I guess this author duo has a special place in the hearts of all Norwegian nerds of a certain age. Not only did they champion science fiction in Norway in the 70s, but they edited a number of anthologies, got a bunch of classics translated, wrote sci-fi TV series… and also wrote a bunch of science fiction books themselves, and some of theme were geared with lased sharp precision at nerdy kids: The most successful book series was about a kid who flew around in space on a library space ship! These days you’d guess that something like that would be the result of extensive booktok market research, but I guess they’re just built that way.
The problem is… once I got older, I realised that they were (and there’s no polite way to say this) not good writers.
So I haven’t read any of their stuff for at least three decades, but I picked this 2014 book up at a book sale a few years ago, and then didn’t read it. Until now.
I kinda enjoyed it? And also, it sucks.
Let me explain: It’s written in a way that went out of style in the 1950s: We’re following an investigation taking place in 2084, and most of the space is devoted to explaining all the technical wonders of 2084. But written squarely to a contemporary audience. Like, imagine a sci fi short story written in 1945: “He pulled out his aetherium-powered pen, which worked as if there were an extremely tiny gasoline engine embedded (but without the fumes) that melted the lead and allowed the pen to write in a very fluid, manly manner.” That sort of style used to be a thing, but nobody writes that way any more.
I just found it to be an amusing read, because the authors’ enthusiasm for describing the World Of The Future is palpable. And like those oldee tymey sci fi stories, the protagonist has virtually no interior life or any character to speak of. While I was reading this, I was thinking “whew, people are gonna hate this!”, and I just checked Goodreads: Yup — it’s got 2.93, which is extremely low for that site.
The plot is stupid, and the ending is risible, but I enjoyed reading it anyway.
London 2084: en fortelling om fremtidige forbrytelser (2014) by Jon Bing & Tor Åge Bringsværd (2.93 on Goodreads)