diff --git a/src/icu.utf8.c b/src/icu.utf8.c
index 40a2ebd..8f64ce9 100644
--- a/src/icu.utf8.c
+++ b/src/icu.utf8.c
@@ -365,10 +365,7 @@ static int icu_utf8_char(lua_State *L) {
             luaL_addchar(&buf, (char)(0x80 | ((codePoint >> 6) & 0x3F)));
             luaL_addchar(&buf, (char)(0x80 | (codePoint & 0x3F)));
         }
-        else if (codePoint > 0x110000) {
-            return luaL_argerror(L,i+1,"invalid codepoint");
-        }
-        else {
+        else if (codePoint < 0x110000) {
             // 00000000 000zzzzz yyyyyyyy xxxxxxxx
             // 11110zzz 10zzyyyy 10yyyyxx 10xxxxxx
             luaL_addchar(&buf, (char)(0xF0 | (codePoint >> 18)));
@@ -376,6 +373,9 @@ static int icu_utf8_char(lua_State *L) {
             luaL_addchar(&buf, (char)(0x80 | ((codePoint >> 6) & 0x3F)));
             luaL_addchar(&buf, (char)(0x80 | (codePoint & 0x3F)));
         }
+        else {
+            return luaL_argerror(L,i+1,"invalid codepoint");
+        }
     }
     luaL_pushresult(&buf);
     return 1;