Nest of Worlds (Polish: Gniazdo światów) is a science fiction novel by the Polish author Marek S. Huberath. It was published in 1998. The novel has several layers of embedded (or "nested") stories, each of which is printed in a different font. This, along with the thematization of books and reading, places Nest of Worlds in the genre of metafiction.
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Nest of Worlds is set in a universe which resembles the real world in terms of civilisational advancement but it differs from it considerably in terms of the laws of physics and in terms of social organisation.
In the universe of the main story, the flow of time depends on the distance of a given person or object from the planet. The further a body is from the surface of the planet, the slower the time flows for that body. For example, at the beginning of the novel, two of the main characters, Dave and Magda, make a journey, covering the same distance. Dave travels by plane, while Magda travels by ship. As a result, Dave’s journey takes thirty-six hours, while Magda’s takes four years, although they start and finish their respective journeys at roughly the same time. The physics are also different in different embedded stories.
The planet in the main story is divided into four countries. At the age of thirty-five, every individual must leave their native country and move to the next. After another thirty-five years they move once again to the next country, and so on: if they live long enough, they may live in each of the four countries in turn. The reason behind these removals is not explained but none of the characters seems to question their purposefulness.
The society in each country is organised according to racist criteria and divided into four castes according to hair colour. The hierarchy of castes is different in each country, so with the removals, an individual’s social position changes.
Apart from an ordinary name and surname, everyone also has a Significant Name, which, with inexplicable yet inevitable certainty, determines what is going to be the cause of the Name's owner's death. The Significant Name is chosen by the child's parents and there are twelve Names they can choose from. Sulled, for example, means 'from oneself', Aeriel means 'from air', Myzzt means 'through brain'.
The qualities of the universe of each embedded story remain in a relationship with the qualities of all other "nested worlds", which can be expressed by means of mathematical formulae. For example, in each successive world, the number of the countries increases, while the time an individual has to spend in a country decreases.
The story begins with the main character, Gavein Throzz (a.k.a. Dave) and his wife, Ra Mahleiné (Magda), arriving in the country of Davabel, after an obligatory journey from their native country. As soon as they settle in their new flat, there is a series of mysterious deaths in the neighbourhood. What is mysterious about them, however, is not the manner in which they happen (for they are always perfectly explicable), but the reason why there are so many of them and why the victims are only the people who have met Gavein even though he does not want them dead. The idea that the protagonist is responsible for the "epidemic of deaths" starts as a vague suspicion, soon to become the country’s national problem. Meanwhile, Dave’s colleague, Wilcox, reads Nest of Worlds, a book that will later drive him to insanity and suicide. Throzz is taken to the Division of Science, where physicians, under a pretence of investigating his unique phenomenon, unsuccessfully attempt to kill him. During Dave’s stay at the Institute, his friend, Zef, also starts reading Nest of Worlds but, unlike Wilcox, is influenced positively by the book. Dave escapes from the hospital, which is being destroyed by earthquakes accompanying the formation of a volcano.
He comes home to find most of the household murdered (including Zef). After another unsuccessful attempt at his life—this time by the army—Dave starts reading Nest of Worlds as a form of escapism. The book tells about a world similar to his but with slightly changed qualities. The characters also, like Gavein, read a book called Nest of Worlds. In their book the world is still different and the characters also read Nest of Worlds—and so on and so forth. It is characteristic that what happens in a "nested world" largely depends on the readers from a higher level. If they read the book, the characters’ lives speed up; if they stop reading it, the action slows down; if they reread any passage, it is never the same. Dave also reads notes which Zef had left inside the book on slips of paper. Zef had been comparing the qualities of all the nested worlds and arranging them in mathematical formulae. These formulae show that all the nested worlds constitute a logical continuum, the suggestion being that Gavein’s world is also a part of it, i.e. that Gavein is a character in a book. By "juggling numbers" Zef also infers the existence of our world and of the ultimate world, encompassing all other nested worlds, whose sole inhabitant is probably God (though not mentioned directly).
All this leads the protagonist to the conclusion that the series of mysterious deaths occurred because somebody has been reading the book in which he is the main character. Therefore, when his wife is also dying, Gavein addresses the reader and asks him or her to "stop reading" the book, so that his and his wife’s lives can be, in a way, suspended. Unless the reader fulfils Dave's wish, they learn from the Epilogue, which follows, that, after his wife’s death, Throzz decides to commit suicide to finish the "epidemic of deaths". He also reasons that if all worlds are books, then somewhere there must be a gigantic Library with a Catalogue, where all characters from all Nest of Worlds books can finally meet. In the end, it is strongly suggested that Gavein eventually finds his way to that place. Marek Oramus, in a review, argues that the main hero does not finally get to the Catologue but "ends up [...] in hell, degraded by three levels" to one of the embedded worlds.[1] However, whatever the place in which Gavein finds himself after his suicide, it seems highly unlikely to be any kind of hell as the surroundings he sees around him in the final scene are all more beautiful than before.