Shadow of the Well of Souls

Rating:
Summary: Please avoid; but don't miss the first series
Review: Jack Chalker's original Well of Souls series (Midnight, Echoes, Quest, Return, Twilight) are classics, possibly the finest science fiction series I have ever read. The three books in this series are horrid, and I don't just mean in relation to the originals. Like many other writers, his energy was spent after the first few series and books, and he has degenerated into rehashing formaulaic bad prose over and over. Where he used to "show" what was happening, he now spends endless pages "tell"ing in justification of the poor choices his characters make in far fetched plot. The outcome was thoroghly predictable. The plot was the most forced plot I can ever remember reading. The lectures at the end were insufferable. Please avoid. And please read the originals - not to be missed!

Rating:
Summary: Please avoid; but don't miss the first series
Review: Jack Chalker's original Well of Souls series (Midnight, Echoes, Quest, Return, Twilight) are classics, possibly the finest science fiction series I have ever read. The three books in this series are horrid, and I don't just mean in relation to the originals. Like many other writers, his energy was spent after the first few series and books, and he has degenerated into rehashing formaulaic bad prose over and over. Where he used to "show" what was happening, he now spends endless pages "tell"ing in justification of the poor choices his characters make in far fetched plot. The outcome was thoroghly predictable. The plot was the most forced plot I can ever remember reading. The lectures at the end were insufferable. Please avoid. And please read the originals - not to be missed!

Rating:
Summary: Readable but not much more
Review: These three books are OK. The first sequence (midnight to twilight :) ) are the best and I'm not even going to bother with the other 'Well World' books after these.

My major problem with these is the author seems to have forgotten (or arbitrarily changed) things that happened in Echoes. In Echoes he has two of the entries (by inference Tony and the Colonel) going to specific hexes, but in the Shadow, suddenly Tony is a Dillian (when it was definitely stated only the girl went there in E) and the Colonel is a Leeming.

Also why have the inhabitants of Hakazit changed from the first series? They WERE giant armoured red-eyed lizards and now they are man sized mosquito's. Did Chalker re-read his old stuff?

That's the major problem. There's no consistency. And I've only pointed out a couple of the stuff up's.

Rating:
Summary: A Shadow of the original series
Review: This is a pretty good yarn, and Chalker's gift of invention is displayed very well here - unlike in the first book of this series, which took place on Earth for the most part. Here we are back on the beloved Well World, and as usual, much of the enjoyment lies in discovering new alien races. Chalker's plot is not nearly as intense as the original Well series, though - the whole race to the Well seems forced and lacks urgency. Altogether an enjoyable read, but hardly a classic. Not even a pulpy, guilty-pleasure classic like the original series, which I highly recommend.

Rating:
Summary: A Shadow of the original series
Review: This is a pretty good yarn, and Chalker's gift of invention is displayed very well here - unlike in the first book of this series, which took place on Earth for the most part. Here we are back on the beloved Well World, and as usual, much of the enjoyment lies in discovering new alien races. Chalker's plot is not nearly as intense as the original Well series, though - the whole race to the Well seems forced and lacks urgency. Altogether an enjoyable read, but hardly a classic. Not even a pulpy, guilty-pleasure classic like the original series, which I highly recommend.