The World of Tiers: Volume Two [Paperback]

Philip Jose Farmer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 15, 1997 | Series: World of Tiers (Book 2)

In one volume, here are the last three novels in the classic SF adventure series, The World of Tiers: Behind the Walls of Terra, The Lavalite World, and More Than Fire. These are the great originals of universe-hopping adventure that later writers, including Roger Zelazny in his Amber Series, used as models. Zelazny himself says, "I admire his sense of humor and facility for selecting the perfect final sentence for everything he writes. He can be stark, dark, smoky, bright, and any color of the emotional spectrum...put quite simply, he arouses awe," The tierworld books are full of non-stop action and typify Farmer's boundless imagination. Who else would have thought of stacking up pocket universes like a ziggurat or the layers of a cake? Join Earthlings Robert Wolff and Paul Janus Finnigan (alias Kickaha) on an unforgettable adventure to big for any single world.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The greatest science fiction writer ever."--Leslie Fiedler

"Farmer offers his audience a wide-screen adventure that never fails to provoke, amuse, and educate...his imagintaion is certainly of the first rank."--Time

"Philip Jose Farmer owes a fair measure of his fame to the World of Tiers series, based on the notion of immortal Lords whose ancestors made a host of pocket universes (including ours) and then lost the technological skills to make more."--Analog

About the Author

Philip José Farmer lives with his family in Peoria, Illinois. He has published more than forty novels, including such classics as The Lovers and To Your Scattered Bodies Go and the rest of the Riverworld series.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 512 pages
• Publisher: Tor Books; 1st edition (November 15, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312863772
• ISBN-13: 978-0312863777
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #359,049 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Vintage Silver Age Adventure, February 16, 2005

By 

Nathan B. Hyatt "Psychonaut" (San Francisco) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The World of Tiers: Volume Two (Paperback)

For some reason, Amazon is combining the reviews of both volumes of the World of Tiers instead of storing them separately under the actually-reviewed volume... So don't be confused by reviews of the second volume appearing under the first, and vice versa.

The first volume contains the first three books of the series, the Maker of Universes, the Gates of Creation, and A Private Cosmos. People looking for realistic romances or accurate portrayals of human emotion might want to look elsewhere; those in the mood for classic world-spanning science fiction with an emphasis on action have found their grail.

The first two books center on Wolff, a man who starts on Earth and is taken through a Gate to another world where strange Lords rule pocket universes of their own creation and wage a cruel and inventive war against each other. In addition to fabulous landscapes and strange beasts, we have many vintage science fiction ideas and death traps galore. The third book introduces the Black Bellers, creations originally intended to store human consciousnesses for transferring to new bodies, which have themselves evolved consciousness and now present a major threat to all life. Farmer's forte is putting characters in horrible situations and letting them work their way out with wits alone.

The imagery in this book is amazing as we travel through multiple universes, each conceived by a Lord as either a palace of pleasure or one giant planet of destruction. Highly recommended for anyone looking for a great, imaginative thrill ride.

The second volume concludes one of the most entertaining and original adventure/science fiction series in history. The emphasis is on action, conflict, and solving puzzles with the mind alone, said puzzles usually involving Gates that take the main characters to different worlds, often landing them squarely in the middle of a mastermind's death trap. How Farmer weaves his characters into and out of these death traps provided immense enjoyment for this reader.

The second volume, containing books 4-6 of the World of Tiers, focuses on Kickaha's battle against the Lord of Earth, Red Orc. Behind the Walls of Terra is one long action/chase scene as Kickaha lands on Earth after an absence of 25 years to chase down a threat to all life everywhere (the Black Bellers) and find his friends who may have been captured by Red Orc. In the second book in this volume, the Lavalite World, Kickaha and others have been transported to a shape-changing world where the planet itself molds and morphs and breaks apart (and rejoins) like the globules in a lavalamp. You will also encounter man-eating trees with insectoid eyes set among their branches and other products of Farmer's fertile imagination. The last book, More than Fire, is the showdown between Kickaha and Red Orc. In my opinion, the books just get better and better.

Don't expect the prose of Shakespeare or the complex and masterful plots of Ludlum; this is pure action/adventure with a healthy dose of trippy sci-fi ideas.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic Farmer, November 15, 2000

By 

Dominic Chappellet "fuzzy logic" (St. Helena, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The World of Tiers: Volume One (Paperback)

This book was my introduction to Philip Jose Farmer. Within five pages I knew I'd found something worth reading and by the end I realized that my Sci-fi knowledge was truly lacking prior to having read Farmer. He is undoubtedly a master. Farmer's literary style may seem pulpish but the shear scope of his imagination combined with the unrelenting pace of his naratives leaves one saturated in worlds complex and thoroughly detailed. I've since read the Riverworld Series (a triumph of imaginative literature filled with thought provoking situations and mind expanding metaphisical conotations) and a number of his other works and now consider myself a fan bordering on cult status. Any fan of Sci-fi or fantasy should not be without a collection of Farmer's works.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Worlds Apart, February 13, 2006

By 

D Strick "Entertainment D" (Birmingham, AL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The World of Tiers: Volume One (Paperback)

The World of Tiers: Vol. One contains books 1, 2 and 3 of the series. What Philip Farmer writes best is strange worlds and strange creatures and action, action, action. All of it is found here in spades. The concept of multiple worlds controlled by highly advanced and immortal but petty and jealous "lords" gives him licence to write Doc Savage type pulp adventures on a grand scale. Not much time is spent on the past but in what happens to the characters in the here and now.

Book one intruduces us to Robert Wolff who stumbles upon a doorway to a new world. The word itself is the star of this book and the entire series is named for it as it is the World of Tiers. Not a round planet but a series of plateaus one on top of the other. Each plateau is basically a continent and instead of being separated by oceans are separated by 30,000 and 60,000 foot mountains which have to be climbed to reach the next continent. The Lord of this world lives atop it in a giant palace. Wolff gets to know this world with the help of the enigmatic Kickaha as he strives to save his new love. And Wolff is greeted by a surprize at the end of the journey.

Book two continues the adventures of Wolff as we see him fight for his life though world after world of his deranged father, again trying to save his love. This time he must team up with a cadre of back stabbing relatives, other Lords who would just a soon kill each other but must try to work together to kill their father. Farmer again gives pulp style action as all the characters are placed in near constant jeopardy through the book.

Book three occurs during the events of book two but back on the World of Tiers. This time Kickaha takes the stage as our main character, a place he keeps for the next 3 books as well. Strange things are afoot and the ever tricky Kickaha must fight and think his way though them. Hunted by the Half-horse who want his scalp and the evil Bellers who want him dead so they may take over all of humanity and all of the worlds of the Lords, he has his work cut out for him. With a little help from an unlikely ally he may win.

If you want rich character development you may want to pass. But if you like adventure and pulp action this is for you. And if you love alien words and creatures look no further. It really doesn't get much more out there than Philip Farmer, that's why people love to read him.