Customer Reviews

Fever in Urbicand

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This is a great fantasy story, mind you. But it's not one that invites you into it's world. It doesn't want to be your buddy and hug you, nope, the story keeps you at some length at all times. The story lets you be a witness and see the events, but you get to see them from the other side of the room, and it is a big room.

The story takes place in the city of Urbicand, a city divided by a river. The people from one side of the river never visit the other, in fact, it's almost illegal to do so. Why? Beats me, not even the people from the city know. Suddenly, a cube appears in the desk of famous urbatect Eugen Robick, and the cube starts growing and growing until it connects both sides of the city. But the cube does more than physically connect both sides, it also connects the people emotionally. People start walking on the cube to the other side of the city, meeting the people that lived right in front of them for years for the first time.

But the story has a problem. The main characters are not very expressive. I'm very much aware that the real main character of the whole story is the city of Urbican itself, it's very interesting to see how the city reacts to the giant cube growing on it. The city expresses itself very well. The problem is with Robick the urbatect, he is a very cold and unexpressive person. He rarely expresses much awe for what's happening. If the characters are not amazed by the fantastic events taking place, then how are we supposed to be amazed then?

This is the second book in the Cities of Fantastic series by Benoit Peeters and Francois Schuiten. Benoit Peeters has written many novels. He has also written works about Herge, which are considered to be the definitive studies on The Father of the European Comic Strip. Francois Schuiten is one of Europe's top-rankled artists. He comes from a family of architects but is not one himseld. Although, he has done some books with his brother Luc about the citiscapes of the future.

Eugen Robick is from the great city of Urbicande. This modernized city is "world famous" for its urban architecture. Feelings, attitudes, and the general philosphy of the citizens of Urbicand is influenced by the architecture of the city. But there is a darker side to this architectural eutopia: there are actually two parts to the city; a south bank and a north bank. South bankers, like Eugen robick, the main architect, consider the north bank to be a place of chaos because of its architecture. South and north bankers have never met, even though there are two bridges connecting the two banks. The city committee insists on keeping the two banks seperated and controls the two bridges tightly. But now, a mysterious cube sits on Robick's desk. It is growing rapidly, and connecting Urbicand's two banks...

The art is great. There is so much detail in the beautiful architectural designs by Schuiten. the story is fantastic and ironic in some respects. If you are a classic sci-fi fan, this book is a must-read.