hovers on the verge of being thrown to the world at large as bodies begin to appear, like inadvertent raindrops, on the holiday streets far far below.
The Roofworld is torn asunder by a power struggle. Nathaniel Zalian has long striven to keep the upper world a place of peace and safety. He is a man who put away a habitual drug use in order to rebuild Roofworld to its once glorious stature. It used to be a world which numbered its population in the hundreds, but only a handful now survive.
Chymes is a twisted and sadistic creature, one who fancies himself an alchemist. He in fact took his name from that of the very first recorded alchemist in history. He is the complete opposite of Zalian. He desires control of Roofworld, and has managed to sway a number of Zalian’s followers with enticements like drugs and power. He leads an army of skinheads who inflict terror upon their enemies, as they kill for only the slightest of reasons while partaking in Chymes’ twisted vendetta against Zalian.
Two innocent ‘outlanders’ are drawn into this dangerous world when chance brings about the right circumstances. One, Robert Linden, is seeking the rights to a novel. The author was murdered; however, her daughter Sara could furnish him with the rights. Unfortunately, the daughter has disappeared. The second is Rose Leonard, the caretaker of the building in which the author lived, and an acquaintance of the daughter. She accidentally runs across a ‘krewe’ on top of a building one night and photographs them. When the film is developed, she recognizes Sara as one of the figures loping across the roof.
Denizens of this high-altitude society travel from rooftop to rooftop by the use of cables, some of which are permanently affixed to buildings and called runs. This is what Rose has seen, and her curiosity pulls her back to the heights, embroiling her in the struggle between Zalian and Chymes.
Alchemy, a practice supposedly older than that of witchcraft … The elixir for eternal life is rumored to be an alchemical recipe. Has Chymes really found a way to gain the power of magic? Or will his powers blow away like so much chimney smoke? And if so, will Zalian have his utopia?
My suggestion is to read this enjoyable novel and find out. It will give you a new angle of looking at things, if nothing else.
(Arrow, 1989)
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