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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
What an Adventure!,
By Judah (Terre Haute In USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Gates Of Creation (Paperback)
If you are looking to buy this, it is part of a multiple book saga. Don't buy it, buy a more complete edition.
THE WORLD OF TIERS: The Maker of Universes; The Gates of Creation: Volume One. contains this volume (#2) and the first one. The World of Tiers: Volume Two has the next three in the series. Previously, I read Farmer's 'Dungeon' series in which he plays the role of editor (The Black Tower (Philip José Farmer's The Dungeon, Vol. 1)), and the plot structure is essentially the same. An unlikely or reluctant hero is thrust into a diabolical maze spanning universes or realms or dungeon levels, whereby he must overcome unique puzzles and dangers while being alert for treachery by his companions, who would very like to kill him. While this is a pulp science fiction novel from 1966, Farmer manages to make it read like an adventure story by making his characters ignorant scavengers. They don't understand how their own supra-advanced universe making technology works, but they can use it to live like immortal Lords. Plotwise, our hero Wolff-Jadawin, former cruel Lord now become human as of book one, must defy his father Urizen to rescue the woman he loves. Urizen somehow spirited her away from Jadawin's fortess inside his own universe, despite the impenetrable defenses and traps therein. Inside his demented father's trap, he encounters his brothers and cousins, similarly lured, and together they must band together to save themselves. One has been turned into a seal-man for cowardice, and the rest are essentially useless. They must cross through the hexagonal golden world-gates inside a maze of worlds, hoping that they'll encounter the correct entrance to their father's fortress, full of deadly perils. There, they must kill him and save themselves. Oh, and all their wondrous technologies have been striped from them; they must rely on wits alone. (Jadawin has a blaster, Vala a sword, and seal-man has a knife.) I didn't expect to like this as much as I did, but it's a great adventure with plenty of twists. The characters are so flat that Farmer gets the various expendable brothers mixed up himself. (One is 'alive' instead of another after being killed off in an earlier trap). This doesn't matter! If you want to read an enjoyable adventure story with weird realms, strange challenges, and an end based on out-thinking a superior opponent who holds all the cards, you'll like this story too. Truly one of the great pulp novels from the '60s.
2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
An unpleasant, pointless diversion,
By Dave Deubler (Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Gates of Creation (World of Tiers) (Hardcover)
This is the second volume of the pulp-style fantasy/adventure series known as the World of Tiers. This time around, Wolff's evil father has kidnapped his beautiful wife Chryseis. To find her, he sets off through a series of hexacular gates, each of which takes him and his fractious siblings to a new and more challenging world where an endless series of traps, dangers, and difficulties await. Will Wolff be able to rescue his wife from the horrible fate that awaits her? Was there ever any doubt? The specific ploy Wolff comes up with to defeat the villain is pretty clever, and is probably the best part of the book, which overall is just the same old same old. Instead of displaced societies, this volume's worlds feature geographic problems that the group has to overcome in order to get through the next gate. The result is a lot less swordplay and a lot more death trekking, not really Farmer's forte. The excitement level is pretty low, and the suspense level is almost non-existent, since many will guess the kidnapper's secret well before it is revealed, and many more will have stopped caring long before then. Farmer's characters are painfully flat; some of the siblings are no more than cannon fodder, while even the more important characters just strike the same single note over and over. As a result, the reader never cares whether the party succeeds in their venture or not. (This reader was even tempted to start hoping the villain would just kill them all off and spare us all any more unpleasantness). Wolff is a capable leader and combatant, but he has few other human qualities of any interest, and his siblings are plain irritating. So even though this book starts much faster and has a stronger ending than its predecessor, there still isn't much to like about it. Younger readers who can handle brutal, pointless violence may find this book a welcome diversion, but so far, this is the weakest series Farmer has written. Will A Private Cosmos be any better? This reviewer is disinclined to even bother to find out.
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