Customer Reviews

Ghost of the Well of Souls (Well World)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

As soon as I read Chalker's introduction to this duology - the newest addition to the increasingly large Well World series - I decided to give it a try. So it wasn't a part of the normal canon, as he put it, but instead a book about Something Else. Well and good, I'm always ready to try something new from an established story teller.

Two books and about 700 pages later, I still don't know what he was talking about. I'm also extremely perplexed: just what happened to Chalker's writing? His prose, plotting, character development - even his humor - don't match up with the previous work that bears his name. This duology provided such a lackluster story that I am at a complete loss to explain its existence in print. I'm tempted to visit Chalker's web site and write him an email asking, "Why?" The only possible answer I can derive comes from Chalker's shameless introductory statement that he didn't plan to return to the Well World until someone fronted a sizeable sum. Apparently, this offer didn't provide enough impetus for Chalker to return to form.

Page 1 of the first novel, "The Sea is Full of Stars," starts with the strong, confident narrative voice I remember from Chalker's earlier novels. Unfortunately, this turns out to be the sole shining moment for the entire series. I almost wish that Delrey hadn't plugged these into the original Well World saga as books 6 and 7. They don't belong in the same category as the originals.

I read the reviews before I bought and figured that the negatives were "I miss Nathan Brazil". I was wrong.

The only character I grew to like had her mind wiped pretty much right away, so I didn't really care about her later.

The plot was so convoluted and confusing, and by the end the threat so unclear, that by the end of the second book I hardly cared who won.

You know, if you read this Jack, I cared about Renard, Nicki, Wu Julie, Asam, Marquoz, Serge Ortega, Gypsy and Prof. Zinder, every one of them more than I cared about any of these characters. What made the previous books great was caring about the characters.

Also, the underwater people were just wet land people. They thought and acted like they were just land people trying to dom the things that land people do with the "problem" of all that water being in the way. A water people would LIKE being in the water, and their entire culture would reflect that.

Along with the Sea is Full of Stars, I found these two books the best of all the books. Perhaps it was because there was no Nathan Brazil or Mavra Chang who can not lose due to the Well World itself aiding them. Having Kincaid as a "bogey-man" in the background actually fit his personality and characterization. Each major character had their purpose and part and if one looks at the theme of these books with some detachment from the earlier books, the story is actually very different.

Well, hmmm. I would have liked to have liked this book -- I've always enjoyed the Well World books -- but this one was somewhat disappointing. It seemed very rushed, and plotlines that were introduced in the previous book were downplayed or ignored entirely. For instance, the whole "The Avenger must triumph not for revenge" plotline suggested in first book was never really used, and Kincaid's role throughout both books is reduced to that of a rarely-seen bogey-man -- in fact, he turns out to be a totally unimportant character, whose role could have been filled by any other character. The other "pivotal" character, Angel, gains extraordinary powers in order to ultimately become -- the world's most powerful librarian. Josich is present only in the last 20-pages or so of the book, and this makes the whole ending seem rather rushed. None of the actions of the characters preceding the denoument actually has any meaningful impact on the climax of the story, and the only unpredictable parts come when Chalker changes the rules on us (with hand-waving as to why Brazil & Chang might have not been called, and glossing over why the Well World didn't take more action to protect itself earlier on). Furthermore, it's as if I've seen these characters before. Granted, even in the non-Well books, the signature of all of Chalker's writing is to take characters and mangle them physically and emotionally, but even beyond that, Core is largely synonymous with Obie, Kincaid is Brazil without the screen time, Angel is a weird mix of Wuju and Vardia, and Jules is a near dead-ringer for Hain. (I will admit, however, to getting a real chuckle when O'Leary and his group actually swallow some of the bad guys... :-)

Twenty pages from the end, it appeared to me like we'd need a whole other book to finish this story, which I was thoroughly engrossed in. Instead, we get a 5-minute fix as if it were some Star Trek cliffhanger, and I was left saying, "What....?"

I have followed and reread all of the Well's 10 books several times. I find this series as well as the Flux and Diamond series to be the best works of scifi written since Asimov. Some readers have written their displeasure due to the limited use of the most interesting character; however, even in the original Well series, Nathan (God) only dominated a portion of the series (including the book with his name on the cover). Sometimes, less is more. The ending of this book leaves a huge door open to sequals and a new possible mixture of the foundling empires of the "real" galaxy with a mixture of the Well and it's inhabitants. I guess the other readers just miss Obie (or were overly hot for Mavra).

This book reminded me a bit of the latter days of the "99 princes in amber" series. The story kept me turning pages, but the author didn't seem to be paying much attention. It felt like Chalker didn't really have control over the narrative; in places he writes well, in others he careens towards any sort of ending. He really doesn't seem to know what to do with his characters.

Equally annoying is some very sloppy editing producing some meaningless sentences. Chalker himself seems to have forgotten why "The Avenger" stalks the Empress -- the explanation given in book two is completely different from that of book one.

Despite all this Chalker can weave a story, and this book made for some pleasantly mindless entertainment.

I have to disagree with the other reviews here, I believe Ghosts to be an equal to the first book. Chalker has made possibly his most accessable book for a decade. The race aginst time to defeat an unstopable foe really sets the sequels pace. I thought it was great that Chalker finally explored the water races in greater depths(No pun intended). Whilst the story may lack the epic feel of the last Well World sagas it makes up for it with fantastic storytelling and some of Chalker's best character work ever. A must for fans and non-fans alike.

While I found the first book of this story-line to be one of his best in years, evoking the adventure of the early Well World books, the follow-through is adequate at best. I found it extremely predictable and I had pretty much guessed the "surprise ending" soon after they went through the Zone Gate in the first book. And I never found the Straight Gate to be the terrifying doomsday weapon that Chalker tried to make it. He never sold me on the fear factor which would have added at least a little tension to the story. Again, the first book was excellent, the second was inadequate as a follow-up.

I have just finished reading this book. I must say it wasn't near as good as I would have hoped. Most of this is due to the fact that Jeremiah Wong Kincaid was barely in it. I believe it should have focused more on his search for revenge than scenes of all the other characters doing practically nothing. Of course, like any Chalker book, it had good moments. Unfortunately they were few and far between. The only real joy I experienced while going through each page was the expanding of never before seen Well World hex creatures. The ending was quite a let down. I was much more impressed with the Watchers series. I was so excited while reading the conclusion of Watchers that I was literally jumping around the library. TO the dismay of my 11th grade high school English class. *giggles* The ending to this book also seemed very confusing to me. Of course I DID finish it at 6:00AM after staying up all night. I'll read it again I'm sure but I believe it'll be at some point after I've completely forgotten about it and only find it by accident all covered in dust and tucked under several other books.

I can't say that this was the best book that I've read. At best it is slightly entertaining. I found the story lacking and yet hard to put down at the same time.