The Pastel City
core novel 1971 Viriconium
Record
| First published | 1971 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | novel |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 3.77 (1,936 ratings, collected 2026-10-28) |
| First-edition ISBN | 9780450007644 |
| Internal chronology | 1 |
Synopsis
Some seventeen great empires have risen and fallen on Earth, and the city of Viriconium now survives among the rusting wastes they left behind, using airships and energy weapons that nobody remembers how to build. When the young queen's cousin brings an army from the north, tegeus-Cromis, a former soldier who thinks himself a better poet than swordsman, leaves his tower by the sea to gather what is left of the old order of Methven. With the dwarf Tomb and other companions, guided by a talking metal vulture to a mysterious figure in a tower, he discovers that the northern army has woken something far older and deadlier from the past: brain-stealing machines left by the Afternoon Cultures.
Where it sits
- Universe: Viriconium
- Series: Viriconium core; position 1 of 4 in the series' recorded order
- Author: M. John Harrison
Notes
- From the series record (Viriconium): The three novels set in and around the far-future city of Viriconium.
Neighbouring works
Publication order and internal chronology are tracked as two separate orderings and are never conflated: a book's place in one says nothing about its place in the other.
- Publication order, within the series Viriconium: position 1 of 4: next A Storm of Wings (1980)
- Internal chronology, within Viriconium: position 1 of 3: next A Storm of Wings (1980)
Sources
- Wikipedia: Viriconium
- Reader ratings: Viriconium series page
- Fantasy Literature: review of The Pastel City
- ISFDB: The Pastel City
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