If Logan’s Run was about discovering that the supposedly perfect society was built on a rather horrible lie, Logan’s World is much more interested in what happens afterwards. The old system has been overthrown, and Logan now finds himself in a world trying to work out what comes next.

That change of focus makes this an interesting follow-up. There is no doubt that the collapse of the old order brings genuine improvements. People are no longer condemned to die at twenty-one, and there is suddenly the possibility of choice, freedom and a future. But Nolan also recognises that creating a better society is rather more complicated than simply removing a bad one.

The new world is full of uncertainty, conflicting ideas and people trying to adjust to circumstances they have never experienced before. Those who spent their entire lives living according to somebody else’s rules now have to make their own decisions. Some embrace that freedom, while others struggle with it. There is a particularly nice irony in the fact that people who have spent years being told how to live can find genuine freedom rather unsettling.

This allows Nolan to explore some of the same themes as the first novel without simply repeating its story. Logan’s World asks what freedom actually means when nobody is there to tell you what to do, while also considering how much structure a society needs. Individual freedom comes with responsibility, and a functioning society requires people to think about the consequences of their choices. Nolan doesn’t offer particularly detailed answers, but the questions give the story something more substantial beneath the action.

There is plenty of social commentary here, particularly around conformity and the difficulty of changing people’s attitudes. Destroying an established system does not immediately erase the beliefs that supported it. The old way of thinking still influences people, and there is always the possibility that fear and uncertainty will encourage them to accept new forms of authority. The novel therefore suggests that changing society is not simply a matter of changing its rules. People have to change as well.

The story itself retains the brisk, sometimes breathless quality of its predecessor. Nolan gets Logan from one situation to another without spending too much time explaining the mechanics of his future society. That keeps things moving, although it is also where some of my reservations come in. There are ideas here that could have been explored in considerably more depth, and some of the characters feel more like representatives of particular viewpoints than fully rounded individuals.

At times, I found myself wishing Nolan would slow down and spend a little longer with the consequences of what was happening. The aftermath of such enormous changes is fascinating, and the novel occasionally skims over material that could have made the world feel considerably richer.

The Audible audiobook is once again helped by Oliver Wyman’s narration. He gives the story plenty of energy and handles Nolan’s fast pace very well. There is also a good sense of the changing mood of the story, from the excitement and uncertainty of the new world to the more serious questions surrounding what kind of society should emerge from it. Wyman makes for an engaging companion throughout.

Overall, Logan’s World is a worthwhile follow-up to Logan’s Run. It doesn’t have quite the same impact as the original, largely because the central premise is no longer a surprise, but I appreciated Nolan taking the story in a different direction rather than simply giving us more of the same.

There are some underdeveloped characters and ideas, and I would have liked a little more depth in places, but the novel remains an enjoyable piece of classic science fiction with some surprisingly relevant observations about freedom, conformity, responsibility and the difficulty of changing society. It may not be as memorable as Logan’s Run, but it has enough of its own ideas to make the journey worthwhile.

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