Customer Reviews

Midnight at the Well of Souls

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A short while ago, someone emailed me asking for a ordered list of the books in this series (they got my email address from an earlier review).

Here it is for everyone else.

1-Midnight at the Well of Souls

2-Exiles at the Well of Souls

3-Quest for the Well of Souls

4-The Return of Nathan Brazil

5-Twilight at the Well of Souls

Remember, books 2 and 3 originally were one book called The War of the Well World, and are a single story, broken into two novels by the publishing requirements of the time.

Jack Chalker's "Midnight at the Well of Souls" is a science fiction adventure tale that one could describe as an ambitious epic, yet written with an often whimsical sense of fun. The novel is full of colorful characters, weird locales, and imaginatively conceived alien species.

The story's hero is freighter captain Nathan Brazil, a human male who is noted to be a maverick and a loner in "an age of extreme conformity." While carrying a motley collection of passengers on his ship, Brazil answers a distress call. Soon he finds himself on the Well World, a bizarre planet divided up into hundreds of biospheres and home to hundreds of different civilizations. Oh, and each newcomer to the planet can expect to find him- or herself transformed into a different species! "Midnight" charts the odyssey of Brazil, his allies, and his enemies across this strange and wondrous world as they seek the answer to an ancient mystery.

"Midnight" is a novel of ideas as well as a fun and exciting adventure; Chalker deals with such issues as history, drug addiction, crime, social organization, literacy, and more as the story unfolds. Chalker cleverly delves into the life cycles and sexual behaviors of the various Well World species, which include intelligent plants, a centaur-like race, and many more. The motif of transformation, including gender-changing, is intriguingly handled throughout the story.

Chalker makes reference to "Alice in Wonderland" at one point in the book, but the book, curiously, reminds me more of L. Frank Baum's classic Oz tales. And Chalker's vision of science, civilization, and history reminds me a bit of a less horrific, more light-hearted H.P. Lovecraft. Overall, a lot of fun, and written in a very engaging prose style. If you like this book, try "Lord Valentine's Castle," by Robert Silverberg.

I don't know why, but some unfortunate reason Midnight at the Well of Souls seems familiar to Simak's Goblin Reservation. I don't know why. They share very little.

There is a planet in space that was created aeons ago by a long-gone race that achieved the ultimate in technology. Its area is precisely delineated into 1460 hexagonal biomes, each home to a separate intelligent species, half of which (the entire northern hemisphere to be exact) are non-carbon-based and non-humanoid in both mental and physical faculties. It's rather like going to the zoo - as the characters make their way through hex after hex of alien terrain your heart is filled with awe of the next big surprise civilization that Chalker has prepaired for you.

And although in the beginning the book may seem to be the average blood-and-guts-and-sex romance set on another planet, you are soon enveloped in an enourmous mistery (that easily dwarfs that of Card's Speaker for the Dead) of interspecies proportions. Touched upon is the eternal question of what makes us human (and Chalker's human civilization of genderless drug-controlled clones is most certainly not human), and, finally, for the big finale, the characters are allowed to alter anything in the universe and the reader gets a brief glimpse of God.

The plot is original and the characters are quite believable. Even the aliens, although they do seem a bit too human (the White House is filled with the human equivalent of Akkafians). Belive me, it's a worthwhile read.

This is the book that launched Jack Chalker as an SF heavyweight and it's easy to see why. Full of fun characters, a brilliantly realised world and a fascinating plot it's a terrific adventure from a master story.

Other reviews will give you the plot in more detail. I simply want to recommend Chalker the writer. I've read pretty much everything he's published and I always look forward to his new books. This, though, is certainly one of his greatest. It's a great shame that mainstream SF critics have ignored or impugned his work because it's as good or better than a lot of the dross that's out there (and I include some of the so-called masterworks that have been swathed in awards). Thankfully he has a loyal legion of fans that have followed his career.

And this is also a great prequel to the War of the Well which is told the four volumes that followed this one. You don't have to read them all, as this a stand alone novel, but if you enjoy this one as much as so many others have then you'll certainly want to read more about Well World and the War of the Well novels are also superior entertainment on a large scale.

Basically, try anything of Jack Chalker's. He's an underrated master of the fantasy/sf genre.

Look also for The Four Lords of the Diamond series, The Rings of the Master series, the Dancing Gods novels and his lone short story collection, Dance Band on the Titanic.

The War of the Well is told in Exiles at the Well of Souls, Quest for the Well of Souls, The Return of Nathan Brazil and Twilight at the Well of Souls.

Dont wait. Go seek them out. You won't be disappointed.

Book 1 of the 'Well World' series

This story could be set in the far future -- or a parallel one. I think Chalker wrote this as a stand-alone story, but it has grown several sequels (like warts) that might be viewed as detracting from this one. Taken on its own merits, though, 'Midnight at the Well of Souls' is a fun tale with a novel explanation for the existence of Existence.

Warning: Though this book contains nothing explicit, some of the themes are definitely adult in nature. I'd give this a 'PG' rating.

Midnight at the Well of Souls was in my book cabinet for a long time before I was in the mood for something completely unknown. I was lucky to have the first book of the series & found a whole new series to read. I have just ordered the other four books & hope they get here soon because I don't want to read something else while waiting for them. I am now in Well World mode & it is so much fun.

If you like scifi, just read it. The older paperback Amazon has a for a penny. You'll get hooked. I read the whole series about once a decade. It has a good plot, a surprisingly clever Universe, and decent writing.

I stumbled over this book (and later the other 4 of the series) a number of years ago and am so glad I took the chance on it - the well-worn covers & time-stained pages are proof of that. The story has everything, due largely to the author's interesting take on mythological creatures that plays completely into the sci-fi premise.

The first book is stand-alone, but if you want to read the whole series (and I highly recommend it), then you'll need to commit to the other 4 books. Each is exceptional, & the last few pages of the last book are so worth the time I put in to reading everything (and each re-read). There are also a few characters from the first book that eventually (some sooner than others) make another appearance.

If you want to tackle the list, here's the order to do it in (since it isn't really obvious):
Midnight at the Well of Souls
Exiles at the Well of Souls
Quest for the Well of Souls
The Return of Nathan Brazil
Twilight at the Well of Souls

Mystery man transformation adventure.


Unashamed SF light adventure as Nathan Brazil returns to the Well World, a sort of zoo of small sections of many different races and societies.

Once there and transforming across the place he begins to get his memory back and realise who and what he is and the bad things that just might happen.

Fun.

For those of us who enjoy alternatives to the standard views of life and history or just looking for something new to roll over in your mind this is it.
Not only are the characters strong and likable the story flows quickly and evenly.