The Drowned World: Review
The Drowned World by Ballard was one of the first cli-fi novels, dystopian works showing the future of human-caused global warming. It features a scientist who returns to an overgrown, flooded, Europe where temperatures are risings and superstorms are getting nearer by the day. The research vessel he's on leaves, but not before several crew get a sort of tropical fever, including visions. When the research team leaves, the scientist and a few other people stay behind, but their slow death from overheating is interrupted by a raiding ship and it's megalomaniacal captain.
I found it prescient, fascinating, but strangely sterile. It has fascinating and detailed descriptions of the results of global warming taken to its logical and horrifying conclusion. Flooded cities, humanity shrinking and forced to the poles, and superstorms are barely prescient now, rapidly becoming our lived reality. Yet the characters seemed thin to me. The relationship between the protagonist and his apparent love interest seemed especially distant and devoid of emotion. This novel's place in the genre history warrants a read for completionists, but otherwise I felt somewhat unmoved.
Rating:
- Recommend? Only for dystopia historians
- Buy as a gift? No
Last modified on 18 Oct 2026 by AO
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