Customer Reviews

Necromancer (Childe Cycle)

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

 

 

Necromancer is the second published novel in the Childe Cycle, following Dorsai!, but is actually the first volume in internal chronology among the published works. This novel was intended as a bridge between the projected (but never published) historic volumes in the Cycle and the near future novels of the Dorsai series.

In this novel, Paul Formain is a mining engineer who has an accident that tears off his left arm. Although he has regeneration treatments, the arm does not grow back. He is told that the problem is purely psychological, so he consults a therapist, but only learns something that he already knows: he is unusually resistant to hypnosis.

Taking another approach to the problem, Paul tries the Chantry Guild, an organization created by Walter Blunt after being the only survivor of a hunting party caught by a freak early-winter blizzard. While the others died of exposure, Walter walked out to shelter wearing only the lightest of hunting clothes and arrived warm and rested. Chantry Guild literature claimed successful regrowth of missing limbs even in the treatment of resistant individuals. Paul meets with Jason Warren, the Guild Secretary, and is provisionally accepted in the Guild. He finds the training to be weird, but effective, and becomes a Necromancer.

This novel shows Paul developing certain skills in the Alternate Laws, but otherwise seems to lack any forward movement. The reason for his passivity is implied by the continued concern over a sailing episode five years before. Paul had been caught in a small sailboat by a severe storm and nearly died of exposure, much as Blunt had come close to death. Paul has a continuing vision of dying in that boat. At the end of the book, Paul visits a body wrapped in chains far below the surface of the ocean near the location where he had been rescued; this scene will be shown again in other stories in this series.

The author exhibits an intense interest in hysterical strength and other superhuman phenomena. This interest is reflected in his other works, but is central to the Childe Cycle. The author often pairs such extraordinary skills with a strong sense of responsibility and an unrelenting perseverence.

The pivotal character in the Child Cycle is Donal Graeme, the "genetic general" who has the main role in the Dorsai! novel. Donal has the ability to see the future ... and the past. Moreover, he has other abilities that he keeps concealed from most people.

This novel sets up the interstellar political situation in The Tactics of Mistake, the next novel in internal sequence. It depicts the initial separation of the Exotic and the Friendly Splinter Cultures from the mainstream of humanity. The origin of the Dorsai Culture is described in the next volume.

Highly recommended for Dickson fans and for anyone else who is interested in the evolution of mass movements, cultural differentiation, and the role of individuals within society.

-Arthur W. Jordin

I have no idea what order the Childe Cycle (aka that series with Dorsai) was published in . . . I'm reading them in the order listed on the back of the Final Encyclopedia, which gives this as the first book and so off we go. It's a slim, slight book with a seemingly straightforward plot that starts to go in all kinds of weird areas very quickly, almost too quickly. Paul Formain is a guy with not so good luck who loses his arm and can't have it replaced because none of the grafts will take. But some people tell him he has some ability with the "Alternate Laws" and so the Chantry Guild, led by Walter Blunt, decide to take him in and train them. Little do they know what it leads to. And neither does the reader, apparently. Dickson is too good a writer to not make the book any less than interesting and readable but some of this stuff doesn't seem worked out too well, the Alternate Laws remain kind of a catch-all and after reading the book I still have absolutely no idea what they are supposed to do. Other than Paul, none of the character have anything other than thin personalities (the lady, Kanteele is never developed at all and her at times strange behavior never really explained) and even Paul isn't that interesting since in grand SF hero tradition he mostly reacts to stuff and overcomes obstacles mostly because hey, why not? A lot of stuff happens toward the end that basically serves as a prelude for everything that comes after, which is where this book becomes essential. While if you skipped it, the rest of the Cycle probably makes perfect sense, this lays down the foundations and while not a spectacular book on its own, when fitted in with the rest of the series, it takes on a different resonance altogether. Even with those flaws, Dickson keeps the story moving, his science may not be ready for a doctoral thesis but the philosophy is always interesting (a highlight in most of his books) and the result is never less than entertaining, even if it is far from a masterpiece. Read this only to move on to the next books.

I don't know what the "Synopsis" above is reviewing, but it's not this book; nor is this the first of the Childe Cycle (which you can start by reading DORSAI).

When engineer Paul Formain loses an arm in a mining accident, he seeks the help of the Chantry Guild, a secret society whose members believe in what they call the Alternate Laws (read: magick). Though skeptical, Paul is intrigued and joins the group. Their aim: what their leader-prophet Walter Blunt calls "Destruct": the end of a society far gone down the path of cybernetic conformism.

In this book you see, through Paul's eyes, the development of the major Splinter Cultures: the Exotics (from the Guild), the Friendlies (from Butler), and the Dorsai (from McLeod). The ending will surprise you.

I have been reading Gordon R Dickson For years. He ranks up with the best in any group you can think of. The Dorsai Were among the oldest of the Military combat for the armchair General's. It has become funny that the name of the Dorsai has been used in common everyday reference to military thought. This from the military and the normal writers of military who dunit's. Such a great book and author. I am so glad to have found him and these books again. I will add the whole group to my kindle and the New Fire I have on order. LUV IT LUV IT.

dray

Dickson seems to have an odd penchant for male and female leading characters with a disturbing mutual attraction and antipathy, and "Necromancer" includes that theme. That makes it two for two in the first two Childe Cycle books, as you also had this theme present in "Dorsai!".

Paul Forman is a young man who has lived thru a disturbing sequence of near death experiences. In trying to find answers, he turns to an organization that specializes in acting on the "Alternate Laws" ... in essence, magic. The same organization calls for the destruction of mankind, a mankind that seems to have been made strangely stagnant by virtue of its technological cradle. To counter, the forces behind the technological cradle are moving to arrange things so that there are no challenges to keeping mankind comfortable and safe, but stuck in a status quo that will never allow them to advance again.

Paul moves through this book in an oddly stoic manner, considering the dangers he has faced and those he suspects are still to come. The only very emotional character in the book is the girl for whom he feels an attraction, but who emotionally rejects him at every meeting. Still, Paul's progress thru using the "Alternate Laws" is interesting, and his two ultimate show downs are surprising.

I hold back a star because the ending is maybe a bit TOO surprising. Dickson pulls a couple of solutions out of left field, without giving the reader much reason for them, and no clues to have arrived at the solution on their own. A surprise ending of this type should be built on a foundation of events throughout the book that the reader may have overlooked or misinterpreted. Although there are some clues to what is really going on, they are very weak compared to the 180 degree turn the story takes at the end. As in "Dorsai!", the supporting characters are not well developed. The hints you get are that they should be very interesting characters, but Dickson gives them too short a shrift to live up to their potential.

Still, you'll be pulled along by the story throughout the book, eager to find out what the next step is in this unusual plot. On that level the book succeeds very well. I read the Childe Cycle a LONG time ago, and I don't really remember the overall arc very well, which is one of the reasons I'm currently revisiting the series. I suspect that a lot of the mystery surrounding the "Why" of this story will make itself clear in later books of the series. As a stand-alone, the story is perplexing and possibly pointless. As part of the series, it may be an integral cog to understanding Dickson's space faring civilization of the future.

A few days ago, I decided to re-read NECROMANCER (for the third time, I think) because of the superficial similarities between this short, early 1960s novel and a recent STAR WARS novel, DARTH BANE: PATH OF DESTRUCTION. Both are about strong, talented, young men's paths towards enlightenment. Both men start out in mines (although NECROMANCER's Paul Formain is an engineer, and DARTH BANE's Dessell is a laborer), and both men become members of organizations that preach destruction (Formain's Chantry Guild wants to destroy technologies that keep humans from developing to their full, good potential, and Dessell's Brotherhood of Darkness wants to destroy the Jedi Knights and their Old Republic that keep them from developing to their full, evil potential). Both also find flaws in these organizations and take actions that lead to the organizations' dissolution (NECROMANCER) or obliteration (BANE).

Despite these similarities, the two novels are very different. NECROMANCER is the more contemplative novel, and it is spiced up (or, depending on your point of view, bogged down) with plenty of discursive passages about the meaning of life, the potential of Man, and the nature of reality. It's not a great novel, and it's not even very good as a novel per se, but it occupies an important place in Dickson's Childe Cycle, tying the future fragmentation of mankind that we see in Dorsai! and other novels to currents in the contemporary world that are tearing societies apart. Also, in this concern about the fragmentation of mankind, in its worries about the dangers of thinking machines, and in its suggestion that humanity has potential powers that are as yet nearly untapped, NECROMANCER anticipates what Frank Herbert did in DUNE.

Contemporary readers will be at least a little discomfited by Paul Formain. Formain is a typical Dickson superman. He is (or slowly becomes) a humble, stoic, manly man who is bigger, emotionally and physically stronger, smarter, wiser, more courageous, more perceptive, and more in touch with the deep, mysterious essence of reality than anyone around him. Men want to be him and women want to be with him. He's not quite *that* over the top, but over the top enough to be hard for the twenty-first reader to take seriously. Readers will also be disturbed by Dickson's casual early-1960s sexism; virtually all of the central characters are men, and the one important woman is basically there as a trophy for the alpha male.

In any event, if you enjoyed DORSAI! (the first novel Dickson's Childe Cycle), consider NECROMANCER. Do read DORSAI! first, not because NECROMANCER can't be read standalone, but because DORSAI! is more enjoyable, and if you don't like DORSAI! you certainly won't like NECROMANCER.

"Necromancer" is a fascinating novel. It is the story of the beginning of the Splinter Culture era, when humankind acquires the ability to colonize other stellar systems, and "splinters" into various groups. This is a wistful, and poetic story with numerous touching undercurrents that the discerning reader will appreciate. It also has the distinction of being the only Childe Cycle novel that really talks about Old Earth (our planet) in considerable detail (although volume 2 of The Final Encyclopedia does touch upon it a little, and Young Bleys and Other do to a minor extent.)

This novel touches upon a profound question: what is the true basis of reality, and how is it affected by our own perceptions? The "Chantry Guild," the precursor to what becomes the Exotic Culture, is trying to explore this question. It comes up against a mutant from the future who is seeking to apply what physicists are only now beginning to call "retrocausality" in order to change the past from the future. And in so doing, this sets the stage for the Childe Cycle future of the Dorsai, Friendly, and Exotic cultures. A book that can do all that is certainly worth a look from fans of Dickson's "Child Cycle" series of novels and short stories. Highly recommended.

This is not a direct sequel as such. No zombies, either. A man loses an arm in an accident when he fails to take heed of his 'danger sense'. He then gets involved in an organisation that has 'Alternate Laws' they believe in, and tell him he can regenerate his arm.

They have plans for him and his talent, they think they can use him as an agent to destroy the technologically assisted utopia they live in, that is still full of problems.

I read this book as an adolescent and flew through it. I picked the book solely on the title, which was never really explained in the story. It has alot of action in it. It has major plot holes, and at one point the author forgets that the main character is missing an arm. The plot involves magic, psychological manipulation, and halucinations. The environment isn't well-developed, but like many 10 cent paperbacks, has a few intriguing concepts and stimulators that make it a fun read. I'd compare this book with one of Andre Norton's minor books. It's a great escape!

This book was retitled "No Room for Man" for a 1966 (50 cent) mass market release No Room for Man (Orig. Title: Necromancer). At this time fantasy was out and space age Sci-fi in. It's interesting to compare the two versions. This one's title blurb reads: "So far, he had been indestructible-- but how long could he defy the laws of the physical universe?" The back reads: "Judgement Day: The machine that controlled all life wouldn't tolerate any interference. People who refused to be regulated had to be disposed of-- isolated, driven insane, murdered. A small group of men had dedicated themselves to fighting this Frankenstein of man's technological achievement. Secretly they laid plans to destroy the machine and all its works... including the millions of people who had accepted their robot-like existence. Either way, the human race was doomed!" The inside blurb, however seems like one that could have been in the original printing of "Necromancer".

The art is that sort of nebulous, blobby art that adorns numerous titles of this era, and seems to suggest something Freudian. There's a later edition that links this book to the Dorsai series, but still has a techy cover, blending elements of SF and fantasy. Freudian psychology was big in the late '50s/ early '60s. The film that popularly synched it with a tech future was 1956's Forbidden Planet. There was also an attempt to shift fantasy elements to the same solid footing as "hard SF" books. As in this book, however, authors soon realized "get in and get out" was better for SF than getting endlessly bogged down in how it all works.

Like many SF books of this era, this one is full of intellectual discussion about the place of man, the arts, and what's really going on behind the sturm und drang of the madding crowd. An author who does this well, I think, is Charles Williams, who used occult themes and wrote in the '40s, best illustrated in his novel War in Heaven War in Heaven, A Novel. The war against the machine theme is quite minor in this Dickson novel, despite the blurb, but it reminds me of Kate Willhelm's The Killer Thing The Killer Thing, which is, I think, a classic of the genre. Since Star Wars so successfully married fantasy and SF, or if you will, spiritual or archetypal with tech themes or settings, the door has largely been thrown open to rediscover these hybrids.

There's a sub-theme in this novel that reminds me of R.A. Lafferty's Fourth Mansions Fourth Mansions, an amazing romp of a book. One more book comes to mind, a collection by Henry Kuttner, who also wrote in the same era as Dickson, and sometimes on similar themes. One small collection that seems to transcend the era, in my view, is called Robots Have No Tails Robots Have No Tails (Planet Stories). This is also the source of the short story, "Mimsy Were the Borogroves", the inspiration for the recent film, "The Last Mimsy".

In the view of Dickson's wide fanbase, of course, the best part is the re-emergence of this novel, with its original title, in relation to his much larger cycle of writing. How fortunate that the SF/ fantasy of the past is being rediscovered by a wider audience and a new generation.