Review of Land of the Headless by Adam Roberts

I almost didn't read Adam Roberts' novel Land of the Headless (2007). The plot's main conceit was so lacking in subtlety and so ripe with potential for comic book cheese that I was prepared to immediately return it should the first few pages live up to my concerns. The title to be taken literally, it tells the story of a planet where capitol punishment removes the guilty's head but does not take their life. They live on, headless, through the wonders of technology. Something from the pulp era of sf, yes? No...

Land of the Headless is the tale of the poet Jon Cavala. An amorous youth, he forms a tryst with an aristocrat's daughter over the course of a summer. They willingly share a bed outside of marriage, but only to be found out. The daughter and her family betray Cavala, and he is punished for his impatient penis. For in Cavala's draconian society, murder, blasphemy, and in this case “rape”, are cause for capitol punishment. And so the story kicks off with Cavala's beheading. A device attached to the spine prior captures Cavala's mind state—consciousness more or less—so that even after his noggin is lopped off he goes on living. He buys a cheap pair of electronic eyes and ears with what little money he has left and so sets off to live a new life. The headless are shunned and the going is tough. Cavala falls in with a trio of other headless, and together they agree to travel to a nearby city by foot. What Cavala does not tell his comrades is that he goes to meet the daughter who betrayed him.

The story which follows moves in unexpected directions. There are additional betrayals, unrequited love, pressganging, space ships, unnerving interrogations, unexpected romances, smoky extraterrestrial battles, and a number of other things the reader reading this review to this point would be surprised by. In short, Roberts unpacks the story in a manner that keeps the reader engaged by the escalating injustice of Cavala's circumstances but focused on the unpredictable, imaginative direction his plight to right the injustice, takes.

When it comes to the book's theme, Roberts does not obfuscate the religious commentary. The god of Cavala's society is called the All'God, their religious text is the Bibl'uran, and they blindly enforce capital punishment for sex outside of marriage, murder, and blasphemy—a religious totalitarianism if ever there. And throughout there is a satirical edge to Roberts' style which presents the oppression in an even starker light. While that theme may be preaching to the choir for the majority of the book's readers (three cheers for the enlightenment, no?), one can't deny it makes for compelling reading, particularly considering the book was published in the middle of period of real world history where draconian ideologies in the middle east were prevalent (looking at you ISIS). It's worth pointing out that Roberts clearly and cleverly pokes holes in the bastion of Western values along Cavala's journey, as well. No one is spared.

I am torn on the ending of Land of the Headless. (No spoilers.) A distinct, vivid part of me appreciates the ending Roberts' writes. It feels proper, good, deserved in many ways. There is catharsis in it. But another part of me, the bibliophile and humanist, says the opposite ending was required to make the book “good”. Cavala is faced with a fate, and that should have been it, the end. The type of novel Land of the Headless is almost needs such a fate to truly leave its mark. As it stands, Roberts pulls the punch a little, in turn dulling the edge of his satire.

It's worth noting the style of Land of the Headless. It is not classic, like Edwardian or Victorian English, nor is it contemporary or modern informal. It finds a sweet spot between. There is a distinct formality; Cavala's society has a certain etiquette to speech and the exposition likewise has a touch of rigidity. But the content and story-type are something modern. It is both polished and imminently readable.

In the end, Land of the Headless is a much better novel than it's science fiction conceit would portend. Roberts gets into the illogical guts of what makes a society's rule of law based on religious truths dystopian, and does so in truly imaginative and page-turning fashion. Some of Robert's books and stories can be slap-bang, but this one is tight and considered from page one. Nobody, and I mean nobody, talks about this novel these days. But it's definitely worth going back and taking a look if not just for a fun, surprising read.