I picked this up in the Popular Penguin edition a few weeks ago. A dystopian novel set in 70s New Zealand would have been attraction enough--gosh, New Zealand, that's in the same region as me, not to mention the strong New Zealand/Australian cultural ties--but a quick dip through also showed that this was quality writing. And, indeed, it is. I found most of this novel fairly engrossing and was only really disappointed by the extreme one-dimensionality of the few female characters, none of whom make an appearance for more than a few pages here and there, and the fairly uninspired ending.

I don't need a happy ending--this isn't Hollywood--but it seemed to be "plonked on" with no satisfying resolution, or even a good reason for such a sudden and abrupt/unexplained ending.

I'm somewhat tempted to look further into Mr Stead's writing on the basis of this, but not enough to go rushing out to buy it. ( )