Priam's Lens (Mass Market Paperback)

by Jack L. Chalker (Author) "The trouble with playing God is that the devil keeps popping up and spoiling the fun..." (more)
Key Phrases: Father Chicanis, Father Alex, Kat Socolov (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

WORLDS OF NO RETURN

Humans had finally gone to the stars, as the dreamers had always hoped; celestial stretches of the galaxy became the playgrounds of a new spacefaring race. But now these worlds were being taken over by Titans, creatures with unimaginable, godlike powers, supremely indifferent to humanity's survival.

There was one chance to stop them. Helena, one of the Titan-dominated planets, concealed an untapped, hundred-year-old weapon--Priam's Lens. Getting to Helena would not be difficult, but activating the lens was another matter. No one had ever returned from a Titan encounter. They simply disappeared--status unknown.

Now a small ragtag crew made up of scientists, warriors, a priest, and a stowaway--naval officer Gene Harker--were ready to pit themselves against the greatest power in the universe. With the help of a mad space pirate, they descended upon the deadly planet. They will succeed--or die trying . . .

From the Inside Flap
WORLDS OF NO RETURN

Humans had finally gone to the stars, as the dreamers had always hoped; celestial stretches of the galaxy became the playgrounds of a new spacefaring race. But now these worlds were being taken over by Titans, creatures with unimaginable, godlike powers, supremely indifferent to humanity's survival.

There was one chance to stop them. Helena, one of the Titan-dominated planets, concealed an untapped, hundred-year-old weapon--Priam's Lens. Getting to Helena would not be difficult, but activating the lens was another matter. No one had ever returned from a Titan encounter. They simply disappeared--status unknown.

Now a small ragtag crew made up of scientists, warriors, a priest, and a stowaway--naval officer Gene Harker--were ready to pit themselves against the greatest power in the universe. With the help of a mad space pirate, they descended upon the deadly planet. They will succeed--or die trying . . .

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: Del Rey; First Thus edition (May 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345402944
• ISBN-13: 978-0345402943
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #429,527 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of Chalker's best books, July 12, 1999

By A Customer

I've read most of Chalkers works, and this is one of my favorites. Del Rey should have allowed this to be the trilogy it was intended to be. I would have loved to read all that Chalker wanted to say regarding The Titans. The world and the characters of this world enthralled me. I could not put this book down.

It is a shame that Del Rey has no interest in promoting Chalker's books. They are deliberately doing nothing at all to promote the book with the idea of being able to blame him for its poor sales so to be considered as no longer commercial. This is punishment for Chalker's unwillingness to let them get out of their contract.

The publishing industry, is now controlled entirely by Wall Street MBAs with short term profit the only criteria for success. They do not take chances nor do they believe in long term results such as series and developing new writers and projects. Since distirbutors won't keep books on the shelves longer than 90 days, nor bring back on the shelves earlier parts of a series when a new one comes out, series aren't selling as well and they have decided, looking only at their spreadsheets that series aren't profitable (unless, of course, it's a movie series like STAR WARS). It's sad. Many of authors are going broke and some are totally ruined, or worse.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A very disappointing effort from Mr. Chalker, January 26, 2004

By	Mr. Smarty (Bennington, VT) - See all my reviews

I am an avid SciFi/Fantasy fan and enjoyed Chalker's Well of Souls series immensely. I was immediately drawn into this book because of the fascinating mystery that was set up from the beginning. You will be disappointed to know that in the end, you recieve no answers to the questions that the entire story is premised upon. It is well and good to have bizarre things happening without reason and leave the reader to wonder how they tie together, but to then abandon them all in the end without any real explanation and meaning makes them entirely pointless, as is the case in this book. The story in itself, while an interesting concept, proceeds in a completely linear fashion without any twists, real character conflict, or unpredictable occurrences. It can be summarized in one sentence without missing too much of the plot: Bad aliens beat up mankind, mankind magically finds a weapon to beat them with, a team isassembeled to find the weapon, they find it, they beat up aliens. End of story. BOOO! This type of SciFi-lite might be fit for a SciFi Channel made-for-TV movie, but not a novel by one of fantasy's most thoughtful authors.
This might be a good one for the kids but not for anyone looking for a story with depth and intrigue. I would recommend passing on this one.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Chalker is better than ever!, November 1, 1999

By	Michael B. Nelson "mbnels" (Tuba City AZ) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I found this book--sans transformation-- to be an intriguing and thought provoking look at the nature of humanity and the true randomness of our society. We have never faced an enemy so extreme that it would be unfathomable to think our society could crumble, yet it could and I'm sure--will-- happen someday. These themes pervade Chalker's books, and anyone reading them will gain a strong sende of identity and where they live within our society.

My only objections were a few craft points--he tended to become too introspective in many places, and the description and history sections became long and involved at times. I would bet big money this was supposed to ba a much larger novel, or maybe even a series of novels where CHalker could fully explore this Universe, and I would also bet that due to publisher demands he was unable to extend this into the larger project that it deserved. Any publisher reading this--plase give Chalker a chance to run with what he invents, we love to read it!