Ah, this was recommended to me as one of the best Aldiss' works after I was kinda ambivalent about Non-Stop. And I have to say there indeed were fewer things I'd find so jarring.

And this began so well! The parts in the forest, as well as the 'true world' sections were interesting. And while the rest was still okay, and was based on extrapolations of the world's situation (as is proper for a sci-fi book), I still felt kinda let down by how it all unfolded. Aldiss' sub-par character work didn't help either.