World Enough & Time [Mass Market Paperback]

James Kahn M.D. (Author)

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback
• Publisher: Del Rey (October 12, 1985)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345327004
• ISBN-13: 978-0345327000
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,170,624 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My favourite sf/fantasy novel ever!, November 24, 1999

By 

Mr. E (My House) - See all my reviews

This review is from: World Enough & Time (Mass Market Paperback)

I vividly remember going into The House Of Speculative Fiction here in Ottawa, in December 1980, on my 16th birthday, looking for a book. Immediately, this stark yellow and black cover caught my eye. Simple silhouettes of mythological beings, a unicorn, bears, nymphs. Not a very action packed story, from the look of it. No barbarian with a wench clinging to his thigh and a dead ogre at his feet. Not the typical Conan or Fafhrd & Mouser story I was used to. I read the back cover and decided to buy it, as I was also a big Xanth fan at the time, and "World Enough And Time" had a Centaur as one of the heroes. I began reading it that night and finished it in a day and a half. Then I read it again immediately, and in the next two years until the sequel came out I read it 4 times.

The story is an epic quest through California, long after the holocaust. Civilization is at a pre-industrial, pastoral level. Humans are a dying breed. Numerous fantasy creatures and intelligent animals share the earth, descendents of the decadent pre-holocaust obsession with genetically engineered vanity pets. Reading and writing is outlawed and has become an underground religion, much like early Christianity. Pseudo-religious armies of talking beasts and monsters roam the land like the free companies of Renaissance Europe. The human wives of a young man and his best friend, a Centaur, are kidnapped by a Vampire and his gang of slave traders and taken south to a mysterious and technically advanced city on the site of Los Angeles for sinister purposes. The heroes set off to rescue the women, and along the way they encounter many friends and enemies, including a type of cyborg known as a neuroman, a friendly Vampire and a genetically enhanced housecat. The novel draws upon the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. (With a rather neat explanation at the end of vol. 2) This book is the reason I started to write for a hobby. The characters are vivid and true to themselves. The mood and atmosphere are so perfect, and constant throughout, and the blend of post-holocaust and fantasy is the best I have ever seen in any novel. This book and the first sequel, "Time's Dark Laughter" are just amazing. Imagine "The Chronicles Of Narnia" for adults.

If you are a fan of fantasy, horror or science fiction, or just plain great adventure, you should by all means track down the first two books in the series. The third volume, "Timefall", was somewhat of a letdown, but the first two stand alone, anyway. To tell the truth, I never finished the third. It really is not a continuation of the first two installments. James Kahn also wrote several film novelizations for Spielberg and Lucas, including "Poltergeist" and "Return of the Jedi". Too bad they never tried to film "World Enough And Time".

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Its Furry...., February 10, 1998

By 

Andrew Leitch ([e-mail]) (Perth, Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: World Enough & Time (Mass Market Paperback)

This is an exceptionally engaging story about a post apocalyptic world. Only it isn't quite ours. Its set far in Earth's distant and long forgotten past. The characters have a raw kind of sensuality which I've not encountered in any other novel. This is a story about genetic engineering gone haywire. Mythical beasts and peoples were once created by a decadent and highly advance human civilisation. After their empire fell, the slave races picked up the pieces and tried to erase humanity from the face of the Earth. There are bears, vampires, griffins, talking panthers, centaurs - you name it. And of course, there are "Neuromen" - humans who have traded their flesh for a synthetic body and immortality. It is the Neuromen and their greed which are central to this interesting and thought provoking story.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very innovative take on the fantasy genre, May 4, 2000

By 

Bradford Daniels (Redmond, WA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: World Enough & Time (Mass Market Paperback)

I recently read "A Plague of Angels" by Sheri S. Tepper, and was struck by the many similarities between the way Tepper integrated fantasy into science, and Kahn's work in this book and its sequel, "Time's Dark Laughter". Given that this work precedes Tepper's by at least a decade, it seems likely that Tepper was inspired by Kahn's work, though it's certainly possible she came upon the idea independently.

Kahn introduces many interesting forms of modified humans and genetically-engineered fantastic beings living in a post-technological world. There are engineered vampires, who generally live peacefully with large harems of humans; centaurs; and "neuromans", cyborgs who have replaced all their body parts and fluids with synthetic materials. The "neuromans" chose to modify their brains also, with different groups enhancing different personality traits to become ultimate hedonists, philosophers, warriors, etc.

If you enjoyed "Angels", you will enjoy the "Time" books, assuming you can find them, of course. If you didn't enjoy "Angels", or didn't read it, try to track these books down for a well-written tale of science as fantasy.