Jack L. Chalker (1944–2005)

I’ve had this series on my bookshelves for several years and I’m not entirely sure why. I think Chalker was an awful writer, slapdash, fixated on a handful of not very original ideas, and content to pad out the thinnest of stories to trilogy, and longer, length. I don’t think he wrote a single good book, but he does have legions of fans. Which, I guess, makes him much like every other science fiction author. Anyway, Midnight at the Well of Souls is the first book in Chalker’s The show more Saga of the Well World series, which had reached seven books by the time Chalker died in 2005. A group of archaeological students studying a Markovian ruin on a dead world are murdered by their instructor after he has figured out how to access the Markovian world-computer. He, and the one surviving student, find themselves transported to the Well World. Some time later, spaceship captain Nathan Brazil is transporting a handful of passengers through space when he receives a distress call. It’s from that same world where the instructor murdered his students. And so Brazil and his passengers find themselves also in the Well World. Which is an artificial planet in another dimension or something, and is divided into 1,560 hexagons, each one 355 by 615 kms and containing a completely different ecosphere and associated alien races. Brazil and his passengers are scattered across different hexes, each transformed into a native of that hex. Well, except Brazil isn’t. Because it turns out he’s some sort of immortal, and he knows how to work the Well World’s controlling computer, which is just as well because the aforementioned instructor wants to use the controlling computer for his own ends (and which will in consequence destroy the real universe). So Brazil and allies must trek across half a dozen hexes, having adventures along the way, in order to reach the equatorial wall and the secret entrance to the control room. It’s science fiction by numbers, light on invention, characterisation, rigour and, er, substance. It has all the originality of a basement RPG session by a group of twentysomething nerds. I doubt I’ll be continuing with the rest of the series. show less

Space freighter captain Nathan Brazil, who is older than he looks and more important than he realizes, receives a distress call from an archeological expedition on a dead planet that was once inhabited by a powerful alien race. He arrives to find the expedition murdered, whereupon he and his passengers are sucked through an ancient alien portal. They arrive on a bizarre artificial world made up of a patchwork of environments, each inhabited by a different intelligent species. Those who enter show more this world find themselves awakening in random environments, transformed into whatever species lives there. And somewhere on this planet is the murderer, who seeks the ultimate power that this godlike technology can provide.

I really should not have liked this book as much as I did. The plot is easy to find fault with, if you're inclined, what science it uses is terrible, and it glosses over a lot of practical and psychological issues that really should have been problematic. Worse, practically the whole novel consists of lecturing: characters lecturing each other, the author lecturing the reader, examples of the dreaded "As you know, Bob..." dialog. Stuff that really annoys me. And yet, I enjoyed it. I enjoyed it a lot. It was wonderfully imaginative, and as soon as I opened it, it was as if I'd somehow regressed to my teenage years, when I had more capacity for sense of wonder than I did for reading critically. I have absolutely no idea how this book managed to do that for me, but it was fun. show less

Published in 1986, one would think this story would feel dated. And yet, it doesn't, for the most part. Issues like free-will, gender, racism, control and power, morality, and slavery all get woven into a prose that explores these things without devolving into being preachy. And considering the time period, the portrayal of women and minorities is more progressive than I expected. There is a bit of stereotyping, but considering the main protagonists are a Male American Indian and a Female show more Chinese, it's not bad. The characters are fascinating, each unique, with depth and flaws and quirks. Chalker didn't shy away from having bad things happen to them, either. And the whole concept of someone being able to re-write your personality, to fit whatever they wanted, and you would never know? Terrifying. The book was a little slow to start and it took a while for me to catch the jargon of the world. But overall, it's a fine start to the series and I'm eager to see where the story goes. show less

This book and I have a history. My parents were both huge fans of Chalker and this book in particular. To hear my mom tell, I was very nearly named Nathan, after the protagonist Nathan Brazil. Then I actually read this as an impressionable teenage nerd which kinda kicked off a whole science fiction obsession. I was a very popular high schooler. Not. lol

Just re-read. Showing its age in some ways but holds up pretty well. The concept is a genuine mindbender, very imaginative. Story breezes show more along, although I wish there had been one more revision to tighten up the prose. show less