Rating: 
Summary: Broad in scope but shallow in execution
Review: "Midnight at the Well of Souls" is a book with a great deal of potential, which is the main reason I found it to be such a grand disappointment in the end -- most of that potential goes unrealized, and the book is a rather trite (and not terribly well-written) example of what's wrong with much of modern science fiction.Mind you, the ideas in the novel are intriguing. The concept of the Well World, for example, is fairly original and has a lot of potential for easily delving into many different cultures and alien races. Unfortunately, the idea is not explored nearly as well as it could be, and is really only a superficial device to serve the plot... such as it is. The different alien cultures and races of the Well World are only explored thinly, with no sense of richness or history in it. The different races seem to be created for their wierdness factor than any actual examination of different cultures. What's worse is the story itself isn't all that great. Remove the concept of the Well World, and you have a fairly standard quest framework. The main character has a "mysterious" (but rather predictable) origin, but his personality is still a carbon-copy hero from any swashbuckling space opera. Think Han Solo and you've pretty much nailed him. The other characters only seem to act as foils for how his story is told. Throw in some alien sex here and there, a standard "universal translator" device to get over the problem of different languages, and end with a very predictable conclusion, and what the story amounts to is... not much. Without the concept behind the story, it's really pretty bland. The plot moves along sluggishly, with several blatantly obvious passages of exposition masked as character dialogue. I found a scene near the end, in which the characters are travelling down an extremely long moving walkway to their destination, especially annoying in this regard. There was no good reason for the walkway to be there, and it had already established that such clunky transportation was unnecessary on the Well World. The only reason for it to be there was so the main characters (and the reader) could be told what was going on up to that point. This passage was perhaps the worst example of several similar parts of the novel, in which story exposition is dealt with in an exceptionally clumsy way. Chalker's writing style leaves much to be desired as well. His use of language is minimal and not suggestive at all of the weight he attempted to give the subject matter. Dialogue was essentially the same from one character to another, with none of the usual language markers to differentiate different people or different groups (this goes to the lack of cultural depth in the book discussed earlier). The characters lacked any feeling of honest emotion, such that I didn't connect with any of them at all. For an idea with so much potential, this book was really lacking in so many ways. It was vaguely entertaining in some parts, but overall felt poorly-written and trite. Chalker's treatment of a good idea ended up very broad but also very superficial, only scratching the surface of the story's potential. I would love to see an idea like the Well World given a proper treatment by a better writer, one with a talent for how to craft alien worlds and different cultures with some sense of validity and history. Without that, a book like this just falls flat. I won't be keeping this one, and I do not recommend it, unless you're into shallow, poorly-written science fiction.
Rating: 
Summary: Series List
Review: 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.
Rating: 
Summary: A Great Read
Review: A wonderfull story that can be read on so many different levels, that you can always find something new in each reread that you didn't catch before.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing plot twists and stunning surprise endings
Review: Although just about anything by Jack Chalker is good, the Well World series is my favorite. The plot is excellent and you really get to know the main charecters. The book is well thought out and very fun to read.
Rating:
Summary: One of my favourites
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: One of my favourites
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Yet another book to answer Big Question
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting, light, action-packed and fascinating.
Review: I like sometimes the books that give you a small rest from heavy thinking. This is not "DUNE" or "RINGWORLD" or "UBIC". It's a fun adventure in the playground of Jack L.Chalker. I think that he just wanted to exercise his xenobiology abilities, and then desided to make a book out of it. Anyway it's a nice one, well writen and jumpy. Not a masterpiece but pretty cool.
Rating:
Summary: Repetitive
Review: I read this book, as well as another one. Well, this one was ok, but the other one( I no longer remember then name) was... exactly the same book, with exactly the same plot. It's all the same: a group of people with verious problems on their habds go to the world of the wll and find out that they have even greater problems... they don't have hands! now the problems are at their claws! Anyway, it's ok. Not spectacular in any way, though
Rating:
Summary: Great other-world adventure
Review: If you like books that make you feel you're on another planet, you may like this book. Mr. Chalker does alien sociology well, and makes you feel you're there. The concept of the Well World is interesting and the "alien' points of view are convincing.
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