The Physiognomy
core novel 1997 The Well-Built City
Record
| First published | 1997 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | novel |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 3.75 (1,087 ratings, collected 2026-08-18) |
| Page count | 256 |
| First-edition ISBN | 9780380793310 |
| Internal chronology | 1 |
Synopsis
The Physiognomy is set in the anti-utopian Well-Built City, ruled by the tyrannical Master Drachton Below according to the pseudo-science of physiognomy, a system that claims to judge a person's character and criminality by the proportions of their face and body. Its protagonist, Cley, is a ruthless state physiognomist who travels the City and its outlying territories condemning anyone whose features are deemed imperfect, wielding his judgments as instruments of the Master's authoritarian control. When Cley is sent to a remote mining town to investigate a theft, he begins to encounter people and truths that challenge the pseudo-science he has spent his career enforcing, setting him on a path that puts his loyalty to Below and his own understanding of the City's order to the test.
Where it sits
- Universe: The Well-Built City
- Series: The Well-Built City Trilogy core; position 1 of 3 in the series' recorded order
- Author: Jeffrey Ford
Awards (verified)
- World Fantasy Award (Best Novel), 1998: won
Notes
- From the series record (The Well-Built City Trilogy): A continuous surreal dystopian-fantasy trilogy following the Physiognomist Cley.
Neighbouring works
Publication order and internal chronology are tracked as two separate orderings, but they resolve to the exact same sequence for this book, so one combined line is shown instead of two identical ones.
- Reading order, within the series The Well-Built City Trilogy: position 1 of 3: next Memoranda (1999)
Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Physiognomy
- http://speculiction.blogspot.com/2015/05/review-of-physiognomy-by-jeffrey-ford.html
- World Fantasy Convention 1998
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