Level 7 (Magill’s Guide to Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature)
At a glance:
- Author: Mordecai Roshwald
- First Published: 1959
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Science fiction—post-holocaust
- Time of Work: The near future
- Setting: An underground city in an unspecified country
- Genres: Long fiction, Science fiction, Apocalyptic and catastrophe fiction
- Subjects: Future, Nuclear warfare or weapons, Subterranean or underground regions
- Locales: Earth, alternate versions of
The Plot
Mordecai Roshwald’s novel is the diary of a military officer who has been trained to launch mas-sive nuclear strikes against an enemy country. Soon after he is transferred to the self- sufficient underound city Level 7, a war breaks out. The narrator reports both the devastation of Earth’s surface and the gradual death of Level 7 itself when a faulty nuclear reactor releases radiation into the city. The end of the diary also marks the death of the last human being.
The protagonist, who is known only by his military code name of X-127, is a flawed character....
[The entire page is 937 words long]
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